Motorists will clock up £283 in fines on average during their time in the driving seat, research revealed yesterday. The total punishment for offences by the nation’s drivers, including speeding and parking violations, works out at a staggering £10bn. Those in London rack up the highest lifetime tally, with an average of £680, while those in Northern Ireland tot up only £90. Motorists in the North-East recorded the second highest average at £352. Men lose the battle of the sexes as they are hit with £344 in fines during their driving careers compared to £210 for women. The survey suggests misdemeanours cost motorists £200m in total each year. If that figure is multiplied over a 50-year career at the wheel, then the nation’s total hits the £10bn mark. The research found that 34% of drivers have been fined for speeding at least once and 6% have been caught three or more times. Nearly four in ten have been slapped with at least one parking fine and one in 14 are serial offenders with three or more tickets. The survey of 1,017 motorists for the esure car insurance website found that more than a third of motorists are confused by the myriad of parking rules and regulations. Others admit they do not know many of the other highway laws which could lead to fines. More
(AD Remarks ~ There must be a good ammount of drivers who obey the rules and have never had any fines, so what does that say about some other drivers and their driving?)
A campaign group has claimed a speed camera on a Dorset road nets about £1.3m a year in fines despite one serious injury on the road since 1999. Dorset Speed said an average 1,843 motorists a month get a £60 ticket after being caught over the 30mph limit on the A350 Holes Bay Road in Poole. But Dorset Safety Camera Partnership (DSCP) said about 600,000 vehicles pass through the junction every month. It added that “only 0.26% of these drivers were prosecuted for speeding”. Ian Belchamber, who founded Dorset Speed, said the DSCP refused his Freedom of Information request claiming the data would encourage attacks on speed cameras. Mr Belchamber took the case to the Information Commissioner who released the figures. He added that the fines totalled around £108,000 a month, equating to the £1.3m figure. Mr Belchamber said: “Quite obviously, speed cameras are being deliberately used where they are going to get the maximum amount of funds and not where there’s a safety problem. More
(AD Remarks ~ In what seems to be a road with high volumes of traffic and not having a bad record, the camera appears to be a `cash cow` for the authoritites rather than a device to enhance road safey.)
Londoners have paid £7.3m in fines in one year after being caught out by CCTV cars which “compromise road safety”, a privacy campaign group has claimed. Currently 24 councils use cars mounted with cameras on masts to spot traffic offences, Big Brother Watch said. The group said these patrol cars were being used by councils to “make money, with road safety only an afterthought”. Lambeth Council, which earned the most at £1.68m, in fines, said its income went towards road safety schemes. Big Brother Watch said it obtained these figures from councils under a Freedom of Information request. Councils issued the fines to 161,000 London motorists between April 2009 and March 2010. Across Britain, 31 councils use the patrol cars and 25 of these issued fines worth £8m using these vehicles, the campaign group said. More
(AD Remarks ~ Another hefty income from the motorists. Its good to hear some councils using the money for road safety schemes, rather than the funds just being swallowed up by the government.)
A motorist had her car clamped while she was still at the wheel. Jessie Martin pulled into the car park to make a U-turn – but two vans from a clamping firm pulled in to block her exit. Two men approached her and ordered her to switch off the engine. When she obeyed, they fitted a clamp to her car. ‘These men just came out of nowhere,’ said Miss Martin, 31. ‘I thought I was getting robbed or something. They didn’t have any uniform on, they didn’t even have badges on. ‘He asked me to turn the engine off because he said something and I didn’t hear him – and that’s when he clamped me.’ Miss Martin said the clampers – from LBS Enforcement – had only pulled on identity badges after they had attached a clamp to her car. The mother-of-four called police and her partner after the clampers warned her the car would be towed and she would be charged £80 for every half hour they kept her waiting for their money. ‘She was in a terrible state when I got there,’ said her partner Michael Jenner, 39, a roofer. ‘She was crying and felt very intimidated. If she had parked then fair enough – but she was only turning around. More
(AD Comments ~ Something needs to be done to tighten the laws so these things don`t happen. But whats go through someones mind to do this to a mother alone with her four children, in the first place?)
NEARLY 40 vehicles have been crushed as part of a crackdown on persistent drink-drivers. Officers believe the “outstanding success” of the six-month-old scheme could see it extended to first-time drink-drive offenders caught several times over the limit or who refuse to provide a breath test or drive while banned. Under the pioneering Scottish crackdown, prosecutors can seek the destruction of the vehicle of anyone caught twice for drink-driving. Prosecutors have the power to seek to forfeit the vehicle of any driver charged with an imprisonable offence, so the scheme could eventually cover those convicted of dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving. The 39 vehicles seized so far include a £20,000 Audi TT by Grampian Police and a Land Rover Freelander in Edinburgh. The more valuable ones are sold while the rest are crushed. More See also Previous post for punishments around the world
(AD Comments ~ Should make a good deterent. Everyone know drink driving is wrong and illegal, this may ram home the message!)
Cowboy wheel clampers will be banned from operating on private land under Government plans to end a practice which has been condemned as ‘legalised mugging’. Motoring organisations have been deluged with complaints about rogue clampers who fail to properly display parking regulations – then charge extortionate fees to free vehicles. More than 1,900 companies have the power to hit drivers for up to £800 a time to release cars left ‘too long’ in supermarket, hospital or railway station car parks. Now Ministers have drafted proposals to abolish all private clamping in England and Wales, 20 years after the practice was outlawed in Scotland. Under the Home Office plans, firms involved in the £240 million-a-year business would only be able to immobilise cars if they are contracted to do so by local authorities. Without an official council warrant, firms would be restricted to issuing parking tickets. Liberal Democrat Transport Minister Norman Baker, who is working on the plans with the Home Office, said: ‘There is an extremely strong case to ban these rogue clamping activities, and the political will now exists to make sure that it happens.’ More
(AD Comments ~ Incorrect parking car be a problem and should be dealt with. But we need more regulation, so that genuine people are not fleeced of huge ammounts of money unfairly.)
Ministers have promised to put the brake on any new fixed speed cameras and warned they will no longer be used as a ‘cash cow’ to milk motorists. Transport minister Mike Penning told MPs yesterday that the Government will scrap millions of pounds a year in grants handed to local authorities to fund new speed traps. Mr Penning warned town halls to use other effective road safety measures – such as speed warning signs – to cut deaths and injuries on Britain’s roads. Local authorities will still be able to install new speed cameras, but they will have to fund them from council tax and are likely to have to justify their introduction to residents. Over the past decade, the number of speed cameras has trebled, making Britain the speed camera capital of Europe. They raise about £110million a year for the Treasury. More
(AD Comments ~ Perhaps the money saved, might better be used to put more traffic police on the roads. A much more visible police pressence on the roads will discourage not justs peeders, but dangerous driving as well!)
A motorist has been fined £175 for breaching vehicle laws with a Scooby Doo logo on his number plate. Thomas Edwards, of Codsall, was also ordered to pay £50 in costs and a £15 victim surcharge. The 22-year-old was convicted of breaching the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act with his Subaru Impreza. Magistrates in Wolverhampton heard both plates on the car failed to conform to the laws as they had a Scooby Doo logo “to the left of the lettering”. Edwards told the Wolverhampton Express and Star that he regarded his prosecution as totally unfair. More
(AD Comments ~ If you thought that the Police dont give a scoobies about number plate correctness you would be wrong!)
AN ANGRY driver who drove into a traffic warden to try and escape a parking ticket has been fined £375. Scott Johnstone got into a heated argument with Neil O’Donnell as the traffic warden tried to put a fixed penalty fine on the windscreen of his van. Johnstone, who had illegally parked the van in a bus bay while he went into a nearby bank, then revved his engine and drove at Mr O’Donnell. The 36-year-old struck the warden on the body before driving off along the road in Bishopbriggs, Glasgow, in October last year. He was later arrested after police later tracked him down using his van’s registration. At Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday, Sheriff Mary Foran also disqualified Johnstone from driving for a year. Johnstone, of Haywood Street, Glasgow, earlier admitted driving without due care and attention and colliding with Mr O’Donnell on Kirkintilloch Road, Bishopbriggs, on October 2, 2009. Prosecutor Jennifer Morris told the court that CCTV footage showed Johnstone parking the van in a bus bay before going into the Bank of Scotland on Kirkintilloch Road. While he was in the bank, Mr O’Donnell spotted the van and was in the process of writing a ticket when Johnstone returned. Miss Morris said: “Mr O’Donnell was standing in front of the van when the accused came out of the Bank of Scotland. He walked past the warden and entered the van. “He started the engine and reversed the van as the warden approached and attempted to attach the fixed penalty notice to the windscreen. There was an exchange between the two men and eventually the accused drove the van towards Mr O’Donnell. He struck him on the body and then drove off along Kirkintilloch Road.” More
(AD Comments ~ These actions were never going work, just making the situation go from bad to worse!)
A revamp of hospital car parking is needed, consumer watchdog Which? says after looking into the best and worst practices in England. The group found a wide variation in the frequency with which patients were clamped and fined for breaching rules. Using data from 126 Freedom Of Information requests, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust came top for clamping. Over a year the hospital clamped 1,671 cars and made nearly £2m profit. Leeds General Infirmary issued the most parking tickets – over 10,000, generating £142,000 profit. The Royal Derby was the target of the most criticism – it received 82 complaints in 2008-09. According to Which?, 70% of people have experienced problems with an NHS hospital car park and for nearly half, parking made what can be a very stressful time even worse. It is calling on NHS hospitals to improve car parking services by banning clamping and towing. It also wants “fairer” charging systems such as allowing patients to pay on departure rather than arrival, or reimbursing patients for additional parking fees when appointments are delayed. More
(AD Comments ~ If hospitals had more funding, or used their resources more effectively, motorists would not need the high expense of parking charges/fines, especially when their hospital visit may be difficult as it is.)
Police have launched an offensive against motorists who operate the music device, saying it is as dangerous as using a mobile phone. Officers are concerned that the “iPod generation” is putting other road users at risk when changing tunes on iPods and other MP3 players while behind the wheel. Forces across the country are interpreting existing road safety rules, which state that drivers must not be distracted, to include the most up-to-date music players despite many new cars coming with a docking station installed. Police can issue cautions to people caught eating or drinking if they feel the driver has been suitably distracted by it. More
(AD Comments ~ Just another impairment to driving, and even minor distractions from the road while selecting tunes, can have drastic consequences.)
A COWBOY parking firm has hit an elderly man with £20,000 of fines for leaving his car in his own parking space. James Reilly, 80, has been hounded by rogue attendants who ticket his car twice a week in a bay near his home. The retired building engineer is hit with stacks of tickets and threatening letters from Central Ticketing, despite their having no legal right to enforce fines, because he refuses to display an unnecessary permit to park on his own land. More
(AD Comments ~ Do the attendants have nothing better to do?)
A mother was fined £60 after stopping her car for one minute to read a parking sign. Claire Hallam, 45, pulled into the parking bay in Lewisham, south London, so that she could look at a sign telling her when she was allowed to park in the area. But as soon as she got out to read the sign – which has a big blue ‘P’ on it, indicating parking is allowed at some point in the day – she was told by a shop owner she should “move quickly” to avoid a fine. She dashed back into her car and left 60 seconds after she had parked. However, a CCTV camera caught her on tape and she was promptly issued with a £60 fine – £1 for every second she was parked in the space. She has since returned to the spot and found that the sign allows parking for 20 minutes between 10am and 4pm for loading, but otherwise there is no stopping between 7am-7pm. Mrs Hallam, a part time school co-ordinator, said she was “disgusted” that she could be issued with such a large fine for such a short stop simply to read the terms and conditions of parking. She said: “There was a big blue ‘P’ on the sign, so I pulled over to get a closer look and see how long I would be allowed to stop for. More
(AD Comments ~ Its amazing how these things can happen to genuine peolpe trying to do the best thing.)
Two fixed cameras installed to slow cars to 40mph approaching roadworks are thought to be the biggest moneyspinners in Britain. Activated just 10 days ago, officials estimate 1,000 drivers a day speed past the cameras at over 40mph. But only those exceeding 46mph are issued with tickets. Despite the higher threshold, at least 900 tickets potentially netting £54,000 in £60 fixed penalty notices have already been issued. The cameras were installed last Monday to slow drivers on the A1139 Frank Perkins Parkway in Peterborough. Previously, the most prolific camera was a Gatso on the M11 in Essex, which issues around tickets 9,000 a year, costing speeding motorists £500,000 annually. More
(AD Suggests ~ A good little earner for the new government. Will road users in this particular area, see more gatso`s pop up soon?)
A defiant motorist has embarked on a landmark legal battle against speed cameras – after claiming that Gatso units may issue false tickets in cold weather. Andrew Fowler, 48, was flashed in Cambridge on a freezing February morning last year allegedly travelling at 41mph in a 30mph limit. But the dad-of-three, who passed the camera daily en route to work for 12 months, was sure the speedo on his silver Skoda Favorit read around 30mph. He contested the ticket and began a one-man campaign to prove it was faulty, which if successful could open the doors for thousands of drivers to challenge speeding fines. Electrical engineer Andrew now claims to have expert evidence showing that Gatsos can give false readings when the outside temperature drops below 0*C. He believes the cameras are only calibrated for accuracy between 0*C and 70*C, and at lower temperatures vital timing circuitry is slowed inside the unit. This means as he passed the camera, when the temperature was minus -5*C, the normal half-second pause between the two images used to measure speed was delayed. It would then give the impression that the car had travelled further over the white lines painted on the road used to calculate distance and give a higher speed reading. He has now taken his appeal to Cambridge Crown Court, where he hopes to push for the matter to be taken to judicial review at the High Court in London. More
(AD Suggests ~ If he is successful, a lot of money could be returned, and points removed!)
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