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Daily Mail, Friday, March 31, 2006
by Ray Massey, transport editor
The number of motoring offences has hit a record high, new figures showed yesterday. There were 13.5million offences in 2004, almost one for every two cars in the country.
Some 11million were fixed penalty notices - including more than two million drivers caught on speed cameras - which raked in around £600million.
More than 70000 fines of £30 were levied on drivers using hand-held mobile phones in the first year it was an offence.
Motoring groups were alarmed by the figures. They believe drivers are being unfairly targeted and criminalised as 'easy prey' by police and local authorities who collect hundreds of millions in the process.
The figures came as ministers sanctioned another increase in speed cameras - despite earlier promises that they would be ripping them out.
Kevin Delaney, head of traffic and road safety with the RAC Foundation and former head of traffic with the Metropolitan Police said: "We are not persuaded that they reflect an outbreak of lawlessness among English and Welsh drivers. It suggests too much emphasis on cameras and not enough on old-fashioned policing. There's too much concentration on offences which are relatively simple to enforce - including speeding, parking, and the use of mobile phones - and too little on detection of bad driving, such as dangerous and careless driving, and driving under the influence of drugs."
Of the 13.5million motoring offences, more than 7.7million were parking tickets from local authority wardens, seven per cent up on the previous year.
Police and traffic wardens issued over 3.4million fixed penalties - of which two million were for speeding. Others were for parking, insurance, tax disc and MoT violations and mobile phone offences.
A further 2.3million more serious offences were dealt with in court.
Speed cameras caught 2.038million drivers in 2004 - up six per cent on the previous year and double the figure of just three yeas earlier. It means the cameras raised around £120million in £60 penalties.
There were eight per cent more breath tests than in 2003, a total of 578,000 in England and Wales. But the number which were positive or refused fell by three per cent, to 103,000.
Overall, in England and Wales, there were 466 offences for every 1000 vehicles on the road, compared with 355 a decade earlier.
Critics say the 'war on motorists' is getting more intense by the month.
The fine for using a handheld mobile phone at the wheel is to be doubled to £60, plus three points on the licence.
And speed cameras are on course to rake in more than £130million this year, with tickets soaring to around 2.2million, based on government projections.
There are 4,500 camera sites in Britain, and the number is set to rise to 4,700, Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman announced yesterday.
While only 30 cameras will be removed, an additional 233 sites have been approved for 2006-7.
These include 29 in West Yorkshire, 27 in Merseyside, 26 in Essex, 21 in London and Norfolk, 14 in Northumbria, 11 in South Yorkshire, and nine in Northamptonshire.
The expansion comes despite growing concern about the accuracy of some cameras.
Handheld cameras are at the centre of controversy because evidence shows they can be wildly inaccurate - leading to cases being thrown out.
Tory spokesman Owen Paterson said: "Motorists will be disappointed to see the government planning yet more speed cameras on our roads." He said ministers should be 'clamping down hard on the small number of hardcore dangerous drivers, not simply extracting more money from motorists." Mr Paterson added: "We need the co-operation of drivers if we re to improve road safety and if we simply install endless amounts of cameras we risk losing their support."
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