SAFETY CAMERA PARTNERSHIP REVEALS THE TOP SPEEDING EXCUSES

The Safety Camera Partnership is asking all motorists to make speed awareness part of their New Year’s Resolutions in 2003.

The Partnership, which is responsible for static and mobile safety camera enforcement in the Dyfed Powys, South Wales and Gwent police force areas, wants drivers to observe the speed limits and consider the consequential effects of their speeds on other road users.

Every year, more than 130 people are killed and over 8,000 injured in road traffic accidents in the Partnership’s area.

When it comes to the excuses motorists give to justify their speeding, the Safety Camera Partnership has heard them all. Here are some of the more creative reasons given by motorists trying to avoid a prosecution.

• I was trying to sell my car and the person who was clocked by a speed camera was test driving the vehicle. (When the file was referenced, the car was over 50 miles away from the registered keeper’s address).
• My son/daughter was ill in the back of the car and I was rushing to a services. (When the photographic evidence was checked, a female passenger was asleep in the front of the car and not tending to the child).
• My ex-girlfriend/boyfriend still has keys to my car and keeps taking it without asking. I didn’t report this to the police.
• My budgie was close to death and I was rushing it to the vet.
• I was in a hire car and the speedometer was in a different position – I was actually looking at the rev counter by mistake.
• I picked up a hitchhiker who commented that they liked my car so I let ‘this person’ drive the vehicle. I don’t have their name or address.
• My car was stolen overnight and returned to the same point. I didn’t report this to the police, as the first thing I knew of the matter was when a notice of intended prosecution for speeding came through my door.
• As I entered onto the motorway, my car was dragged along in the slip stream of a truck. My brakes aren’t very good, so I had to keep pace with it.

John Rowling, project manager for the Safety Camera Partnership, said: “The more run of the mill letters say that the driver is usually very cautious with an unblemished record, or that the driver didn’t realise the speed they were travelling at. But, many drivers believe that a weird or wonderful excuse to justify their speeding will help them avoid a fine.

“Sadly, there is no excuse for speeding. Travelling at inappropriate speeds is a prescription for disaster and can lead to fines, a court hearing and loss of license – but, more importantly, loss of lives.

“Two thirds of all accidents in which people are injured happen on urban roads with a maximum speed limit of 30mph and is estimated to cost in the region of 1,200 lives a year in the UK alone. A motorist driving at just 5mph over this speed limit is twice as likely to kill someone if they hit them than a motorist driving at 30mph.

“We are asking all motorists to make speed awareness a priority in 2003 to prevent accidents from happening and make roads safer for all users.”

Notes to editors:

The Safety Camera Partnership in South Wales was set up in April 2000 under a piloted Government scheme allowing capital for the purchase of speed and red light cameras and enforcement equipment to be funded from fixed penalty revenue. It was extended to cover the Gwent and Dyfed Powys police force areas in April this year. Since the scheme began, the number of fatalities on South Wales roads has fallen by 25 per cent, with a 78 per cent reduction in pedestrian fatalities. The success has been largely due to a partnership-led approach to road safety.