Affiliated to the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM)
Enforcement should be about quality not quantity, says IAM
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
The IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) wants the Department for Transport (DfT) to rethink its proposal to make careless driving punishable by a three-point fixed penalty ticket and fine.
The call is published in the latest edition of Advanced Driving, the IAM members’ magazine, published today.
Careless driving offences are currently dealt with by the courts and can be punishable with a fine of up to £2,500 and six penalty points. If the proposal goes ahead, a blanket enforcement approach will bring a wide spectrum of driving behaviours under the ‘careless driving’ heading.
IAM’s director of policy and research, Neil Greig, said: “This blanket approach will mean that driving offences, which could have been charged as dangerous driving but weren’t, could be dealt with in the same way as minor parking knocks. The IAM does not believe that this is good
for road safety; it will only lead to an increase in the quantity of enforcement rather than quality.”
The call is one part of the IAM’s response to the latest DfT consultation paper ‘Road Safety Compliance’. The paper outlines a number of proposals on how to encourage motorists to comply with a variety of key traffic laws including drink and drug driving, speeding and driver
retraining.
Some photographs used in our articles are courtesy of FreeFoto.com