Political Group Calls For Scrapping Of Speeding Fine Tolerances

Most police forces in the UK are known to give a bit of leeway when it comes to speeding fines. Although it’s technically an offence to be travelling at any speed over the limit, drivers generally need to be doing about 10 per cent plus 2mph or 3mph over to set off a camera, but some MPs want these tolerances to be dropped.

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling & Walking has released its Road Justice Inquiry, suggesting that fines be enforced on a zero-tolerance basis. 

The group said:

“If the working assumption is that one can speed (to an extent) with impunity, this fosters a belief that traffic law does not need to be taken seriously. 

“We hold the view that speed limits and their enforcement represent the foundation of road justice because speeding accounts for the lion’s share of offences committed on the roads.”

The group of MPs highlighted a report in 2021 that indicated half of drivers in the UK speed in 30mph zones. The group also says that “mechanisms for measuring speed are now both more sophisticated and more accurate than they were when guidance [for tolerances] was last revised.”

A removal of the tolerances would almost inevitably result in a huge increase in the number of fines issued by police forces across the UK. After the Metropolitan Police reduced its tolerances from 10 per cent plus 3mph to 10 per cent plus 2mph in 2019, a 259 per cent increase in issued speeding fines followed. 

The report also notes that 23 per cent of drivers who accrue the maximum 12 penalty points manage to keep on driving, avoiding disqualification by arguing "exceptional hardship" should they lose their license. "This is clearly a paradox – if nearly one quarter of any group is treated as exceptional, there is something wrong with either the definition of the term or its application," the report says, adding, "The consequence is that many drivers who should be serving a ban are instead allowed to continue driving."

It should be noted that these are, for now, merely suggestions, and the government has no obligation to take them on board. Calls to scrap these tolerances have been made before by various groups and individuals, without any changes being enacted. That said, road deaths in the UK remain stubbornly high - 1,695 people were killed on UK roads in 2022, a decline of only three per cent compared to 2019. With that in mind, the government could be open to ways to get the figure down.