Steven Swinford
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DRIVERS will be banned after just two convictions if they exceed the speed limit by 15mph in urban areas or 25mph on motorways under a shake-up of road safety laws.
Tougher penalties, to be announced next month, will mean drivers get six points for travelling at 45mph in a 30mph area, 55mph in a 40mph zone or 95mph on motorways throughout Britain.
The regulations will be enforced by digital cameras that track average speeds over long distances rather than Gatso cameras, which record speeds at a single point.
Jim Fitzpatrick, the road safety minister, said: “In cases of extreme speeding only, there is a proposal to increase the penalty to six points to ensure the punishment corresponds better to the offence committed.”
Experts said imposing higher penalties on motorways, Britain’s safest roads, was punitive and unlikely to improve road safety. Over the past 30 years, motorways have accounted for 150-180 deaths a year - just 5% of those killed on the roads.
By contrast, the toll on urban and suburban streets remains high. Last year 3,090 children were killed or seriously injured, mostly in built-up areas, including many pedestrians.
Police normally allow motorists to breach the speed limit by a significant margin without fear of prosecution. They rarely stop drivers on motorways unless they exceed 85mph.
Government figures released last week show that 13% of fatal accidents and 8% of serious crashes are caused by speeding drivers. The main causes are failing to look properly, errors of judgment or careless driving.
Quentin Wilson, a former presenter of the BBC television show Top Gear, said: “Everyone knows motorways are the safest roads and a discretionary approach to prosecuting has always worked.”
Motoring organisations said it was unfair to penalise those driving at excessive speeds while abandoning proposals to reduce penalties for those who inadvertently creep over the limit.
Ministers dropped plans to introduce two-point penalties for those exceeding the limit by just a few mph after complaints from road safety groups.
Edmund King, president of the AA, said: “The system should work both ways. If greater penalties are given for worse offences, then smaller ones should be given for more minor infringements.”
The new regulations are proposed in a Department for Transport consultation paper, which is to be launched at the end of October.
Ministers will also announce plans to toughen the regime for drink-driving, although they will reject calls from police and campaigners to reduce the drink-drive limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100mg of blood to 50mg.
They will also introduce £60 on-the-spot fines for careless drivers, and tighten legislation to ensure higher conviction rates for drug-driving.
The DfT has calculated that the combined measures could save up to 400 lives a year out of the toll of 2,714.
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What a load of rubbish this is. The 70MPH motorway speed limit is too low as it is. It's widely accepted that police recognise this and allow drivers to drive at around 80MPH as a matter of course.
Sounds like another excuse to milk the motorist - as if we aren't taxed enough already!
James, Manchester, UK
Police state comes to mind every time I see a story coming out of Britain. It would serve you well to give you r future some thought . If it is this bad now; how will it be in 5 or 10 years. They never make a mistake in favor of the people do they? The Btitish have a lot of politicans to retire.
Gary Pozniak, Chicago, usa
When are you guys going to have a revolution?
You most certainly need one.
Helio, Miami, USA
Another day and another set of rules from the most repressive an spiteful government this country has ever had the ill luck to have. Do these cretins ever think of anything positive to do other than bully the ordinary man and woman in the street? it is about time they went, one way or another.
Pete, Lincoln, England
Yet more pompous over-regulation from one of the worst nanny states in the world. Time to vote out the car haters, they never seem to recognise most of the voting public are actually over-taxed and victimised car drivers. A focus on knife crime rather than drivers would make this country far safer.
James Bartley, Reading, Berks
Unless ,of course, you are a Premiership footballer.
ronnie, bucks, UK
Absolutely and totally agree with the urban limits. But 95mph on motorways? Why? At 3am with light traffic, to be monitored like this is oppressive. Many Police forces advocate increasing the motorway limits. Good law mixed with bad law - again. Truly we live in an Idiocracy
Rod McLeod, Ostrava, Czech Republic
And is this to include police, or is their perverse immunity to be maintained?:
quinbus flestrin, Hartlepool, UIK
People speed because they can get away with it. Enforcing the law effectively is key to tackling the criminal act of speeding, which each year kills and injures more people than knife crime. This should include stopping sat-nav companies from alerting drivers to bright yellow speed cameras.
Austen, London,
someone will invent a gadget (or allready has) to get around this. And maybe one to dispose of labour.
pez, derbys, england
W Jones' comment sounds like a standard knee-jerk anti-Labour reaction. I'm not a Labour voter, but I can't see why road safety should be the subject of political debate at all. Anyway, we're not talking here of just creeping over the limit, but going 15mph over, for goodness sake.
Barry, Wallington, UK
It's yet more gesture politics by a government that knows it's days are numbered and is hoping for a vote from those to stupid to think things through. As for 95 on a motorway being extreme speeding, it's on the whole a perfectly safe and reasonable speed in normal conditions.
Ian, Guildford, Surrey
How many extra puppies, bunnies and rabbits are going to be killed by people traveling faster than the speed limit on motorways? why not put a sensible limit on them? These measures alreay exist but its the courts that give the penalties, it just reduces court appearences and costs.
Kieran , orpington, kent
I hope the fines for careless driving include those people that deem it necessary to sit at 60 in the middle lane of a motorway even though there is an empty inside lane causing traffic chaos. I just hope that they use proper traffic police to enforce the limits and less camera's
Kieran , orpington, kent
Unfortunately, banning drivers does not actually stop them driving.
C Byrne, Pinner, UK
Very, very good but it should be 5mph over the limit in urban areas. A child is as dead at 35 mph as at 45. The AA is nuts. Just beacuse I don't rob a bank does that mean shoplifting should be just worth a caution?
Eddie Reader, birmingham, england
good, crush their cars as well,as one who has his village turned into a noisy racetrack to the danger of all, I welcome this measure
peter c, Devizes, Wessex
Just another reason why new labour must go at all cost they have lost touch with reality and don't care about what we the people want any more.
But then again who is going to stop them, we have all given up hope and stopped voting, I warn you know in the end we will end up having a revolution.
MR W Jones, Liverpool, E
It's time to start thinking about communities again. Local living, working and leisure within a locality, and drastically reduce the need for vehicles. For that to happen, the planning policies need revisiting - it's time to end massive out-of town developments for leisure and shopping.
MarkS, Leeds,
I would accept most reasonable changes to driving laws if government ministers were exposed to their impact in the same way as the majority of drivers. Forget being chauffered around at high speed with a police escort - let them drive themselves, get booked and lose their licenses (and maybe jobs).
Simon Wilson, Ringwood, UK
Wont be too long before we need a passport to drive to the next town anyway so wont matter how fast your driving as there will be huge queues at the checkpoints.
Stories like this fill me with horror but even more scary are the useful idiots who support every new method of control.
Stuz Graz, London, England
It's about time that something was done about stupid young, ( and sometimes older), men who treat any straight road as a racing circuit. Drugged drivers should be immediately jailed.
judy, Liverpool, England
In Spain, the same action has already been taken here. Speed by plus 50% over the limit, immediate jail as well as being drunk in charge if serious enough. It seems to be an EU initiative.
Drunk/driving should be zero tolerance as it is a premeditated crime and innocents are often killed.
B J Deller, Marbella, Spain
How interesting that the single most efffective initiative - reduction of the alcohol limit - will be rejected despite calls from police and campaigners. Too painfull electorally?
Mariusz Kuklinski, London, UK
These people never seem to understand that their writing down that something is bad, just because they think it is, doesn't make the rest of us see it as such. And when it defies practical experience and common sense, and merely makes life more difficult, we can only think that they are mad.
Avana Beach, London, UK