Calderdale police prosecute more than 500 people as funds secured for tackling dangerous and irresponsible drivers

As Part of Operation Hawmill, 527 people were issued fixed penalty notices for speeding, drink or drug driving, driving without a seatbelt or driving whilst using a mobile phone from March 2018 to April this year.

There were 128 illegal vehicles taken off the roads and 11 vehicles which had either been stolen or had been involved in crime recoverd by police.

Operation Hawmill is targeted enforcement work by Calderdale Police to tackle dangerous driving and is funded by the Calderdale Safety Partnership.

T/Inspector Ben Doughty, co-chair of the Road Safety Delivery Group, said: “The public tell us time and time again that road safety is their number one concern in Calderdale.

“We are pleased to be able to introduce the speed indication devices to help tackle speeding in our communities, and at the same time, relaunch Operation Hawmill to target antisocial and dangerous driving.

“Despite an increased awareness, unfortunately we still see motorists on a weekly basis breaking the law and putting pedestrians, other road users and themselves in danger.

“The speed indication devices are an invaluable resource and will allow communities to prevent and detect speeding, and identify speeding hotspots for further enforcement action.”

Operation Hawmill will relaunch on August 1 following a successful bid for more funding.

The Calderdale Road Safety Group has also recently secured speed indication devices for each of the partnership working areas.

They can be deployed by police, community groups, community safety wardens, neighbourhood wardens or anyone who wants to conduct speed checks in areas of concern.

The Calderdale Road Safety Delivery Group is made up of West Yorkshire Police, Calderdale Council, Yorkshire Ambulance Service, West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and other representatives from Highways England, education sector and public health.

As well as regular officer deployments under Operation Hawmill and enforcement work through the Road Safety Delivery Group, officers from West Yorkshire Police’s Road Policing Unit, response teams and neighbourhood policing teams continue to tackle antisocial and dangerous driving on a daily basis.

Councillor Susan Press, Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Services and Communities, said: “Ensuring that residents and visitors to Calderdale feel safe and protected is a priority. We’re pleased to support these new steps to improve road safety as part of our firm but fair approach to enforcement. It gives further reassurance to local people that we’re doing all we can, in partnership with other organisations, to tackle the issues that matter to them most.”

If you would like to a speed indication device for your community, contact your neighbourhood co-ordinator, details of which can be found on the Calderdale Council website.

You can keep up to date with the results of the operations on Twitter, by searching #CalderdaleRoadSafety, #SaferCalderdale and #OpHawmill.