Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Did you Hear about the Dramatic Increase in Speeding Fines this April?
Somehow this one passed me by. In case I'm not teh only one I thought I'd share.
Currently the minimum penalty you can expect to receive for speeding is a £100 fine and 3 penalty points added to your licence, but from April 24, 2017, magistrates in England and Wales have been directed to apply banded speeding fines for the most serious offenders.
Band A speeding fine
A Band A speeding fine would be appropriate if you are caught speeding between 31-40 in a 30mph zone, and you can expect to receive a fine equivalent to 50% of your weekly income (£240), and 3 penalty points on your driving licence.
By way of comparison, the average speeding fine handed out in 2015 was just £188.
Band B speeding fine
You might receive a Band B speeding fine for doing between 41-50mph, in which case you'd face a fine equivalent to 100% of your weekly income (£480), and 4 penalty points on your driving licence, or disqualification from driving for up to 28 days.
Band C speeding fine
A Band C speeding fine means that anyone speeding at 51mph or above in a 30mph limit - for example - faces a fine equivalent to 150% of their weekly income, and 6 penalty points on their driving licence, or disqualification from driving for up to 56 days. If you’re disqualified for 56 days or more you must apply for a new licence before you're able to start driving again.
For anyone earning £25,000 a year, a speeding fine equivalent to 150% of their weekly income means handing over a minimum of £720 - no small amount.
Summarised below:
If you get caught driving at a speed that will land you with a Band B or C speeding fine, the magistrates may believe your speeding is too serious for penalty points. In this case, you may be disqualified from driving for a period of time instead of being given penalty points.
Magistrates are instructed to take any mitigating or aggravating factors into account. A mitigating factor, like speeding because of an emergency, for example, and receiving a Band C fine, could see the speeding ticket reduced to 125% of the driver’s weekly income.
However, the presence of an aggravating factor could see a Band C speeding fine rise to as much as 175%. Aggravating factors include things like being a persistent offender or speeding while towing a trailer or a caravan.
All the fines can only be levied by the police, but in some areas residents are working with the local police force running a Community Speedwatch programmes, as they do in Haringey.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Mitigating circumstances will involve the driver having the same model motor vehicle as the magistrate. The system is utterly rigged in favour of the speeding drivers.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Bailey on
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Can anyone tell me what model car the local magistrate has?
;)
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Permalink Reply by Chris brock on
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What's healthy is to see the adoption of the Finnish model where people are fined a percentage of their income. Whilst everyone's circumstances will be different, it seems a fairer system than a blanket fixed amount which hurts poor people more
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Permalink Reply by kotkas on
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I'm in favour of a system which has the ability to levy a penalty on the maximum number of actors. If that means a disproportionally heavier fine on so called 'poor' people, because they represent the vast majority of motorists, then that's right. I would be of the same view if the majority of the population where 'rich' or whatever that's supposed to mean.
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It wasn't hurting poor people less, it was hurting rich people less. They're after the trader types in their Ferraris who earn £500K a year and regularly do 30 mph in Islington's 20 zones (like half of HoL probably). Who it won't hurt are the thugs who do 50-60mph up Green Lanes from Colina Rd to Duckett's Common and don't seem to have jobs with an easily discernible income.
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Much more chance of 99 cars killing someone by driving too fast than one. You're just being envious. As I said, the thugs up and down Green Lanes are the ones we need to stop.
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The point is that from a financial deterrent point of view, having a fine related to someone's income is more likely to have an equal impact. A£30 fine means nothing to a person who literally has money to burn
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cambridge-university...
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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I reckon it should be proportionate to the value of the car, irrespective of income. You might have a pensioner driving a Porsche for instance.
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Unlikely.
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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Not only heard about it - I actually got done on the day the rules changed, doing 25 instead of 20 on the Lea Bridge Road! But luckily I was offered a speed training course instead of points: still cost £100 though. Two thirds of people in the room had got caught on the same 200m section of road as me, and most of the rest on Green Lanes!
I think it would be better if everywhere was 20mph in London, as at the moment roads change randomly along their length, depending on who they 'belong' to - local borough or TfL. Palace Gates to Turnpike Lane is a case in point.
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