60% drop in speeding fines but sat navs, not safety, are behind fall say experts

THE number of speeding fines issued to drivers caught by roadside cameras in Scotland has fallen dramatically, according to new figures.

Government statistics show that fines handed out to motorists fell from more than 114,000 in 2006 to below 50,000 last year, a decrease of more than 60 per cent.

Some experts claimed the fall is evidence of drivers finally cutting their speeds in reaction to safety messages and a tougher regime of fines and penalties.

But motoring organisations believe the downward trend is more likely to be due to drivers developing techniques and buying equipment to avoid speed traps rather than a widespread change in road safety culture.

Almost half of Britons now own camera-detecting satellite navigation systems, which tell motorists where cameras are sited and provide audible warnings on approach.

Sales have doubled over the last few years with more than three million systems sold in 2008. In addition, few new cameras had been added to the national network since 2005, which meant that drivers were now aware of their locations.

A national survey carried out by the road safety charity Brake showed that despite the increase in safety camera networks, the majority of motorists admitted breaking the speed limit on a regular basis.

The speeding fine figures, provided by the Scottish Safety Camera Programme (SSCP), which runs the nation's speed camera network, show a fall in fines throughout all areas of Scotland over the last four years.

The regional breakdown shows that Dumfries & Galloway saw the greatest reductions, from 14,001 fines to 4,603 – a drop of 67 per cent – followed closely by Strathclyde, from 26,288 to 9,107 (65 per cent). But Lothian and Borders, Tayside, Grampian, Fife, Northern, and Central Scotland also recorded falls.

The SSCP says that any drop in the number of drivers being caught by speed cameras is a positive development.

The Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland (ACPOS), which has spearheaded road safety campaigns, agreed. "Safety cameras are designed to improve safety, and any reduction in the number of motorists being caught is positive as it shows motorists are driving within the speed limit," a spokesman said.

"The Scottish police service and partner road safety organisations will continue working to reduce casualties on our roads through education, encouragement and enforcement."

But Andrew Howard, the head of road safety for the RAC, insisted the downward movement in fines reflected motorists' growing familiarity with camera sites. He said most camera networks in Scotland were set up in 2005 and had not been moved since.

"There have been fewer speed cameras because there are fewer new sites that meet the criteria to have one," he said.

"As a speed camera spends longer at one spot on the road, regular users have to be quite daft to be caught at it," he said.

"In other words, rather than catching people who speed, they now catch those who forget that they shouldn't be speeding, or tourists."

One other factor might be that the economic downturn had made drivers slow down to conserve petrol, he added.

Neil Greig, of the Institute of Advanced Motoring, said that while motorists may have become familiar with the camera sites, they were still effective.

"I don't get particularly vexed by this issue, as it shows the cameras are working," he said. "They are stopping people speeding at locations where there was a problem.

"The ideal speed camera for us is one where are no crashes, nobody gets caught and everybody stays to the speed limit."

Greig added that the figures "shattered the myth" that cameras were money-raisers rather than attempts to improve road safety. But he agreed that the rise in the number of motorists who own satellite navigation devices had contributed to the drop.

Campaign group Safe Speed opposes cameras on the grounds that they encourage speeding between cameras rather than changing driver behaviour.

Spokeswoman Claire Armstrong said: "More people are buying sat navs to know where the cameras are likely to be. The motorist is encouraged to observe cameras rather than the road ahead."

The cameras were also making stretches of roads without them more dangerous. "Sat navs inevitably lead to people seeking out routes with the least number of cameras, not just to avoid the risk of speeding fines, but so that they can drive in what they believe is a 'normal' manner."

While sales of satellite navigation devices have boomed, 70 per cent of purchases have been from two companies, Tom Tom and Garmin, which sell devices for between 80 and 150. This compares to fines of 60 plus three points on a driving licence for a speeding offence. Repeated offences lead to a potentially more costly loss of driving licence and more expensive insurance premiums.

A spokeswoman for Tom Tom insisted the devices aimed to help motorists drive safely and responsibly.