As we all know, polices forces across the UK are regularly using mobile speed camera vans to catch speeding motorists, but did you know they also use them to snap drivers either not wearing their seatbelts, or on the mobile phones whilst behind the wheel.
Over a third, (16 out of 44) of the UK’s forces said that they use the vans to prosecute who disregard road safety laws while driving. They do this to catch all law-breaking drivers, not just the ones that are caught speeding. These offences can lead to fines ranging from £100-£500 as well as 6 points on a license. Although only 16 forces admitted to using the vans for this purpose, more than 8,000 drivers have been caught not wearing a seatbelt and around 1,000 holding their mobiles whilst driving during 2016. The revelations were uncovered during an investigation by independent road safety charity IAM Road Smart.
Below is a list of the police forces using speed camera vans to snap other non-speeding offences:
- Derbyshire
- Dyfed Powys
- Hampshire
- Humberside
- Kent
- Lancashire
- Lincolnshire
- Norfolk
- North Wales
- North Yorkshire
- Northamptonshire
- Northumbria
- South Wales
- Staffordshire
- Suffolk
- West Midlands
Around 9,000 drivers were prosecuted for non-speeding offences in 2016 that were captured by speed camera vans. Sarah Sillars, chief executive of IAM RoadSmart, defended the 20 forces who admitted to using the tactic, saying it is ‘only the fear of being caught’ that will stop drivers from using their smartphones on the road and not wearing seatbelts.
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Related Article: The Daily Mail: Speed camera vans used to catch drivers