WILTSHIRE is the worst county in the south west for drivers using their mobile phone at the wheel.

That is one of the findings of an initiative launched by Highways England a year ago in a bid to improve safety on the nation’s high-speed roads.

Three HGV supercabs funded by the government company have been patrolling motorways and A roads over the past 12 months. As part of Operation Tramline, police officers inside the vehicles have recorded more than 3,500 offences, including 167 in the south west.

Of the 68 drivers caught using their mobile phones in the region, 34 were snared in Wiltshire. Devon and Cornwall had the next highest figure with 20.

The county fared better in the non-seatbelt wearing stakes, with eight offenders compared with 31 in Avon and Somerset.

Police officers in the south west issued 33 penalty charge notices and filed 81 traffic offence reports – 11 and three in Wiltshire respectively – usually requiring drivers to attend a driver education course. There were also four prosecutions for more serious offences, all of them in Avon and Somerset.

The three Highways England supercabs have been used by 29 police forces over the past year.

The cabs allow police officers to film evidence of unsafe driving behaviour by pulling up alongside vehicles, and drivers are then pulled over by police cars following a short distance behind.

Richard Leonard, head of road safety at Highways England, said: “Hundreds of thousands of drivers use our roads every day and the vast majority are sensible behind the wheel but some are putting themselves and others at risk.

“We introduced the three new HGV supercabs last year to help keep the roads safe and tackle dangerous driving by people who have either got into bad habits or are simply ignoring the law.

“The cabs have helped to identify over 3,000 unsafe drivers over the past year, and we hope they will encourage everyone to think about what more they could do to improve how they drive.”

The supercabs have a derestricted speed limiter which means they can travel at speeds up to the national speed limit, and flashing lights have been installed for use by police forces in an emergency.

National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Roads Policing, Chief Constable Anthony Bangham said: “Operation Tramline is a successful collaboration between the police and Highways England.

“We remain committed to tackling those who take unnecessary risks with their own safety and the safety of others on our roads by allowing themselves to be distracted while driving. The consequences of these actions are often devastating.

“We will continue to work alongside Highways England on Operation Tramline and will prosecute drivers who ignore the risks.”

New footage, filmed by one of the supercabs, has also been released showing a lorry driver using his mobile phone to make a credit card payment as he travels along the M40. The trucker was seen holding his credit card in one hand and his phone in the other. The footage can be seen at: https://youtu.be/9WBHnaDmd6I.

Other footage captured using the cabs in their first year included a van driver who was spotted with no hands on the wheel as he used one hand to change gear and the other to hold his mobile phone. The incident happened as he travelled along the A38 near Derby, even though he pulled into a service station to stop just a few seconds later.

The driver of a pick-up truck was also filmed without his hands on the wheel as he travelled along the M60 near Eccles in Greater Manchester. The footage shows the driver with both hands on his phone as he writes a text message.

Tom Cotton, Road Haulage Association’s head of licencing and infrastructure policy, said: “We need to improve road safety – there’s a small minority of drivers whose actions endanger other road users often with tragic consequences.

“Operation Tramline is an invaluable initiative to help police catch the drivers putting themselves and others at risk.”

Around one in three of the drivers filmed breaking the law by the supercabs had someone in their vehicle not wearing a seatbelt, despite statistics showing that one in four people killed in car crashes in 2017 were not wearing seatbelts.

Drivers illegally using a mobile phone while driving was the second most common offence captured by the cabs, with the latest figures showing that mobile phone use is a factor in one death on the roads every 12 days.