Sussex police crackdown on drivers using mobile phones & violent offences

This week a dedicated team of officers have been on patrol to catch those who use their handheld devices to text, call or surf the web while driving. This offence remains one of the main causes of serious injury and fatal collisions and despite repeated messaging around safety, there are still motorists who continue to use their phone while driving.

By using a handheld device at the wheel, you are taking your attention away from the road, which can severely affect your judgement, your reaction times and your awareness of what’s around you.

Focusing on motorists who use mobile devices

This week of action is in addition to officers’ routine roads policing duties, which are carried out all year round and Sussex Police is focusing its resources on catching motorists who use their mobile devices whilst driving.

This type of driver distraction is a huge annoyance for many residents who want to be able to use their local roads safely.

Violent offences

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics yesterday show that police a recording a greater number of violent offences. The Government is taking urgent action to stop these crimes and police forces must adapt and change their response to effectively tackle serious violent crime. However levels of knife crime in Sussex are comparatively low, and the latest figures for Sussex show a small drop in serious knife crime figures in 2017 (311) compared to 2016 (329). There will be another national knife campaign and amnesty that Sussex Police will be fully supporting from 12th February this year.

Whilst the police do have a key role in tackling knife crime, we also have to look at where people get hold of knives and that includes our homes and shops and the internet. Proposed changes to tighten the law include restrictions or a ban on under-18s being able to purchase knives, and having to collect in person any knives ordered online so that age could be verified.

The message to get out is quite simple – lose the knife, not a life.

 

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