Hi all,
I just did 10 minutes of good on BBC Radio Oxford talking about this Safe Speed PR issued earlier:
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PR145: Proposed speeding tax increase
NEWS: for immediate release
The Daily Express reveals today Government plans to add a levy to
motoring fines to support victims of violent crime.
Contained within the "Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill" is
legislation to permit increased fixed penalties for motoring offences,
including speeding.
Safe Speed considers that this provision is nothing more than a
stealth tax. In days gone by motoring laws were used with intelligence
against those causing road dangers, but these days normal responsible
motorists at safe and responsible speeds are being issued with
speeding tickets at the rate of three million each year.
The Government has not produced anything approaching a convincing case
to demonstrate that the modern deployment of speed cameras is making
the roads safer - how could they when road deaths are now on a true
rising trend for the first time since the 1960s?
Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign said: "It
is abhorrent for the Government to require motorists to contribute to
a victims of crime fund on routine speeding tickets. Violent crime has
nothing to do with exceeding a speed limit. The government obviously
considers motorists to be an easy target."
Paul continues: "But it's far worse than that because forging this
false link between minor motoring offences and violence sends a
misleading message to road users. Misleading messages cause false
priorities. When road users' priorities are distorted they pay
attention to the wrong things and danger increases. Road safety
absolutely depends on each individual focusing on the most immediate
dangers. At its simplest, this gives drivers one more reason to
concentrate on their speedometers instead of the road ahead."
Paul continues: "British road safety is the best in the world.
Accurate information has been the absolute foundation of our superior
performance. But we are going very badly wrong and are squandering our
World lead. We have been World leader for 25 years but we are now the
slowest improving country in Europe. I am absolutely certain that
false and muddled road safety messages are causing our recent bad
performance."
<ends>
Notes for editors:
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The bill is here:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/p ... 004134.pdf
See section 16.
We are not certain what exact development makes this issue news TODAY.
However the Daily Express will probably make that clear. The Home
Office have been floating this idea on and off for about 18 months.
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