Yesterday I contacted officers in the police traffic management team to raise concerns on behalf of residents about vehicles driving the wrong way round the roundabout adjacent to the ongoing housing development on the B1281 in Blackhall Colliery. Full background details can be found in this link: Stamping out dangerous driving on the B1281 roundabout
I have now received a response from the police in which drivers and cyclists are advised they can now forward any footage of dangerous or irresponsible driving to the police direct. I've published their response here, where details of *OPERATION SNAP be found:
Because there appears to be no specific times of day or days of the week when contravention occurs regularly, regretfully it is a difficult matter for us to enforce without having officers stationed there on a regular basis which realistically isn’t achievable due to the many and varied demands on officers and as mentioned above we can’t use ANPR cameras for enforcement of traffic offences.
In recognising that we can’t be everywhere at once and wanting to do more for our communities, to assist in our quest to identify dangerous drivers and deal with them appropriately, we are looking to the public to assist us.
We have therefore developed a process, in line with other forces nationally, under the label “OPERATION SNAP” whereby road users can submit dashcam/video or head cam footage of road traffic incidents, including drivers travelling on the wrong side of a roundabout, to our Roads and Armed Policing Unit through our online portal contained within the Durham Constabulary website. This would need to be done within 7 days of the alleged offence. Any footage uploaded will be reviewed by a team of specialist officers who can take follow up enforcement action where necessary.
So, we would encourage anyone with video footage of dangerous driving practices including this driving concern, where a clear registration is shown, to report it to us so we can consider follow up attention.
I would assure you though, if a driver is seen by an officer travelling on the wrong side of the roundabout during routine patrols in the area then they would look to take action as appropriate.
I hope this goes some way to addressing the matter you have raised.
To be on the safe side I've also written again to the council's highways department to alert the to these recent concerns of local residents about the potential risk of injury caused by confusion of irresponsible and dangerous driving on the B1281.
I'm aware that modifications to the road and roundabout were carried out last year after I'd raised similar concerns with them on behalf of residents, but I've asked them to consider which additional measures might be installed to improve road safety and reduce the risk of accidents at this location.
*Full details about OPERATION SNAP can be found in this link: Operation Snap | Durham Constabulary
