A new and specially-trained team tackling some of the main causes of crashes in Lincolnshire is now in place.

The Safer Roads Team (SRT), ten Special Constables and two Special Sergeants, was launched on Friday to combat the so-called ‘Fatal Four’; drink/drug driving, mobile phone use, speeding and non-seatbelt use.

Inspector Jason Baxter, of Lincolnshire Police, said: “Anyone who lives in this county will know that there have been a number of collisions on Lincolnshire’s roads this year that have resulted in serious injury or, even more tragically, death.

“The sad fact is that many of these accidents can be prevented if some drivers altered their behaviours because whilst many are, in fact, completely law-abiding when they are behind the wheel, there is a minority who are not. Unfortunately, they are the ones who can injure themselves and others as a result of the way in which they drive.

“Our communities have told us that road safety is an incredibly concerning and important issue to them and so we hope that the introduction of the SRT will go some way in reducing some of the collisions that are happening.”

The SRT is working alongside both the East Midlands Operational Support Service, a collaboration of specialist operations covering Lincolnshire and four other East Midlands police forces. and both Boston and Lincoln Roads Armed Policing Teams.

A Fatal Four policing strategy was first pioneered by Northamptonshire Police in 2011 and the arrival of a SRT in Lincolnshire came after the county's first-ever Road Safety Summit in Grantham last November.

Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones, who hosted the summit, said: “The idea to form a trained unit of Special Constables, with traffic policing capabilities, emerged as a result of many meetings I have around the county, as well as the response to my recent public opinion survey.

"It is clear that road safety is an important issue and a high priority for the residents of the county.

“The new unit will support the Tactical Roads Policing Team that we already share with Leicestershire and Northamptonshire and I think this will be an important step in tackling the injury and death toll on our roads.

"Every incident has a terrible, and sometimes tragic, impact on those involved and we must do everything in our power to reduce this problem.”

Lincolnshire Police confirmed that since the start of 2018, 14 deaths have occurred on Lincolnshire’s roads which have resulted from 12 collisions, compared with 14 deaths from 13 collisions at the same time last year.

In 2017, there were more than 3,300 road traffic collisions on the county’s roads, resulting in 2,577 people suffering injury, 519 of them seriously, and 49 fatalities.

Even more tragically, most of the casualties were not at fault or to blame for the collision but, instead, just an innocent victim.

Also at the SRT launch was Assistant Chief Constable Shaun West who said: “We have staff stationed around the county who police the roads.

"But the introduction of this team will give us more capacity and certainly more opportunity to stop people from driving a vehicle who are not doing so in a safe and responsible manner.

"This includes both educating drivers and, where necessary, penalising them.

“So I am thrilled that the force, along with the Police and Crime Commissioner, and Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, has been able to make the introduction of this unit happen and I hope that

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Special Constable and Special Sergeants make up the new Safer Roads Team for Lincolnshire. (1914287)

“So I am thrilled that the force, along with the Police and Crime Commissioner, and Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, has been able to make the introduction of this unit happen and I hope that we quickly see some positive differences on our roads.”