Police declare war on speeding motorists
Police say they are declaring war in motorists who speed.
New figures show that the number of drivers caught and prosecuted for breaking the speed limit rose by 68 per cent last year.
And officers have vowed to catch even more this year.
Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership head of casualty reduction Dave Kay said: "We are focusing on the fatal four – speeders, drink drivers, people who use their mobile phone at the wheel and people who don't wear their seatbelt – but the most prominent one of those is speeding.
"The vast majority of fatal crashes involve speed.
"We really concentrated on targeting speeders with Operation Stealth in 2008 and we are continuing with that.
"You can expect even more speeders to be caught this year than we caught last year."
In 2006, 3,905 motorists were prosecuted for speeding, compared to 3,715 in 2007 and a massive 6,397 in 2008.
So far this year, police have already caught 1,270 speeders.
Officers are also planning to massively expand the number of speed seminars they hold – which show motorists the potential consequences if they drive dangerously.
For the full story see Tuesday's Lincolnshire Echo.
47 Comments
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by Nick, Lincoln
Wednesday, May 06 2009, 4:55PM
“Poor Claire seems to be the only one sticking up for the Police. I have great sympathy for them as they're between a rock and a hard place. They are not helped by inflamatory headlines like 'Police Declare War on Speeding Motorists' that started this chain of comments. Banal statements from LRSP like 'most fatalities involve speed' is blatantly obvious but is designed to load the dice by implying that speed of itself is dangerous, rather than the inappropriateness of speed in given situations. Until there is openness about the facts then ill feeling will be generated and, unfortunately the Police, rather than vested interest groups, will take the brunt of the criticism.
Surely what we want is a balance of policing where the 'detection rate' for dangerous driving (inappropriate use of speed in given situations) is on a par with other crimes?”
by steve, Lincs
Wednesday, May 06 2009, 2:02PM
“I will bear that in mind the next time I am burgled and call the fire brigade or the county council, I might get a better response.”
by Claire Reaney, Waddington
Wednesday, May 06 2009, 1:16PM
“As previously written, traffic cops deal primarily with traffic and not burglaries.
If there's no evidence then the crime can't be solved - they can't invent evidence.
Don't know why your blaming it all on the police either - Lincolnshire Road safety partnership also involves the county council, Lincs fire and rescue, NHS Partnership, Highways agency and Probation service so maybe it's not all down to 'Mr Crompton'.”
by Steve, Lincolnshire
Wednesday, May 06 2009, 9:42AM
“Many people I know have completely lost confidence in the police and simply would not report a crime as they know nothing will come of it.
I had my home burgled recently and the theives made it upstairs and were disturbed by my young daughter who was asleep, as were the rest of the family.
The police took hours to turn up and when they did nothing came of it, they didn't seem at all interested, just gave us crime number and told us to get in touch with our insurers.
This preoccupation with speeding when many peoples quality of life is bedevilled with anti social behaviour and harassment just seems to be akin to Nero fiddles while Rome burns.
Finally this situation only leads to the police alienating many in society and the loss of goodwill that goes with it.
The police should think again Cameras are not the answer.”
by Kev, Lincoln
Wednesday, May 06 2009, 8:48AM
“If we all stopped speeding then I guess the traffic cops would have less to do but we would still have to pay them the same wage, seeing as that would be a waste of money they would eventually be made redundant! Moral, speeder are keeping cops in a job, gotta be good for the economy!!!”