Maximum motorway speeding fine set to rocket to £10,000

[Mitsuru]

I seen this on the news paper reviews on the BBC & SKY news channels

Maximum motorway speeding fine set to rocket to £10,000
Government sets out new penalty regime which will hit law-breaking motorists and other criminals hard in the pocket

The maximum fine for speeding on the motorway is to be quadrupled to £10,000 as part of sweeping reforms to the penalties which can be imposed by magistrates, the Government has announced.

Other fines for breaking the limit on dual carriageways and other roads will also increase four-fold from £1,000 to £4,000, along with the maximum fine for using a mobile telephone at the wheel.

Motoring groups condemned the massive increases as “draconian” and warned they could deter innocent motorists from challenging speeding tickets in the court through fear that they could be hit with crippling penalties.

For the first time magistrates will also get the power to impose unlimited fines for more serious offences such as careless driving or driving without insurance.

Jeremy Wright, the justice minister, said: “Financial penalties set at the right level can be an effective way of punishing criminals and deterring them from further offending



“Magistrates are the cornerstone of our justice system and these changes will provide them with greater powers to deal with the day-to-day offences that impact their local communities.”

But motoring groups questioned the sharp increases and warned that it could lead to a “chilling effect” on drivers who felt they had been wrongly accused.

Edmund King, president of the Automobile Association, said: “For the vast majority of drivers the prospect of the existing £2,500 fine is a pretty good deterrent against excessive speeding on the motorway.

“We would not condone excessive speeding in any way but fines have to be proportionate to the offence and one has to question whether increasing the fines four-fold is proportionate, and it probably is not.

“If we had more cops in cars on the motorway that would be a much more effective deterrent.”

Rupert Lipton, director of the National Motorists Action Group, said the threat of being hit with a fine of up to £10,000 could stop motorists going to court to challenge unjust speeding tickets.

“This massive increase is disproportionate and draconian,” he said.

“I think it will have a serious chilling effect. We will find motorists will be deterred from going to court where they don’t believe they are guilty of an offence and there is a potential challenge.”

He added: “For general speeding allegations you’re allowed to take a fixed penalty, currently £60 and three penalty points on your licence, or agree to complete a speed awareness course.

“But if you wish to challenge it you can currently face six points and a £1,000 fine on non-motorway roads or £2,500 on the motorway.

“I think that is enough of a deterrent for people who are thinking about taking a chance and going to court, but raising it four-fold is clearly an over-reaction.

“The threat and the fear of a disproportionate fine would deter many from trying to seek justice.”

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “People who break the law should bear the consequences but this seems such a wholesale change to the system so you have to ask what was going so badly wrong before?

“Ironically we know that speeding offences have declined over recent years and just last week the Department for Transport confirmed that even after taking congestion out of the equation recorded traffic speeds have been dropping for a decade on most types of roads.”

New legislation for the higher fines has been laid in Parliament, and a Ministry of Justice spokesman said it would be the first change to the penalty structure since 1991.

The government is collecting a record amount in fines, with £284 million taken in 2012-13.

The changes are part of a major overhaul of fining powers in the lower courts which will apply to all types of crimes as well as motoring offences.

The new fine structure will see fines for “level one” offences such as “unauthorised cycle racing on public ways” or being found drunk on a highway increase from £200 to £800, while people convicted of “level two” crimes such as riding a motorcycle without a crash helmet or being drunk in a football ground will see the maximum penalty rise from £500 to £2,000.

Offences such as television licence evasion, selling of alcohol to a drunk person or being drunk and disorderly in a public place - known as “level three” offences - will rise from £1,000 to £4,000.

“Level four” crimes such as motorway speeding, taxi touting and using a vehicle in a dangerous condition will rise from £2,500 to £10,000.

In the highest category, “level five”, magistrates will be able to impose unlimited fines for the first time, mirroring the penalties that can already be imposed in the Crown court.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... 10000.html

[Luxobarge]

Moved to "Off Topic" as, yet again, this has nothing to do with classic cars......

[Phil P]

I see the Justice Minister uses the word 'Criminal' for speeding offences. So what word is he going to use for burglars or rapists etc? I would include drunk drivers though. I went on a speed awareness course for doing 35 MPH in a 30 MPH area. Does that make me a criminal? I was only doing the same speed as the rest of the traffic, not an excuse I know. I have been down that piece of road since and the camera is obscured by a large tree.

I can see a lot of MP's wives taking the wrap or will MP's be exempted or possibly be claimed as expenses. The next move will be no tolerance speed limits. I use the M6 regularly and it is almost impossible to go over 70 MPH. J7 to J14 it is quite an achievement to go over 50MPH between 7-00am and 9-00pm!

Another bash the easy target.

[Dave3066]

I went on a speed awareness course for doing 35 MPH in a 30 MPH area. Does that make me a criminal?

Technically yes it does. Breaking a statutory law such as the Road Traffic Act etc, which you did by driving faster than a correctly posted speed limit, is a criminal offence where the punishment is set to deter others from transgressing.

You could always come and live in Scotland where the max fines are not going up (we have a different legal system up here )

Dave

[Minxy]

Once again shouldn't be an issue if you abide by the posted speed restrictions

In my opinion drivers these days are getting really quite aggressive and definitely need bringing into line (my wife says its because I'm getting old) mumpties who dash down motorways at 80 plus with phone in one hand and burger or coffee in the other deserve to be hit and hit hard.

Rant over, now where's me pipe and slippers

[tractorman]

I doubt somehow that doing 35 in a 30 will see you get a £10L fine, but doing 180 down the M6 might! IMHO, an amount of it is "catching up with inflation" - remember the outcry in the early 90s when they wanted the level of fine to be almost a percentage of annual salary (ie rich people pay more - so that it hurts them as much as it hurts the poorer people who would pay the pre-increase price).

It's fair to use the old expression "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime" - in this case, if you can't afford the fine, don't speed!

I doubt Minxy is getting old - just maturing (and hen pecked!!)

[Phil P]

I would live in Scotland Dave as I think the landscape is fantastic but the sad thing is the last time I went I got done for speeding and parking within 30 minutes!!

[Topaz]

A tale copied from another forum that a guy I know posted earlier today . . . . . . . .

Sunday afternoon XX and I are returning home from Wigan, it's mid afternoon and we are heading South on the M6 around Warrington, in lane 2 or 3 doing around 70 (on the clock so a bit less), lane 4 is moving a lot faster but smoothly when suddenly the noise of a loud engine rises, and the next minute what looked like a Le Mans racing car overtakes, it's in lane 4 and is literally inches from the car in front, it's fully decaled with racing insignia and it's reg was something mad like 00-3122-00-33 (an example, not literal, basically not any registration I've seen before which includes several overseas ones), we comment on the "pr one ck" driving so close but he vanishes into the distance, still tailgating anything which wouldn't move over instantly.

Several miles pass ...

Now down by Congleton.

Another car, of similar, if not the same design, (the reg of this was LIWI) can be heard and then comes into view, tail gating, undertaking, using the hard shoulder, pulling into gaps smaller than the car - forcing others to swerve and brake, not us as such. "That's enough for me" I said to XX, "this "f...er" is going to cause an accident, I don't care if he kills himself but others, that's a no no and even more selfishly we don't want to be held up whilst the emergency services sort out the mess"

so 999

"Which service ?"

"Police please"

Duly reported, the office said they would get a car out to catch it "Good luck, it will need to be a fast one" I said and he laughed.

Several miles pass ...

Now just beyond Keele.

The first car is stopped on the hard shoulder, with the driver, a male, out and on the phone, difficult to tell if had a problem (I wish) or if he was phoning for social reasons.

Several miles pass ...

The SatNav warns of a traffic delay but we decide to stick on the M6, as the alternate route was an A road which may become very congested as all those with SatNavs take it !

Stafford passes and the jam gets nearer.

Soon we can see the hazard lights in the distance and we ease to a near stop, the next minute there is a very loud roar as car 2 - LIWI - goes hammering down the hard shoulder - "What a silly boy (or similar)" we say and then, a car which had been ambling along lane 1 and was just in front of us, we were in lane 2, sudddenly accelerates very quickly, and the blues and twos wail as he pursues the fool.

A mile or so passes ...

LIWI is stopped on the shoulder, with an unmarked police car behind him, the offices are "gently" speaking to the driver - hopefully they could prosecute him on their witness of him using the hard shoulder and I suspect I wasn't the only one to report his antics.

The motorway was fast flowing immediately after and I wonder if the police had spotted him and put a rolling roadblock in place, to make it easy to stop him, but then he used the shoulder and effectively hung himself - I doubt I will ever know but I was pleased that I had played my part in removing Mr "Accident waiting to happen" from the road, for a short time at least.

[Dave3066]

suddenly the noise of a loud engine rises, and the next minute what looked like a Le Mans racing car overtakes, it's in lane 4 and is literally inches from the car in front, it's fully decaled with racing insignia and it's reg was something mad like 00-3122-00-33

Gumball Rally is in town then!

They were heading south from Edinburgh last weekend.

Dave

[Phil P]

I rang the Police and reported a 'knob ed' driving like a prize **** on the M6 near Stafford earlier this year. He was tailgating and swerving from lane to lane in a Seat Leon with all the kit on it. Same question Police Fire Ambulance. I said, "Police" I then gave the registration of the 'knob ed' and the guy on the other end asked me if I was on my own and if so did I know it was an offence to use a mobile phone while driving. I ended the call.

Mind how you go sir.