Plans for tougher driving fines

31/01/12

By Chris Gibbings

Bad drivers will face tougher fines under proposals to overhaul victims' services and compensation.

The current £60 fine for offences such as driving while using a mobile phone, and not bothering to wear a seatbelt could rise to £80-£100.

An effort to raise an extra £50 million would come from a rising surcharge for victims, combined with the higher fines for offenders.

Now a consultation document from Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has said the plans to increase penalties also include offences such as speeding, bad control and ignoring signals and pedestrian crossings.

Mr Clarke said the increase will depend on assessing in detail their effect on payment rates, as well as public consultation with the Department for Transport.

Some motoring groups have slammed the plans, with Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, saying the punishment should fit the crime, not be turned into a tax "paid only by this particular group of offenders because it is easy to collect."