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New police roadside fines for reckless driving11 May 2011by Peter Tait Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has announced a new raft of measures designed to more easily counter aggressive and dangerous driving such as tailgaiting, undertaking or cutting up other drivers. From next year, police will be granted additional powers to hand out on-the-spot fines of £80 to £100 for reckless driving offences that are all too prevalent on our roads and which risk the lives of other safer drivers while also pushing up the price of car insurance owing to the cost of the numerous avoidable accidents that result from this reckless driving behaviour. The Government used the anouncement as an opportunity to criticise the previous administration that they argued was too focused on speed cameras for their road safety policy. This Government, by scrapping the central grant for speed cameras, will preside over a reduction in their use. From the driver's perspective, the last administration was perceived as anti-motorist owing to ongoing increases in fuel duty, something the current coalition has tried to address, albeit with limited impact owing to the VAT increase. Many motorists are likely to welcome these new powers if they help to reduce unsafe driving practices, particularly among 'boy racers', that can be alarming to other road users. Indeed, we reported recently that tailgating is perceived as the biggest motorway menace. However, motorists favour education over fines when it comes to driving offences and there is evidence to support this position, especially in relation to speeding offences, where there can be long term benefits of driver speed awareness training. Fines have not been shown to alter driving behaviour. Aside from (limited) income generation for the public coffer, it's hard to know what benefits, if any, these new police fines will bring to the motorist. The size of the fines is unlikely to act as a major deterrent, while it is already the case that drivers tend to drive with greater care in the vicinity of a police patrol car. Were the new police fines to be accompanied by much greater use of unmarked police patrol cars, perhaps they would have a deterent effect to a small degree but most drivers will assume that no police car is nearby when they drive without due care towards or regard for other road users. Of course one intended aspect of roadside fines is to cut down on police administration to free up their time for more frontline work. Similarly, roadside fines remove the burden and cost of processing these minor driving offences through the busy court system. The latter effect is probably the most critical part of how the new fines will 'add value' to the policing of raod traffic offences but they are unlikely to impact significantly on the prevalence of careless driving behaviours. For those anxious to secure good value car insurance quotes, we can recommend our car insurance providers, both price comparison and direct, as listed below. Those looking to buy quality and reliable cover may wish to start off with one of the top brands at least in the first instance. |
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