IRRESPONSIBLE motorists in Suffolk driving vehicles unfit for the road are being targeted in a fresh police crackdown.

Naomi Cassidy

IRRESPONSIBLE motorists in Suffolk driving vehicles unfit for the road are being targeted in a fresh police crackdown.

Operations are being carried out throughout the county during the Save A Life campaign which will see vehicles undergo intensive inspections to make sure they are up to the required standard.

One of the first operations was carried out around Ipswich on Friday and saw 30 vehicles pulled over for having suspected defects. Around a third were found to be unsafe.

Inspector Alex Morrison, of the roads policing unit, said tackling the issue of vehicles with defects was key to preventing accidents in the future.

He explained the operation was held on a Friday night as young drivers were involved in a high proportion of accidents at the weekends.

“The focus of the operation on Friday was very much the young driver although we were also looking at all driving offences, including speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, speaking on a mobile phone and drink driving,” he said.

“We want to make sure that vehicles on the road are roadworthy.”

Out of the 30 vehicles pulled over during the operation, 20 were found to have defects, including worn tyres, eight were found to have less serious defects and had to have them fixed within seven days, and 45 advisories were given for various other minor defects.

There were also 13 fixed penalty notices given and ten forms sent to insurance companies outlining modifications made to vehicles.

The operation saw police escort cars back to the Portman Road car park where they were thoroughly checked over.

Pc John Wilson from the traffic unit, said: “If a vehicle has a defective tyre for example, a driver could lose control and kill himself or someone else.”

- Do you support the campaign? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk

- The Evening Star, alongside Suffolk County Council, Suffolk Constabulary, Suffolk Safecam, the Highways Agency and the East of England Ambulance Service, has launched a ten-week Save a Life campaign to reduce the numbers of those getting killed or seriously injured on our county's roads.

The campaign aims to raise awareness of the shocking statistics surrounding the amount of accidents on Suffolk's roads, which could be so easily avoided by just thinking before getting behind the wheel.

Among the core areas to be tackled throughout the campaign are speeding, using mobile phones while driving, drink and drug driving, not wearing seatbelts.

Did you know?

Between 2003 and 2007 an average of 14 people aged between 16 and 24 years old were killed each year on Suffolk's roads.