January 2008

Thousands inspired by TV show to help the Police ‘police’ the roads

Thousands of people have offered to help police Britain’s roads themselves after being inspired by a primetime TV show last night (Monday 7th).

The show – ‘Road Rage: The Battle for Britain’s Roads’ was on BBC1 at 9pm.

And overnight thousands have visited road safety website BetterDrivingPlease.com, which was featured prominently in the show.

The idea behind the site is that anyone can report bad driving they see on the roads.

More than 6,000 drivers have already been shopped for speeding, dangerous manoeuvres and a multitude of other offences.

1,500 reports are of drivers using handheld mobile phones. Research has proved they can be more dangerous than drink drivers.

The database is transparent, meaning anyone can search the reports by number plate, location, or type of motoring offence. Some reports are accompanied by pictures of offending vehicles.

BetterDrivingPlease.com was set up by road safety campaigner Andrew McGavin 18 months ago.

He appeared in last night’s documentary, and said: “The programme accurately showed the battle happening on our roads daily, and how some drivers make the roads lethal for all of us.

“The whole point of BetterDrivingPlease.com is that it gives the initiative back to the ordinary law abiding motorist. If you see someone acting like an idiot on the roads, and the police aren’t around to catch them, you can still do something about it.”

Andrew believes the database is an effective way to identify some of the UK’s most dangerous drivers.

Research in New Zealand showed that drivers reported to a similar scheme were 23 times more likely to crash than other drivers in the year following being reported.

And BetterDrivingPlease.com is making the information available to police forces. Andrew wants the Police to contact multiple offenders reported by unconnected verified members.

He added: “It’s impossible for the police to watch every mile of our roads. So we need to work together to make bad driving socially undesirable.”

ENDS

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

• For any further information, quotes or interviews, a BetterDrivingPlease.com spokesman is available. Please email press@publicityheaven.com or call Paul Green on 08452 303049
• To find specific reports of bad driving, go to www.BetterDrivingPlease.com and enter the area in the Keyword search box
• You are welcome to publish any information you find on the website
• A factfile, logo, screenshots and other press resources are available online at http://www.betterdrivingplease.com/press.asp