The Police have warned that drug-driving, speeding and general carelessness have led to a ‘relentless’ surge in road deaths across Essex this year.
Essex Police told the BBC that 48 people have been killed in collisions in the last eight months, only two short of the 50 deaths seen throughout all of 2024.
Of these 48 deaths, 25 have been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider charging the drivers involved in the incidents.
Speaking to the BBC, the head of roads policing for Essex Police, Adam Pipe, said: ‘It has been one of the most exceptionally challenging years I can remember for a very long time.’
‘These are not, in most cases, an accident - there is a behaviour behind it,’ he continued.
Citing drug-driving, speeding and carelessness as the biggest issues on Essex roads, Mr Pipe revealed that over 1,000 people have been arrested for drug-driving in 2025.
South Essex Roads Partnership, which brings together key bodies including councils, blue light services and National Highways, said it has been working towards eliminating all deaths and serious injuries on the county's roads by 2040.
The group highlighted a particular day in February this year when six young people died in collisions within 14 hours of one another.
Essex Police is due to trial cameras that use artificial intelligence (AI) to spot drivers not wearing seatbelts and using their mobile phones, but Mr Pipe says that the key thing is changing both minds and behaviours on the county’s roads.
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