A new police team that was set up to tackle road deaths has arrested more than 50 suspected drink or drug drivers since January and seized dozens of vehicles.

While the team focuses on traffic offences, some of those arrested were also held on suspicion of having weapons, committing burglary or carrying out sex offences.

The Chief Constable of Sussex, Jo Shiner, said she had received a lot of positive feedback from the public, particularly from communities affected by antisocial driving and speeding.

She spelt out the team’s record so far during a monthly “performance and accountability meeting” with the Sussex police and crime commissioner Katy Bourne on Thursday (April 16).

Mrs Bourne asked what had been achieved by the team – known as the Fatal Five Unit because it tackles the five most dangerous types of offending on the roads – drink and drug driving, speeding, failing to wear a seatbelt, distracted driving – such as driving while using a phone – and careless driving.

The chief constable, who is also the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing, said that, since January, the team had seized 26 vehicles from unlicensed and uninsured drivers who have been driving in an antisocial way.

She said: “More than 50 arrests have been made for drink and drug driving which led to arrests for burglary, sexual offences and weapons.

“That demonstrates the capability of that team, not just to tackle road crime but also to tackle other areas of crime.

“Sometimes, I think people think us tackling road crime is just a way of making money. It’s really not. It’s about saving lives.

“It’s about changing behaviours on the road to make sure everyone’s loved ones do come home at the end of the day and officers don’t end up knocking on doors to say they’re dead or seriously injured.

“It’s important that people understand that’s why we do those things because we know those fatal five offences significantly impact on this.”

The chief constable added that the unit worked with neighbourhood teams to gather data alongside Speedwatch groups that collect information about speeding in their communities. There are about 320 Speedwatch groups across the county.

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Mrs Bourne said she had recently been out with the Wisborough Green group which clocked a driver speeding at 83 miles per hour through the village. The speed limit was 30mph.

The team targets areas where the community has raised concerns with Sussex Police, either through regular reports on the 101 non-emergency number, the force website or Operation Crackdown.

Mrs Bourne said: “That is music to my ears. It’s really important we listen to the people who live in Sussex because some areas do not get enough attention because there isn’t the data there to support it.”

On average, about 45 people die on the roads of Sussex each year and almost a thousand are seriously injured.

From 2022 to 2024, according to Sussex Police data, there were 1,886 collisions caused by the “fatal five”.

Most of them (832) were a result of dangerous or careless driving, with 270 caused by drink or drug driving and 240 blamed on speeding.