Officers from Sussex Police and Surrey Police join nationwide campaign to tackle ‘fatal five’ road offences

July sees the highest number of people killed or seriously injured on the UK road network and Operation Spotlight is a targeted national operation to make our roads safer for everyone.

The fatal five factors are; drink and drug driving, mobile phone use at the wheel, not wearing a seatbelt, excessive speed, and dangerous or careless driving.

Between 2018 and 2023, there were 3,558 fatal or serious collisions reported nationally involving these behaviours.

Each casualty is one too many and every such collision will have a profound effect on all that are involved.

Last year, officers carried out proactive patrols and stop checks across the road network to help raise awareness and to prevent offenders having access to our roads.

Across both forces, 3,205 vehicles were stopped by officers, and more than 2,000 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) and traffic offence reports (TORs) were issued.

Officers made 188 arrests, and 170 drivers were reported for summons for driving offences.

Meanwhile 697 roadside breath tests were issued and 260 roadside DrugWipe tests were issued to detect offenders who were drink or drug-driving.

This year, officers will continue to carry out high visibility stop checks and patrols.

The aims of Operation Spotlight are:

• Raising awareness of the dangers of the fatal five behaviours.
• Encouraging road users to think twice before undertaking any of the fatal five behaviours.
• Demonstrating policing action and robust enforcement of dangerous driving behaviour.

Surrey Police and Sussex Police Roads Policing Unit (RPU) Chief Inspector Karen Coyne said: “We know that July is one of the worst months for people being killed or seriously injured on our roads, because our roads are busier in the summer due to holidays and days out.

“There are also more vulnerable road users such as cyclists, pedestrians, and horse riders using the roads during the summer, so this is all the more reason for motorists to drive safely and be more vigilant.

“Operation Spotlight is a month-long campaign, however our patrols continue roads 24/7, every day of the year, and offenders should expect to face robust action where they ignore the law and neglect the safety of themselves and others.

“We know that so many of these collisions are easily preventable, and reducing the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on our roads is a priority for Sussex Police.”