POLICE have stepped up their presence on Herefordshire's roads as they join a national safety campaign.

Officers have been out and about in the county conducting speed checks and speaking to motorists as part of the National Police Chiefs Council speed enforcement operation, which kicked off on May 18.

Drivers on Eign Road in Hereford were among those being speed-checked last night (May 26), with police conducting a number of stops.

Police in Herefordshire are joining forces across the UK in taking part in the two phase operation to remind people of the importance of travelling within the speed limit.

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This operation is deliberately timed as travel restrictions start to ease, to keep people safe as the volume of traffic increases.

Following on from phase one, which saw forces encouraging people to slow down and save lives on social media, in addition to normal speed enforcement activity, phase two sees forces step up their visible speed enforcement activity.

They will be focusing on roads and areas where speeding is known to be an issue or there is a history of serious collisions for the next two weeks.

Police want to remind motorists of the devastating impact speeding can have, not only increasing the risk of a collision but the severity of the impact at higher speeds.

Figures show that on average 17 people are killed and 126 are seriously injured every month in the UK, where speeding is believed to have been a significant factor.

At 30mph, vehicles are travelling at 44 feet or about 3 car lengths each second. Even in good conditions, the difference in stopping distance between 30 mph and 35 mph is an extra 21 feet or 6.4 metres, more than 2 car lengths, this could make all the difference in avoiding a collision. The distance required to stop safely, significantly increased at higher speeds.