Police have described as “shocking” and “extremely selfish” the actions of an HGV driver they caught watching TV while driving down the M4 last month. Officers from the roads policing unit in Wiltshire identified 87 offences in just four days after using an unmarked HGV to spot drivers flouting the law from an elevated position. Other offences caught on police video included not wearing seatbelts, using mobile phones and exceeding the speed limit. Four vehicles were also overloaded, one vehicle had a severely cracked windscreen and one person was arrested for drug driving.
However, the force highlighted the lorry driver who was watching TV: “It’s really quite shocking that somebody would consider it acceptable to watch television whilst driving,” said sergeant Will Ayres. “The road requires your full attention at all times. If you are watching your favourite programme, no matter how good you are at multi-tasking, you are failing to concentrate on the road and you are significantly more likely to be involved in a collision. It’s extremely selfish and shows no respect for other road users.”
Ayres added: “It is always disappointing to see drivers failing to comply with basic road safety – wearing a seatbelt has been a legal requirement for many, many years yet we continue to see drivers failing this basic requirement.”
