DRIVER CAUGHT HAVING A SHAVE

Both were reprimanded.

he roadside safety initiative, at a known road accident danger spot, involved 12 firefighters and six police officers who pulled over motorists for a variety of offences including using mobile phones and not wearing seatbelts.

A total of 70 drivers were pulled over in the four-hour operation on Thursday last week.

Fifty-eight of them were give a 10 minute lecture on road safety by fire fighters

Said fire service district commander John Ticehurst: 'This type of joint operation has not been tried before. It was a great success.

'We expect to be doing it again at the same location in a couple of months time.

'Anything that distracts a driver when he or she should be concentrating on the road is potentially a fatal accident in the making on a single carriageway

'We spoke to 58 offending motorists. If half a dozen take notice in a serious way then it is possible we will have saved lives.'

Eleven motorists will be prosecuted for offences such as no tax or vehicle licence.

One driver did not have time for a lecture and received an on the spot 30 fine.

Thirty-nine of those pulled over had not been wearing seatbelts; 15 were on mobile phones; one man was having a shave; a woman driver had a hand in her handbag; and one driver was holding and reading a map.

In the last 10 years there have been 100 traffic accidents at the Beddingham junction, with 10 fatalities. Firefighters cut 63 people out of vehicles over that period.