Dorset Drivers Excuses
16 June 2010, 00:00
Traffic Officers in Dorset have been telling Heart some of the excuses drivers are giving them if caught out speeding or without their seatbelt on.
There have been nearly 7 thousand offences in just 4 months -that's more than 50 every week.
Officers from the Dorset Road Safe partnership’s ‘no excuse’ team have reported yet more examples of people caught behaving dangerously on Dorset’s roads in the past month.
They include some who hadn’t learnt their lesson the first time and others who quickly discovered that no excuses are accepted for doing things that could cause death or serious injury to themselves or others.
• In the Sherborne area, one lady resorted to tears when she was caught speeding in the morning and not wearing her seatbelt in the afternoon. The waterworks didn't work and she now has two tickets.
• Also in Sherborne was the driver who thought he'd nip down a No Entry road. He had his mind changed for him and received a ticket from officers in the unmarked ‘no excuse’ car parked near the sign.
• One driver caught for using his mobile phone while driving on the Dorset Way actually stated that he considered the offer of a re-education course as too lenient for the offence. He took the offer and will hopefully mend his ways.
• In Blandford, a driver when stopped for speeding asked "are you the officer that just stopped me?" It transpired he'd only just be caught by another ‘no excuse’ officer further up the road!
• A lorry driver in Poole obviously couldn't calculate distance as he was given a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. He gave the excuse, "But I only travelled a short distance". Or, as recorded on the ticket, "over a mile".
The ‘no excuse’ project continues to seek to make Dorset’s roads safer by improving driver behaviour through the enforcement of offences which are likely to increase the risk of collision or which could result in more serious injuries or death.
For further information, go to Dorset Road Safe