Higher Speeding fines Come Into Force Next Month

Reasonably serious discussion
1

Wasn’t aware but higher speeding fines are to come into force next month, now instead of a fixed fine you can be fined up to 175% of your weekly earnings. Sounds like it could be a better deterrent to me.

SPEEDING drivers will soon face stricter penalties and much higher fines based on what they earn.

From April 24 2017, new rules come into effect in the UK which will mean offenders could now be charged up to 175% of their weekly income.

Currently in the UK the minimum penalty for speeding is a £100 fine and three penalty points added to your driving licence while the maximum fine is £1,000 or £2,500 for motorway offences.

But when the new guidelines are brought in next month, those caught driving at more than 101mph in a 70mph speed limit could be disqualified for up to 56 days and get a fine of between 125 and 175 per cent of their relevant weekly income.

Or if you are caught going between 31 and 40mph in a 30mph zone you will get three penalty points and a fine of between 25 and 75 per cent of your weekly income.

Currently many drivers get away without points and a fine by paying for a speed awareness course.

It follows tougher penalties being brought in this month for anyone using a mobile phone behind the wheel.

The previous penalty of three points and a £100 fine has been doubled to six points and £200.

Why is the law being changed?

According to Green Flag, the number of speeding offences has increased 44 per cent in the last five years.

The new sentencing structure has been designed to produce a sufficient deterrent to reduce the number of speeding drivers.

How much will I be fined if I’m caught speeding?

The new speeding system is split into three bands which rate the severity of the offence based on the speed limit.

Band A refers to an offence that is between one and 10mph over the stated speed limit.

For example a band A speeding offence in a 20mph zone would be from 21mph to 31 mph.

A band B offence is 11mph to 21mph above the stated speed limit and a band C offence is 21 mph and above the stated speed limit.

The starting point for a Band A fine is 50% of your weekly wage.

Band B starting point = 100% of your weekly wage

Band C starting point = 150% of your weekly wage rising up to 175%

How will this affect me?

The more you earn, the higher your fine will be. Someone who earns £25k a year who is caught driving at 102mph will be handing over a minimum of £720.

An 18-year-old driver who works 40 hours a week on the minimum wage would be subject to a fine of less than £400 for the same speed.

2

No bad thing. There are way too many deaths on the road caused by people driving too fast.

3

There are way too many deaths on the road caused by people driving badly.

But that issue doesn’t generate revenue.

4 Likes
4

Good point, but the faster you drive the less time you have to react to situations. You could argue that driving at 100mph is driving badly when the speed limit it 70 mph.

5

Is this all Fact srs? On radio last night they made it sound like fixed penalties will still apply for normal speed bros like me, and these rules are more for the type of bros who have to go to Court.

6

So does that mean the old 10% allowance has gone out of the window?

7

You never got it in a 30mph anyway. I learned that the fkn hard way.

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8

Regular surveys indicate that speed is only a factor in less than a third of fatal accidents - some data even suggests it is in single figures.

Driver education is more important than misleading kneejerk campaigns like Speed Kills.

Mobile use, drug and alcohol abuse, and people making mistakes, including excessive speeding - they all kill.

So how about we tackle the actual problems and stop pretending that the fines make us safer?

1 Like
9

I’ve got mixed feelings. I don’t speed anywhere except on the motorways.

Think it’s fair enough there.

10

I don’t pay any attention whatever to speed limits. I think they’re dumb. They’re nothing to do with what speed is safe to drive on any particular road under whatever the particular circumstances are at the time. Speed Limits was introduced just to give the police bros something they can prosecute against, cos “I thought bro was going bit fast under the circumstances, your honour” is not something that stands up well in court.

Now with speed cameras etc, it’s just another kind of Road Tax, for bears like me.

11

Totally agree with RB about bad driving, but speeding is a big problem. We recently used a speed gun to check the speed drivers drive at through our village. 83% of the drivers exceeded the 30 mph limit in one day last year.

This from a report compiled from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents last year -

Inappropraite speed contributes to around 10% of all injury collisions reported to police, 13% of crashes resulting in serious injuries and 24% of collisions which result in death. This includes both “excessive speed”, when the speed limit is exceeded but also driving within the speed limit when this is too fast for the conditions at the time (e.g. in poor weather, poor visibility or high pedestrian activity). Drivers who are travelling at inappropriate speeds are more likely to crash and their higher speed means that the crash will cause more severe injuries to themselves and/or to other road users. Inappropriate speed also magnifies other driver errors, such as driving too close or driving when tired or distracted, multiplying the chances of these types of driving causing an accident. Higher speeds mean that drivers have less time to identify and react to what is happening around them and it takes longer for the vehicle to stop. It removes the driver’s safety margine and turns near misses into crashes.