'No Excuse' Campaign 2010

Since January, almost 6500 people have been stopped for driving carelessly on Dorset's roads.

The latest figures come from Dorset Police's "No Excuse" campaign, which aims to reduce the number of people killed or injured on our roads. Last year around 370 people were killed or injured in road accidents across the county.

The most common offence recorded since the campaign started four months ago is speeding, but officers have been telling HEART they're shocked at the high numbers of people not wearing a seatbelt or talking on their mobile phones whilst driving.

PC Darren Clouse from Ferndown Police Station say's he always surprised at some parents decisions not to strap their kids in:

“We’ve had officers who've stopped a car which had a young child standing between the two front seats. The maximum speed limit on the road they were driving on is 70 mph, and the parents obviously thought it was safe to have their child standing there."

On Wednesday 19th May, HEART joined PC Clouse in his police vehicle to try and catch out motorists driving dangerously around Dorchester.

In just over an hour, we caught out three driver's breaking the speed limit.

This woman told HEART she didn't realise how fast she was going:

"I was doing 86 miles an hour and I did start to slow down as soon as I realised I was going too fast, it's just sometimes the speed of the road just takes you."

Drivers stopped for not wearing seatbelts

This man decided to take the option of watching a presentation on road safety, as opposed to paying a fine for not wearing his seatbelt:

"I normally always wear my seatbelt, but I've just filled up with petrol and forgot to put it back on. I have a 20 year old daughter and I'm always on at her about it, so I'm annoyed at myself that I forgot. I'm just off to watch this 30 minute video, which I think is much better than just getting a fine. I won't forget next time."

The 'No Excuse' campaign will continue to run for the next 12 months.