Some 185 drivers were found to be driving over the speed limit, with five recorded at travelling at more than 100 miles per hour during the operation on the A90 between Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire and Edinburgh last week.

As well as attending a number of collisions on the road, officers stopped nearly 600 vehicles, with a range of offences detected.

They dealt with 31 drivers in relation to careless or dangerous driving, which included tailgating, undertaking and a driver recorded travelling at 91mph in an area restricted to 50mph while passing within metres of road workers.

Officers carried out a number of searches of vehicles, recovering small quantities of drugs as well as seizing a vehicle that had been stolen a short time earlier from the owner's home.

Almost 100 vehicles were found to have defects, with six of the more serious ones being immediately banned from use on the public roads.

A total of 17 drivers were reported for using mobile phones while driving and 43 were found to have no tax or expired MOTs.

The operation, involving more than ten road policing units and multiple divisions of Police Scotland, also used number plate technology to target specific offenders.

Sergeant Steve Manson said: "Although we have previously carried out joint initiatives, targeting specific routes, this is the biggest operation of this type we have undertaken.

"Officers carried out dedicated patrols and roadside checks in marked and unmarked vehicles along the length of the road, with the support of safety camera vans.

"If someone travelled on the A90 over the five days, they would have seen a number of police vehicles at various points.

"The intention was to influence driver behaviour by providing a large presence on a single route, with officers targeting specific offences that are linked to injury collisions."

He said it was "encouraging" to see none of the drivers stopped were found to be driving under the influence of alcohol.