Hundreds of drivers stopped on M90/A90 in police weekend of action

Hundreds of vehicles have been stopped by police as part of a road policing operation carried out on the M90/A90 between Edinburgh and Fraserburgh.

A weekend of action was carried out by police. Picture; Lisa Ferguson

DOWNLOAD THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS APP ON ITUNES OR GOOGLE PLAY

The operation, involving multiple divisions of Police Scotland, along with the Scottish Camera Safety Partnership, was run from Friday, October 28, to Monday, October 31.

Officers patrolled the 176 mile stretch of road, attending a number of minor collisions and carrying out static checks at key locations, supported by the safety camera units.

Nearly 850 vehicles were either stopped by road policing officers or detected speeding by the safety camera unit.

Despite repeated messages regarding inappropriate speed being a factor in collisions, over 350 vehicles were found to be speeding. A total of 28 drivers were stopped for careless driving, 9 drivers were not wearing their seatbelts and 16 were using mobile phones while driving.

In addition 23 vehicles were found to have no insurance with 12 being seized immediately. Most of the drivers with no insurance were issued with fixed penalties of 6 points on their licence and a £300 fine with the others being reported to the Procurator Fiscal.

In addition over 150 minor road traffic offences were detected.

Officers carried out a number of searches of vehicles, recovering small quantities of drugs as well as seizing over £14,000 under the proceeds of crime legislation.

North East based Road Policing Sergeant Steve Manson, who led the operation, said: “We carried out a very similar operation at the start of this year and received positive feedback. These dedicated patrols are intended to reduce road casualties by influencing driver and road user behaviour, as well as detecting and deterring criminality on our roads. Road users will have noticed the increased presence on the road over the weekend and it will hopefully have made them think more about how they drive.

“The figures demonstrate why we run these operations and why the road has a poor history of collisions. Many of the drivers stopped were issued with fixed penalties of 3 points on their licence and a £100 fine with the more serious offences being reported to the Procurator Fiscal.

“Road policing officers and units will continue to work together carrying out similar operations to target specific areas or routes.”