The driver holds the steering wheel of a transporter carrying two vans with his elbows

The driver of a large transport carrying at least two vans has been caught steering the vehicle with his elbows while traveling on a busy motorway.

In a video released by National Highways, the lorry driver was caught by police without his hands on the wheel while traveling at high speed on the M40 near Graydon.

When alerted by police in the unmarked van, he quickly put both hands on the wheel but was later pulled over by a nearby police car.

The video is one of three released by National Highways to kick off its week of action to tackle unsafe driving on the M1. Operation Freeway will see eight police authorities carrying out regular patrols between London and Leeds throughout the coming week.

In another video, a horse box driver is caught texting with both hands as undercover police pull up alongside him on the A46 Coventry Eastern Bypass.

A third video shows a driver of the M40 picking up his phone to speak with one hand while controlling the steering wheel with the other.

The videos were taken as part of the National Highways Operation Tramline initiative which uses unmarked HGVs to detect driving offences. The idea is that the elevated position of HGV cabs can give the police a better view of the crimes committed by the drivers.

Launched in 2015, the initiative has caught more than 33,254 crimes, with 30,830 vehicles stopped by the police.

The most common offense is driving without a seatbelt, with 9,962 drivers stopped for it, while using a mobile phone (8,368) is in second place, driving without proper control of your vehicle.

The operation will make up a large part of the week of work on the tramline M1. Operation Freeway will start on Monday (March 6) and end on Sunday (March 12) and police forces from Thames Valley and Bedfordshire to West Yorkshire Police are taking part.

The M1 is Britain’s busiest motorway with drivers traveling 21 million miles a day on the road, equivalent to one in every seven miles on the country’s motorways.

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However, it also has the highest accident rate, with 200 incidents per day and 4,087 traffic collisions throughout the past year.

Jeremy Phillips, National Highways Head of Road Safety, said: “We are committed to reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured traveling on our roads by 50% by 2025 and have long-term ambitions for zero harm.

“To achieve this we need to tackle the unsafe driving behavior that we sadly still face.

“Through this week’s action we want to encourage motorists to think about their driving and adopt safer behaviour.”