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Drivers to get flexible speeding penalties

By Francis Elliott, Deputy Political Editor

16 May 2004

Ministers are to attempt to head off a revolt by motorists over speeding fines by reducing the punishment for minor infringements.

Under a new flexible penalty point system drivers incur just two points if they are caught marginally over speed limits.

Serious speeding, however, will be punished by a six-point fine when the road traffic offences are overhauled.

Ministers hope that the new regime would help shore up public support for speed cameras. The devices have been the target of a sustained campaign by those who believe they are being abused to raise revenue rather than to cut crime.

Ministers are also concerned that thousands of motorists are losing their licences because they accumulate minor infringements. Currently, speeding drivers receive three points on their licences, regardless of how much they exceeded the limit. Four such offences within three years means an automatic ban.

In 2002, 30,000 motorists were disqualified after "totting up" 12 points and the numbers caught by cameras have been steadily increasing. In 1996, 260,000 drivers were given penalty points for speeding, compared with an estimated three million this year.

Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Transport, said: "We must reduce speeding but the public must have confidence that the punishment fits the crime."

He added: "The best camera is the one that doesn't issue a single ticket as it means people are driving safely within the speed limit."

The new points system is to go out to public consultation next month following the local elections. It is the result of a review of road traffic laws by Mr Darling and David Blunkett, the Home Secretary following a newspaper campaign against speed cameras.

The Conservatives have identified motorists' anger at the devices as a potent electoral weapon. The political pressure surrounding the issue recently forced the Department of Transport to announce a review of the siting of each of Britain's 5000 cameras.

Ministers have been struck by the example of Canada, where the devices were removed after they lost public support. In Australia, by contrast, speed cameras are an accepted and welcomed part of everyday life.

Mr Darling is determined to turn round public opinion on the cameras and plans to publish new research later in the summer that will show that accidents are dramatically reduced where limits are policed by the devices.

Although the new flexible scheme will reduce the punishments for those only just breaking the limit, it may increase the overall number of motorists caught. Current guidelines that allow police chiefs discretion on when to prosecute those over the limit may also be tightened.

The Association of the Chief Police Officers (Acpo) says that it wants to tighten the current "10 per cent + 2mph" buffer that means, for example, cameras policing a 40 mph limit are only triggered by vehicles travelling at 46mph.

Independent research has shown that drivers exceeding the average speed on a road by 25 per cent are six times more likely to have an accident. Government figures to be published will claim that cameras are cutting deaths and serious injuries by 35 per cent.