PACTS welcomes the opportunity to respond to this discussion note on graduated fixed penalties for speeding offences. PACTS is an associate parliamentary group and registered charity advising and informing Members of Parliament on road, rail and air safety issues. It brings together technical expertise from the public, private, academic and professional sectors to promote research-based solutions to transport safety problems. Its charitable objective is to promote transport safety legislation to protect human life. Penalties for speeding are both an important and an emotive issue, and PACTS acknowledges that this discussion document is likely to attract a large number of strongly-felt responses. It is important, however, that penalties are set according to purpose and principle rather than as a result of political pressure. Four principles should underpin policy. First, penalties should reflect both the level of infraction and the level of risk. In other words, penalties should reflect both severity of offence and the severity of the consequences (or potential consequences) of the offence. Second, it is important to ensure consistency with penalties for other offences, again reflecting comparative risk. Third speeding penalties need to be set in the context of a broader speed management policy (involving education and engineering as well as enforcement) with the express aim of improving road safety and discouraging excess speed. Finally, setting penalties for speeding needs to be done on the basis of the best available evidence and research. The current proposals, as outlined in the discussion document, do not adequately meet these criteria. (Author/publisher)
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