Long legs of the law fail to slow traffic

A bid to slow down traffic by installing life-sized cardboard cut-outs of mini-skirted policewomen has backfired.

The scheme, in the Czech Republic, has actually doubled accident rates by distracting male motorists.

The cardboard cut-outs were installed at busy junctions throughout the country to save cash on installing new traffic lights.

But local police say the accident rates have soared as men take their eyes off the road.

Motorist Petr Lederer - who complained to the country's Interior Ministry after driving his car off the road - said: "The cut-outs are distracting. I mean, mini-skirts? In this weather?"

But a police service spokesman explained: "The cardboard WPCs are a way of saving money during the austerity cuts."