Police tackling road deaths rise

A police operation has been started to cut the number of people killed or seriously injured on roads in Essex.

In July 2008 no-one was killed, but 14 people were seriously injured.

In the first two weeks of July 2009 however, two people have died and 17 left seriously injured, prompting police to act.

Extra officers on motorcycles will be in areas with an increased number of serious road crashes, a police spokeswoman said.

She added figures before July have shown there was actually a reduction in incidents compared to previous years.

Adam Pipe, casualty reduction and operational performance manager, said: "We have been so pleased with the reduction in the amount of fatal collisions as well as the number of serious casualties on the county's roads.

"However the increase we have seen already this month is concerning and we don't want it to get any worse.

"The mobile support division is implementing Operation Zebra to make extra resources available to provide an increased police presence on the roads."

The operation will run until the end of July.