Drivers angered as speed fines soar

The number of drivers fined for speeding in London has trebled in three years, new figures reveal.

The statistics were greeted with anger today by motoring campaigners, who said drivers were being made an "easy target" for speed cameras.

Home Office Minister John Denham said 44,092 drivers were fined over speeding offences detected by cameras in the Met and City police areas in 2000, the most recent period for which comprehensive figures have been compiled.

This represents a leap of 211 per cent over 1998, when 14,155 fines were issued, and means the total for fines imposed under the £60 fixed penalty system jumped threefold from £850,000 to £2.6 million.

The number of prosecutions for more serious speeding offences which were dealt with at magistrates courts rose from 2,983 to 5,522 over the same period - an increase of 118 per cent.

In 1999 there were 13,048 fixed penalty fines and 6,982 prosecutions.

The three-year rise is revealed in the wake of provisional new figures from Scotland Yard showing that there were 357 deaths on London's roads last year compared to 284 the year before. Officers are now being sent back to traffic duty following pressure from road safety campaigners.

The RAC Foundation attacked police reliance on speed cameras, arguing that more traffic patrols are needed for safer roads. "A camera might detect someone speeding at that moment in time but it does not spot the dangerous driver, the drink-driver, the driver on the mobile phone or the tailgater," said spokesman Jonathan Simpson. "We would prefer to see more traffic patrols."

Mark McArthur-Christie, road safety and transport spokesman at the Association of British Drivers, called for police to target dangerous drivers instead of pursuing otherwise lawabiding drivers who were "just over the limit". He said: "Motorists are a soft option. It is totally unreasonable for the police to target drivers in this way," he said.

But today's figures were welcomed by safety campaigners. Amy Aeron of road crash victim charity Road-Peace said: "Clearly, where there are cameras, fewer people are being killed and injured. There should be more cameras to reduce the leading cause of death and injuries on the roads - excessive speed."

The Government also believes the case for cameras has been thoroughly proved.

A recent Department of Transport report showed there were 47 per cent fewer deaths and serious injuries at speed camera sites. Last week, transport minister John Spellar told a select committee hearing into speed: "Clearly marked speed cameras have a significant effect in modifying speed."

About one million of the 26 million motorists on British roads are prosecuted for speeding each year, but police chiefs expect that figure to more than treble to 3.5 million by April next year as speed cameras proliferate. Revenue will easily top £100 million by the end of next year.

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