Where does the money go when you get caught speeding?
If you are a driver who has experienced the flash of a speed camera and received a letter from the police, offering you a Speed Awareness Course, it’s only natural that you may be feeling a little disgruntled. You may be thinking….
“But I was only a little bit over the limit” – well, there are national guidelines that determine how speeding drivers are dealt with. For example, only drivers who exceed a 30 mph speed limit by over 5mph are penalised or offered a course. If their speed is over 42mph, they will receive a fixed penalty to face prosecution.
Another thought may be ““why aren’t they out catching real criminals” –well, there are hundreds of people every year in Merseyside who are killed or seriously injured on our roads as a result of a speeding driver. Many of these incidents result in permanent, life-changing injuries. They are REAL incidents that affect REAL lives, caused by REAL speeding drivers who are often driving at 5 or 6 mph over the speed limit.
And finally, “speed cameras, they just make money for the police, don’t they?” Well, let’s address this one.
Where the money goes
Fines for things like speeding and pavement parking don’t actually go to Merseyside Police, they’re paid directly to H.M Central Ticket Services!
If you qualify or opt for a course instead of a fine when you’ve been speeding, your course fee pays for the cost of the venue (often a hotel or conference room), the trainers who deliver the course and course materials.
In Merseyside, our course rates are among the most reasonable in the country. We sometimes accumulate a small surplus per candidate and this money is invested in improving road safety across Merseyside for some of our most vulnerable road users. For example,
• Engage scheme – an initiative operated by the Merseyside Road Safety Partnership (MRSP) and driving instructors to better educate novice drivers and help keep them safe during their early driving months and years. Engage was awarded a Prince Michael of Kent International Road Safety Award in 2012
• Drive Safely for Longer – driving assessments for the over 60s that raise their awareness of issues that affect senior drivers and in some cases, enable to re-assess their driving futures. Over 2,500 drivers have benefitted in recent years
• Bikesafe – coaching for motorcyclists, delivered by police and IAM riders
To learn more about how we do that, take a look at our About Us and News pages.
Why are camera vans hidden?
Well, that depends on what you mean by ‘hidden’?
These large white/fluorescently marked vans are used at locations where they can be parked safely, in full view of traffic. If you did not see the van, that may be more to do with a lack of observation than the van’s position.
Simply having the van there can encourage drivers to drive at the correct speed and improve road safety in that community. For this reason, our vans are in demand by residents who want themselves, families and neighbours to be safe.
You can find the full official list of all the static camera and camera vans in Merseyside here.
- Camera sites are chosen for a number of reasons:
- Community concerns and complaints about road safety
- A record of road casualties
- An emerging trend of incidents, identified by our analyst
If we cannot deploy a camera van, we’ll conduct enforcement using police officers or encourage residents to set up a community speed watch scheme so they can take ownership of the problem. In the longer term, we can work with local authorities to explore engineering solutions.
If you’ve still got questions, please get in touch via our contact page.
