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N. Wales tops Britain's speeding fine list
Jun 26 2007



By Hywel Trewyn


MORE speeding fines are issued per head of population in North Wales than anywhere else in the UK, according to a study.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that North Wales Police fined speeding motorists a total of £3,963,000 in the 2005/6 financial year.

The average cost to the 681,000 population of North Wales would be £5.82 per head - 62 pence more than the next most expensive force area of Bedfordshire.

The lowest yield for fines per head of population is in Merseyside, where the average price would be just 80p per person.

The figure is only £2.67 for bordering Mid and South Wales who have joined to form the Safety Camera Partnership.

Just over the border in England the figures are only £2.01 in Cheshire, £1.39 in Greater Manchester, £2.41 in West Mercia and £1.11 in the West Midlands.

In London it is only £1.26.

The study was carried out to mark the launch of the 2008 Philip’s UK Road Atlas, which has every static speed camera marked on.

Road safety expert Stephen Mesquita said: "At Philip’s, we find the regional inconsistencies very disturbing – they undermine the credibility of the scheme.

"Wales is the speed camera centre of the UK. Mid and South Wales comes second only to London for raising money through fines. And North Wales raises more per resident than any other area."

"It is rather remarkable that North Wales is so high."

Mr Mesquita admitted his study was not scientific and said the figures suggested that North Wales was more efficient at collecting fines than other areas.

He added: "Is this the best way to reduce road deaths?"

Mr Mesquita claimed that road deaths in the UK had only reduced by 2.5% over the last three years, which is not as good as some other European countries.


He believed that other groups of motorists should be targeted, particularly men under 25, drink-drivers and drivers without seatbelts.

Mr Mesquita said: "A third of all accidents are people under 25. Also, alarmingly Government figures show a third of the population don’t use seat belts."

He said: "There are nine people a day being killed on the roads in the UK. Speed cameras haven’t reduced the number of deaths at all. Aren’t there more urgent matters that the police should be giving their attention to?"

Mr Mesquita added: "North Wales is extremely keen on trying to get motorists driving to the safety limit.

"In the same way, I think they put a lot of resources behind it but is it really fair on the motorists?"

Arrive Alive spokesman Inspector Essi Ahari said: "The number of tickets and fines have never been a measure of our success.

"Our sussess is measured by the reduction of casualties in North Wales. The latest confirmed figures place North Wales among the best in Europe for casualty reduction.

"Moreover, since January, our fatalities have decreased from 24 to 7 which is a significant reduction of 71%.

"As far as we are concerned saving lives and reducing casualties is and has always been our goal.

"Safety is one of the main concerns of our communities in North Wales and we are inundated by requests from those communities to enforce safety restrictions in their areas."

And the leader column in the same paper:

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Speed fines nothing to be proud of
Jun 26 2007



by Mark Brittain, Daily Post


WE like seeing North Wales at the top of tables – best this, best that, the cleanest, most beautiful and so forth. It makes us all proud. We would also like it to be the safest place to live and work.

We do not, therefore, like to read road accident statistics unless they show us at bottom of the league. Yet one table we do not like to be heading is speeding fines. We do not want to be the speeding fines capital of Britain. Can we have the one league without the other?

Road safety is an inexact science – and policing speed in the UK varies widely too. Now we have a new form of measurement: speeding tickets converted into fines per head of regional or county population.

So what does North Wales’ unenviable position at the head of this fines table mean?

The fines levied across the UK have apparently increased despite fewer tickets being issued.

Our top status – the equivalent to £5.82 for every man, woman and child in the region – compares with Merseyside’s 80p. Cheshire was £2.01, and Mid and South Wales £2.67.

The regional discrepancies (not least between bordering counties) is concerning. Law enforcement should not be a lottery. But do the North Wales figures mean that we have a bigger problem than elsewhere or just tighter policing? Do we have more confusing road signs, perhaps – and how serious is the offending anyway?

Most importantly, do the fines convert into safer roads? Does fining people some seven times as much in North Wales as Merseyside mean we have more dangerous drivers – but with safer roads? Or just that our population is better at paying, and more law abiding at registering vehicles?

Talk to an average group of motorists in North Wales and a large proportion have paid speeding fines in the past year or two. Does this make them more criminal or more honest? Most say they were not exceeding the speed limits by more than a mile or two per hour. Is it fair that so many should have been penalised?

And what if the figures indicate that our speed limits change without adequate warning on far too many of our roads (witness the recent unfair debacle at Llandegai, near Bangor). Will these anomalies be addressed?

All we do know is that our motorists are being fined time and again despite believing they are driving safely and responsibly.

If we could boast that all this meant North Wales had the safest roads in the UK, that would be something else again. But sadly we can’t.

We want toughness – but common sense too.

Perhaps this is because they place scameras in inconspicuous locations designed to catch people for minor infringements where there is no risk, rather than tackling the real problems - often caused by dangerous overtaking of drivers so scared of getting points that they crawl along with eyes fixed on their speedos.

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Brian

Glad to see North Wales top of this list. It is the reason I will never go back there for a day out and I encourage none of my family or friends to go there as well. Hopefully if they tell their friends etc, Wales will eventually be tourist free and scammers will be left with only the residents to scam, they won't last long then will they.


regards

also see "Speeding Ticket Holiday in North Wales !!!" at;
http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5865

and

Police chief calls for return of hidden speed cameras
http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14649

In the rest of the UK -it's "THINK OF THE CHILDREN " ---in Wales it's "Think of the SHEEP" --.....................................

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

in Wales it's "Think of the SHEEP "

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Prepare to be Judged

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed