SUFFOLK Constabulary's campaign to make drivers take greater responsibility for their behaviour on the county's roads is now in its second month.

SUFFOLK Constabulary's campaign to make drivers take greater responsibility for their behaviour on the county's roads is now in its second month.

Police are concentrating on four key areas - drivers who speed, drink or take drugs, use mobile phones or other hand-held devices, and fail to wear seatbelts.

Figures for February show 103 drivers were arrested for drink or drug driving, 253 were given penalty notices for speeding, 274 were given fixed penalties for the use of mobile phones or other hand-held devices and 579 people were issued with a fixed penalty notice for not wearing a seatbelt.

Chief inspector Martin Barnes-Smith, head of Suffolk Constabulary's Roads Policing Unit, said: “Every time we stop a motorist and issue a fixed penalty notice we hope that we have given the recipient grounds to think about their actions and more importantly that they may moderate their behaviour in the future and consequently not be injured or killed in an accident.

“I am particularly dismayed that so many people were dealt with in February for not wearing seatbelts.

“It is simple, seatbelts save lives.

“Road policing officers attend a number of road traffic collisions where people are killed or seriously injured when they would have remained relatively unscathed had they been wearing a seatbelt.

“I particularly struggle to understand why parents allow their children to travel in a car without the proper restraints, yet time and time again officers see children standing in the back of cars where they are incredibly vulnerable.

“In this situation if the car stops suddenly for any reason the child is propelled through the front windscreen, if they are not killed outright the injuries that they receive can be life changing.”