A CAMPAIGN to crackdown on drivers using their mobile phones behind the wheel has launched this week.

Hampshire police will be stopping motorists throughout Hampshire and Test Valley as part of the national chief council’s campaign.

The week long scheme of enforcement and education will take place until April 21 and aims to educate drivers.

The news of the campaign comes after Hampshire Constabulary and Thames Valley Police’s Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit announced last week that they are set to be the first unit in the country to use a new piece of technology that can detect when drivers are using their phone without a hands free device.

When a driver using their phone is detected, the device will flash a mobile symbol at the car advising them to stop using their phone.

This technology aims to help officers to detect particular hotspots needing enforcement as it can identify how many cars on a particular stretch of road are using their phones.

The technology comes after a lorry driver in 2016 caused an accident in which two men Ion Calin, 42 and Marian Olteanu,35 from Southampton were killed on the M271 in Southampton.

The city’s crown court heard that Keith Mees, 49, of Neweall Derbyshire ploughed into stationary traffic after using his phone to access Facebook.

Mees was jailed for six years.

PC Liz Johnson, a Roads Safety Officer for the Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit, said: “It is vital that people take notice and stop using their mobile phones whilst driving.

“The Joint Operations Unit will continue to educate people of the dangers of using a mobile phone whilst driving through our “It’s Not Worth The Risk” campaign and reduce the devastating impact it can have on people’s lives.

“In the Thames Valley since 2014 there have been 83 people killed or seriously injured as a result of drivers using their mobile phones and 40 have been killed or seriously injured Hampshire.

“It is vital that people take notice and stop using their mobile phones whilst driving.“My advice would be to turn off your phone whilst driving, put it out of reach, out of view so that more innocent people don’t lose their lives. Remember it’s not worth the risk.”