Spot checks in bid to cut toll of road accidents

The force will spend the month using high visibility patrols and holding spot checks as part of its winter casualty reduction campaign.

Faulty lights, brakes, wipers, illegal tyres and a lack of water in windscreen washer reservoirs are among the failings that will be looked for, while cyclists and their bicycles will also come under scrutiny.

Drivers will also be given a winter driving leaflet offering a range of safety advice.

Traffic management Inspector Roger Mitchell said: “The message for this year continues to be the same as statistics show that most of the serious crashes, where someone is either killed or is seriously injured occur when road conditions are slippery due to adverse weather, and because drivers do not adapt their speed appropriately.

“What we do find is that many motorists drive too fast and too close to vehicles in front of them when road conditions are slippery either because of rain, ice or snow. It takes a lot longer to stop when braking in the wet and drivers do not leave themselves a big enough gap to avoid the vehicle in front.

“The figures for 2012 are not yet available but in 2011, there were a total of 474 people who sustained fatal or serious injuries as a result of a road traffic collisions on the road across Humberside. This is the lowest number of people injured ever recorded for Humberside Police.”

He said this year they were stopping not only vehicles but also cyclists. “Cyclists often do not have the correct high visibility clothing on and the lights on their bicycles may not be visible to motorists, which can often result in a collision.”

Earlier this year, the Safer Roads Humber partnership said there had been a 59 per cent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured at core safety camera sites over an eight-year period.