Speeding convictions on the rise
By: Assetz UK | Posted: 12th April 2006
Anyone who's seen that sickening flash of a
speed camera in the rear
view mirror may be relieved to hear that they are by no means alone.
New figures show that one in four households contain at least one
driver with a speeding
condition, with the latest figures from the Home Office confirming that more than two million drivers were flashed for speeding in 2004, the last year for which figures are available.
This is matched by a general rise in the number of
speeding offences
dealt with by the police, which hit a record high of 13.5 million, with
offences ranging from dangerous
driving to speeding and illegal parking. Accordingly, it's becoming increasingly likely that your fellow road users have committed a driving offence, with 2004 witnessing 466 offences for every 1,000 vehicles on the road, up from 355 a decade earlier.
With many sceptical that the UK's drivers are simply getting worse, the
figures have lead critics to claim that motorists are more likely to be
detected and prosecuted for offences, even miner ones. Tony Vickers, of
the Association of British Drivers, claims that drivers now have a
greater chance of being prosecuted than in previous years. "It is
beginning to look more like prosecution for prosecution's sake, rather
than a realistic road safety policy," he told the Telegraph.
The greater prevalence of speed
cameras is helping to fuel this rise in prosecution, with the two million drivers snapped in 2004 up considerably from the 447,000 in 1998. Now the government has announced that it plans to extend the UK's network of speed cameras, which is already 6,000 strong, by approving hundreds of new speed camera sites across the country. Following the government's decision, some 233 new speed cameras will be installed, while just 30 sites are due to be
decommissioned.
Criticism for this planned increase has been swift in coming, with
shadow transport minister Owen Paterson stating "motorists will be
disappointed to see the government planning yet more speed cameras
on our roads".
"Speed cameras clearly have a role to play in road safety but they are
not the be all and end all. We need the co-operation of drivers if we
are to improve road safety and if we simply install endless amounts of
cameras we risk losing their support," he added.
A common thread behind anti speed camera attitudes is the idea that
they are installed more as a revenue making exercise than a road safety
device. Unfortunately the latest projected earnings from speed cameras
will do nothing to dispel this idea, with the 39 safety camera
partnership expected to make £120 million over the next financial
year. The partnerships, comprised of councils, police, courts and the
Highways Agency, are allowed to keep some of the revenue from fines to
pay for the upkeep of the cameras.
One good piece of news revealed by the new figures, however, is that
the number of drivers disqualified for speeding has fallen, hitting
31,000 in 2004, down from 33,000 the year before, suggesting that one
lot of penalty points can
deter drivers from future speeding offences.
Andrew Howard from the AA pointed to research that says drivers who are
caught speeding once are motivated to avoid a further recurrence,
telling the Daily Mirror: "These figures show most drivers who get a
speeding conviction learn the lesson and either pay more attention to
their speed or look more closely for cameras.
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Tags: 5 million, households, prevalence, rear view mirror, two million, prosecution, motorists, road users, previous years, safety policy, road safety, speed cameras, dangerous driving