Motorist charity RoadPeace suggests that the 28% decrease in traffic police over the last few years means that Britain’s unmonitored lesser roads are becoming increasingly lawless places to drive.
With budget cuts affecting the number of officers that local authorities can assign to the roads, we are seeing physical units less and less often. Instead, local authorities are opting for automated systems and camera surveillance, such as automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and the new “smart motorways.”
The result of this is that crime is captured (and thus decreasing) on heavily monitored roads. However, crime on unmonitored roads is spiking. Crash for cash scams, hit and run incidents, speeding and mobile phone misuse are all growing.
The statistics show that the number of officers on UK roads fell by 28% from 2010-2015. This is interesting when you consider that the number of people seriously injured and killed dropped by 16% between 2005 and 2009, but only 1% over the 2010-2015 period. It seems to show a direct correlation between there being fewer officers on the roads and more deaths and injuries.
Shift in focus
RoadPeace also believes there has been a recent shift in focus from local authorities. Convictions from driving related offences are falling, while the uptake of driver awareness courses is rising. Stats released in April 2017 show a 23% drop in prosecutions of drivers who caused fatal road crashes in England and Wales from 2010-2015. Does this mean that more people are getting away with motoring offences?
The charity does not believe driving awareness courses act as an effective deterrent. A spokesperson for RoadPeace recently bemoaned the fact the police “don’t impose penalty points,” even though the system of points itself offers “the greatest deterrence effect.”
The National Police Chiefs Council maintains road policing methods have improved. However, it also states that it is working with the Department of Transport to assess how successful speed awareness courses are, including their impact on driver behaviour.
It seems that Britain’s roads are becoming two-tiered. Major arterial roads and traffic hotspots are heavily monitored, with drivers penalised for falling out of line with speed or congestion restrictions. Meanwhile, unmonitored minor road systems are becoming increasingly lawless and more dangerous places to drive. This would perhaps explain the tenfold year on year increase in dashcam sales across the UK, as drivers look to protect themselves with video evidence against the threats of the country’s roads.
What’s your opinion on Britain’s roads? Do you think we are seeing a split between heavily monitored versus increasingly lawless roads? Do you think this could negatively impact how safe drivers are on the roads? Leave a comment to let us know your view.
This article seems to assume the local authorities and police are on the roads to prevent crime and road fatalities. They are actually there to generate income for the government.
I agree, that there is far more lawlessness, on roads these days: While motorways are protected from much of this, urban, and rural roads bear the brunt of bad, and frankly, dangerous driving. I have been driving for 40 yrs, and am shocked at how many middle-aged, and young people drive so poorly. Mobile phone use is a huge issue that is left unchecked, a distinct lack of indication is an increasing problem, as is ignoring speed limits. I am not a fan of speed cameras as they do not check – bad driving, but we need policing, and in a technological age such as this, there must be ways to check all the above I have mentioned? As our roads are so congested, and frustrations rise, surely it benefits us all to have as safe roads as possible? I am also, a huge fan of the relatively new, 20mph speed limit on some village roads – as we pass through a center, built up area, school etc – most drivers appear to adhere to this new limit, but of course, there are always a few who think it does not apply to them! I would like to see much stiffer penalties for law breakers, especially mobile phone use!
#CutsHaveConsequences for drivers as well as other road users. #UseYourVote
All frontline services are under-funded.
It is quite obvious that with 28% less traffic officers around, (it would appear more than that figure in Essex) that offences are not being detected. What this statistic does not show is the overall increase in road traffic between 2010-2015.
To take just one example of “offence” is a quite noticeable that the number of young male drivers having no fixed front number place, instead just displaying a plate on the dashboard presumably to avoid camera detection form the front. And mobile phone use seems to continue unabated.
Its definitely getting worse, I see increasing numbers of motorists on my commute who jump red lights, speed in 30mph zones and general disregard for road signs and road markings. I always been told that driving a car is a privilege not a given and should not be taken for granted. Penalties need to be more severe especially for repeat offenders. Also our driving test needs to be reviewed and perhaps extended from its current form.
Problem is that just a few years ago it would be just one or two motorists that you would see flouting the rules. But now you see 3 or 4 drivers at a time jumping lights instead of the odd one you would see previously. People driving down pavements because they can’t wait when on a street with cars parked on one side of the road and a vehicle coming towards them.
Hit them hard – why not take their car and crush it after repeat offences!
But yes to detect all this we need more money back in policing after it was taken by the government.
I recently attended a speed awareness course, and feel it has made me more aware of road safety and the need for sensible behaviour – and not just in relation to speed. It is a long time since I passed my driving test, and a lot has chamged on the roads in that time.Not all of this was I aware of. I have become a more knowledgeable driver, and I think that it has had a more positive effect that 3 points on my license would have done.The Police subsequently refunded my fee, so I presume my prosecution was ill-founded in the first place – but I am glad I had the opportunity to update my road knowledge.
Before I retired 5 years ago I was a senior Traffic Management Officer in a local authority. together with other senior Welsh officers I mixed with very senior police officers and road safety officers from Welsh Government on a regular basis. The decline in roads policing was a great concern to me and to my colleagues at least 10 years before I retired and we raised those concerns at the highest level. No-one listened and they are still not listening. I fully endorse the concerns raised in your article and would add further concerns about the great increase in red light running too.
Totally agree. I live on the famous scottish nc500 route and use to commute. During season the standard of driving drops. Two types of culpits always being flagged up. Expensive super fast hire cars and imatation road ace cars. Police are well aware but with 8 officers to cover over 1000 sq miles and no traffic police it speaks for itself. I did have the tragic misfortune to be first on scene for a fatal accident. The patient was still alive but i had to adminster first aid under direction from ambulance control. Took 90mins for ambulance to arrive. Traffic police took an hour to arrive 100 miles away over scottish mountains in the dark with deer roaming across roads. All the emergancy services did a fantastic job with resources available to them. Im sorry i could not save his life but has highlighted issues that need to be addressed. 8 min response time for ambulance will never happen and no police closer to deal with traffic. Told more cuts on way. What price is a human to polaticions. Different if one of their family.
If we had proper speed limits and reasonable number of bus lanes, drivers would have more respect for these and be more likely to obey them, but in Edinburgh we have daft speed limits and an excessive number of bus lanes, some of which have no bus services, so these restrictions are held in contempt and widely ignored.
Spot on. Some of the sheer idiocy around my town has to be seen to be believed. What was once a quiet residential street in which I live has now become a short cut and a race track. Also, a recently completed relief road a mile or so from me is even worse. The roar of the engines on a quiet Sunday morning or late weekday evening is annoying to say the least. I raised the issue with the police, who said they did monitor the road for a while, but they could find no justification in setting up cameras (!?) At the local McDonalds (where else?!) the local chavs use it as a meeting place in their little 1.2L Corsas with alloy wheels and Ripseed exhaust systems, often passing ‘stuff’ from car to car through the windows after dark, after which they exit the car park and go the wrong way around the roundabout to take a short cut and show off to their stupid buddies. A little further away, a ‘no cruising’ zone has been signed on one of the main roads, with threats of police action. But is it actually policed? Errr…no. And the other night, after a late evening shift at work, I watched open-mouthed as some idiot in a pimped up VW Golf systematically went through every single red light on a large traffic island. Far too much reliance on CCTV (half of which doesn’t actually function) and nowhere near enough police on the roads.
The issue is that road policing has become much a single issue affair. It is both lucrative and as easy as shooting fish in a barrel to catch people a few mph over a limit on A roads. Many limits have been revised downwards unnecessarily and the ordinary decent motorist often does not respect the new lower limit (that chop and change incessantly) and continues to drive at a safe speed but gets an invoice in the post… Never has it been easier to get away with drink driving, bald tyres, drug driving, unroadworthy vehicles – as long as you aren’t doing 68 in a 60. I can HOP at 8mph so these priorities need to be addressed and ALL roads properly policed for bigger issues with a broader brush once again. They do safety such a disservice by being such a one trick pony but meantime crowing about how amazing they are and taking the credit for safety improvements that are not of their doing (abs, esp, cars with 12 airbags and 5star ratings, regression to mean stats etc…)
There is a total disregard for motoring laws, by the dangerous minority. Trouble is that everyone suffers by the actions of these idiots. Either through injury or insurance hikes.
Law should get tough…..caught for dangerous driving, drink driving or excessive speeding, or get caught driving a car without a license, MOT or Insurance….£1000 fine minimum. Banned for two years, made to reset the driving test and have their vehicle crushed or sold at auction.
Hit them where it hurts “in the pocket”. !!!!!!!!
We the compliant also suffer from the humps, bumps chicanes, narrowings and pinch-points obstructing our highways installed to stop these anti-social irresponsible members of our society from threatening our safety within the community …. and do not look to the young for that as the blue rinse brigade are just as guilty as many seem to drive in a world of their own. Remember that there is only one reason people speed in a residential zone …… BECAUSE THEY CAN and the only answer to that unfortunately, if education via Speedwatch etc fails is to deprive them (and US) of the freedom to transit commensurate with the sense of community spirit they fail to demonstrate.
There is no doubt that there are bad drivers around but I am always suspicious of statistics shown. Who collects the data for such statistics and from where?
There’s that famous statistic that says that 85% of statistics are made up. Now how would you measure THAT one?
There is some hope. In my area, there is to be a 12-month trial of average speed cameras in a range of 7 different settings, including rural roads. Local campaigning and speed recording shows extreme flouting e.g. 100+ on a 40mph road, regular 70s – 50s on 30 mph roads; numerous RTCs which are not counted by authorities if nobody is injured; and an absence of traffic management officers for some RTCs, so re-directing is left to volunteers. Fining people for driving at 33mph is silly, but having no enforcement for our local speeds has been a hard fought issue. In rural areas, lots of walkers, cyclists and horse riders. The pressure for people to be out and about, getting fit and living greener lifestyles, is negated by the lack of enforcement. Every RTC here involves a driver traversing a verge or pavement, just where you expect to find non-vehicular traffic. The selfishness of well-protected drivers has to be curbed and viewed as antisocial behaviour.
The cameras on our roads are cameras there to raise money, they are in effect tax cameras. I say this due to the fact that two local roads to me which were national speed limit 60mph roads were lowered to 50mph and average speed cameras were installed just to raise money for the local council.
I am not sure that this is true, average speed cameras do help slow down the traffic, the problem is that on many occasions offending drivers are not fined they are sent on speed awareness courses and in my opinion these are just a laugh. It always surprises me that people complain about speed cameras, WHY, if you don’t break the speed limit then you will not be catch. Unfortunately many drivers just speed between cameras and slow down dangerously at the camera, therefore average speed cameras are the only way to prevent this practice. many many drivers, just drive as though the world is ending in a few minutes, speeding, overtaking dangerously, jumping traffic light or even totally ignoring them, drive with half their car lights faulty, not lights on at dusk and dawn, especially no lights on in fog or back visibility. Undertaking has become the norm, cutting in to soon and driving right up the backside of the car infant. What is needed is a complete change in the attitude of drivers. Or use technology, make every manufacturer install secret satellite management systems into vehicles, feed this information back to a central database at the DVLC and then everyones driving habits will be recorded, result good drivers get very cheap, insurance and road tax, bad drivers pay the penalty for their habits.
We’re is my tax money going,tax goes up every year but it is never justified.Real crime is getting washed away because theirs no money in it.Few weeks ago in Temple streeet,Leicester a speeding motorist lost control went into some bushes hit my friends wife car,her car went into his car,wrote both cars off and drove off.Two or three weeks now the police have yet to make an appearance this is on the eve of the new traffic laws came into force in April.More police on the roads will only mean bigger ques at the Kebab and KFC shops.
Totally agree, I have run of the road a number times by drivers disobeying the road rules.
I would love to see more traffic police patrolling the roads.
Unfortunately, the Police and many gullible PCC’s have been sold the fallacy that Speedwatch is the panacea to speeding within the community and once it is in operation Constabularies believe they can abdicate their duty and responsibility for any level of supporting enforcement. That was not always the case but the reduction in community Police Officers – remembering that PCSOs cannot stop traffic and therefore cannot use Speed Guns fro enforcement – means that hardly any enforcement now takes place within our 30 zones.
I totally agree that that is the case in Cambridgeshire. Just look at Roadwatch(UK) CIC’s results on its website that consistently shows 30% speeding and speeds of up to 86 mph in 30 zones. Yet even though deaths in 30 limits exceeds the total of deaths in all other speed zones combined (BBC Speed Wars 2016) and 85% of the population live in 30 zones – apparently camera vans are mandated by Government to spend 85% of their time at Killed and Seriously Injured (KSI) sites and if there are any crumbs left on the enforcement table to do some in the residential areas that contain 85% of the population. That to me is a an ignorantly conceived Government policy for the majority of us that live in speed-affected 30 zones and are at more risk of death than some KSI sites where pickings are easy and where apparently Prevention is no longer better than cure. The Police should be there to protect the majority of the community in the 30’s from harm not persecute the odd speeding driver on a motorway. This Policy needs reversing to 85% in the Community and 15% elsewhere.
Remember also that Constabularies get a kickback from Speed Awareness Courses so are keen to retain them as a source of income; no part of fines are retained by the Constabulary.
lets go back to basics.
Budget cuts…….why?
because there are too many people in the country that don’t pay NI, or any tax.
Simple.
Coulnt agree more Tony
Your simplistic political views are irrelevant to this topic.
Lawlessness is a bit of an exageration, indeed on major roads enforcement of speed limits is becomming increasingly heavy handed with the greater use of Average speed limit technology. Accidents happen for many reasons, speed is way down on the list & yet with ever lower speed limits, we are all being criminalised. We are not being allowed to use our experience to drive at a safe speed; no instead we are set an ever decreasing fixed speed limit, irrespective of the actual driving conditions. Accidents happen; taking us back to the day when a man with a red flag had to walk in front of every motor vehicle will not change that.
Interesting range of views and ideas. I am a driver of 27+ years and like EVERY driver on the road, I quite often break the speed limits (within reason) but I use my experience and judgment to decide when it’s safer for me to do so. I don’t appreciate or want someone telling me to slow down, do this, do that etc. Just let me make my own judgments which have kept me and others safe for 27+ years. Following the tragic death of a child in my area a few years ago, they come up with the ‘slow down for Bobby’ campaign. I see the campaign stickers quite often on the back of the hypocritical drivers car, travelling faster than the speeds indicated. All the legislation, signs, cameras in the world wont stop people ‘speeding’ and there will always be mindless idiots who will put themselves and others at unreasonable risk, irrespective of the law.
No, every driver does not break the speed limit. Those who do no doubt think the same way as you, to wit, that the exercise of their “reliable” judgement allows them to disregard the law. Speed limits exist because they are considered the maximum safe speed for the stretch of road concerned. You should adhere to those limits instead of making excuses for your illegal driving.
Oh dear David, I do hope you are not suggesting you have never driven over the speed limit? If your are then me thinks you may not be quite telling the truth.
I don’t suppose you hog the middle lane either
Fixed “cash” cameras have other problems: How many times does someone overtake you at way over the speed limit, then brake sharply for the camera, before they speed up again, to continue overtaking on the outside and inside at speed ahead of you. The fixation with speed limits does not contribute to Road safety. The most dangerous behaviours like driving too close to the vehicle in front, overtaking on the inside, not giving consideration to other drivers etc. can only be stopped by traffic officers. ANPR cameras are useful for tracking criminals and picking up vehicles without tax or insurance, but they still need traffic officers to stop the vehicle. They could be useful if installed at toll booths, or other places where the vehicle has to go through a barrier.
Dangerous driving in my experience is on the rise. On one short journey in Sheffield yesterday, I was undertaken by a motor bike and passed by a BMW coupe weaving between lanes to get through the traffic. Both vehicles passed me at high speed and well over the 70 limit on a dual carriageway.
The 28% reduction of police patrols means drivers and riders can break the law with impunity whilst they put law abiding road users at risk.
Bristol has slways been a bad city for drivers, even when the police came out of their police stations and into their patrol cars. Now, with a total absence of a visible police presence while they await 999 calls, there is total anarchy on Bristol roads away from the city centre. There is a generation of yob type drivers coming onto our streets who are aware that they can drive in an aggressive manner with complete impunity. There are youngsters driving BMWs, Mercs and Jaguars who obviously have dubious ways of producing a high income, and ANPR cameras do not seem to exist in Avon and Somerset Police. Many of the so called ‘young drivers’ use their vehicles as an intimidation weapon, and if you don’t give way you risk a collision.
Driving in Bristol is no longer a pleasure, and more of a risk taking adventure.
Driving in the UK has deteriorated over the last number of years. I lived in Dublin for 5 years in the late 1990’s and I thought that that cities drivers were bad drivers, at that time you never took off quickly when traffic lights turned GREEN because at least 5/6 vehicles would jump the RED light (now very common on the UK roads), it was common knowledge and people drove to compensate for this practice, also it was said that drivers in Dublin never parked cars they just abandoned their vehicles. Having been back to Ireland recently I found that driving attitudes had changed considerably for the better, obviously something has happened to improve the driving in that country, so it seems that attitudes can be changed. I have a dash cam in my vehicles and I have loads of video footage that proves many drivers in the UK, Old, Young, Male and Female are driving dangerously, in fact I don’t see why younger drivers are being made to pay higher insurance premiums than older drivers because many of the middle aged drivers (male & female) on are the worst offenders for speeding and dangerous driving.
Speed is not the issue with danger on the road. Incompetence is the problem, lack of common sense, failure to keep to the nearside, holding up other traffic, indecision, total incomprehension of the rules…….I can go on and on.
If anyone wants a list let me know….
Yes you right Jim, speed is not the problem, matching a safe speed to PREVAILING conditions is where it all goes wrong. Any road can have many ‘safe’ speeds, it is conditions, traffic, weather, pedestrians, state of road etc that is the governing factor.
Problem is all that ‘spectacular’ footage used as entertainment for TV, is how the safe drivers are judged if they go over the speed limit. There is a vast difference between ‘speeding’ and total recklessness, but just suits the government and police to ignore this simple fact, to justify mass camera surveillance.
I agree with you, the standard of driving is rubbish, how some drivers ever got a licence i don`t know as they don`t have a clue how to drive.
Observations from living near the A41 as it bypasses Tring in Hertfordshire
From driving on this road most days.I observe that most i.e. Over 70% of drivers break by a considerable margin ( more than 15%) the speed limit of 70mph.
I accept this is not empirical data but it is a reasonable/anecdotal observation.
Very rarely do I see police patrol cars on the road and I would hazard a guess that there have very been few prosecutions/ driver aware ‘tickets’ over the last 5/6 years.
So not only is this (forgive the phrase) accidents waiting to happen but the increase in very intrusive traffic noise in an area or outstanding natural beauty, has increased dramatically over the last 5/6 years…some of which can be put down to increased vehicle movements but overwhelmingly because of the high speed of vehicles using the road and I may add the use of cheap resurfacing material by both Bucks and Herts county councils.
Rant over!..for the time being!
If you want to have a real say on your thoughts for car pollution and other matters the DEFRA web site is allowing you to voice your opinions, in a survey.
My thoughts are why is it the motorist that is causing ALL the pollution, it has now been proved that 1 wood burning stove produces the same amount of particles as 1000 cars. Also what produces the most pollution 1000 cars travelling along at 70 mph or 1000 stuck in a mile long tailback. The answer is to speed the traffic up not slow it down with road humps etc, etc. On my dash cam I have at least 5 instances of vehicles being driven in a dangerous manner , going through red lights etc. but the police are not interested only when there has been a serious incident do they appeal for witnesses, it’s too late then someone has been killed.
I give up. everyone buy a dash cam and cover yourselves.
This article seems to assume the local authorities and police are on the roads to prevent crime and road fatalities. They are actually there to generate income for the government.
I agree, that there is far more lawlessness, on roads these days: While motorways are protected from much of this, urban, and rural roads bear the brunt of bad, and frankly, dangerous driving. I have been driving for 40 yrs, and am shocked at how many middle-aged, and young people drive so poorly. Mobile phone use is a huge issue that is left unchecked, a distinct lack of indication is an increasing problem, as is ignoring speed limits. I am not a fan of speed cameras as they do not check – bad driving, but we need policing, and in a technological age such as this, there must be ways to check all the above I have mentioned? As our roads are so congested, and frustrations rise, surely it benefits us all to have as safe roads as possible? I am also, a huge fan of the relatively new, 20mph speed limit on some village roads – as we pass through a center, built up area, school etc – most drivers appear to adhere to this new limit, but of course, there are always a few who think it does not apply to them! I would like to see much stiffer penalties for law breakers, especially mobile phone use!
#CutsHaveConsequences for drivers as well as other road users. #UseYourVote
All frontline services are under-funded.
It is quite obvious that with 28% less traffic officers around, (it would appear more than that figure in Essex) that offences are not being detected. What this statistic does not show is the overall increase in road traffic between 2010-2015.
To take just one example of “offence” is a quite noticeable that the number of young male drivers having no fixed front number place, instead just displaying a plate on the dashboard presumably to avoid camera detection form the front. And mobile phone use seems to continue unabated.
Its definitely getting worse, I see increasing numbers of motorists on my commute who jump red lights, speed in 30mph zones and general disregard for road signs and road markings. I always been told that driving a car is a privilege not a given and should not be taken for granted. Penalties need to be more severe especially for repeat offenders. Also our driving test needs to be reviewed and perhaps extended from its current form.
Problem is that just a few years ago it would be just one or two motorists that you would see flouting the rules. But now you see 3 or 4 drivers at a time jumping lights instead of the odd one you would see previously. People driving down pavements because they can’t wait when on a street with cars parked on one side of the road and a vehicle coming towards them.
Hit them hard – why not take their car and crush it after repeat offences!
But yes to detect all this we need more money back in policing after it was taken by the government.
I recently attended a speed awareness course, and feel it has made me more aware of road safety and the need for sensible behaviour – and not just in relation to speed. It is a long time since I passed my driving test, and a lot has chamged on the roads in that time.Not all of this was I aware of. I have become a more knowledgeable driver, and I think that it has had a more positive effect that 3 points on my license would have done.The Police subsequently refunded my fee, so I presume my prosecution was ill-founded in the first place – but I am glad I had the opportunity to update my road knowledge.
Before I retired 5 years ago I was a senior Traffic Management Officer in a local authority. together with other senior Welsh officers I mixed with very senior police officers and road safety officers from Welsh Government on a regular basis. The decline in roads policing was a great concern to me and to my colleagues at least 10 years before I retired and we raised those concerns at the highest level. No-one listened and they are still not listening. I fully endorse the concerns raised in your article and would add further concerns about the great increase in red light running too.
Totally agree. I live on the famous scottish nc500 route and use to commute. During season the standard of driving drops. Two types of culpits always being flagged up. Expensive super fast hire cars and imatation road ace cars. Police are well aware but with 8 officers to cover over 1000 sq miles and no traffic police it speaks for itself. I did have the tragic misfortune to be first on scene for a fatal accident. The patient was still alive but i had to adminster first aid under direction from ambulance control. Took 90mins for ambulance to arrive. Traffic police took an hour to arrive 100 miles away over scottish mountains in the dark with deer roaming across roads. All the emergancy services did a fantastic job with resources available to them. Im sorry i could not save his life but has highlighted issues that need to be addressed. 8 min response time for ambulance will never happen and no police closer to deal with traffic. Told more cuts on way. What price is a human to polaticions. Different if one of their family.
If we had proper speed limits and reasonable number of bus lanes, drivers would have more respect for these and be more likely to obey them, but in Edinburgh we have daft speed limits and an excessive number of bus lanes, some of which have no bus services, so these restrictions are held in contempt and widely ignored.
Spot on. Some of the sheer idiocy around my town has to be seen to be believed. What was once a quiet residential street in which I live has now become a short cut and a race track. Also, a recently completed relief road a mile or so from me is even worse. The roar of the engines on a quiet Sunday morning or late weekday evening is annoying to say the least. I raised the issue with the police, who said they did monitor the road for a while, but they could find no justification in setting up cameras (!?) At the local McDonalds (where else?!) the local chavs use it as a meeting place in their little 1.2L Corsas with alloy wheels and Ripseed exhaust systems, often passing ‘stuff’ from car to car through the windows after dark, after which they exit the car park and go the wrong way around the roundabout to take a short cut and show off to their stupid buddies. A little further away, a ‘no cruising’ zone has been signed on one of the main roads, with threats of police action. But is it actually policed? Errr…no. And the other night, after a late evening shift at work, I watched open-mouthed as some idiot in a pimped up VW Golf systematically went through every single red light on a large traffic island. Far too much reliance on CCTV (half of which doesn’t actually function) and nowhere near enough police on the roads.
The issue is that road policing has become much a single issue affair. It is both lucrative and as easy as shooting fish in a barrel to catch people a few mph over a limit on A roads. Many limits have been revised downwards unnecessarily and the ordinary decent motorist often does not respect the new lower limit (that chop and change incessantly) and continues to drive at a safe speed but gets an invoice in the post… Never has it been easier to get away with drink driving, bald tyres, drug driving, unroadworthy vehicles – as long as you aren’t doing 68 in a 60. I can HOP at 8mph so these priorities need to be addressed and ALL roads properly policed for bigger issues with a broader brush once again. They do safety such a disservice by being such a one trick pony but meantime crowing about how amazing they are and taking the credit for safety improvements that are not of their doing (abs, esp, cars with 12 airbags and 5star ratings, regression to mean stats etc…)
There is a total disregard for motoring laws, by the dangerous minority. Trouble is that everyone suffers by the actions of these idiots. Either through injury or insurance hikes.
Law should get tough…..caught for dangerous driving, drink driving or excessive speeding, or get caught driving a car without a license, MOT or Insurance….£1000 fine minimum. Banned for two years, made to reset the driving test and have their vehicle crushed or sold at auction.
Hit them where it hurts “in the pocket”. !!!!!!!!
We the compliant also suffer from the humps, bumps chicanes, narrowings and pinch-points obstructing our highways installed to stop these anti-social irresponsible members of our society from threatening our safety within the community …. and do not look to the young for that as the blue rinse brigade are just as guilty as many seem to drive in a world of their own. Remember that there is only one reason people speed in a residential zone …… BECAUSE THEY CAN and the only answer to that unfortunately, if education via Speedwatch etc fails is to deprive them (and US) of the freedom to transit commensurate with the sense of community spirit they fail to demonstrate.
There is no doubt that there are bad drivers around but I am always suspicious of statistics shown. Who collects the data for such statistics and from where?
There’s that famous statistic that says that 85% of statistics are made up. Now how would you measure THAT one?
There is some hope. In my area, there is to be a 12-month trial of average speed cameras in a range of 7 different settings, including rural roads. Local campaigning and speed recording shows extreme flouting e.g. 100+ on a 40mph road, regular 70s – 50s on 30 mph roads; numerous RTCs which are not counted by authorities if nobody is injured; and an absence of traffic management officers for some RTCs, so re-directing is left to volunteers. Fining people for driving at 33mph is silly, but having no enforcement for our local speeds has been a hard fought issue. In rural areas, lots of walkers, cyclists and horse riders. The pressure for people to be out and about, getting fit and living greener lifestyles, is negated by the lack of enforcement. Every RTC here involves a driver traversing a verge or pavement, just where you expect to find non-vehicular traffic. The selfishness of well-protected drivers has to be curbed and viewed as antisocial behaviour.
The cameras on our roads are cameras there to raise money, they are in effect tax cameras. I say this due to the fact that two local roads to me which were national speed limit 60mph roads were lowered to 50mph and average speed cameras were installed just to raise money for the local council.
I am not sure that this is true, average speed cameras do help slow down the traffic, the problem is that on many occasions offending drivers are not fined they are sent on speed awareness courses and in my opinion these are just a laugh. It always surprises me that people complain about speed cameras, WHY, if you don’t break the speed limit then you will not be catch. Unfortunately many drivers just speed between cameras and slow down dangerously at the camera, therefore average speed cameras are the only way to prevent this practice. many many drivers, just drive as though the world is ending in a few minutes, speeding, overtaking dangerously, jumping traffic light or even totally ignoring them, drive with half their car lights faulty, not lights on at dusk and dawn, especially no lights on in fog or back visibility. Undertaking has become the norm, cutting in to soon and driving right up the backside of the car infant. What is needed is a complete change in the attitude of drivers. Or use technology, make every manufacturer install secret satellite management systems into vehicles, feed this information back to a central database at the DVLC and then everyones driving habits will be recorded, result good drivers get very cheap, insurance and road tax, bad drivers pay the penalty for their habits.
We’re is my tax money going,tax goes up every year but it is never justified.Real crime is getting washed away because theirs no money in it.Few weeks ago in Temple streeet,Leicester a speeding motorist lost control went into some bushes hit my friends wife car,her car went into his car,wrote both cars off and drove off.Two or three weeks now the police have yet to make an appearance this is on the eve of the new traffic laws came into force in April.More police on the roads will only mean bigger ques at the Kebab and KFC shops.
Totally agree, I have run of the road a number times by drivers disobeying the road rules.
I would love to see more traffic police patrolling the roads.
Unfortunately, the Police and many gullible PCC’s have been sold the fallacy that Speedwatch is the panacea to speeding within the community and once it is in operation Constabularies believe they can abdicate their duty and responsibility for any level of supporting enforcement. That was not always the case but the reduction in community Police Officers – remembering that PCSOs cannot stop traffic and therefore cannot use Speed Guns fro enforcement – means that hardly any enforcement now takes place within our 30 zones.
I totally agree that that is the case in Cambridgeshire. Just look at Roadwatch(UK) CIC’s results on its website that consistently shows 30% speeding and speeds of up to 86 mph in 30 zones. Yet even though deaths in 30 limits exceeds the total of deaths in all other speed zones combined (BBC Speed Wars 2016) and 85% of the population live in 30 zones – apparently camera vans are mandated by Government to spend 85% of their time at Killed and Seriously Injured (KSI) sites and if there are any crumbs left on the enforcement table to do some in the residential areas that contain 85% of the population. That to me is a an ignorantly conceived Government policy for the majority of us that live in speed-affected 30 zones and are at more risk of death than some KSI sites where pickings are easy and where apparently Prevention is no longer better than cure. The Police should be there to protect the majority of the community in the 30’s from harm not persecute the odd speeding driver on a motorway. This Policy needs reversing to 85% in the Community and 15% elsewhere.
Remember also that Constabularies get a kickback from Speed Awareness Courses so are keen to retain them as a source of income; no part of fines are retained by the Constabulary.
lets go back to basics.
Budget cuts…….why?
because there are too many people in the country that don’t pay NI, or any tax.
Simple.
Coulnt agree more Tony
Your simplistic political views are irrelevant to this topic.
Lawlessness is a bit of an exageration, indeed on major roads enforcement of speed limits is becomming increasingly heavy handed with the greater use of Average speed limit technology. Accidents happen for many reasons, speed is way down on the list & yet with ever lower speed limits, we are all being criminalised. We are not being allowed to use our experience to drive at a safe speed; no instead we are set an ever decreasing fixed speed limit, irrespective of the actual driving conditions. Accidents happen; taking us back to the day when a man with a red flag had to walk in front of every motor vehicle will not change that.
Interesting range of views and ideas. I am a driver of 27+ years and like EVERY driver on the road, I quite often break the speed limits (within reason) but I use my experience and judgment to decide when it’s safer for me to do so. I don’t appreciate or want someone telling me to slow down, do this, do that etc. Just let me make my own judgments which have kept me and others safe for 27+ years. Following the tragic death of a child in my area a few years ago, they come up with the ‘slow down for Bobby’ campaign. I see the campaign stickers quite often on the back of the hypocritical drivers car, travelling faster than the speeds indicated. All the legislation, signs, cameras in the world wont stop people ‘speeding’ and there will always be mindless idiots who will put themselves and others at unreasonable risk, irrespective of the law.
No, every driver does not break the speed limit. Those who do no doubt think the same way as you, to wit, that the exercise of their “reliable” judgement allows them to disregard the law. Speed limits exist because they are considered the maximum safe speed for the stretch of road concerned. You should adhere to those limits instead of making excuses for your illegal driving.
Oh dear David, I do hope you are not suggesting you have never driven over the speed limit? If your are then me thinks you may not be quite telling the truth.
I don’t suppose you hog the middle lane either
Fixed “cash” cameras have other problems: How many times does someone overtake you at way over the speed limit, then brake sharply for the camera, before they speed up again, to continue overtaking on the outside and inside at speed ahead of you. The fixation with speed limits does not contribute to Road safety. The most dangerous behaviours like driving too close to the vehicle in front, overtaking on the inside, not giving consideration to other drivers etc. can only be stopped by traffic officers. ANPR cameras are useful for tracking criminals and picking up vehicles without tax or insurance, but they still need traffic officers to stop the vehicle. They could be useful if installed at toll booths, or other places where the vehicle has to go through a barrier.