A newspaper campaign designed to curb dangerous driving has been praised by police chiefs as it seeks to land a national award.

The Bradford Telegraph and Argus’s ‘Stop the Danger Drivers’ campaign is among 28 which have been shortlisted for the ‘Making a Difference’ award, designed to highlight the role of local newspapers in bringing about positive change in their communities.

A public vote to choose a winner from the 28 campaigns is currently taking place with the result due to be announced at Friday’s Regional Press Awards.

Now a police chief running a parallel safety campaign called Operation Steerside has praised the T&A for helping to make its initiative a success.

The number of motorists caught in the police operation, which encourages members of the public to send dash cam footage and other information about illegal driving, now stands at 9,233.

Sergeant Cameron Buchan, who is in charge of the operation, said the T&A’s campaign had been “invaluable.”

He said: “The local press are our best way of letting the public know what we are doing, and we also get a lot back from it.

“When people know what we are working on we get more information coming back to us and it increases public confidence in us.

“Since the start of Operation Steerside we have had a steady stream of videos and information coming through from the public.

“It’s not very often a police campaign gets into the public consciousness the way this has.”