Cops stop more than 60 motorists on stretch of road

Officers from Bakewell and Hathersage Safer Neighbourhood Teams were joined by CREST, the county’s roads policing unit, VOSA and HM Revenue and Customs for the Operation Safedrive event on a stretch of the A623.

During the day, 28 drivers were pulled over for not wearing their seatbelts, six were spotted using a phone while driving and two were speeding.

Three cars were stopped for number plate offences, four were told to remove illegal tints from their windows and one was stopped for having no insurance.

Sergeant Andy Wordsworth, of Derbyshire police, said: “The point of Operation Safedrive is not to unfairly target motorists but to make our roads as safe as we can for drivers, passengers and pedestrians.

“On the day the vast majority of drivers were fine but it’s still worrying to see some not wearing their seatbelts, driving with defective tyres or using a phone.

“Stopping drivers is just one part of this operation and until the road safety message gets across, we will carry on educating drivers any way we can,” he added.

Operation Safedrive is an ongoing Derbyshire police campaign to educate motorists about responsible driving and make roads across the county safer.

For more information about the campaign, call Derbyshire police on 101 or visit www.derbyshire.police.uk.