THREE councillors from Bradford have spoken out about the high number of crashes on a "horrendous" stretch of Leeds Road.

The section of road runs from Thornbury to the ring road junction at Laisterdyke.

Councillor Zafar Iqbal (Lab, Bradford Moor) said: "The whole of Leeds Road, particularly along this stretch, has been horrendous for the last few years.

"It's because the drivers are not following the rules. Some are speeding and not indicating - their behaviour is not acceptable."

Cllr Riaz Ahmed (Lib Dem, Bradford Moor) said: "Boy racers are part of the problem, as the majority seem to be young men that are over the road and causing accidents. And these accidents affect people's lives and their future.

"There's been too many accidents on that road," he added. "As bad as it sounds, there's unfortunately not been enough deaths to put speed cameras in.

"The police could do a lot more with mobile speed cameras and other regular checks, which would be desirable."

"From memory, I would say there has been at least eight accidents on the stretch of road in the last two or three years," said Cllr Mohammed Shafiq.

"A lot of it is down to fast driving and people in high performance cars."

"The council has put traffic islands to reduce the number of accidents, but despite this there still too many accidents on that stretch of road.

"Local residents are businesses need to do what they can to make this road safer for the public."

Cllr Shafiq did say there is one junction with Leeds Road where steps could be taken to help with safety.

He said: "In my opinion, Wensleydale Road is quite a dangerous junction. There are quite a number of accidents there.

"It's because of vehicles parking on Leeds Road near the junction. So it's hard to see vehicles coming from the main road.

"Many residents had drivers crash into their cars. I think putting in double yellow lines would make it safer."

A police spokesperson said: "West Yorkshire Police continue to work closely with partner agencies in Bradford on driving standards across the District.

"On Leeds Road, in Bradford, there are some static speed cameras which are in use and West Yorkshire Casualty Prevention Partnership periodically deploys mobile speed enforcement in the wider area.

"Operation Steerside is long established partnership approach to dangerous driving in Bradford and they continue to work to proactively tackle illegal use of the roads.

"In July last year, West Yorkshire Police launched a dashcam portal which enables to public to upload footage of dangerous driving, driver distraction offences, including using a mobile phone, driving without due care and attention, careless driving and traffic light contraventions.

"This new initiative has helped the police to work with the public as part of our commitment to preventing deaths and injury and improving driver behaviour. This is all about by proactively addressing offending and unsafe driver behaviour on our roads to make the roads of West Yorkshire safer for everyone. We would continue to encourage the public to submit any footage to us."