The London Borough of Wandsworth has obtained permission to enforce 20 Mph speed limits by the use of PCN fines. This will be a trial scheme for 8 months using an Experimental Traffic Order. The money raised will go to the Council so this is just another scam to extract money from motorists like the LTN cameras now being used.
Previously only the police could issue fines for speeding and the money then goes to the Government Treasury. Or the police could offer a speed awareness course which is a way they finance their own operations.
Wandsworth Council say that traffic studies found that one in four vehicles broke the speed limit in Priory Lane and one in five in Wimbledon Park Road. But that surely just demonstrates that a 20 limit is inappropriate for those roads or the roads need re-engineering. There is no evidence given of excessive road safety problems.
These were quotations given in the Evening Standard: “The AA has said that speeding should not be dealt with ‘like a parking ticket’. Speeding enforcement should not become “fishing trips” to secure money for councils,’ a spokesman told the Evening Standard. Drivers will be rightly concerned that speeding fines will be more about filling council coffers than keeping roads safe, Joe Ventre, from the TaxPayers’ Alliance, also told the newspaper”.
Residents of Wandsworth should submit objections to the Council but this scheme will undoubtedly spread to other boroughs if it is not opposed. It should never have been approved by central Government.
P.S. There is minimal information on this scheme on the Wandsworth Council web site and no Experimental Traffic Order related to it was obviously present on the London Registry as there should be so we submitted an FOI Act request to the Council.
P.P.S. The answers to my FOI request suggest that the Traffic Order was published in December 2021 in a local newspaper and in the London Gazette with only a few weeks allowed for objections, but not many people are likely to have read those sources. I am still looking into the legality of the Traffic Order.
Roger Lawson
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Why can’t Councils implement the 20mph speed at the same times the bus lanes use. I.e 7-10 and 4 -7 if safety is the priority. Most people are used to the bus times and would not get confused. You do not need to drive at 20mph at 10 o’clock at night.
I hope the Council won’t have the power to add points to the driver’s licence. Seems a bit of an own goal really because removing the threat of points means speeding becomes just another risk element of driving, similar to parking, you may get away with it anyway.
I do agree that if the fines are so prolific then the 20 limit is wrong.
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There are around 38 million vehicles on UK roads with an annual road death rate of around 1700, which is quite impressive given the number of vehicles. We are told that road pollution kills thousands of people per year. So why are councils installing 20mph limits which creates more pollution and will kill thousands more?
I know the answer…… MONEY!!
MONEY is also the reason for LTNs.
20mph in targeted areas like narrow single-lane residential roads, or outside schools (within school time-window) is fine, but having them everywhere negates the impact they could have had… because they are ludicrous! Here’s an idea, how about we teach people to drive properly! Toughen up the test. Don’t allow people from overseas to drive more than 30 days on an international license without taking a UK test? Sounds too preposterous? It would be paid for by the drivers and would give a boost to the driver-training businesses… maybe go further and offer proper advertised discounts to people who take the advanced test? This will bring down fatalities far more than a 20mph limit, and at no cost to the council. Oh, but hang on, that wouldn’t generate revenue for the council, so it won’t happen!
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