Thousands of speeders evade fines
One in every 10 drivers caught speeding in Leicestershire gets away without paying a fine, as police cannot trace offenders.
More than 4,300 people evaded the £60 fee in the past year.
The figure includes drivers using cars with foreign number plates and drivers who have not registered their vehicle's details with the DVLA.
Campaign groups which are opposed to the use of speed cameras said the figures "prove" they are not effective at catching "dangerous" drivers.
Nigel Humphries, East Midlands spokesman for the Association of British Drivers, said: "They are perfectly good at catching mainly safe drivers who are taxed, insured and licensed, but they are rubbish at catching the ones who are really causing danger on the roads.
"We need police officers on the roads targeting drivers who are seen to be driving dangerously or erratically.
"The 10 per cent of people who aren't traced are probably the most dangerous of all the people caught."
In the year ending March 2008, 41,279 drivers were caught on camera, or stopped by police for speeding in Leicestershire.
Some 11,875 of those failed to pay their fine, and more than a third of those – 4,303 drivers – had their offences cancelled because they could not be traced. The remainder were dealt with in court.
The cancelled offences mean a loss of £258,180 for the Government, which can pass funds back to local authorities in the form of road safety grants.
The figures were revealed in a report by Leicestershire police's professional standards department following a Freedom of Information request by the Mercury.
The report showed the number of motorists caught speeding in the county fell by almost 16 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March compared with the previous year.
Some 49,056 drivers were caught speeding in 2006-07. Of those, 13,026 – 27 per cent – did not pay their fines.
The number includes 4,890 drivers who could not be traced – about one in 10.
Hema Lad, spokeswoman for the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Safety Camera Scheme, said: "We have actually increased our enforcement since last year, so although we have more cameras, we are catching fewer people, so drivers are getting better at keeping speeds down."
Ms Lad said there were several reasons why drivers could not be traced.
She said: "It tends to be foreign vehicles and foreign drivers in hire cars, mainly."
The five busiest camera sites in the county are Welford Road, Tigers Way, London Road and King Richards Road, all in Leicester, and London Road, in Kegworth.
When speed cameras were introduced in 1997, there were five in the county and one in the city.
There are now 11 in the county and eight in the city, plus 86 mobile cameras across Leicestershire and Rutland.
The European Commission has drawn up a draft directive which, if it became law, would enable officials to ask driving agencies in other countries for the names and addresses of foreign drivers who broke the law.
17 Comments
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by K Clark, Fleckney
Tuesday, October 14 2008, 9:22AM
“Three points:
1. The UK has a road safety record that is the envy of many other EU countries with lower population densities.
2. Speeding is being over-used as a measure of bad driving. There are far more dangerous driving offences that need to be enforced by real officers which are not presently.
3. Speeding does not "kill 9 people a day" on our roads. At best, one can argue it is a factor in some of the accidents.”
by H, Leicester
Monday, October 13 2008, 2:53PM
“The anti speed camera brigade might shout the loudest but that doesn't make them right. What gives people the right to chose which laws they obey and which they don't; the speed limit has to be enforced because some of the self-endorsing 'safe' drivers commenting above think that they are the best judge of what the speed limit should be rather than the highways authority. As for dangerous drivers, the Police are set up with ANPR all over the area pulling in cars that are not taxed, registered etc. I've been stopped and my car checked by 3 Police officers, everything was in order and I was sent on my way by a professionally mannered Police Officer. It's a fair point that maybe we do need more traffic Police patrolling the roads, but then I think we'll have the same people complaining and 'outraged' if they are 'targetted' by the Police who will be going about their duty”
by Steve, Leicester
Monday, October 13 2008, 2:15PM
“10 years ago, at 5am I used to see 3 or 4 police cars driving around. Now I can go 2 or 3 weeks before I see any police cars in the mornings. Drivers realise this so cars jump lights drive around with faulty lights, none of wich are picked up by cameras. They know where there are no cameras so speed up.”
by Mick, Leicester
Monday, October 13 2008, 1:33PM
“A lot of valid point and questions from readers on these issues but where are these people who needs to answer these questions?”
by Gary, Leicester
Monday, October 13 2008, 1:23PM
“I feel that Speed camars can cause acidents, if you ever drive down the A50 towards Leicester, you see drivers sudenly brake when they realise there is a speed camara, I have personaly seen several near misses.”