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Ben Webster, timesonline November 9th 2007
Motorists face being banned from driving for only two speeding offences under a government plan to double the fixed penalty for exceeding the limit by a wide margin, The Times has learnt.
Those caught driving at 45mph or above in a 30mph limit are likely to receive a higher-rate fixed penalty of six points and a £100 fine, up from the existing flat rate of three points and a £60 fine.
Ministers want to send the message that excessive speeding will lead more quickly to an automatic six-month driving ban for totting up 12 points within three years.
More than 1.1 million drivers have six or more points on their licences and, under the new law, could be banned immediately for one more offence.
The higher penalty is also likely to apply to drivers caught at 57mph or above on a 40mph road and 94mph or above on a 70mph road.
But the Government is planning to drop a previous proposal to introduce a lower fixed penalty, of two points and a £40 fine, for driving only a few miles per hour over the limit.
The Department for Transport had proposed, in a discussion paper in 2004, that drivers caught at speeds up to and including 39mph on a 30mph road would receive the lower penalty.
This could have meant that drivers repeatedly caught just over the limit would not have been banned until their seventh offence.
At present, drivers are given up to four chances: they can take a speed awareness course to avoid the first penalty and then commit three more before being one camera flash away from a ban.
Jim Fitzpatrick, the Road Safety Minister, told The Times that introducing a lower penalty of two points would undermine the Government's message that even small breaches of the limit can kill.
Research has shown that a pedestrian who is hit by a car at 35mph is twice as likely to be killed as one hit at 30mph.
Mr Fitzpatrick said: “It would be counter-productive and against everything we are saying to tell someone ‘you were doing 35mph so you should only get two points'. The big message we are putting out is that it's 30 for a reason.”
But he said those caught well in excess of the limit should be punished more heavily than at present. “There is a very strong argument for saying that the more you speed, the more the penalty should be.”
The Department for Transport will publish a consultation document before Christmas which will invite comment on options, which may include a lower penalty for a slight breach of the limit on faster, nonresidential roads where there are few or no pedestrians and cyclists.
But Mr Fitzpatrick made clear that the Government did not expect much support for a lower penalty. He said: “I think there will be a strong body of opinion which will say there should not be a reduction in the number of points.”
He said he was particularly concerned by the 20 per cent increase in child road deaths in Great Britain last year, from 141 in 2005 to 169 in 2006. This included a 55 per cent increase in child cyclist deaths, from 20 to 31.
The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety welcomed the Government's retreat from the idea of a lower penalty.
Rob Gifford, the council's director, said: “Lowering the penalty for any speeding offence would encourage drivers to take more chances.”
He also called for police to be given more discretion to enforce even minor breaches of the limit. Under current Association of Chief Police Officer guidelines, drivers are given an allowance of 10 per cent plus 1 mph over the limit. This means they will not be fined at speeds lower than 35mph on a 30mph road, 46mph on a 40mph road and 79mph on a 70mph road. Mr Gifford said: “Police need the flexibility to enforce any breach of the limit, even 1mph over it.”
Acpo guidelines also state that drivers should be sent a summons rather than a fixed penalty if they are caught at 50mph or above on a 30mph road, 66mph on a 40mph road and 96mph on a 70mph road. Magistrates can impose up to six penalty points or a ban for a very serious breach.
Just over half (51 per cent) of drivers admit to speeding but 62 per cent accept that it is a serious offence, according to a survey of 2,000 motorists by the RAC. It said the figures revealed “a disconnect between what drivers think is serious and their own driving habits”. The survey also found that 16 per cent of drivers had been caught breaking the limit in the past five years.
When asked what steps they would accept to reduce speeding offences, 64 per cent said more traffic police, 59 per cent said speed cameras that photographed the driver (to prevent points swapping), and 49 per cent said in-car speed limiters.
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