Huge Increase in Speeding Fines

In the last ten years the number of speeding fines and prosecution has gone up sevenfold, according to figures that have been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show. Car insurers have welcomed any move which will make the roads safer and ultimately save lives. That said it is all open to debate.

The request for figures by conservative MP Mark Field found in 1996 there were 262,000 offences which grew massively to 1,865,000 in 2006.

The Cities of London and Westminster MP told BBC 2′s Daily Politics he wanted the “pendulum turned back to the long suffering motorist”.

The road safety charity Brake says cameras help catch drivers who put lives in danger

‘Russian roulette’

In 2000 there were fewer than 2,000 speed cameras in England and Wales, this rose to more than 5,500 by 2006.

However, Mr Field said cameras were “more about money raising than safety on roads”.

He objects to the “excessive use” of the cameras and the “overzealous penalising of drivers”.

“The use of speed cameras transformed the disqualification system into one of Russian roulette.”

Huge sums of money have been raised through fines for the government, but yet the number of traffic officers on duty, have fallen by around 20 per cent.

Despite the “explosion” in cameras, little has been done to address serious problems. These include number of people still driving unlicensed vehicles or those not paying any road tax.

The Wiltshire borough of Swindon has voted to stop funding all speed cameras. This is something that Mr Field wants more local authorities to do.

Swindon has decided to use the 320,000 pounds it used to spend on speed cameras, on improving road safety projects.

‘Important tool’

The national road safety charity, Brake has described Swindon’s decision as “a very dangerous experiment with people’s lives”.

Jane Whitham, a spokesperson for the charity said: “Speed cameras are an important tool in catching drivers who insist on breaking the law and putting lives in danger.”

Looking at the other side of the debate is the AA President, Edmund King. He thinks the large decline in traffic police is a much more serious concern.

Mr King said “A speed camera does not pick up the illegal foreign truck driver or boy racer with stolen plates but a traffic cop can,” he said.

“We need to reverse this trend and increase traffic cops not only to make our roads safer but to make society safer.”

As recently indicated by transport secretary Geoff Hoon, traditional fixed-point speed cameras could be a thing of the past and may be replaced by other cameras which measure drivers’ average speed.

He told a newspaper that the cameras currently in use were widely regarded by the public as “arbitrary” and “unfair”.

Encouraging safer driving and reducing fuel consumption, the camera that measures average speed would be much fairer, he suggested.

Any measures that encourage safer driving are to be welcomed, as far as car insurance is concerned. However, it is the increased presence of the traffic police that are going to improve the safety on the roads. This is especially true when it comes to the point of illegal foreign truck drivers and crazy drivers driving on stolen number plates.

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