Reckless drivers facing on-spot fines of up to £100 to cut deaths

Bad drivers who tailgate, cut up or undertake other drivers are to face on-the-spot fines of up to £100 under a Government scheme to more than halve road deaths in the next 20 years.

Motorists will be given fixed penalty notices rather than being taken to court while the current fines for offences such as driving while using a mobile phone and not wearing a seatbelt could rise to as much as £100.

Drivers who are disqualified will be forced to retrain and possibly have to take another test before they regain their licences and courts will be encouraged to make more use of their powers to seize vehicles for the most serious offences. Novice drivers will be able to take additional qualifications to reassure insurers that they are safe behind the wheel.

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Launching the strategy, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said he wanted to move road safety enforcement away from the “narrow focus on camera-enforced speed policing to address the wider range of behaviours that create risk on the roads”.

He added: “Our long-term vision is to ensure that Britain remains a world leader on road safety and to continue the downward trend in casualties.”

Motoring groups generally welcomed the proposals but Shadow Transport Secretary Maria Eagle said Government cuts were risking more road deaths and injuries.

While saying its figures were “neither a target nor a definitive forecast”, the Government said the death toll could fall by as much as 57 per cent by 2030, giving an annual figure as low as 1,220.

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The strategy was published as David Cameron joined F1 stars Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in London to launch a worldwide UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. The Prime Minister said: “Every six seconds, someone is killed or seriously injured on the world’s roads. Addressing this must be an urgent priority.”