OVER THE weekend, Police in Plymouth hired a double-decker bus to catch drivers committing offences behind the wheel, such as using their phone while driving, in a new initiative to clamp down on law breakers.
Two Plymouth police officers came up with the idea and after filling the top deck with eagle eyed officers, spent Friday and Saturday driving around Plymouth, using their unusual vantage point to identify drivers not complying with the law.
The operation resulted in 39 motorists getting caught using their phones, and 36 for not wearing a seatbelt.
Once officers on board the bus had spotted an offending driver, the radioed colleagues in patrol cars, who pulled the driver over.
Since March 1 it’s been illegal to use a mobile phone while driving and the offence now carries a £200 fine and six penalty points – a deterrent that we hope will reduce the amount of fatal or serious motorcycle collisions caused by distracted drivers.
Plymouth police officer Andy Llewellyn said: ‘Careless and inconsiderate driving is something that people may not recognise as a fatal factor. In Plymouth and across the force area we are looking to address this and the other driving behaviours in the fatal five to improve road safety awareness.’
This is the first time we’ve heard of the police using a bus to gain a better vantage point for peering into cars, although a similar train of thought has led to them using lorries to catch lorry drivers using their phones while behind the wheel.
Image: Used under licence from Creative Commons
