Police here are deploying a new 'weapon' as part of the campaign to reinforce the 'speed kills' message.

Thanks to the Dungannon Community Safety Partnership, the PSNI has been provided a mobile 'speed trailer' that will be used on main routes. This new detector is aimed at advising motorists that they are travelling too fast, rather than catching them speeding.

The trailer can detect the speed of approaching vehicles and, if that is too fast, it will display a 'slow down' message and a reminder of the speed limit. It was deployed for the first time at last week-end's Rally Ireland event, and will be used regularly in the future on routes between Cookstown and Dungannon; Omagh and Dungannon; and Enniskillen and Dungannon.

Inspector Clive Ballantine said the PSNI were grateful to the Community Safety Partnership for enabling the force to use the trailer. "This is a positive contribution to road safety and reducing the carnage on our roads that not only kills, but wrecks lives'.

However, Inspector Ballantine stressed that while the trailer was a tool to help PSNI officers educate motorists, they would not shirk their responsibilities to detect and prosecute speeders. "We have other tools to help us do that including safety camera vans; hand-held radar detectors and marked and unmarked cars with speed recording equipment.