THAMES Valley Police are taking part in a European campaign to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads.

Roads Policing officers will be running Operation Speed this week, carrying out speed safety checks throughout Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. The campaign is co-ordinated by TISPOL - the European Traffic Police Network.

Sgt Chris Appleby, Road Safety Team, said: "We are doing what we can to let young people know how they can keep themselves safe.

"Speeding is the biggest cause of fatal collisions, with people not wearing seatbelts in vehicles, a close second.

"The Safe Drive Stay Alive campaign sends these messages out in a hard-hitting way."

"We have recently expanded our Speed Awareness Scheme to give a greater number of drivers and riders caught speeding the option of opting for education rather than punishment. We believe our education schemes have a major influence on driver attitudes and behaviour.

"We will be running Operation Speed this week in random locations at random times. There is no guarantee that drivers will be given the option of attending the courses. In extreme cases of excessive speed, motorists will be given no alternative and be sent to court."

Worldwide, road traffic collisions kill 1.2 million people every year. Each year 32,000 young people in the World Health Organisation's European Region are killed on the roads.

Every year about 150 people are killed on the roads in the Thames Valley. Around nine of these fatalities are young people and a further 1,000 young people are injured each year. Many of these deaths and serious injuries may not have happened if people had not been speeding.

Thames Valley Police are working to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the roads in the region, particularly young people. Last year the Force worked with their road safety partners from the local authorities, the Ambulance Service, the Fire and Rescue Services and the Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership to launch Safe Drive Stay Alive. This campaign is based around a week of film and theatre events to raise awareness among young people about the risks they face on the roads. The campaign will be run again in November.

If a motorist has attended a Speed Awareness Scheme in the last three years, they will not be offered another workshop or course.

However, it doesn't matter if they have been on a similar scheme for other offences or how many points they have on their licence, except where the offer would be for the High Speed Course; for this course the motorist must have less than nine points at the time of attending the Speed Awareness Course.

For further information about the Speed Awareness Scheme log on to www.drivetechsas.com/thamesvalley or for the Rider Improvement Course visit www.drivetechdis.com