A MANIAC motorist caught on film speeding the wrong way into oncoming traffic at a roundabout on one of Keighley's busiest main roads has been condemned.

Shocking footage shows the driver of the white vehicle also taking a traffic island on the wrong side of the road in the mad manoeuvre, at the Beechcliffe roundabout.

The culprit narrowly misses a car approaching the roundabout from the opposite direction.

A stunned motorist captured the dashcam images as he turned right, behind a bus, from the B6265 at Beechcliffe and into Skipton Road, Keighley – heading towards the town centre.

The incident happened at around 7.50 in the evening.

"One car was coming out of town to turn right at the roundabout but fortunately the other lane was unoccupied – otherwise there would have been a serious head-on collision," said the motorist, who asked not to be named.

He said such incidents had become increasingly common around the town and that more police officers were needed on the roads.

"Our roads are becoming ever more dangerous for law-abiding motorists and pedestrians due to boy racers and other idiots," he added.

"Driving standards have declined over the years and can now only be described as awful. At night you are actually risking your life by going out on the roads because of dangerous drivers, who are more often than not unlicensed and uninsured.

"And bad drivers know they can get away with virtually anything because there are next to no police on the roads."

Driving expert Frank Parkin – vice-chairman of Skipton and Craven IAM RoadSmart Group, formerly the Institute of Advanced Motorists – agrees that extra traffic police are needed.

"There are a minority of drivers who think road laws don’t apply to them and that given a chance they could probably beat Lewis Hamilton – and this footage seems an example of that sort of driver," he said.

"They know that as there are now very few traffic police, the chances of them getting caught are minimal.

"The police will act on dashcam footage in some cases, but I think the chances of reading the number plate on this car are slim.

"Let’s hope that some of the extra police officers we have been promised are put into road policing, but I doubt it.

"Responsible drivers need to keep their wits about them all the time and realise that people do drive the wrong way in one-way streets and do go round roundabouts the wrong way."

Mr Parkin said it was increasingly falling on volunteers from groups such as IAM RoadSmart and RoSPA to do what they could to reduce road deaths. "But I fear we are fighting a losing battle," he added.

Road safety charity Brake describes the footage as "incredibly concerning".

A spokesman said: "It is shocking to see such blatant disregard for the rules of the road, which exist to keep us all safe.

"This is clearly an example of the type of dangerous driving that can lead to collisions and deaths on the road.

"Thanks to technology, we now have permanent evidence of this dangerous behaviour and we hope the culprit can be traced and made an example of."

West Yorkshire Police say that shortly after the footage was shot, three vehicles – one of them similar in size and description to the car filmed – were seized at the Cliffe Castle Museum car park.

Police had attended following reports of vehicles being used to cause a nuisance.

Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, urges people who witness the kind of dangerous driving seen in the footage to report it to the police.

He pledged that those flouring the law – and putting themselves and other road users and pedestrians at risk – would be "caught and dealt with appropriately".

Mr Burns-Williamson added: "We work closely with the police, Bradford Council and other organisations to address road safety issues in the district with additional resources and it is a priority within my Police and Crime Plan.

"Through local investment of monies raised through the police council tax there are now more roads policing officers in West Yorkshire, and more will be recruited into driver training over the next 12 months.

"The number of people killed and seriously injured on West Yorkshire’s roads is a matter of serious concern and it is up to us working together in partnership to focus on enforcement and education.

"West Yorkshire Police have been very active in doing what they can, including with the very successful Operation Steerside campaign. They are also developing a young drivers' scheme aimed at tackling the issues we face on our roads.

"Greater London for example uses an approach called Vision Zero, based on the fundamental conviction that loss of life and serious injuries are neither acceptable nor inevitable. Many of them are not accidents at all, but are the direct result of dangerous driving or could have been avoided in other ways.

"But adopting a similar Vision Zero approach can only happen through strong leadership and partnership with the different authorities and I am really keen to see this work happen.

"However, whilst enforcement is one part of it, it is crucial that work is done to change people’s attitudes towards driving in the process and change behaviours over time.

"A lot of partnership work is undertaken to educate motorists in Bradford district about the effects and consequences of nuisance and anti-social driving and that will continue, but it has to be a partnership approach to ensure we are doing all we can to make the roads safer for everyone."