DRIVERS have stumped up almost £1 million in just one year after being caught in breach of driving laws on Dorset’s roads.

From speeding to not wearing a seat belt and using a mobile phone behind the wheel, more than 16,000 motorists have been caught flouting the law during the first year of the county-wide No Excuse campaign.

In the first 12 months of the Dorset Road Safe initiative, 16,630 traffic offences were processed resulting in most of the drivers being issued with £60 fixed penalty fines.

A tally of the different offences was as follows: l 11,518 drivers were caught speeding; l 3,223 people were found not wearing seatbelts; l 1,251 drivers were found using their hand held mobile phone behind the wheel; and l 638 people were issued with fixed penalty notices for offences such as no MOT, no tax disc, driving without proper control and driving without proper view.

Some drivers were given the option of going on education courses as an alternative to points on their licence or paying the fixed penalty notice fine.

Dorset Police say the first year of the No Excuse campaign has been a success and has seen significant cuts in casualties.

They say awareness of the campaign continues to grow and research has shown that 89 per cent of people asked recognised the no excuse logo and the aim of the campaign.

Brian Austin, No Excuse project manager, said: “There is no room for complacency. We still have a great deal of work to do.

“Inappropriate speed continues to be a major contributory factor in collisions and is the more prevalent offence on Dorset roads.

“We are finding an alarmingly large number of drivers and passengers are failing to take even the most basic precautions such as wearing a seatbelt, or using a hand-held mobile phone when driving.”

No Excuse was launched in January 2010 and uses heightened patrols and road checks, as well as information awareness to get the message across.