Fines for motoring offences such as speeding, not wearing a seatbelt and using a mobile phone are set to be hiked from £60 to £90.
The 50 per cent increase has been proposed by Road Safety Minister Mike Penning, who also wants to give police the power to issue a £90 fixed penalty and points for careless driving.
Penning said: “We need to make sure that the penalties for a wide range of fixed penalty motoring offences are set at reasonable levels consistent with the potentially severe consequences of some infringements.”
A statement from the Department for Transport (DfT) said that fixed penalty levels for most motoring offences had not increased since the year 2000, and are now lower than penalties of a similar level.
The DfT is also keen to cut the red tape surrounding prosecution for careless driving offences.
At present, police can either issue a warning for a careless driving offence or take the offender to court – a time consuming and costly option. The creation of a fixed penalty notice will give cops a middle ground, allowing them to penalise offenders with fines and points without the expense of dragging them in front of a judge.
Penning said: “Careless driving is a major public concern and a cause of deaths and injuries on our roads.
“These changes support both police enforcement and, for some cases, the associated offer of educational training for motorists unaware of the full, potential consequences of driving carelessly.”
The DfT is carrying out a consultation on both proposals that will close on 5 September 2012.
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Just think how bad it would be if we weren't governed by the this enlightened bunch we could end up being royally shafted.
Hang on a mo 50%........ Hmm We are being shafted guess the war isn't over after all.
This isn't a war on the motorist, it's a war on poor driving. Trouble is, can't remember the last time I saw a traffic cop, see mobile speed cameras all the time but not patrols so really this is meaningless unless they are out to enforce.
The fine hike is largely irrelevant. To most motorists, the actual fine isn't the problem (being in the same region as a tank of fuel).
The real cost is the extra insurance you pay afterwards - and because you have to declare all penalties in the last *five* years, even after your license is clean again, you're still paying. Over all this time it will probably amount to many hundreds of pounds.
I suppose the sad part is that the Department for Transport actually thinks they are increasing the cost of a ticket by 50%, which suggests that they're rather out of touch with the average motorist.
All well and good to fine bad driving but who is to stop some of the police bad driving that I have witnessed?
Also will there be a course of redress if a police officer is just being biased as they are human after all?
Who is to watch the watcher? One way around this problem would be that any fine will have to be accompanied by video footage so there can be no excuse
Rych1506 - I'm not an expert on the law but, as far as I know, you ALWAYS have the option of going to court if you're issued a fixed penalty note. That's your redress against irresponsible policing.
gofasterstripes - Very true. Thanks to the cuts imposed by our "we're-all-in-it-together-but-you're-in-it-much-deeper-than-we-are" government, traffic police are becoming an endangered species.
OK so how about the cyclist? how many dont stop at a stop sign? pull streight out without looking at minor junctions?, ride after dark without lights? ride on pavements? ride the wrong way on roads? believe they own the road?, ride whilst using a mobile phone? the list is longer than this but its about time they were made to feel opart of this country by giving them the same as motorists get FINES.
And yet again, foreign drivers will get away scott free.
toycollector - Not if the police can fine them on the spot
Perhaps if the minister really cares about road safety (which he doesn't, neither do the wider authorities - they only pretend to be interested when they want to raise a few quid), he should look at his own title and ensure the roads are safe rather than the potholed disaster they are in many parts of the UK. Many councils are criminally negligent in this regard. Perhaps we should be giving fixed penalties to those who take motoring taxes from us and leave us with lethal road surfaces...
Don't break the law and you won't get done. I think the fines should be higher. I agree we should have more police patrols but if there wasn't such a high rate of absenteeism in the police maybe we could have more of them on our roads.
On another point. If speed cameras are put up just to make money why are councils taking them down? Do they make loads of money or not?