POLICE have made a plea to quad bikers to obey the rules of the road as the hotter weather brings more reports of riders acting in a dangerous and anti-social manner.

As the temperatures rose last week, residents reported being plagued by the noise generated by nuisance bikers riding in built-up areas, and footage of those riding in a dangerous manner continues to be sent to officers involved on Operation Steerside, the district-wide road safety crackdown.

A total of 9,379 offences have now been logged under Steerside, and last week, officers from the district’s anti-social behaviour bike team said they had now seized a total of almost 750 quads and motorbikes from illegal or dangerous riders, also issuing more than 800 warnings.

In one of the recent dashcam videos sent to Steerside, footage shows a driver having to take evasive action in Harrogate Road in Eccleshill as a quad rider and then a motorcyclist overtake traffic at speed down the middle of the road.

The driver who took the footage said he had to take action to avoid a crash.

“The dashcam does not show how close he got to me as he goes over the white line and overtakes," said the man, who did not want to be named.

"I swerved sharply to the left to avoid a collision. He is closely followed by his mate on an orange motorbike.

"I would urge supermarkets and other petrol stations to stop allowing youths to fill a can with fuel unless they give ID.”

In another video sent to police, footage shows a quad bike pulling straight out of the junction of Park Road and Little Horton Lane cutting ahead of the car in front.

The rider then ignores other road users to race over a mini-roundabout, almost straying into oncoming traffic as he continues to overtake at speed.

Sergeant Cameron Buchan, the officer responsible for the running of Operation Steerside, said of the rider’s actions: “At some point, this person’s luck is going to run out.

“I feel horror at what could have happened to them and the consequences for any innocent party that was unwittingly involved.”

On the problems caused by quad bikers, Sgt Buchan said the issues were similar to those posed by nuisance off-road bikers, and said that periods of good weather did traditionally tend to mean more riders being reported to police.

“The drivers of these vehicles are not enclosed, they are vulnerable,” he said.

“Yet these are the vehicles we see buzzing around the city attracting a large number of complaints.

“I would implore riders to ride in a manner than considers other road users.

“It’s the selfishness of their behaviour. People do it for the buzz, but there is no practical reason whatsoever for quads to be on these roads.

“My message to these people is you are putting yourselves and others in danger.

“You need to behave with far more consideration due to the nature of the vehicle you are driving. You are simply not protected.

“The consequences of an incident for these people and other road users can be catastrophic.”