Red light jumpers to go back to driving school

Motorists caught jumping red lights in London are being sent on "back-to-school" courses.

Attending the lessons allows them to avoid paying a £60 fine and getting three points on their licence.

During the two-and-a-half-hour course they are shown disturbing pictures of cars involved in fatal collisions with pedestrians, to make them confront the risk of killing and maiming others or themselves.

Drivers are also tested on the Highway Code, with worksheets highlighting the consequences of ignoring the rules of the road.

The courses were announced by Transport for London today, after Evening Standard research showed that red-light jumping is at " epidemic proportions" in the capital.

In Trafalgar Square 117 road-users were spotted charging through the lights in a three-hour period.

The courses are being run by the London Safety Camera Partnership, which is made up of TfL, London Councils, the police and the courts.

More than 360 people have already been on the course during a trial period. Officials estimate that within its first year, about 1,200 will choose to pay the £95 fee and attend lessons in Islington, Bromley or Ealing.

If successful, the scheme will go nationwide. New figures show that each week, two people are killed or seriously injured on London's roads after motorists run traffic lights.

Chris Lines, head of the London road safety unit at TfL, said: "We can carry on putting in engineering solutions to stop people killing and hurting each other and we shall continue to do that. But what we want is a shift in drivers' attitudes so that they take responsibility for their behaviour, as was done with drink-driving.

"Although London's roads are getting safer, the 129 deaths and serious injuries in 2006 caused by red-light jumping demonstrate there is much more to be done." Figures for last year are expected to show an improvement.

Automatic cameras at red lights were "tripped" 106,000 times in London over the past year - nearly 300 times each day.

The red-light courses will be offered to motorists at the discretion of police, depending on the margin by which they overshot the lights.

More serious offenders will not be offered a place and drivers can only attend once in three years.

Jon Plant, senior operations manager of the Met's traffic criminal justice unit, said: "We are offering drivers the opportunity to assess their own driving." The AA called the idea "eminently sensible".

There are 242 red light cameras in London. Their installation has led to a 53 per cent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured at their location.

THE OFFENDERS

FIGURES show that automatic red-light cameras were "tripped" 106,000 times in Greater London last year. This includes 83,000 trips in the Metropolitan police area. Cases against 46,177 motorists were proceeded with.

However, 37,000 cases were discarded because of damage to film or processing errors, because registration numbers could not be traced or because those snapped by the cameras were on 999 calls.

THE CYCLISTS

CYCLISTS, who are accused of frequently jumping traffic lights, cannot be caught by the automatic cameras as they do not have number plates. However, it is an offence for them to run the lights and they can be fined £30.

Earlier this year, both David Cameron and Boris Johnson were caught on film jumping lights as they cycled around London. Mr Cameron apologised and Mr Johnson said he would be more careful in future.