6 March 2013 Last updated at 09:20 ET

Lothian and Borders road death campaign: Nearly 200 charged

Nearly 200 people have been charged with alleged traffic offences as part of a Lothian and Borders Police campaign to cut road casualties.

Operation Oakum was launched on 26 February and ran for a week.

It saw a number of people charged with careless driving, speeding, seat belt offences, using a mobile phone while driving and drink driving.

Police said there had been a 30% drop in serious injury collisions compared with the same period last year.

Insp Andy Amour said: "While we are delighted to have observed a comparative decrease in serious injury collisions, there are still far too many motorists driving in a manner which puts themselves and other road users at risk.

"Careless driving, speeding and drink driving greatly impair your ability to maintain control of a vehicle, while using a mobile phone or other device increases the likelihood that you will be involved in a collision.

"Lothian and Borders Police are committed to casualty reduction on our roads and we will maintain a visible presence across various routes within the force area.

"Anyone found to be driving in an unacceptable manner, or driving when they are not legally entitled to do so, will be robustly dealt with."

Operation Oakum charges by alleged offence and force area
	Edinburgh	East and Midlothian	West Lothian	Scottish Borders	Total
Careless driving	6	1	4	0	11
Speeding	25	18	2	17	62
Seat belt offences	30	9	6	10	55
Mobile phone	40	5	5	1	51
Drink driving	2	0	3	1	6
Total	103	33	20	29	185