Speeding fines up by 400 per cent.

By David Millward, Transport Editor 

Motorists are paying four times more in speeding fines than when Labour came to power, according to figures obtained by the Tories. Telegraph View: Speed cameras: safety not revenue They show that drivers are now paying £200 a minute to the public purse, prompting the Tories to accuse the Government of treating them as " cash cows."   A vandalised speed camera sign expresses public feeling  on the level of revenue now collected through fines In 1997, when Labour came to power, there were 712,753 speeding tickets issued as a result of motorists being caught by camera and police patrols.  By 2006, according to figures released by the Home Office in a Commons written reply, this had soared to 1,773,412.  With the cost of a Fixed Penalty Notice having risen from £40 to £60 in 2000, this has meant that the cash raised increased from £28.5 million to £106.4 million. David Ruffley, the shadow police reform minister said: "Coupled with an increase in the basic speeding fine, this means speeding tickets are now raising over £100 million a year for the Government. ''Ministers need to tell us what they are doing with this £100 million a year taken from motorists. "How much is actually put back into practical road safety that does not involve speedcameras? "Ministers' failure to answer that question confirms the view that for this Government the British motorist is "a nice little earner". "Is Labour using speeding tickets just to raise revenue rather than making our roads safer? "Using speed cameras as a cash cow undermines public confidence. The Government needs to rethink ways of improving road safety, including cracking down on uninsured drivers." This figure would have continued rising further had the Government not reformed the policing of speeding in April last year, scrapping the arrangements under which safety camera partnerships kept all the cash. Since then all fines are paid to the Treasury with the cash then being distributed to partnerships as grants for a variety of road safety initiatives and not just cameras. As a result, according to the Department for Transport's latest figures, speed camera fines fell from £114.6 million in 2005-6 to £104.4 million in 2006-7. The DfT defended the use of cameras: "Safety cameras are there to save lives, not make money. "Independent research has shown that there are 1,745 fewer deaths and serious injuries at camera sites each year. The Government is clear that the best safety camera is one which takes no fines at all, but succeeds in deterring drivers from speeding."