'Choose zero': Gloucestershire police kickstart multi-agency summer crackdown on drink-driving

This season’s campaign kicked off in Stroud on last Friday (July 7) on the Bath Road Trading Estate.

While the focus was to catch suspected drink-drivers, officers also sought to stop motorists for other driving offences, such not wearing a seatbelt, lack of insurance, or faulty headlights.

Led by the Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership, which combines cooperation between the police and fire services, police and crime commissioner and Gloucestershire county council on this issue, the campaign will run through until late August.

Special sergeant Bob Brunsdon said at the launch: “We’ll be overseeing three key aims this time around.

“We’ll be leading high-profile checks for drink-driving, starting in Stroud but launching similar checks in each district of the county.

“Our officers will also be targeting individuals already known to us for drink-driving.

“We will also be looking into incidents of occasional licenses, this follows a successful campaign in Arlingham when the rugby club were having a do, we were able to set up a checkpoint to make sure everyone was driving within the law.”

“Our advice is that if you are going to drive, don’t take the risk of how many drinks you can have, choose zero.”

On Friday night from around 8pm to midnight special constabulary officers breath-tested 44 people, and while none tested positive several people received strongly-worded warnings about their speed.

One man had his car confiscated by police after he was found to be driving without insurance, while a motorcyclist was found to be driving with cannabis in his system after testing positive on a DrugWipe 3S test.

Above - the positive drugs test for Cannabis, as shown by the two pink lines on the top segment.

Also present at the launch were recently-elected Stroud MP David Drew and chairman of the Rodborough Road Safety Working Group, and Rodborough parish councillor Charles Pederick.

At the launch Mr Drew praised the work of the special constabulary, whose officers are all volunteers.

“Members of the public are reassured by your visibility, I know they appreciate seeing you out and about.

“And especially when you all have other jobs to do, but give your time for free.

“It’s important that you all continue with this campaign to prevent crime and act with full use of the law.”

Cllr Pederick showed one driver the statistics from the nearby speed camera which had tracked his speeding on Bath Road after being pulled in for driving 47mph in the 30mph limit.

This followed the driver’s response that he rarely speeded and that this was an exception.

Camera data showed that the motorist had exceeded the speed limit more than 100 times within the last year, a third of all his journeys.

Above - Sergeant Andrew Staples, Stroud MP David Drew, Cllr Charles Pederick and constable Andrew Thomas

In total 15 members of the special constabulary participated in the launch, using the best of new technology including van equipped with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), a state-of-the-art motorbike and handheld devices equipped with Pronto.

Officers could use their handheld devices to look up someone’s driving license to check if they were insured, who the car is insured to, whether it has had or requires an MOT, and any previous offences.

Meanwhile the ANPR-equipped van flagged cars number plates while they drove past which would also capture cars that were listed as uninsured or even believed to have been involved in a crime.

The police motorcyclist could be sent after these motorists from the checkpoint to pull over the vehicle in question if they failed to pull-in after being prompted by officers.

As part of the campaign posters and leaflets with 'Choose zero' advice will be displayed in pubs and petrol stations.

Stroud MP David Drew helped distribute some of these with chief inspector of the special constabulary Steve Lindsay on the night of the launch.

Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership advise that if you drink and drive this summer you are: Two-and-a-half more times more likely to have a crash and six times more likely to be involved in a fatal collision.

‘Choosing zero’ avoids the chance of a criminal record, driving ban of hefty fine, reduces risk of a crash and removes the gamble of being over the legal limit.

For more on the partnership visit www.roadsafety-gloucestershire.org.uk