Hundreds of drivers caught speeding and not wearing seatbelts in three days

Road safety: Police caught hundreds of motorists speeding and not wearing a seatbelt.

Almost 800 drivers were caught speeding and over 700 stopped for not wearing a seatbelt during a three-day police road safety campaign.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpos) campaign focused on country roads where the majority of fatal road accidents happen.

During the safety campaign, held between Tuesday and Thursday last week, one car was stopped where a female passenger was carrying a one-year-old child on her lap without a seatbelt.

And Acpos said 14 drivers were reported to the procurator fiscal for dangerous driving and a further 10 for careless driving.

Chief Superintendent Derek Robertson said that speeding or not wearing a seatbelt is unacceptable.

He added: "At the start of the campaign I stated that I find the number of people showing a blatant disregard for their safety and other road users' safety very worrying.

"My position has not changed and the figures from across the country clearly indicate that continued police activity is required to drive home the safety message.

"These statistics will refocus our efforts as we work to reduce injury and loss of life on our roads.

"This is unacceptable and it takes everyone to accept personal responsibility for their actions to deliver improvements in road safety for Scotland.

"There are still far too many road users speeding, not wearing seatbelts and not driving safely and we will continue to robustly police our roads to ensure the public are protected."

Acpos figures show that 133 of 189 fatal road accidents in 2010 happened on "non-built up roads" such as country lanes.

Police said factors in the crashes are often speeding, not wearing seatbelts or not driving appropriately for the condition of the road.

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