Total of 130 drivers caught committing driving offences during Project Zero in Salisbury

A total of 130 drivers were caught committing a multitude of driving offences during a roads policing operation in Salisbury on Wednesday.

Officers from our Roads Policing Unit were in Salisbury this week as part of Project Zero – an operation which is held every Wednesday at a different location in the county. It sees officers targeting drivers committing any of the fatal five offences in a bid to reduce the number of casualties on our roads.

While the work taking place is very much everyday work for our RPU officers, the project sees the department intensify resources to target those who are driving at excess speed, drink/drug driving, using a phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt or driving in a careless or dangerous manner.

During the operation in Salisbury, the team dealt with the following:

• 18 Traffic Offence Reports were issued for endorsable offences including mobile phone use while driving and excess speed
• 16 Fixed Penalty Notices were issued for non endorsable offences including lack of seat belts, expired MOTs and registration plate offences.
• Two minor road traffic collisions were also dealt with by the team
• The team also assisted local officers with search enquiries for two missing people.

Throughout the day, RPU officers were supported by members of the Special Constabulary Road Safety Unit, the Serious Collision Investigation Team, Road Safety Officers and Speed Enforcement Officers.

Speed Enforcement Officers attended a number of locations throughout the day where the local community had raised concerns about speeding drivers. These included The Avenue in Wilton, Downton Road, and Boscombe village. In total, they recorded 96 vehicles exceeding the speed limit. Their checks comprised of multiple speeds with some drivers offered speed awareness courses, penalty points and a number of drivers were summoned to court.

A/Insp Will Ayres said: “The collaborative approach to Project Zero in Salisbury this week resulted in 130 drivers being dealt with for various types of offences.

“Project Zero has been taking place across Wiltshire since it relaunched at the start of the year and I hope that releasing these statistics each week is providing reassurance to the public and giving a valuable insight into the work carried out by the team of roads policing officers we have here in Wiltshire.

"Whilst I know some people will question the importance of dealing with, what on the surface, may appear to be very minor issues, I would like to point out that it is these types of offences that have been found to be the most common contributory factors to fatal collisions on our roads.

"We will do anything we can to reduce the number of serious collisions that occur in Wiltshire, and we are fully committed to keeping our roads as safe as possible.”