CRACKDOWNS on speed in a notorious accident blackspot were due to it being identified as a "high harm route."

On the A46 between Salford Priors and Teddington, two people have died and 11 have been seriously injured in the last 12 months.

Dave Hind, road policing sergeant for Worcestershire said: "These roads are identified by one of our analysts who looks at collision data for the previous twelve months, that is a rolling twelve months, so the routes can change on a monthly basis.

"The roads identified as having the highest number of injury collisions within that rolling twelve months period are designated High Harm Routes for the month.

"In the rolling twelve months to 1st October 2017, there were two fatal, eleven serious injury and eleven slight injury collisions, on that section of road.

"All of our patrol officers, particularly those from the Operations Patrol Unit (OPU), are encouraged to pay more attention to the High Harm Routes, targeting those offences identified as being the most common causes of collisions.

"Known as “The Fatal 4”, they are excessive speed, failing to wear a seat belt, using a mobile phone and impairment through drink or drugs."

Speaking about the speed checks last week which including a driver caught at 112 miles an hour, he added: "They carried out several speed checks using in car equipment and handheld devices.

"The highest speed they found was 112mph in a 70mph speed limit and that driver was reported.

"A number of other drivers who were found to have exceeded the speed limit, by a much lower amount, were stopped and given advice by the officers."

The speed checks came ahead of National Road Safety Week, which begun on Monday.

Organised by the national road safety charity Brake, this year's Road Safety Week is encouraging everyone to be more aware of their speed and slow down, especially in built up, urban areas.

Vicki Bristow, communications manager at the Safer Roads Partnership, West Mercia Police said "With the increasing amount of traffic on our roads nowadays it's more important than ever for people to be more aware of the speed they are travelling and the impact this can have.

"Reducing your speed by just a small amount can make a huge difference on your stopping distance and makes a difference of resulting injuries to pedestrians.

"As a pedestrian you are around four times more likely to die if hit at 40mph than at 30mph. Supporting national Road Safety Week is an important way for us to get our messages out there to encourage all drivers to think about the speed they travel and the risks they take."

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service are supporting the national campaign with banners being displayed outside key fire stations across the region.