Where your inheritance went

Did your family throw away most of your inheritance by giving it to the government in speeding fines?

New figures show speed cameras earn money for the Government, but do not reduce casualties on the road. Immediately people will agree with this statement because they believed it all along (Canada withdrew them for this very reason and now Swindon has joined that lead), but also many people will believe it’s led to people slowing down and therefore, less deaths on the road. More than likely is that people slow down where they know the camera is and then speed up.

Last year cameras brought in £87million. Imagine for one moment, the cost of putting up and maintaining those cameras. Could that have build a hospital or two; a school or two?

What if you invested the money in education about speeding?

Of course education is the key to getting people to drive at safer speeds. There will be more than one mother who knows that if a child is hit at 30mph the likelihood of a fatal injury is much higher than if they’re hit at 20 mph, hence the lower limits around schools and busy towns.

It’s very difficult for the so called experts to plan our road speeds. We all know that the M1 at 7.30am is very different from the M1 at 4 in the morning. The disparity in weather makes large differences in stopping speeds.

We all know the roads are too busy, especially since freight was taken from the railways and put on large lorries on our motorways. However, the numbers of fatalities hasn’t fallen since cameras were said to be the answer. All they’ve done is alienate the police from the public still further.

We’re not agreeing with speeding; we’re certainly not agreeing with dangerous driving, but this ‘new’ taxation is now so high that authorities will have to find another way to take tax from its local people if they do away with the cameras. Do we accept the expectation of a ticket or three every three years just to avoid other taxes being increased?

If you’ve lost someone to a speeding driver you’ll feel quite strongly about the validity of speed cameras, but losing £300 every year for a number of years can lead to quite a large amount if that same money was invested and earned average interest.

While you’re driving slower, saving on your fines and investing it, did you know that if you save £360 a year (allowing for fines to increase in the future)for 40 years and your investments compound at just 5% a year how much will you have? The answer is an astonishing £48,000 approximately. That’s where your inheritance may have gone – to the local authority in speeding camera taxation.

If you don’t want to know if your county is taking the most money in camera/speeding fines, look away now:

London £6,265,860
Avon and Somerset £3,491,340
Mid and South Wales £2,915,340
Greater Manchester £2,876,280
Thames Valley £2,861,880
West Mercia £2,795,340
Nottinghamshire £2,380,980
Lancashire £2,238,960
Hertfordshire £2,168,280
Northumbria £2,130,000

It was suggested that we shouldn’t mention the one camera that takes in around £1.2 million a year where there’s been one accident in ten years.

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