On the 15th June 2021, Merseyside Road Safety Partnership attended the crushing of seized e-scooters, scrambler bikes and other electric powered vehicles as part of ‘Operation Brookdale’.

Since Operation Brookdale’s inception the force has seen a year-on-year decrease in reports of anti-social behaviour and nuisance involving off-road motorbikes across Merseyside. In 2016-17 there were 10,511 incidents involving off-road bikes and in the last 12 months this figure stands at 5,150, a 49% reduction. However, many of our communities continue to be affected by off-road bikes and are, increasingly, affected by e-scooters.

In the last 3 months alone, the force has:

• seized a total of 183 vehicles
• made a total of 122 arrests, including for driving, theft and drug offences
• issued 143 fixed penalty notices

The threat illegal e-scooters can pose was apparent on seeing the range of those that had been seized, and were ready to be crushed for recycling.  Some had the capacity travel up to 90mph – posing a real risk to the public.

Chief Inspector Paul Holden said:

The success of Operation Brookdale is commendable, but we will not let up in our efforts. Each piece of information provided to us and each bike recovered only strengthens our resolve in tackling these issues for the good of our communities.

Merseyside is a safer place with each bike seized. The number of bikes seized during this year’s operation should mean that our communities are subjected to less incidents in the future and I also hope it makes people who use off-road bikes illegally or anti-socially think very carefully about their behaviour.

”Despite our successes in seizing these bikes, we will not be complacent. We know that many of our communities continue to be blighted by scrambler bikes being ridden dangerously and I want to reassure people that our work targeting scrambler bikes will carry on throughout the year and beyond.

We will continue to be out on patrol and to take action whenever the community tells us there are problems. I would appeal to anyone with information about illegal or nuisance scrambler bikes in their areas to get in touch with us and I can assure them that we will take action.

We’re trying to raise awareness of the illegality of private e-scooters, as well as their potential dangers.

For more information about the legalities involving e-scooters, read our e-scooter article here.

Child car seat safety – what you need to know

This Child Safety Week (7-13 June), Knowsley’s Road Safety team is reminding residents of the importance of car seat safety. Car seat checking events regularly find that approximately 70% of seats aren’t fitted correctly.

You must make sure that any children in the vehicle you’re driving are:

• In the correct car seat for their height or weight until they reach 135 cm tall or their 12th birthday, whichever is first
• Wearing a seat belt if they’re 12 or 13 years old, or younger and over 135cm tall

While some faults are minor, almost a third of seats checked have major errors in the way they are fitted meaning they are either damaged, fitted to a car in a way that was dangerous or incompatible to the child or car. It is also often found that children aren’t travelling in a seat at all.

You can be fined up to £500 if a child under 14 isn’t in the correct car seat or wearing a seat belt while you’re driving.

Second-hand car seats
Parents and carers are also warned that second-hand car seats could be putting children at risk. A previously damaged seat might not show visible signs leaving it weakened and unable to protect your child properly in the event of a crash. It could also have missing or worn parts that aren’t visible.

For those for whom a second-hand car seat is the only option, the advice is to:

• Not buy anything that looks as if it may have been involved in a collision
• Check that nothing is missing – including the instructions
• Buy from family or friends because you’ll know the history of the seat
• Seek professional advice on suitability and fitting from a trusted retailer
• Remember that safety standards are updated regularly, and older seats may no longer be of the required standard
• And finally, remember all car seats need to meet safety standards R44.04 or iSize (R129). Although car seats labelled R44.03 are still legal to use, they are at least 15 years old. The general life span of a car seat is 5 or 6 years due to wear and tear, something to consider when choosing your child’s car seat

We also encourage when parents are disposing of damaged or old seats, to remove the seat covers and cut off the straps so they can’t be re-used.

Sarah English from the Merseyside Road Safety Partnership, said:

This Child Safety Week acts as a timely reminder to parents and care givers to ensure their child’s car seat is safe and secure. The Good Egg Safety Guide has some wonderful advice in the choice and safe fitting of these seats and I would encourage the reading of it to make an informed decision.

You can find advice on the Good Egg Safety Guide as well as on the Government website

Merseyside Police’s mounted section deployed to deal with near miss horse riding/driving issues

On Wednesday 5th May, Merseyside Mounted Police Section was deployed to two areas of concern in Wirral – Frankby Road, Frankby in the morning and Station Road, Thurstaston in the afternoon. These areas have been highlighted by data provided by the British Horse Society (BHS) as a result of online reports made by their members of near misses and incidents involving poor driving.

Sgt Daniel Harris of Merseyside Police’s mounted section explained the operation:

The operation consisted of two mounted officers in plain yellow high visibility clothing on two of our horses. These officers rode in single file along the roads, but they were in possession of their personal radios and were able to direct ‘Roads Policing Unit’ colleagues further up the road to stop nominated vehicles who they felt would benefit from advice due to either passing too fast or too close.

 

During this operation, 28 vehicles were stopped and drivers advised, all of whom appreciated the advice given. Interestingly, the biggest proportion of drivers were aged over 50, with only one driver under 30 being caused to stop. Whilst on site at Frankby Road, a nearby resident came out of her house and passed on her thanks to the officers at the site for their efforts, stating that she had witnessed first-hand the poor driving past horses and had also received damage to her perimeter wall as a result of poor driving and the inevitable road traffic collision that followed. The mounted section were kindly facilitated for parking by Wirral Council Rangers, who were also very pleased with the presence and fully supportive of the operation, along with a local farm owner.

The team went out again on the 6th of May, this time to Gorsey Lane in St Helens, as it had also been identified as a risk area.

Sgt. Harris said of the operation:

The numbers stopped here were actually surprisingly low and the majority were very considerate, which was nice to see. A total of just 15 drivers required advice, although the area was identified for future speed enforcement activity by the ‘Roads Policing Unit’ team. Again, quite surprisingly, just one driver was under 25 and the vast majority were over 50.

 

Whilst on site, a local resident came out to thank the officers for the activity and stated that she was massively impressed and reassured by the campaign and fully supported the visible presence in the area. A walker also commented about the presence and stated it was “good to see” and was reassured when the future enforcement for speeding motorists was mentioned. Northfield Riding Stables kindly facilitated our parking needs and were also thankful for the activity.

 

This was a simple but very effective operation that also deployed the “Ranger” speed detection device to identify motorists in excess of the relevant speed limits and resulted in over 200 offences being disclosed for processing under the relevant educational activity or prosecution.

The operation seems to have had a massive impact on the local communities, their confidence in Merseyside Police, educating the public of the BHS’s campaign and its safety message and ultimately promoted road safety across these areas in support of reducing Killed & Serious Injury collisions.