Pan-European police actions tackles road safety

4753 TISPOL operations focusing on truck and bus safety across Europe have yielded major safety benefits, as well as tackling criminal offences. The police work targeting trucks led to the discovery of nearly 1,200 illegal immigration and human trafficking offences. The action followed checks on nearly 140,000 trucks across 27 countries. A total of 44,859 offences were detected, including 421 drivers charged with alcohol and drug offences, 5,054 offences of exceeding the speed limit and 5,074 instances of drivers exceeding their maximum permitted time at the wheel. They also included 939 overweight trucks and 981 insecure loads, as well as 3,828 immediate prohibitions on trucks, mostly due to technical defects. Meanwhile in a similar action, more than 500 buses were taken off the road. In all, a total of 31,000 vehicles were controlled in TISPOL's recent cross border bus operation. In all, 27 countries took part, resulting in the detection of 5,722 traffic offences and a further 112 crimes. The offences included 813 cases of exceeding the speed limit, 13 drink-drive detections, 1,094 seatbelt offences and 524 contraventions of tachograph regulations. Included in the total of 112 crimes were 21 illegal immigration and human trafficking offences, 33 drug detections and 40 other crimes.