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Speeding drivers face new penalties

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Published Date: 20 November 2008

Tougher penalties for speeding and other "excessive behaviour" by motorists are to be proposed by ministers as part of a bid to cut road deaths.

Drivers who break the speed limit by a large margin could be given six penalty points, a consultation is expected to suggest, meaning they would be banned after two offences.

Other measures will target drink drivers and those who put lives at risk by taking to the wheel under the influence of other drugs.

Provisional Government figures showed this month that the number of people killed on the roads in spring this year fell by 20% compared with the same period in 2007.

There were 580 fatalities in April-June 2008 compared with 721 in the same three months last year, the statistics showed.

But Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick believes more can be done to cut the numbers further and will outline the proposals in a written statement to the Commons.

They will be the subject of a three-month consultation.

Do you think this will solve the problem of speeding? Leave your thoughts below.

The full article contains 186 words and appears in n/a newspaper.

Page 1 of 1

Last Updated: 20 November 2008 7:56 AM
Source: n/a
Location: Blackpool

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Last

geezer466,

20/11/2008 08:25:52

Typical of this Government. Lets allow young children to be murdered by pure negligence in Local Authority Social Services departments not lift a finger to put it right but lets fleece the motorists for a few more quid.

If numbers of deaths/injuries are falling as they say they are then why increase measures now unless it really is about money? We know the Government is short of a few quid!!

This is nothing about road safety this is all about generating additional revenue from the motorist so New Liebor can continue frittering it away on massive public spending.

Sooner these muppets are out the sooner the Country's real problem's which is massive underlying debt in the population can start to be addressed.

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,

20/11/2008 08:41:49

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overwyrer,

20/11/2008 09:34:00

Maybe if they fined burglars, druggies, drunks, rapists, thieves and all the other scum knocking about instead of letting them off or having small £15 quid fines they would collect enough revenue, I mean, theres that much crime nowadays they would get enough to boost all our banks too!

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stu. c,

20/11/2008 11:50:53

its not an easy issue to tackle, but why does the goverment insist on profiteering out of any penalties levied why cant they just make a punishment to fit the crime,that would be a better deterant, than we want to make some money off you if you do wrong. ie if you cause an accident then the punishment should reflect the outcome of the accident ie a death by negligence should result in a prison sentence automatically. and doing a few miles over the limit with no consequence 3 times should result in the driver having to pay £50 to do a day safety course with evidence of what happens when things go wrong for the worse, or something along those lines. speed cameras are a complete revenue collecting non safety for the most part fraud.

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Willieck,

Fleetwood 20/11/2008 12:04:55

Possibly if you had lost a child on the road like we did, you might feel differently about "fleecing the motorists". It ain't rocket science. If you don't speed you don't get fined. Simple!

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Lol, North Shore,

Blackpool 20/11/2008 12:13:30

about time too, if everyone stuck to the speed limits, which are in place for a reason, i.e. you are far less likely to kill someone at 30mph than at 40mph, a lot of road traffic accidents/deaths could be avoided. now clap down hard on the idiots who still use mobile phones whilst driving and other idiotic things, like the woman i saw the other morning going round a roundabout putting lipstick on for gods sake.

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overwyrer,

20/11/2008 12:40:27

Willieck,
You brought the point straight out. It's about road safety and saving lives, not fleecing motorists. With that in mind, bring it on.

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20/11/2008 14:16:34

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FRANK KITTS,

Ontario,Canada 20/11/2008 17:56:35

As an ex.Blackpool lad,here is my 2 cents worth,we have laws that give a large fine and loss of your car for seven days if you drive 50 or more kms. over the limit,and its starting to have a good effect on speeders,perhaps that would be a good idea in England.Up the pool.

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oldbluefox,

Blackpool 20/11/2008 18:14:35

We are reliably informed that speeding accounts for a third of all accidents on the roads. Whilst I have no problem with fines for speeding I would like to know what is being done to prevent the other two thirds of accidents. Every day as a pedestrian and a motorist I see examples of poor manners and stupid behaviour on our roads (not only from motorists but also from children, pedestrians and cyclists) but it appears speeding is the only crime which is punished. Hardly surprising that many motorists see speeding fines as a stealth tax. I have tried to find out what other punishments are meted out but nobody seems able to answer that one. Everybody has a responsibility when using the highways so why the singling out of speeding alone. (And before you all jump up and down I don't necessarily disagree with it but think the approach should be more balanced).