Speeding fines soar to a record level: 7,400 are issued every day, while drivers are treated as “cash cows”

The number of speeding fines issued to drivers has soared to a record level, amid new complaints drivers are being treated as “cash cows”.

Official data showed that 2,715,000 fixed fines were issued for speeding in 2023, the equivalent of more than 7,400 each day.

That was an increase from 2,496,000, or nearly nine percent, at 2022 levels.

Last year’s record figure (covering England and Wales) was 1.2 million higher than the total number of speeding tickets issued in 2011, the year the current recording system began.

Home Office data showed that 98 percent of speeding violations were detected by roadside cameras.

Of the total 2.7 million, 390,000 took place in the Metropolitan Police area, a year-on-year increase of three per cent; and 2.3 million in the rest of the country, an increase of 10 percent, according to the figures.

Howard Cox, of car lobby group Fair Fuel UK, said car owners were being “fleeced”.

“With tens of thousands of 20mph zones becoming the norm, decent, law-abiding drivers are getting caught for going 23mph,” he said.

‘Cash-strapped police and local authorities are using these new low punitive thresholds to fleece drivers as often as possible to supplement their depleted budgets.

“The new Transport Secretary will continue to push for driving restrictions across the UK, so that motorists remain the most controllable cash cows.”

AA president Edmund King said the number of fines was rising due to the rollout of 20mph speed limit areas and confusion over “variable speed limits” on motorways.

“On stretches of motorway with variable speed limits we see the limit changing very quickly and it is often not clear whether it has returned to the national speed limit,” he said.

‘We need more clarity with these signs so that drivers know exactly what the limit is, because at the moment many are getting stuck without realizing it.

‘We also believe that 20mph zones should be selected where necessary, such as outside schools, because problems arise when allocated on minor roads.

“Friday’s data also showed that of motorists who received a speeding ticket in 2021, just over 1.3 million chose to follow a ‘speed awareness course’, the highest number since the tests began. records in 2011.

Meanwhile, drivers of poor quality vehicles are less likely to receive a fine from the police.

The number of fines issued for MOT problems or poor condition of a vehicle was just over 48,300, compared to 51,700 last year and more than 40 percent less than in 2011, when there were more than 82,000.

It has fallen even though the number of cars on the road in the UK rose by more than three million during the period, to 33 million.

It means that motorists who break the speed limit are much more likely to be punished, while those driving substandard (or even dangerous) vehicles are more likely to get away with it.

Drivers fined for using a cell phone while driving increased slightly to 45,600, but are still much lower than the 164,400 in 2011.

The number of breath tests carried out by police increased three per cent to 276,914, but is still well below the 2009 peak of more than 700,000.

In 2020 it was confirmed for the first time that speed cameras were being installed to collect money from motorists rather than prevent accidents.

A report by police watchdog HM Inspectorate of Constabulary said some cameras had been installed because their locations were “good hunting grounds” for fines.

Partnerships with security cameras had even prevented police from trying to educate drivers to protect their income from the cameras, he added.

The key admission confirmed many motorists’ suspicions that they were being treated as cash cows.