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Police launch 2013 winter driving campaign
The snow created major disruption for commuters.
DOES your vehicle have a faulty light? Are the tyres legal and do you have enough water in your washers? These are the type of things Humberside Police will be looking out for as they launch the winter 2013 winter casualty reduction campaign.
Humberside Police is launching the campaign to check the condition of road vehicles with particular emphasis on lighting, tyres, washers, wipers, windscreen and window tints and brake defects.
The aim is to reduce the number of collisions, particularly those involving fatal and serious injury, by making positive changes to the attitude and behaviour of road users through a combination of education and enforcement.
Throughout January there will be an increase in high visibility policing on the roads. The aim is to disrupt, prevent and detect criminal activity, reduce collisions, and reassure the public.
The campaign will include static road checks and random inspections. Drivers will be given a Winter Driving leaflet. Pedal cycles as well as cars and other vehicles will come under scrutiny and advice will be given to cyclists about the importance of high visibility clothing. The advice to cyclists is “Be Safe, Be Seen”.
Adverse weather conditions during the winter months have a direct effect on drivers. Ice, snow, fog, poor visibility and heavy rain can all play their part in some way towards being the cause of collisions.
Traffic Management Inspector Roger Mitchell said: “The message for this year continues to be the same as statistics show that most of the serious crashes, where someone is either killed or is seriously injured, occur when road conditions are slippery due to adverse weather, and because drivers do not adapt their speed appropriately.
“What we do find is that many motorists drive too fast and too close to vehicles in front of them when road conditions are slippery either because of rain, ice or snow. It takes a lot longer to stop when braking in the wet and drivers do not leave themselves a big enough gap to avoid the vehicle in front.
“The figures for 2012 are not yet available but in 2011, there were a total of 474 people who sustained fatal or serious injuries as a result of a road traffic collisions on the road across Humberside. This is the lowest number of people injured ever recorded for Humberside Police.
“This year we are not only stopping vehicles but also those people who use pedal cycles. Cyclists often do not have the correct high visibility clothing on and the lights on their bicycles may not be visible to motorists which can often result in a collision.”
HUMBERSIDE POLICE OFFERS THE FOLLOWING WINTER DRIVING ADVICE
Keep your vehicles lights, windows and mirrors clean and free from ice and snow, keep your battery fully charged, add anti-freeze to the radiator and winter additive to the windscreen washer bottles, make sure wipers and lights are in good working order and check that tyres have plenty of tread depth and are maintained at the correct pressure.
Take into account the fact that it can take ten times longer to stop in icy conditions than on a dry road. Drive slowly, allowing extra room to slow down and stop.
In foggy conditions, drive very slowly using dipped headlights. Use fog-lights if visibility is seriously reduced, but remember to switch them off when visibility improves.
Dazzle from winter sun can be dangerous. Keep a pair of sunglasses handy.
Remember in wet weather, stopping distances will be at least double those required for stopping on dry roads.
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Weather for Selby
Friday 24 May 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 28 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 4 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North west
