Busy Easter Period For Causeway Coast And Glens Police

Police in the Causeway Coast and Glens area have reported a busy Easter period and have expressed their gratitude to partner agencies for their help in ensuring the safety of visitors to the region.

Inspector O’Brien highlighted the collaborative effort, stating: "An extensive safety operation was mounted on the North Coast this Easter weekend, and I would like to thank Causeway Coast and Glens Council, Translink and the Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA) for all their assistance. Of course, our colleagues in Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service have also gone above and beyond, as they do every day of the year."

Providing an overview of the bank holiday weekend, Inspector O’Brien said there were three arrests for public order offences, including disorderly behaviour, criminal damage, and assault on police. Additionally, seven Community Resolution Notices were issued for drug offences. Officers conducted 25 Preliminary Breath Tests, leading to two arrests for drink-driving.

A significant vehicle safety operation, conducted in partnership with the DVA, resulted in 42 vehicles being examined. Of these, 22 drivers were issued with immediate prohibition notices, preventing them from driving their vehicles on public roads due to being unroadworthy. These drivers now face prosecution in court. A further 16 fixed penalty tickets, some with accompanying penalty points, were issued for vehicles with less severe defects. Inspector O'Brien continued by detailing other motoring offences detected: "Outside of the vehicle testing regime, a total of 126 fixed penalty notices were issued, for a range of motoring offences including excess speed, mobile phone use, excess noise and excess smoke."

The deployment of Safety Camera Vans across the North Coast yielded a staggering 573 detections for speeding. Inspector O’Brien emphasised the dangers of speeding: "Speeding is one of the Fatal Five, the five main contributory reasons why people are dying on our roads. Of the fatal and serious collisions over the last year, speeding was the main causation factor in close to ten percent of cases, and a contributory factor in many other collisions."

The policing operation also extended to local railway stations in partnership with Translink, which Inspector O’Brien said "ensured that everyone got to and from Portrush safely. We are grateful for the support we got from staff at all stations and on board public transport."

In conclusion, Inspector O’Brien thanked the local community, businesses, and visitors for their support during the busy period. "As always, we are very grateful for the support of residents, businesses and visitors during these peak times for our area. Policing with the community in the North Coast is all about working together to ensure that our towns are safe and vibrant areas for people to live, work and visit."

For more information on #OpLifesaver, the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s new approach to speeding, please see www.psni.police.uk/latest-news/operation-lifesaver-slow-down-and-save-lives

You can also find out more on the Fatal Five reasons for serious collisions at www.psni.police.uk/safety-and-support/roads-and-driving/fatal-five