DRIVERS believe they have found a new way to avoid speed traps - by driving on the wrong side of the road.

Motorists have been filmed by speed cameras playing a deadly new game of veering over on the opposite side of the road - sometimes into the path of oncoming cars - in a desperate bid to avoid the growing number of speed cameras.

Officers at the West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership, which monitors speed cameras, said they had seen a dramatic rise in dodging drivers.

Partnership spokesman Philip Gwynne said concern was rising as the cameras had already filmed a number of heart-stopping near misses.

"Cars are being driven down the wrong wide of the road in the face of oncoming traffic," he said.

"Motorists pulling out of side roads will not be looking out for vehicles coming towards them from the wrong direction, neither will pedestrians crossing the road."

He said the potentially deadly tactic did nothing to help get drivers off the hook. Speeding motorists would be caught no matter which side of the road they were on.

"It doesn't matter if a car is on the white lines or is on the other side of the road at the side of them. Their position and speed can still be calculated."

He said: "The ladder is a set of stripes painted on the road surface five feet apart next to the familiar yellow box fixed safety camera.

"The stripes are to give drivers an added visual aid that they are passing through a stretch of road where people have been killed or seriously injured. They also help in calculating vehicle speeds."

Until now, ladders have been painted only on the side of the road where the camera is situated.

But as a result of the shocking images captured on cameras across the country, double-sided ladders are to be placed on roads.

Mr Gwynne said: "When motorists see the ladder on both sides of the road they will, we hope, get the message that it is futile to try and avoid detection by driving on the opposite side of the road."

West Yorkshire motorists are facing 50 more speed cameras as road safety chiefs launch a campaign to crack down on speed.

Andrew Howard, from the AA, said: "The white markings on the road don't need to be there for the cameras to work, so veering across the road will not stop speeders being caught."