Intranetics Motoring News Service

ABD denies encouraging drivers to flout speeding law

24th May 2007 | BACK     PRINT

The Association of British Drivers has hit back at a police chief who accused it of encouraging drivers to believe "that there is something inherently wrong with enforcing the law".

Meredyth Hughes - head of road policing at the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) - made the comments yesterday as he railed against "the increasing determination" of drivers to fight speeding tickets in court. Acpo has instituted a team, Road Safety Support, which lends its support to police forces across the UK that are involved in speeding ticket disputes.

Mr Hughes said that the team was determined "to demonstrate that spurious cases get a slap". He claimed that so many people are contesting speeding tickets on technical grounds now that police forces do not have the resources to fight the cases and often capitulate without a fight. He added: "This team will defend the integrity of enforcement equipment and help us win high-profile cases".

And he was critical of the "anti-camera" lobby that includes such groups as Safe Speed and the Association of British Drivers. However, the ABD said today that it was wrong to accuse them of persuading drivers that the police were "inherently wrong" in seeking to enforce the law.

Instead, the organisation claims that it is the law itself which is wrong. A spokesman claimed that Acpo had "shown that they fail to understand what law enforcement is for in a democracy. Even the camera partnerships do not dare claim that laws should be enforced purely for their own sake - it's supposed to be justified by safety. It's supposed to have reasoning behind it."

He added that his organisation believes safety concerns do not justify the use of speed cameras. Recent government statistics showed that speed was a contributory factor in just five per cent of accidents that resulted in death or serious injury. "That is why people are fighting speed camera tickets with everything they have", the ABD spokesman added.

In related news, it was revealed yesterday that Gatso speed cameras are to enter the digital age. Approximately 80 per cent of the 4,000 cameras in use - previously loaded with film -will be upgraded to digital, meaning that they will never run out of capacity. The development was criticised by a councillor in Blackpool, who said: "This all about making money, they already make a fortune on speed cameras as it is and I think that if anything it will make the public want to rebel against it."

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