A lorry driver who rolled a cigarette with no hands on the wheel and a tow truck with no brakes and bald tyres were two of the offences caught by the police on the M5 last month.
Operation Tramline saw an unmarked HGV, loaned by National Highways, being driven between junctions 8 and 14 of the motorway and resulted in 58 drivers being stopped.
The road safety initiative aims to educate motorists and reduce the number of incidents caused by unsafe driver behaviour or distractions such as using a mobile phone, not wearing a seat belt or insecure loads.
The tow truck was pulled over and roads policing officers found several major defects including no brakes, cuts in tyres, bald tyres, cracked suspension springs and an insecure load.
Gloucestershire police said a prohibition notice was issued to the driver as the vehicle was not roadworthy and could have put other motorists at risk.
The police also pulled over two motorists as they were towing vehicles while in the third lane of the motorway which is not permitted.
Officers who identified a driver committing an offence recorded video footage from the unmarked lorry cab before notifying officers in an accompanying car.
These officers then intercepted the offending vehicle, pulled it over and dealt with the driver.
The offences were dealt with by way of traffic offence reports and summons. These can potentially result in a fine of £100 for failing to wear a seat belt, £200 and six penalty points for using a handheld mobile device and a £300 fine for driving a vehicle in contravention of a prohibition.
Penalties for driving whilst disqualified can lead to a fine of up to £5,000 and up to six months’ imprisonment.
Sergeant Matt Firth from the roads policing unit said: “Reducing the numbers of people killed or seriously injured on our roads continues to be a priority for Gloucestershire Constabulary.
“We will continue to run these operations to detect and deter those who choose to drive in this manner remembering that any of us or our loved ones could be impacted by such behaviours whilst using the county’s roads.”
National Highways engineering team manager for road safety, Jack Mason, said: “Figures show that you’re twice as likely to die in a crash if you don’t wear a seat belt and four times more likely to be in a crash if using a phone at the wheel. So it is always disappointing when we see people who are prepared to put themselves and others at risk in this way.”
