A senior north-east police officer has condemned two drivers clocked at “horrendous speeds” of more than 100mph on one of the region’s busiest roads.
One 23-year-old man was caught on the A96 Aberdeen to Inverness road at 105mph and another 25-year-old at 107mph at the weekend.
They were criticised by officers as part of a festive crackdown on dangerous driving in Aberdeenshire and Moray, which homed in on the A96 and the A90 Dundee to Peterhead road.
At the weekend, a total of 19 motorists were detected by officers at speeds of between 78mph and 107mph.
A further nine drivers were reported for using a mobile phone whilst behind the wheel.
In the past two weeks, police have stopped 826 motorists on the two main roads, with 20 of them snared for drink driving – 17 men and three women.
One of the men was more than five times above the legal limit.
Locals roads policing officers and others from the trunk road patrol group have been maintaining a high visibility presence on the roads, whilst carrying out routine checks on vehicles.
The work is part of road safety campaign Operation Cedar.
Inspector Ewan Innes of the Aberdeenshire and Moray roads policing unit said: “We have been carrying out patrols on routes across Aberdeenshire and Moray that have a high collision rate.
“Our strategy is to get out on all of these roads doing high visibility patrols, and to try and influence driver behaviour on these routes.
“During that period, officers have been going out and about carrying out road checks, checking out cars parked up by the side of the road.”
He added the speeds the two men were clocked at were “horrendous” and “completely unacceptable”.
He said: “They are putting the lives of themselves and others at risk. It is a two way street and it was on a Saturday afternoon. Driving in that inappropriate manner was really selfish.
“A number of people were also caught using their mobile phones. The majority of collisions inappropriate speeds is one of the main causes of road traffic collisions. The second main thing is distractions within the vehicle.
“It seems it is the minority of motorists that seem to think they can drive in any way they want to.”
