Safe Speed Forums

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:
==============

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.
=================================

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

So on one hand we have them thinking about changing the points system to make it 2 points for just over but more for bombing along like a nutter, and on the other hand they want to increase the fines to help the cost of violent crime. The DfT giveth and the DfT taketh away. Hey, maybe they'll start fining those convicted of mugging, GBH and so on to help fund road safety.

_________________
Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

I though this had been dropped...
If it goes ahead I bet the money never goes where it should. Tax is Tax. After all we no know the fuel tax pays for the health service..

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

The debate on this bill is in Parliament right now.

It's showing on BBC Parliament (Freeview 45).

They haven't got to clause 16 yet.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Clause 16 NOW BEING DISCUSSED.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

This just gone:

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PR146: Speeding tax increase PASSED commons reading

NEWS For immediate release

At 5pm today The House of Commons voted to reject amendment 11 and so allowed the victim levy to be added to speeding fines in the future. The votes were 175 for the amendment and 290 against the amendment.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign comments: "It's a sad day for motoring and an even sadder day for British Justice. Soft targets will pay more than hard criminals."

<ends>
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Bad news.

Of course the upside is that it makes speed cameras even less acceptable.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Oh great

[rant="Rigpig"]
When the Tories were in power they used to solve their little budgetry crises with ever more imaginative 'indirect' taxes, fiddling with VAT was one of their favourites.

But this beats the lot. With the country being eaten away by a cancer of drink/drug/moron fuelled yobbery, Blair's cronies come up with a way of sorting it out that would make the Simpsons' Mayor Quimby proud. Make the knife totting, baseball cap wearing, blood sucking oxygen thieves pay? Pah, too flamin' difficult. Simply take the poor saps who keep this crumbling trainwreck of a country afloat and bleed more fines out them. It would be a lot simpler if we all just channeled our saleries directly through the treasury and hoped they'd give us a bit of pocket money to spend on food and stuff every now and then
In fact, guess what -I'm going to give up working and start commiting crimes for a living. And when I get caught for stabbing some innocent sod who just happened to look at me whilst I was bombed out of my brain on my dole money I'd have the perfect excuse I had a broken middle-age - I was a motorist in Blair's Britain.
[/rant]