Dear All,
It was reported recently that 4 speeding drivers are caught in the UK every 15 seconds.
In the space of one year almost 2.3 million people were given a speeding ticket in the UK.
These figures are a little out of date, so my strong suspicion is that it’s significantly more drivers than that now…
Assuming an average cost of £150 per ticket, that’s 1/3 of a Billion pounds per year being extorted from British Motorists!
Of course some of these drivers will “deserve” — for want of a better word — being pulled up on their driving.
However, anyone with a set of eyes will know that the vast majority of those being extorted are not dangerous drivers, but rather are just being caught in the Governments revenue trap.
The rise in the number of drivers being caught is surely down to the ever-increasing network of “smart motorway” speed cameras on our (yes, our!) Motorways.
The rhetoric says that Police forces are not supposed to profit from speeding fines and speed awareness courses.
However, it seems they are:
Did you know that a Police force gets paid £45 per driver who attends a Speed Awareness Course to cover their (supposed) “administration costs”?
For every driver who attends a Speed Awareness Course, the Police force involved gets paid £45!
This is the perfect example of a wide scale fraud that evolves over time…
There may not be one central “mastermind” who envisaged the extent of the fraud from the outset.
However, as mutual interests are serviced for the parties involved, they become more and more incentivized to support the fraud.
Often, the participants really believe that there is nothing wrong with what they’re doing.
The “improvements” to the fraud are incremental rather than being dumped on the victims all at once, and so become (grudgingly) accepted as “normal”.
Here’s an example for you:
Avon and Somerset’s police caught nearly 200,000 Drivers in 2018 alone.
If they were all “funnelled” in to a Speed Awareness Course, that would be £9 Million in revenue for that force!
I’m not a Government budget planner but I’d reasonably assume that would be £9M less the Government has to pay to finance just that one Police force in Avon and Somerset.
I’ll leave you with that thought…
All the best,
Adam
P.S. I wrote an article recently about my personal experience at Court with a Speeding Lawyer — thought you might enjoy it :- )
What do you think about the Police getting paid £45 for every driver who attends a Speed Awareness Course? Let us know in the comments below!
Eventually the cash cow that is drivers will completely disappear. Youngsters are shying away from driving as they can’t afford the insurance yet alone any fines which unlike real crime has a zero tolerance imposed.
There is no legal right to a Speed Awareness course. Given a driver has been caught speeding they would in most cases prefer it to the points. So it is perhaps in our interest the police forces have an incentive to offer this option.
I attended a speeding awareness course the other year – Not because i was speeding as i emphatically do not believe it was me BUT because the vehicle was nominated as being down to me (company vehicle) but could not prove my case as the photographs were USELESS ! Anyway they kept on saying its NOT about the money – i asked then why do you charge then – i was then told unless you in effect bow down to submission you will be thrown off the course . this is the land of the FREE ! more like under the stasi state i feel.
I had this argument with a ” safer roads” officer years ago,told him they are only”CASH COWS”he told me different,i just laughed at him and said “BYE BYE”.
I agree with Lawrence that I’d rather a speed awareness lecture than points. But it is bizarre that catching a motorist speeding brings a £45 bounty but muggers murderers rapists burglars etc carries a £0 bounty – absolute madness.
I have been very happy with the choice between paying for a course and taking a fine and or points. I have no problem with some of my cost going to fund the police service, more with there being a reduction in their money supplpyas a consequence. The courses on which I have been sent were not a waste of time and provided an opportunity to talk about driving and how it has changed / is changing. I’d like to do this before I make such an error and without having to be told off by a policeman. No such facility yet discovered.
This is symptomatic of a general problem – conflict of interest when it comes to fines and taxes allegedly designed to modify people’s behaviour.
What is needed is a campaign to separate revenue from punishment. Taxes for revenue should be promoted honestly.
Behaviour nudges etc. should have ALL proceeds put into a fund totally inaccessible to any government entity. The fund could, be used for charitable purposes. I would suggest compensation for victims of uninsured wrongdoers.
With conflict of interest removed, and enforcement actually costing net funds, how many dubious speed traps etc would survive?
Disgusting.!!
But not surprised!!
No wonder no one has respect for the useless police .
It seems wrong that the authorities keep going to the well that is the car driver, however, assuming it doesn’t end up in the pockets of officers and there is no evidence of that, it is either paid for by errant drivers or by someone else, i.e. general taxation. To be honest I would prefer it to be the driver. Avoid these costs is simple, obey the speed limits or go live in India where there are none.
Surely it is the interest of the police force to not offer speed awareness courses, as the fine of around £100 would provide them more income. I would rather the police get their £45 and help to run their force, than the people who run the courses, who I have found aloof and sanctimonious. If you done the crime you pay the dime, but I would take the speed awareness any day over points. Yes it would be great to be able to ram your foot down all over the place, but times change and usually for the better
As a motorcyclist I am only too aware that the levels of awareness and observation exhibited by the average road user are deplorable. With the current obsession with speed, average drivers are only concentrating on not being screwed for speeding and nothing much else. They are completely detached from what is happening outside their vehicle. The more small accidents the more it justifies more draconian punishments for speeding and slows down the traffic, but does sweet FA for road safety. They see it as taxation and a more high ground. Sods!
If GPS speed limiters become the norm, which seems likely in the light of recent EU pronouncements, then this revenue stream will likely dry up completely.
Like everything else, it’s
ALL about the money. Always has been, always will be.
The problem with a lot of people who attend speed awareness courses is that they have an attitude of “I’ve been driving for xx years, I have nothing to learn, this is a waste of my time.” Whereas reality is they have never had their driving assessed since they were a teenager and have picked up many bad habits. Also they will never have read subsequent newer versions of the Highway Code with their many changes.
As an advanced driver I felt ashamed of speeding albeit under 10mph over the limit however I preferred the option of attending a speed awareness course rather than having points which I understand can affect one’s no claims discount. I am astounded that of the amount I paid for the course some £45 is paid over to the local police force. This is totally wrong and surely an incentive for all police forces to pull motorists over for speeding as often as possible rather than concentrate on the bad drivers
Why am I not surprised! It’s a nice little earner and when you go on the course the police were arrogant and downright rude to my friend.
The only surprise to me is that anyone is actually surprised by this.
Fraud and licenced lacerny on a grand scale. And Plod wonder why the general public have all but given up their support for them? Greedy FILTH-y behaviour!!
I don’t mind the £45 going to the Police. My speed awareness course 3 years ago actually cost less than what the fine and points would have.
To “David” @ 11:19. What you’re looking for is the IAM Advanced Driver Course. £149 and your driving will improve guaranteed. Yes, you will be expected to stick (and afterwards may well be inclined to stick) to speed limits, but you will also learn that you can still make better progress than other drivers by using the techniques.
When I got an NIP, my letter to the magistrate apologised and said I was signing up for the IAM, got me 3 points instead of a likely 6-9 for my offence.
I had a similar experience a few years ago to Dave Smithson. I couldnt say for sure who was driving my car and the photo was useless. I was told if I couldnt provide a name I would have to pay. Obviously just about the money
So why don’t nt we get this option in Scotland, I thought we were also in the UK???
We get fined and Points, no options
The days of Highway Robbery is well and truly back !
State sponsored theft!!
I do try to stick to the speed limiit as and where I Feel it is appropriate but mobile cameras set up on sneaky locations especially Three lane carrage ways with white line preferencing -folloeing a lorry with other vehicles behind doing 10 -12 mph below speed limit and one gets caught overtaking quickly but safely at just a little over limit .
Last time I received a speeding ticket in 2014 on Farringdon Rd in London I explained to the officer that as I was a vulnerable motorcyclist I was accelerating away from the lights in a safe manner and that I was not aware of the blanket 20 mph speed limit I was booked for doing 30mph had I not accelerated in a safe manner I would have held up other inconsiderate road users. Luckily I have not had any speeding tickets since but now I know the police get £45 in donut tokens I will fight my corner quoting this as revenue raising for the police force that don’t seem to be able to catch real criminals
Yes, and no doubt, without it ever being audited, the police will say it costs them £45 per attendee to run the Courses! The trouble with speed being the thing that the police concentrate on is that it takes their and the Governments attention away from the REAL causes of accidents – over one third of accidents are caused by people not paying proper attention (falling asleep, not concentrating, misjudging other drivers course or speed, distracted etc). This major reason for accidents gets no attention at all partly because everyone is concentrating on speed (causes about 12% of accidents) as it earns revenue. This is gross negligence in my mind. Having said that UK is still one of the safest countries to drive in – dont know why they are trying to reduce accident levels at all really – there are more important tings to do
The police do not have the manpower to tackle crime but they can always man a speed trap. A sound business decision.
They can also find the staff to police a peaceful ” EXTINGUISHION RALLY” that embarrasses our government.
A nearby town which I seldom visit altered a speed limit. It was a very bright morning and I didn’t see the changed sign behind a parked lorry. I travelled at 37 mph(downhill to the speed camera)assuming I was within the former 40 mph limit. It cost over £80 for the speeding awareness course. There were 25 of us on a half day course. All but one had been caught on the same stretch of road on the same morning. I followed the Drive Protect advice and asked for various confirmations of certificates etc. but was refused due to “data protection”.
The road had wide verges and visibility was excellent so 30 was an unnecessary limit but the bank did help the police to catch more. On the course we were asked what the speed limit would be on a road which turned off to the right. The assembled participants agreed that it would be 30 until I pointed out that we could see a different sign. The lecturer was surprised and observed that she had not noticed this before. At the end we were asked what we had learned. I commented that as a former caravan owner I wasn’t aware that the speed limit had now been increased. Asked if I’d learned anything else I politely advised that as driver of many years and miles experience I had learned nothing new. Just a waste of my time and petrol ( and money for the coffers )
I filled all this in and the asterisk marked items and my website address and got a rejection remark. The site needs checking or is it designed for mobiles???
Thank God for the incentive. They are only allowed to send people on the course under certain circumstances (first offence in three years; not caught doing a ridiculous speed). Drivers win as fewer points; public win as speed awareness raised; police win as modest funding provided; courts win as fewer trivial offenders clog up the system. Everyone wins.
I got caught in the (empty, ie nobody working at 2 a.m.) roadworks on the M20 last year.
£80 and 3 points or £100 and a course?
Not a difficult choice to keep my clean licence clean.
Found the course informative but over long, that’s the punishment I guess. Was my first offence in 25 years and I drive for a living, so I guess I’ve done ok.
I’m not bothered who gets the money tbh, it’s just my money going to a government department, where most of it tends to go anyway.
It’s going to be worse in the future with more cameras etc, so get used to it… keep your eyes peeled and pick your roads carefully. ;-)
It’s funny how people go on about “bad drivers”, as if to say that people who exceed the speed limits aren’t bad drivers. Catching “bad drivers” who do stupid things like pulling out of a turning without stopping and looking properly first would necessitate literally tens of thousands of traffic cops to be monitoring for such dangerous behaviour. And they would undoubtedly catch more than a few idiot doing it every day, whereas if they were just generally driving around, it would just be a chance thing, and much less likely that they happen to catch someone doing it. Most bad driving behaviour can only be penalised if a traffic cop happens to spot it, whereas cameras CAN catch – and deter – speeders. And if they were hidden, that would deter the speedfreaks from speeding practically all the time, precisely because they don’t know where they are located.
@ Will Hopkins. What “offence” is that with 6 to 9 points?
Guys this is so stupid of following the motorway/out of town speed limits!
They are set by people in the 1950s for the crappy cars then.
I just again drove in Germany over Easter. At 100+ Mph! For long time, LEGALLY ! (Rented BMW 1 series 2.0i)
No accidents, no problems. Private cars are allowed to go really fast on the motorway (not trucks, builders vans, buses, which mysteriously can run at 70-80 at the right lane here in the UK!).
It’s a myth that speed kills at motorways. It’s the lack of attention that does. Their motorways are not better than ours, a lot of times only 2 lanes, but it just moves faster there. Don’t get me started on the works over here! The works there are *real* works, a new bridge, etc, that lasts just 1 km, not “forever”!
Its a pity the police don’t get paid £45 per conviction for house breaking or criminal damage. If so these crimes might be as important to them as minor speeding convictions.
The course is a cash cow. I have spent just under 60 years on the road world wide and accident free, claim free and offence free. This one day basic course added nothing and was a waste of time. One guy on the course was caught doing 33 in a 30 limit. I was doing 42 just ahead of a derestriction sign on an empty road. The tutors new less about driving than I did.
We won’t have to worry when all the new cars have tec built in that scans roadside speed signs and reduces the cars speed automatically. What new scheme will the police bring in then to fine the poor motorist.
I myself attended reluctantly a speed awareness course for 34 mph in a 30 limit. Course rather than points. Well it turned out to be an enjoyable day. I was 67 at the time and it paid off.lot of new signs now aware of and what to look for. Two very professional officers conducted the course. Providing that cash is spent sensibly on the roads, I do not mind. Remember, if non of us broke the law, we would not even be discussing this subject.
A friend recently attended a speed awareness course for marginal speeding. It cost him £90 and he spent a wasted day off work learning about horses with coloured ribbons tied on their tails.Surely industry would benefit if there was a written warning for marginal speeding and a £45 fine straight into police coffers
Many years ago every political party stated in their election manifestos that, if elected, they would raise the speed limit on motorways to 80mph. Why do we still have motorways with the same speed limit as dual carriageways? Even Ireland, that drives on the same side as us, has 120kph speed limits on their motorways and 110kph on dual carriageways. Time we woke up and moved into the present. What\s the point of having speed limits that everyone knows are ridiculous?
Dont speed then you wont get caught, as we all know these cameras are just cash cows and milking drivers, dont forget insurance companys also jump the band waggon and charge more for insurance, its better that £45goes to the ploice force as long as its to help reduce crime
Ok yes it’s another cash cow to hit drivers with. Yes I agree it’s better than points and a fine. BUT how many people that have done the awareness course have notified their insurance company? As required by law. So please do not get sanctimonious telling us what a good thing it is. Maybe just maybe the money would be better for more police officers NOT speed cameras. I was s professional driver for over 40yrs and we have a lot bigger problems than people going over the limit by a few miles.
While I understand there are costs for the so called ‘speed awareness courses’ am not surprised they profit from it and am well aware it is just another form of punishment where it is possible to avoid points by effectively paying a higher fine including loss of earnings. Even many many years ago I remember caught at 8mph over the 30 limit, and in the same court on the same day being fined 50% more than a guy who knocked an old lady to the ground and stole her handbag. The motorist has always been the easy target.
If all speeding charges went to the police who are paid to uphold the law then we would save MONEY on our rates. Or NOT as the greed may be. Perhaps we must get used to the situation where by we pay twice.
hi,
i was driving on church road in stansted main road may i add,
it was 30 mph speed limit .
it is up hill as well as i accelerated my speed was 34 but at top off hill was police community speed old cronies . i did spot them and slowed down but would off done any way.
my point is that i received a letter from essex police informing me of my terrible crime .informing me that my speed was 36 in a 30 zone . and i was inconsiderate and dangerous . pleas,
anyway the letter then informed me that i wont be being prosecuted on this occasion. But they will retain my details for further action should i be caught speeding again ,
What exactly does that mean ?. And how long do they retain the records ?. Seems insiduos to me . So do i get charged for this offence if i am caught again ?. any comments on this would be intresting . I am not a speed freak and all ways try to observe the speed limits