July 2008

Devon Police’s “shock” shows they are out of touch with our roads

The shock expressed by Devon and Cornwall Police at the number of drivers caught in a recent operation shows how out of touch they are with the state of driving on local roads.

That’s the opinion of Andrew McGavin, who founded the UK’s leading public road safety website BetterDrivingPlease.com.

It’s a website set up for anyone to report bad driving they see on roads with 14,000 reports received so far, including about 30 locally.

And he believes the results of Operation Vortex are not at all shocking.

Andrew said: “Devon & Cornwall Police stopped 2,000 drivers in November and March; 800 for speeding, and more than 300 for using a handheld mobile phone. And reports say they thought that was shocking.

“On BetterDrivingPlease.com we see reports like these flooding in every day. Ordinary people see dangerous driving on the roads every trip. It’s not unusual any more. They’re sick of it and want to see the authorities fix it.”

He added: “It’s great to see the Police running campaigns like Vortex, but they need to be doing it month in, month out to have any real impact.

“Only when motorists realise they can’t get away with breaking the law on our roads will they start to take every road law seriously.”

More than 1.5 million people have visited BetterDrivingPlease.com – reporting or searching through the 14,000 reports made since the site was set up in 2006.

Reporters note the number plate of the offending vehicle, what they did and where.

Andrew covers the costs of running the website and the BetterDrivingPlease campaign himself, helped by a team of unpaid volunteers.

His mission is to make the UK’s roads safer by giving people who want to make a difference a single place to focus their efforts.

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