Police lack time to 'fish' online for bad driving

Police have said they do not have the resources to "fish" through social media posts of dangerous driving in Bradford.

Keighley residents have been urged to submit photos and videos of bad driving and illegal parking to officers as part of the district's road safety initiative, but they have been posting them to community Facebook pages instead.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said it was important that such content was shared in the correct place to make sure offenders could be prosecuted.

They added: "The other issue is we don't always know who took the picture and when."

The initiative, called Operation Snap, relies on the vehicle and driver being identified so they can be dealt with by the courts.

At a recent Bradford Council meeting, Insp John Barker from the constituency's neighbourhood policing team added: "You'll often see the same picture shared on pages like Born in Keighley or Raised in Silsden and you don't know where the original image has come from."

Meanwhile officials in the area are also about to sign off on hi-tech enforcement cameras in the city centre to target "inconsiderate" drivers who flout rules at yellow box junctions or make banned turns.

The new measures will be piloted at two spots in the city centre before being rolled out elsewhere, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

ANPR cameras will be put at the yellow box junction at Godwin Street and Sunbridge Road, and at the current "no right turn" restrictions at the junction of Shipley Airedale Road and Leeds Road.

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