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Speed Cameras and Points System for Driving Offences – An Insurance Nightmare
It has recently been reported that Finland is considering the introduction of penalty points for driving offences similar to the system used in England and other European countries. So how does the English system work?
If you are convicted of a driving offence, in addition to paying a fine or fixed penalty, your driving licence will be endorsed. This penalty ranges from three to eleven points or a period of disqualification, depending on the seriousness of the offence. If you recieve 12 or more penalty points within a period of three years you will be automatically disqualified under the 'totting-up' system.
At the top end of the scale, causing death by dangerous driving or driving under the influence of drink or drugs, you will receive an automatic 12 points and a driving ban plus a probable prison sentence. At the bottom end, the most common offences are travelling at a speed slightly over the speed limit or going through a red traffic light which will result in an endorsement of 3 points and a fixed penalty fine of £60 (€90).
Speed Cameras
In the UK the number of speed cameras across the country is now over 6,000 the most in the world, although Finland is fast catching up! Nearly two million fixed penalty notice fines for speeding offences were paid by motorists in England and Wales last year – the equivalent of one in twelve motorists – totalling £114.6 million.
In Nottinghamshire a single SPECS speed camera has caught almost 76,000 motorists in five years, resulting in £4.2 million in fines. The SPECS ‘time-over-distance’ cameras measures how long it takes to pass between two points on a road and is currently one of nine different speed camera types used by the Police and local government to enforce speed limits on the UK road network. Eighty five per cent of all driving offences is speeding detected by camera.
I have heard a rumour that on a single weekend the speed camera on Valatie 12 (near the Villähde turn) can net €50,000 in fines, but only when it contains a camera! In England, all speed cameras contain a camera and have to be highly visible; thus they are all coloured bright yellow.
Car Insurance in the UK
Insurance companies are in the ‘risk’ business. If they get their risk calculations right, they can make a profit, but if they get them wrong, they make a loss. Traditionally, they have used the points system to identify risky drivers. Anyone with points on their licence has to pay a higher insurance premium. Licence points also affect the ability to hire cars and take driving jobs.
Research carried out by Swiftcover indicates the extra cost of insurance for those caught by speed cameras as £30 million – meaning speed cameras actually cost the nation’s drivers an additional £144.6 million each year. For example my mother, a very careful and considerate driver was caught doing 46 mph in a 40 mph limit. This resulted in a fine and 3 points on her licence. Her insurance premium was then increased by £124, effectively making her more dangerous than a 20 year old who has just passed his/her test!
On average a speeding fine adds £196 to an insurance premium. A second fine will increase a premium by a further 30% (£254) and a third fine will sky rocket it by a further 60% (£406)!
Swinton, a leading insurance company, has admitted that driving licence points no longer correctly identify risky drivers. The number of fines given to ordinary, safe and responsible drivers (such as my mother) has clearly become so large that risky drivers are now lost in the ocean of licence points pouring out of the speed-camera system.
Clearly, the road safety benefits of identifying risky drivers from their licence points no longer works. The implication being that risky or dangerous drivers will pay lower insurance, be able to hire powerful cars and get employment in driving jobs. Secondly, the totting-up scheme for banning those who accumulate 12 points will no longer be banning just hazardous drivers, but drivers with average crash risks.
On the bright side - non-endorsable offences include parking fines and using a mobile phone while driving. However, I am sure this will change in the near future!
Finally, I wonder how insurance companies in Finland calculate car insurance premiums?
Mike Bangle is the owner of Talking English language consultancy and can be contacted at mike.bangle(at)phnet.fi
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