New Road Laws & Crackdowns For Summer

Summer is one of the best times to be on the nation’s roads. Long nights and warm weather make it perfect for a romantic drive or trip out with friends. If you have a convertible to get behind the wheel of, then the experience is even better!

However, new road laws and police crackdowns could spoil all that if you do not know about them. If you need to find out more about this, the below should help.

Don’t ignore ‘X’ signs on motorways

Anyone who heads out onto one of the UK’s motorways will have noticed a red ‘X’ appear over certain lanes at some point. These are not simply for show – they are used to signal that the lane it appears over is closed and you need to move lanes as soon as safely possible. The problem is that around 1 in 20 motorists are simply ignoring them currently! This has seen the authorities bring in a new penalty which took effect as of 10th June 2019. Now, overhead motorway cameras will take a photograph of the offender’s car if it stays in the wrong lane.

This will then trigger an automatic £100 postal fine before 3 points are put on your licence.

Crackdown on litter

Another area of concern for the authorities is more and more people throwing litter from cars. Existing laws stated that it must be proved who threw the litter from the vehicle before any action could be taken.

A new update, however, has seen this change. If any person travelling in a vehicle throws any litter out of the window, the driver will be fined £150 and held responsible. It is hoped this will cut down greatly on the unsightly litter that clogs up the UK’s roadsides.

Don’t drink and drive

Did you know that the amount of people killed in accidents on the road which involved a drunk driver has risen by 45% in a couple of years?

This and the fact that it is summer has seen the police carry out their annual crackdown on drink driving. As well as people driving straight after drinking alcohol, it seems many are still getting caught out the morning after a big night out.

The simple advice is not to have any alcohol before driving and make sure it is out of your system before you do the next day. Penalties for this crime can range from prison to large fines so it is just not worth it.

Police targeting tailgating also

Drink driving is naturally very dangerous to other road users but tailgating is just as bad. This is the practice of following the car in front of you too closely. Not only is this aggressive in its intent but it can also lead to accidents. Police on the M6 are now clamping down on this in a bid to make it safer for all. Those caught tailgating in this operation will be penalised £100 and be given 3 points on their licence.

To avoid this, simply leave a couple of seconds gap between you and the car in front at least.

Stay safe on the Summer roads

As you can see from the above, there is a range of new rules and clampdowns that UK road users will see this summer.

To stay safe and stay out of trouble, it is worth not only knowing about them but following them too. Hopefully, this post has given you enough information to do just that!

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