Hundreds of Birmingham drivers spotted jumping red lights

Volunteers spent more than 45 hours monitoring junctions across the city

Hundreds of drivers have been caught jumping red lights by campaigners.

Volunteers from Better Streets for Birmingham examined 21 of the city's traffic lights and recorded 576 cases of drivers flouting traffic signals.

Mat MacDonald, from the group, said it wanted drivers to be aware of the potentially lethal consequences.

West Midlands Police said, since August, it had sent hundreds of notices of intended prosecution to drivers for driving through red lights.

Through September, the campaign group said it had 32 volunteers monitoring 21 lights across the city on 50 separate occasions, with more than 45 hours of observation.

Jumping red lights, Mat McDonald said, had potentially lethal concequences

It chose to carry out the survey after the group said a smaller period of monitoring in May found 33 motorists drove through a red light on Belgrave Middleway in an hour.

Mr MacDonald said it was a "substantial" issue.

Their study, he said, found the worst crossings for jumping red lights in the city to be on Belgrave Middleway and the A45 Redhill Road.

"This data shows it is a really, really big problem, in view of the potential consequences, it is really important we bring attention to that," he said.

"This isn't just creating inconvenience or fear, it is potentially lethal."

A crossing on Belgrave Middleway was found by the group to be among the worst in the city for drivers ignoring the stop signal

Mr MacDonald called for cameras to be used to monitor red lights but said, on a larger scale, his grassroots group wanted measures taken to reduce the use of cars in Birmingham.

Instead they wanted to encourage more walking, cycling and the use of public transport.

Sgt Jordan Keen, from West Midlands Police's Traffic Investigations Unit, said it was working to make the city's roads safer.

In August, he said, the force expanded its team which reviews footage sent in by other road users.

Since then, they have issued notices of intended prosecution (NIP) to 404 drivers for going through red lights which mean they would either pay a fine or go to court.

A further 1,214 NIP have been sent for careless driving which included cases where drivers ran red lights but there were additional issues which made it more serious.

Sgt Keen said officers from the unit met with the campaign group and told them about improvements to their team which examined dashcam footage sent in by drivers.

"We look forward to working with Better Streets for Birmingham and other partners in the future to identify hotspot areas and take further action, such as road safety improvements or increased policing operations," he added.