Safe Speed Forums

New row over 6-point fine for speeding motorists
Drivers caught speeding could face six points on their license, under new Government plans.



Motorists caught doing 45mph in a 30mph zone could face six points on their licence - instead of three - in a bid to distinguish between drivers who marginally drive over the limit and those who completely flout the law.

It means that drivers coud lose their license after only just two speeding offences.

Transport ministers will set out the new proposals in a consultation paper expected to be published later this year.

Under the plans, a two-tier penalty system will be introduced, which will see those caught driving well over the limit facing tougher punishment.

Currently, almost all offences attract three points, regardless by how much the limit is exceeded.

Under the "totting-up" system, if drivers accumulate 12 points, they lose their licences.

Plans for a sliding scale were considered three years ago, but were dropped before the 2005 general election.

Under the original scheme, ministers proposed a two-point penalty and a reduced fine if the driver was caught exceeding the speed limit by a small margin.

But under pressure from road safety groups, the Government has now ditched the plans for a two-point penalty.

Currently, motorists are not prosecuted unless they exceed the speed limit by 10 per cent plus 2mph.

In an effort to counter claims that speeding fines are predominantly a method of generating cash, officials no longer plan to introduce higher fines for the worst offenders.

Instead they will receive the same flat fine of £60, which covers the cost of the scheme, but face a greater risk of losing their licence.

Officials are now debating how serious the offence must be before it attracts six points. Under current planning a driver going 45 mph in a 30 mph, for example, would attract a double penalty.

Ministers will not need to draft new legislation to bring in the changes, with last year's Road Safety Act already allowing the introduction of a sliding scale of penalties.

Motoring groups were last night cautious about the proposals.

Andrew Howard, the head of road safety at the AA, said the Government would have to introduce better road signage where speed limits dropped by more than 10 mph before introducing more severe penalties.

He said: "We would be concerned about a person getting extra points in a case where someone has missed the sign."

Robert Gifford, the executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, said: "The principle behind variable openly points is a sound one."

A spokesman for the Department of Transport said: "The Government will issue consultation on the fixed penalty system for speeding by the end of the year."

If it comes in I would expect the number of people taking the court route to go up.

If prevention is better than cure then safer driving is what's important. I wonder if the day will ever come when they realise this? (Rhetorical)

Perhaps some bright spark will come up with treble points for 70mph next? Well you may as well kill someone in style. (no I'm not a sicko, but there's some really sick legislation out there)

It’s going to be easy to exceed the limits by larger margins if they continue to lower the speed limits the way they are or, is that the idea.

A spokesman for the Department of Transport said: "The Government will issue consultation on the fixed penalty system for speeding by the end of the year

In an effort to counter claims that speeding fines are predominantly a method of generating cash, officials no longer plan to introduce higher fines for the worst offenders.

Instead they will receive the same flat fine of £60, which covers the cost of the scheme, but face a greater risk of losing their licence

Oh yeah?

Could this be tested under the same rules that cover excessive bank charges?