It's a common sarcastic grumble you get from people motoring away from police checkpoints on our county’s roads: “Why aren’t they out catching real criminals?”

Those drivers have usually just picked up a fine, three penalty points on their licence and/or a telling-off by a road safety officer.

In their minds, doing a few miles per hour over the speed limit/talking to the office on a mobile telephone/not wearing a seatbelt is no big deal. Well, not when they do it.

Of course, they know it is wrong and a crime but really should that bunch of police officers have been stood at that corner to catch them when they could have been out getting real villains?

Those officers may agree on some level.

There are more than enough burglars/muggers/ yobs for all of our thin blue line to deal with.

It would be great if they were freed up to do so.

But here’s why they don’t: Because in a year, by just going and standing at a roadside for just more than four hours a week our police can catch more than 3,000 motorists ignoring what are three basic driving safeties.

That is, roughly, one of every 135 motorists from Oxfordshire breaking the law.

We are now decades into road safety campaigns, yet still such a high number continue to speed, not strap themselves into their vehicles or phone up their girlfriends to remind them to record the football.

Perhaps if people did abide by the law, we could release those officers to deal with other crimes.

But for people like Pc Mark Pilling, who has had to attend the scenes of horrific accidents and seen the human cost, the current numbers mean he and his colleagues will continue trying to ram the safety message home.