SPEEDING DRIVERS ‘TO BE LET OFF WITH WARNING’
Police say they want to take a ‘grown-up’ approach to offences
THOUSANDS of speeding Scots drivers are to be spared fines and points on their licence under plans to introduce a more ‘grown-up’ approach to motoring offences.
Police Scotland is planning to introduce a system of written warnings for drivers who go over a 20mph or 30mph speed limit.
As long they are not caught speeding again within three
months, they would face no further penalty and the warning would disappear from their record. It would not count as a criminal conviction and would not need to be disclosed to an insurance company – meaning no increase in premiums.
Police research suggests 18,000 drivers a year in Scotland could qualify for a written warning.
In a related move, Police Scotland has also backed the introduction of speed awareness courses as an alternative to points and fines. Such courses in England and Wales were found to reduce reoffending.
It hopes to introduce written warnings by the end of the year.
Speed awareness courses may be further off, as the police will now carry out a ‘scoping exercise’ of how they would work.
Both will need to be approved by the Crown Office – although former Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland gave provisional backing to written warnings.
Driving deaths have plummeted from almost 1,000 in 1969 to 146 last year and police now want to have a more mature relationship with motorists.
Chief Superintendent Stewart Carle, head of road policing, is behind the changes and hopes motorists will respond well to a more grown-up approach.
He said: ‘If you stop someone for a motoring offence, the chance is no one has given them a row since their schooldays.
‘If you have an opportunity to say, “Speeding is one of four fatal factors and we’re not going to prosecute on this occasion, we’re not going to give you a fine. Will you accept this warning?”, I think most people will say, “Yes, absolutely”.
‘This will benefit the prosecution authorities, so they can focus on the most serious cases.’ The written warnings will only be handed out by officers – they will not apply to those caught by speed cameras.
If someone who has received a warning is caught again within three months, they will automatically receive a fine and points. Police Scotland and the Crown Office refused to disclose exactly how fast a motorist could drive above the speed limit and still receive a written warning – but Mr Carle admitted the margins were ‘relatively generous’. He said: ‘It would take cases out of the system – not just for police but the Crown. If it was a one in 20 reoffending rate, you’ve taken 19 cases out of the system.’
Mr Carle also fears a move towards a blanket 20mph speed limit would lead to increased demands on the force. Green MSP Mark Ruskell currently has cross-party support for a private member’s Bill that would make 20mph the default limit.
Mr Carle admitted City of Edinburgh Council has already called for more enforcement of its 20mph zones.
But the number of Scotland’s road traffic officers has fallen by about 150 since 2012, to 642.
Mr Carle said: ‘I think 20mph zones would increase the expectation of enforcement and that’s the honest conversation I have to have. The number of road policing officers we have, and community officers training to use speed guns, that number doesn’t change. So what is it we’re going to stop doing to focus on speeding complaints?’
Mr Carle wants to free up traffic officers to focus on more serious crimes, involving drug couriers and getaway cars.
Neil Greig, of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, welcomed the move but said it was too slow and ‘Scotland lagged behind England’, which already has speed awareness courses.
He added: ‘We like the idea of a range of penalties, including verbal and written warnings, fines and speed awareness courses. Yes, the death rate has fallen in Scotland but it’s flatlined in recent years and there’s a couple of obvious things they could do – including speed awareness courses.’
Scottish Tory transport spokesman Jamie Greene said: ‘It’s welcome that Scotland is finally entertaining a common sense approach to low-level speeding.
‘For too long the punishments for minor infringements have been far too severe, creating an impression of an anti-motorist agenda. These more sensible measures will help repair that damage.’
Joshua Harris, of road safety charity Brake, said: ‘The introduction of written warnings for drivers who previously wouldn’t have faced any sanction for speeding is to be welcomed. But the fact remains that speeding endangers lives and we support a zero-tolerance approach.’
A Crown Office spokesman said: ‘No decision will be made on the introduction of speed awareness courses, and their possible relationship with alternatives such as warnings, until the findings of the evaluation report have been considered.’
‘Punishments have been far too severe’
SOMETIMES it seems fines applied to motorists are more about raising cash than improving road safety.
The slightest infraction – an accidental drift into a bus lane, for example, or driving just a mile or two per hour over the speed limit – can cost drivers dear.
So it is welcome news that thousands are to be spared points on their licences and fines under plans to introduce a more ‘grown up’ approach to motoring offences.
Rather than an immediate fine, Police Scotland is to introduce a system of written warnings which, as long as no speeding offence is repeated within three months, will not be followed by a financial penalty.
This sensible approach – which will positively encourage more careful driving by anyone in receipt of a written warning – is long overdue.