THE police officer leading a crackdown on road safety across the district has vowed that his team have "the bit between their teeth" to rid Bradford of its reputation for dangerous driving.

Sergeant Cameron Buchan, who is responsible for Operation Steerside, said he wanted to reassure residents that work was continuing to rid the district of the unwanted tag.

The vow came after more video footage emerged of drivers blatantly ignoring the rules of the road and driving in an anti-social manner in built-up traffic.

In one example of dash-cam footage sent to Steerside officers, a white sports car approaches traffic queuing on Ingleby Road towards the junction with Thornton Road.

The car overtakes a number of vehicles using designated turning areas in the centre of the carriageway before speeding around a traffic island while on the wrong side of the road.

It then brakes to avoid oncoming traffic before cutting back into the queue in the far left hand lane.

In a similar incident, a white works van is travelling on Leeds Road in Shipley when it is confronted by queuing traffic heading towards Windhill.

Rather than wait, the driver again travels around a traffic island on the wrong side of the road to cut in front of a number of cars before rejoining the queue.

Sgt Buchan said that while the footage constituted "classic examples" of manoeuvres "far too common" to the area, they were still "absolutely unacceptable" and indicative of the type of driving Steerside was designed to stamp out.

"Bradford has a reputation for bad driving, and these are exactly the kind of examples that people would cite to back that up," he said.

"These people think the rules of the road don't apply to them, and think their actions can somehow be justified by the fact they have other priorities or are in a rush.

"The chances of a crash, which could be very serious, are high, and these incidents further damage Bradford's reputation.

"It is sad that these things are still happening, despite all the work we are doing.

"But realistically, we know that Operation Steerside is a long-term plan, not a quick fix.

"Bradford's bad reputation has been built over a number of years and while we can get rid of it, we can't do it in 18 months.

"We want to reassure the residents of Bradford that we aren't going away, and we have the bit between our teeth to do whatever we can to change the reputation of this city."

More than 9,500 offences have now been recorded by officers involved in Operation Steerside since it began in February last year.