THERE will be No Excuse for careless and reckless drivers found flouting the law in Bournemouth today.

During Dorset Road Safe’s ‘Surround A Town’ crackdown, those caught without a seatbelt will, at the police officer’s discretion, be offered the chance to attend a course to educate them on the dangers of failing to belt up.

Despite the law being in place for 27 years, some drivers mistakenly believe that it is still a personal choice whether they wear a seat belt. In a collision the likelihood of a driver and passengers surviving unharmed is drastically reduced if a seat belt is not being used.

The No Excuse campaign has processed more than 22,000 motor related offences with 35 per cent of tickets issued by officers for seat belt offences. As well as taking enforcement action on roads around Bournemouth today, police officers will be joined by fire fighters, trading standards officers, council staff and other partners at a number of locations, sharing road safety advice in a bid to reduce the death and serious injury toll on Dorset’s roads.

Highly visible and unmarked police and safety camera vehicles will be out in force to ensure that road users get the message that there is no excuse for bad or dangerous driving.

Statistics for May show that 1,422 bad or careless drivers were caught by the No Excuse team last month, bringing the total this year to 5,710 offences.

Compared with the same period last year, the figure has dropped by three per cent with falls in the number of those caught for seat belt offences and for using their phone while at the wheel.

However, the number of speeding offences rose by six per cent. The worst offenders for failing to wear seat belts were male drivers of vans, light goods vehicles or taxi drivers.

Chief Inspector Bob Nichols said the number of casualties on Dorset’s roads this year, compared to 2010, had dropped adding: “This continued downward trend underlines why the Dorset Road Safe partners are committed to No Excuse and perhaps why public support has been so strong.”

Last month’s excuses included:

• A male driver caught speeding in Glenferness Avenue, Bournemouth who confessed he had complained about speedsters in the area just a week earlier.

• A van driver stopped for speeding by an officer in an unmarked car who asked: “Can you get a blue light on the roof so I can see you next time?”

• A driver stopped for failing to be in control of his vehicle who did not accept that putting on his tie, using both hands, while looking in his rear view mirror and narrowly avoiding a crash, was not a good idea.