Dorset safer roads

18/06/2026

KELLY HITCHEN, 45, and of Friars Moor in Sturminster Newton, admitted to one count of driving motor vehicle with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit, namely 32ug/l of co***ne, one count of driving a motor vehicle otherwise than in accordance with a licence, one count of using a motor vehicle on a road without a valid test certificate and one count of using a motor vehicle on a road or public place without third party insurance in Langton Long on July 29. Hitchen further admitted to one count of driving a motor vehicle otherwise than in accordance with a licence in High Street in Spetisbury on February 22 and one count of possession of a controlled drug of class A, namely co***ne, in Spetisbury on February 22. Hitchen was banned from driving for three years, fined £320 and ordered to pay costs to the Crown Prosecution Service of £85 and a victim surcharge of £128.

JOHN PLACKETT, 43, and of Morrison Avenue in Poole, admitted to speeding exceed 30mph on restricted road in England, namely 35mph, in Turbary Park Avenue in Bournemouth on June 19. Plackett was banned from driving for six months, handed three penalty points, fined £224 and ordered to pay costs of £130 and a victim surcharge of £90.

MICHAEL KENT, 40, and of Berkeley Avenue in Poole, admitted to speeding exceeding 30mph, namely 55mph, on restricted road in England in Upton Road in Poole on August 20. Kent was banned from driving for 28 days, fined £461 and ordered to pay costs of £130 and a victim surcharge of £184.

LEWIS PHILLIPS, 35, and of Poole Road in Upton, admitted to using a handheld mobile phone or device while driving a motor vehicle on a road in A3049 Dorset Way in Poole on August 24. Phillips was banned from driving for six months, handed six penalty points, fined £615 and ordered to pay costs of £130 and a victim surcharge of £246.

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/26202433.dock---appearances-poole-magistrates-court/

18/06/2026

Another from the archives, its Feb 2024 and I am going through Christchurch, I filter carefully past a queue of cars waiting at the lights.

the driver at the front of the queue takes offence at such a daring move, I mean how dare I? I dont pay "road tax" you know.

They try to force their way past, fail miserably and honk their horn in annoyance.

Quickly building speed after the bridge to 20mph thanks to the gradient and maintaining it due to hard work on my part they do eventually overtake only to sit at the next set of lights where we part ways.

They were never going to make it to the lights before they changed.

I submitted the footage to opsnap, they prosecuted, the update spreadsheet states "conditional offer" not a drivers awareness course, hopefully those 3 points and £100 fine will make them think twice in future.

I see so much impatience on the roads, it rarely gets them to their destination any faster, just chill out.

DA13THX

18/06/2026

These plans have been available to a simple google search for quite some time... years....

I do particularly like the "emergency brake" comment... "that crossing came out of nowhere govna!" It's not like crossings by junctions is a new thing. The one by tesco in Kinson has been there for at least a decade. the one AT THIS JUNCTION on the Ringwood road leg has been there even longer.

I think people just like complaining about stuff. Sod the facts, sod doing any research just stick a post on facebook and moan like hell.

And yes... the plans do state that the crossing is being moved, not another added.

18/06/2026

I have been using the Love to Ride app for a couple of weeks now. It has many features but form me the map is cool. it shows a map of pretty colours aggregating data from lots of users showing the routes people use and what they think of them. Green means they enjoyed it, lighter green not so good, orange bad, red means it was horrible.

Its really easy to use too, just install the app, create an account, I set it to auto mode and it picks up when I am cycling. Then later on you can then grade your route, using different colours for different bits.

It needs more users in BCP as the data is pretty incomplete as you can see from the screenshot but what is there looks pretty accurate to me.

you can install it here:

https://www.lovetoride.net/england/pages/ltr-app?locale=en-GB

17/06/2026

People still are failing to do basic observations and follow the highway code.

Please do better

17/06/2026

Bournemouth Echo today, lots of speeders getting banned,

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/26197857.dock---appearances-poole-magistrates-court/

17/06/2026

17/06/2026

Towards the end of last year Dorset Police released a spreadsheet with more detail on operation snap submissions they had received.

It shows from Jan 2022 to October 2025 there were over 4000 submissions

This shows Operation Snap, despite its issues is working. Drivers are being reported and they are being dealt with.

It didn't give registrations but it did give time and date which for almost all of my submissions I was able to tie into my own submission.

The bar graph shows my own submissions from October 2023 until September 2025

"Cancelled" means that after the NIP was issued the Police/CPS decided not to proceed for reasons that are not disclosed.

"Conditional offer" Means they took points and a fine for the offence

"Court" Means the driver was taken to court, This can be for a number of reasons, most likely either they chose to not accept the conditional offer and fight it or they already had points and the conviction would take them over the 12 points I was not asked to attend any of these. The NIP only gives a still image, once they decide to fight it they would be given the video so I am assuming that once they saw the evidence they entered a guilty plea. It would still be dealt with by the court but I would not be needed to give evidence.

"Retraining course" aka Drivers awareness course, no points but the cost of the course is bigger than the fine they would have paid, these can only be done once every 3 years.

"Unknown" means I was not able to confidently tie my own submission into data on the police spreadsheet.

Cancelled 29
Conditional offer 78
Court 12
Retraining Course 43
Unknown 26

The full spreadsheet from the police is available here;

https://www.dorset.police.uk/foi-ai/dorset-police/disclosure-logs/2025-disclosures/operation-snap-submissions/

16/06/2026

Some push back on the motorists narrative that I am the devil. Also some serious reality bending explaining.

van could have parked just 1 van length further back and been 100% legal. A detail the motorists group seem to fail to realise.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1381319375879876/permalink/1966640437347764/

16/06/2026

Crossing zig-zags are not there to make life difficult for drivers.

They are there to stop people getting hurt.

The purpose of the zig-zag markings is to keep the area around a crossing clear so that pedestrians and drivers can see each other. When a vehicle is parked or stopped on them, those vital sight lines disappear.

A child waiting to cross may not be able to see approaching traffic.

A driver approaching the crossing may not be able to see the child.

That is exactly how collisions happen.

The Highway Code is clear that you MUST NOT park on a crossing or in the area covered by the zig-zag lines. These markings apply all the way from the centre of the road to the property boundary. Parking partly on the pavement, mounting the kerb, or switching on your hazard lights does not make it legal.

Common excuses include:

• "I was only there for a minute."
• "I put my hazards on."
• "I was just dropping someone off."
• "I wasn't blocking the crossing itself."

None of those change the fact that the zig-zags are there to protect visibility.

What makes this particularly frustrating is that compliance is easy. Stop a little further away and walk the extra few metres.

Many police forces, including through Operation Snap, will take action against drivers caught stopping or parking on crossing zig-zags from member-of-the-public footage. Drivers can find themselves receiving a Notice of Intended Prosecution, penalty points, a fine, or being offered a driver awareness course.

More importantly, they exist because somebody's convenience is never more important than somebody else's safety.

Please keep crossing zig-zags clear.

A few extra steps for a driver can mean a child gets home safely.
🚸🚶🚗

EX66SXW