A new team of special constables has been set up to tackle bad driving, drink and drug drivers and other traffic offences.
One of their first tasks will be to target drink and drug drivers in Brighton as part of the month-long annual summer crackdown by Sussex Police.
Chief Constable Giles York said that the number of people killed and seriously injured on the roads of Sussex had been rising in recent years.
He said: “My aim with this team is to utilise a resource that has the skills and time needed for this topic, the drive to do it and the motivation to make our communities safer.
“I take the subject of road safety extremely seriously and want the public to be aware of their responsibility here too.”
Last year 55 people were killed in crashes in Sussex.
The new team – called the Operation Crackdown Strike Team – will back up the work of the Roads Policing Unit and the education work carried out by the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership.
Sussex Police said: “The team will be consolidated in autumn when they will undertake extra training to enable them to carry out more operations on the roads.
“These will include fast roads training, evidential breath test machines, drug wipes and vehicle examination, to name but a few.”
Hi Frank – Great article – It’s alarming to hear that 55 individuals were killed in vehicular crashes last year but comforting to know that local authorities are really cracking down on drunk and drug drivers. Do you think harsher penalties – like jail time as this article suggests https://www.addictiontreatment.education/should-drug-users-be-jailed/
– should be the standard for drug drivers or to just try and rehabilitate them ?