FOOTAGE of a lollipop man allegedly being ignored by motorists in a busy Bournemouth road has emerged following a police operation targeting dangerous driving at school crossing patrols.

Walking across a road with a school crossing patrol officer should be the safest route for children and other pedestrians – but this is not always the case as many cars drive straight through.

Last week officers from the Dorset Police No Excuse team were targeting those motorists who don't stop at school crossings.

On Wednesday the team focussed their attention on the Winton Primary School crossing located in Wimborne Road at the junction with Oswald Road.

During the 45 minutes the team were watching the crossing, two motorists were sent to court for allegedly ignoring lollipop man Martin Hewit.

Mr Hewit, 41, has been the lollipop man at the school for four years and as well as many near misses he has also been hit by a car while on duty.

"It's quite scary really when some of the vehicles approach you at speed and you wonder whether they are going to stop or just drive straight through you," said Mr Hewit.

"Thankfully a child has never been hit on my watch and hopefully never will be.

"Nowadays people seem to have much busier lives but drivers need to still be aware of what's around them otherwise there could be a really serious accident."

Speaking to the Echo, No Excuse team leader Sergeant Stuart Pitman said: "It's really important for the No Excuse team to not only target bad drivers but also those who threaten our vulnerable communities, especially schoolchildren.

"Motorists should know where their school crossing patrol officers are and should be aware of them whenever they are on a journey and make sure they slow down.

"Children and animals do very strange things and they do just run out into the road without any warning and the last thing we want to do is have to prosecute a normally thorough driver for knocking down a child or crossing patrol officer.

"We know there are reports of lollipops being hit by vehicles and the school crossing patrol officers themselves as well as a number of near misses.

"And we will continue to target school crossings across the county in order to prevent anyone from being seriously injured or even killed.

"Our crossing patrol colleagues perform a vital role within our communities protecting you and your children.

"Please respect them and remember as soon as the lollipop is put into the road you must stop."

According to Sgt Pitman there has also been an increase in the amount of abuse received by school crossing guards.

"These men and women are being threatened because they are holding up drivers for a whole 20 seconds while children cross the road to get to school. It's completely unacceptable," he added.

"Unfortunately this is just the attitude of certain drivers nowadays but any reports of this kind of behaviour will be prosecuted."

Throughout the week the team visited school crossings in Poole, Bournemouth as well as North and West Dorset.

Richard Pearson, traffic and road safety manager at Bournemouth Borough Council, said: “Working with our partners we want to increase awareness of the consequences of dangerous driving through a combination of engagement with local people and visitors and targeted enforcement on roads around the town.

“We want to ensure that motorists understand that there is no excuse for bad or dangerous driving or riding with our overall objective being to reduce road casualties suffered by both the perpetrators and their victims.”