Anger as fines from speed cameras soar

James Kirkup and David Millward
London Telegraph
Tuesday December 4, 2007

Almost two million speeding tickets are being issued to motorists each year following Labour's vast expansion of the speed camera network, official figures disclosed last night.

Since the party came to power, the number of fixed penalty notices for speeding has almost trebled from 700,000 a year to more than 1.9 million, the Government statistics showed.

Coupled with an increase in the basic speeding fine, this means speeding tickets are now raising almost £120 million a year - most of which is simply ploughed back into operating the cameras.

But despite the significant increase in speeding penalties in the past 10 years, road deaths have fallen only marginally, while the number of deaths from drink-driving has remained stable.

The figures triggered criticism from motoring groups and opposition politicians, who last night accused the Government of using motoring as a "cash cow". Drivers are already paying more than £1 a litre for petrol as prices soar.

There were only a handful of speed cameras when Labour took office in 1997. Since 2000, when the Government created 38 "road safety partnerships," that total has soared. There are now about 6,000 cameras in England and Wales.

The latest figures, released by the Home Office in response to a parliamentary question, showed the full extent of the increase in fines and gave a regional breakdown, highlighting how - in some parts of the country - speeding fines have increased more than tenfold.

Full article here.