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'Concern' over fixed penalties for careless driving

20/02/2009

Transport groups have expressed concerns at Government plans to change the policing of careless driving offences, according to a report in The Times.

The proposals are part of a Department for Transport (DfT) consultation launched in November 2008, which aims to improve drivers' compliance with existing road safety laws.

Under the current system, police must use the courts to seek prosecution of motorists who they suspect of dangerous driving.

However, the Government believes that the scale of the problem is not reflected in the number of successful prosecutions - fewer than 30,000 in 2006. The consultation proposes that careless driving is made a fixed-penalty offence, enabling police to issue £60 on-the-spot fines and add three points to a driver's licence.

The Association of Chief Police Officers supports the move, with a spokesperson telling The Times: "We see it as a way of reducing the time involved in processing cases."

However, in its written response to the consultation, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety expressed a number of reservations, explaining that the current fixed-penalty offences of speeding or running a red light were clear cut, but that careless driving relied on a police officer's judgement.

"There is a concern this would lead to bad feelings between police and drivers," director Robert Gifford told The Times.

"A careless driving fixed penalty will be a matter of judgment by the officer and drivers may feel they are being picked on."

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents expressed similar reservations, telling the paper that there was concern within its road safety committee about "the subjectivity in deciding what constitutes careless driving".

The consultation closes on 27 February.

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