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£2m in speeding fines
May 18 2004
Evening Mail
Motorists in the West Midlands paid almost £2 million in fines last year as the number of drivers nabbed by speed cameras rose by up to 50 per cent, new figures show.
Official statistics to be unveiled in the next few weeks are expected to reveal that during 2003/04 more than 33,000 people were fined for speeding.
In 2002/03, a total of 22,556 motorists in the West Midlands were given fixed penalties or fined in the courts.
First-year figures from the West Midlands Casualty Reduction Partnership will reveal the 50 per cent increase.
With each driver penalised a minimum £60, total fines will exceed £1.98 million.
Figures from the region's three other casualty reduction partnerships, in the West Mercia Police area (31,358 fines in 2002), Staffordshire (30,199) and Warwickshire (16,757), are all expected to rise sharply.
Mark McArthur-Christie, from the Association of British Drivers, said it was time the casualty reduction partnerships confessed to "simply making money from motorists".
"If the partnerships are correct then we should see the numbers of accidents fall as the number of cameras increase but that's simply not the case," he said.
"We need to get rid of these cameras once and for all and stop the partnerships and the Government simply making money from motorists."
* In the West Midlands, Birmingham and Sandwell have the most cameras, with 53 each. In Birmingham, 12 are situated on the Bristol Road in Bournville, Longbridge, Edgbaston, Northfield and Selly Oak, while there are six each on the Coventry Road and Hagley Road. In Sandwell, there are 12 on the A41 through Tipton, Wednesbury and West Bromwich while the Chester Road through the borough of Walsall has 14 speed cameras.
