Road fines for third of drivers each year
A third of British drivers are fined every year, with councils and police accused of treating them as a cash cow. As many as 12 million drivers receive a penalty notice each year, a study by the RAC Foundation found, meaning that almost a third of the country’s 40 million motorists receive a penalty notice annually, bringing in more than £800 million in revenue. The foundation’s director, Steve Gooding, said that “some bus lanes and box junctions have become renowned as money-spinners” when it came to taking road fines.
ONE in three British motorists is fined every year, a study found yesterday, as experts suggest automation technology has created a cash cow for councils and police.
As many as 12 million drivers receive a penalty notice each year, a study by the RAC Foundation found, the equivalent of one every 2.5 seconds.
It means almost a third of Britain’s 40 million motorists are now receiving a penalty notice annually, bringing in more than £800 million in revenue.
This is in addition to the 1.2 million drivers who are now attending speed awareness courses instead of receiving a penalty and points on their licences.
The study, by Dr Adam Snow, a lecturer in criminology at Liverpool Hope University, found that eight million parking fines are issued by councils, while 2.5 million are penalised for using bus lanes and junction boxes.
Dr Snow estimated that councils in London made more than £371 million from parking and traffic fines, while local authorities in the rest of England and Wales made almost £211 million.
The figures, which cover the period from March 2015 to March 2016, include fines from both fixed penalty notices and penalty charge notices.
Dr Snow also estimated that police forces were making around £25million per year from fixed penalty notices.
The figures will raise questions over the level of reinvestment back into Britain’s roads ahead of the Chancellor’s Budget. last week Highways England said it was suspending 22 road improvement schemes, despite being part of the government’s £15 billion road investment proposal.
Highways England said the move would “reduce the impact of roadworks” by spreading them out. The RAC Foundation has called for fines to be “proportionate” in light of the findings out today.
Steve Gooding, the foundation’s director, said: “To maintain its legitimacy, automatic enforcement must be viewed by the public as proportionate.
“While wrongdoing should be punished and not excused, a decline in frontline policing risks an imbalanced approach to enforcement. When it comes to civil enforcement… some bus lanes and box junctions have become renowned as money-spinners.”
Dr Snow has suggested the increase is down to a cut in police budgets against a backdrop of cheaper speed camera technology.
“I hope this report provides the start of that debate about the acceptability and appropriate place for automation in road traffic enforcement,” he said.
He added that “perhaps the main driver for the increase in the importance of automation has been the realterms reductions in police budgets”.
This comes as an 875-yard stretch of Bristol Road in Birmingham was revealed to be one of the most lucrative speed traps, with 500 motorists being fined a month since it was introduced at the start of the year.