Pedants claim over pendants purge

Any item which obscures the area swept by wipers is illegal

A police force has been criticised for targeting motorists and lorry drivers who display hanging pendants in their windscreens.

Central Scotland Police said officers will "come down hard" on anyone who hangs ornaments in a way which obscures the area swept by windscreen wipers.

The warning comes after the force put two lorries off the road for the offence.

Motorists who use tinted glass in their windscreens are also being targeted.

Inspector Graeme Allan, of the force's road policing unit, said pendants that "encroach into the area swept by windscreen wipers" were illegal and should be removed.

He said: "If anything is in this area it will obscure the driver's vision and we will target anyone committing this offence.

"Common sense tells you that if you have anything on your windscreen you will not be able to see clearly and that is extremely dangerous."

'Dangling dolly'

The clampdown has drawn criticism from some within the motoring community who accused the police of looking for "easy targets".

Bruce Young, spokesman for the Association of British Drivers, said motorists were being unfairly persecuted.

He said: "I am frankly dismayed that any police force sees 'dangling dollies' as a threat to road safety, let alone a serious issue that needs to be 'clamped down on'.

"This smacks of sound bite rather than real policy and can serve only to improve their 'performance' figures without much effort."

He added: "A far more positive contribution to road safety would be to significantly increase specialist traffic police patrols to tackle current levels of dangerous, drunk, unlicensed and uninsured driving - each a far greater threat to road safety than any dangling dolly."