North Yorkshire Police Clamp-Down On 'Unsafe' Lorries

North Yorkshire’s Roads Policing team are targeting unsafe commercial vehicles, including lorries and vans during an intensive week of action.

According to a press release, police officers are working with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), the fire service and colleagues from Cleveland and Durham Specialist Operations to identify unsafe vehicles and loads, check hazardous freight, and catch illegal stowaways. Both covert and high visibility patrols will be used along with vehicle checks in target areas.

Officers are also educating and engaging with drivers to help them keep their vehicles safe and secure.

Traffic Sergeant Andy Morton, from North Yorkshire Police, said: “Unfortunately we do detect a significant number of offences relating to the use of commercial vehicles using our roads.

“These offences include vehicles with serious mechanical defects, overweight vehicles and breaches of drivers hours rules but also offences such as drink and drug driving, no insurance and licensing offences.”

He added that in the past year, the force has dealt with several accidents, including some very serious incidents, that have occurred due to insecure or excessive loads, vehicle defects, driving while tired, poor and careless driving, or a combination of all three.

The police and their partner agencies are now engaging with the national haulage industry to ensure these kinds of incidents are prevents, and that everyone is safer on the region’s roads.

Data from Highways England shows that between 2015 and 2019 in the Yorkshire and the North East region collisions involving commercial vehicles on main routes resulted in 1,401 casualties – 19 per cent of total casualties.

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