Drivers who speed through North Yorkshire towns and villages are being warned that they will be caught as a county-wide operation launches.
Traffic officers, safety camera operators and volunteers from community speed watch groups will be working together, covering communities, rural roads and main routes across North Yorkshire.
The activity this week is part of Op Vis – a North Yorkshire Police campaign to make the roads safer.
Police say they will use a range of tactics and technology to try to reduce speeds in communities and on high-risk roads, educate drivers and prevent collisions.
Roads policing officers and safety camera vans will be out in force on a range of A roads across the county. Surrounding routes, including residential areas and B-roads, will also be covered.
They will also be enforcing other offences such as using a mobile phone while driving, illegal overtaking on solid white lines and not wearing a seatbelt.
Volunteers from Community Speed Watch groups across the county will be deploying at the same time, supported by marked police units.
Motorists will be able to find out where Community Speed Watch groups are operating during the campaign by following @NYTrafficBureau on Twitter or North Yorkshire Police Traffic Bureau on Facebook.
Andy Tooke, of North Yorkshire Police’s Traffic Bureau, said: “We launched this campaign because residents in communities across North Yorkshire are fed up with speeding, along with other anti-social road use.
“It affects people’s quality of life and makes communities less safe for young and old alike. Speeding is entirely preventable – but if you choose to do it, you can expect to be caught and dealt with appropriately.”
Traffic Sergeant Pete Stringer said: “If you saw what we see, you’d never speed, even by a ‘few miles an hour’. I’ve attended far too many life-changing or fatal collisions where the driver was ‘only a few miles an hour over the limit’.
“When you travel at 35mph rather than 30mph, you need an extra one metre to think before you can even react, and an extra five metres to brake. That’s an extra six metres in total.
“It’s the difference between someone stepping out in your path and carrying on with their day after you narrowly miss them, versus someone stepping out, being flung over your car and taking their final breath lying on the carriageway.”
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