Safe Speed Forums

Thousands escape speed detections
By Fiona Murray
BBC News Website

Drivers may have escaped detection for speeding
Up to 42,000 speeding motorists in NI may have escaped possible prosecution in one year, the Audit Office has said.

It said police were unable to implement speeding guidelines because the Fixed Penalty Processing Centre could not deal with the workload.

It said Northern Ireland may not have enough speed cameras, and there was a "significantly lower" chance of detection than in Great Britain.

The police said everyone should be driving within the speed limit.

A report, by John Dowdall, the comptroller and auditor general, examined progress in implementing Northern Ireland's road safety strategy up to 2012.

It said the road safety record had markedly improved, but that road deaths cost the economy £451m in 2005 - £18.3m of which was public money.

In 2005, the numbers of people killed and seriously injured dropped by 31%.

But the Audit Office said there was still room for improvement in areas such as deaths and serious injuries among the young, and accidents linked to drink, drugs and speeding.

Regarding driving tests, it pointed out that recent Driver and Vehicle Agency statistics showed a 12% lower pass rate in tests overseen by examiners than for unsupervised tests.

This means that as many as 5,000 candidates may be passing the test annually without satisfying the standards, said the Audit Office report.

However, it added that it was difficult to measure the contribution attributable solely to advertising in reducing casualties.

Three of the campaigns were sold for limited use overseas and the DOE may not be receiving an appropriate price from these sales, it said.

Turning to speeding, the report said that the PSNI was "unable to implement operationally" guidelines for speed enforcement issued by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

It said this was "primarily due to insufficient capacity" within its Fixed Penalty Processing Centre.

"During 2005, between 32,000 and 42,000 motorists may have escaped possible prosecution for speeding."

In a statement, the PSNI said it was aware of the guidelines on speed enforcement.

"However, it should be noted that these are guidelines to chief officers of police, they are not a requirement," it added.

"As such, each police service can, and does, set their own speed enforcement thresholds. Accordingly, PSNI, like many other police services across England, Wales and Scotland, do not apply the Association of Chief Police Officers guidelines."

It said it welcomed the recommendations of the report and that a senior representative would be appearing before the Public Accounts Committee later this month.

In 2005, the numbers of people killed and seriously injured dropped by 31%.

Really?

"at camera sites", presumably

Turning to speeding, the report said that the PSNI was "unable to implement operationally" guidelines for speed enforcement issued by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

It said this was "primarily due to insufficient capacity" within its Fixed Penalty Processing Centre.

"During 2005, between 32,000 and 42,000 motorists may have escaped possible prosecution for speeding."