The 18-month driving bans and £200 fines imposed on two young men who raced their cars at nearly 120mph on the dual carriageway between Crossflatts and Marley have been welcomed by police and a local councillor as sending out a strong deterrent message.

Other people, though, might feel that the punishments fail to adequately reflect the potential for disaster of their actions.

Fortunately no-one was hurt as the pair tore along this stretch of the A650 in some sort of motor-age gladiatorial contest. However, they were taking a tremendous risk - not only with their own lives but also with the lives of anyone else who might have been using the road.

This is a fast stretch of a very busy trunk route, used by many people at all hours of the day and night. It is not a race track. Yet that is apparently how it had come to be regarded by the young motorists who have regularly been gathering at Marley Stadium car park for late-night weekend races.

Police were right to keep watch on the road from an unmarked car and film this pair as they hurtled along it at terrifying speeds. Speed is a killer. That has been demonstrated so tragically time and time again. Accidents at speeds even marginally above the limit can have appalling consequences.

Cars are not toys to be used to provide macho thrills for boy racers. They are potentially lethal weapons and should be driven with consideration and respect. The sentences in cases like this need to be harsh enough to make that message unmistakably clear.