THE officer in charge of the Operation Steerside crackdown on dangerous drivers in Bradford has the public to make use of a dedicated email address set up specifically for the operation.

Sergeant Cameron Buchan said the number of emails received by bd.steerside@west yorkshire.pnn.police.uk had dropped off recently, after a positive start when the address was introduced.

Police set up the account primarily for three reasons: for people to send in vehicle dash-camera recordings of driving incidents they believe to be dangerous; to pass on information about illegal drivers or cars; and to suggest areas of the district that officers needed to patrol.

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“Initially, the take-up was very good, but it has waned off a bit,” said Sgt Buchan.

“I would encourage everyone to send stuff to us. We will analyse it and vet it and see if it is worthy of action.”

Sgt Buchan also slammed a quad biker caught driving on the wrong side of Killinghall Road and causing other road users to take evasive action.

The incident, which was captured on a motorist’s dash-cam, happened at about 3.45pm on one day last month. The rider also had a passenger.

On the nature of the rider’s actions, Sgt Buchan said: “It is just ludicrous. The potential consequences of that are catastrophic. It is ludicrous.

“It is scary for the people involved. They have to react to it. It would be on their conscience if anything was to happen – it is the innocent party having to cope with the aftermath.

“If it did involve a collision, it is likely to be a serious one, and it is likely to be on their conscience because they are nice people.”

On the quad riders, he said: “It is selfishness – that is where it comes from.

“These people do not think about the consequences. The island is there as a pedestrian refuge – people will not expect someone to go the wrong way around it.”

The motorist whose camera captured the incident said: “Yet another example of awful driving in Bradford.”

On the policing of nuisance quad bike riders, Sgt Buchan said: “There is no magic wand, unfortunately. We are striving constantly to deal with the matter of quads.

“They are readily available and cheap and are seen as good fun. But they are still a vehicle capable of causing serious injury – and with that comes responsibility.

“By taking it onto a road they need insurance, an MoT, lights and tax – and I doubt that is the case on most quads.

“A lot of insurance companies will not touch quads.”

The latest Steerside figures released by police show that 157 drivers were caught last week, taking the total for the operation to 5,730.

Last week, 43 people were caught speeding, taking the number of speeders caught past the 2,000 mark.

Sgt Buchan said: “Of the ‘fatal four’ offences, speeding results in the most sorrow.”

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