Hundreds of motorists caught speeding by police

Officers used a Trucam device to detect the 1,599 speeding motorists

Essex Police say they have caught more than 1,500 motorists speeding in three months as part of a project to make the county's roads safer.

Officers monitored 107 locations including residential areas, rural roads, and the A13, A12 and M25.

A top speed of 106mph (171 km/h) on a 70mph road was recorded. Another motorist was also caught driving at 66mph (106 km/h) in a residential 30mph area.

Samantha Wright, from Road Crime and Safer Essex Roads, said road-related crime presented "a risk to the wider community, road users and the driver themselves".

She said speed enforcement officers "play an important role in carrying out enforcement of traffic offences as they have proved over the last three months".

"Their community engagement and liaison with road safety partners helps us to direct our policing activities to where they are needed most and to provide reassurance to the public in areas where speeding has been raised as a concern," she added.

Speed enforcement officers aim to support Vision Zero, a joint ambition to have zero road deaths by 2040 or sooner, the force said.