WIREDGOV

Tough new powers to make UK roads safer

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT News Release (042) issued by COI News Distribution Service on 1 April 2009

New powers to ensure that all drivers who break the rules of the road face tough penalties come into force today.

Under the new laws drivers - including hauliers - living outside the UK will no longer be able to escape the penalties faced by UK offenders. The Police and examiners from the Vehicle Operator and Services Agency (VOSA) can now collect on-the-spot payments from alleged offenders who cannot provide a satisfactory UK address. Those caught committing an endorsable offence will also have penalty points put on their UK driving record, which could lead to them being banned from driving in the UK.

VOSA examiners will also - for the first time - be able to issue fixed penalty notices to drivers of heavy goods vehicles from both the UK and abroad, in addition to immobilising vehicles where driving hours, weight or vehicle safety rules have been broken.

Jim Fitzpatrick, Road Safety Minister, said: "We want to keep our roads as safe as possible and these tough new measures mean that any driver who breaks the rules of the road - putting themselves and others at risk - will have to face the consequences.

"The only way for drivers and hauliers to avoid tough penalties will be to obey our traffic laws and ensure their vehicles are fully roadworthy."

Chief Constable Mick Giannasi, ACPO Lead for Roads Policing, said:

"The schemes introduced today will help law enforcement agencies deal more effectively with non-UK residents who commit driving offences and drivers committing commercial vehicle offences. Enforcing road safety legislation fairly and consistently against all offenders no matter where they live, have come from or are going to, will ensure our roads are safer and help us reduce death and injury."

From today those drivers without a satisfactory UK address who commit traffic offences will have to pay a financial penalty deposit equal to the amount of the fixed penalty or £300 as a deposit in respect of a potential court fine.

The new measures will also enable the Police and VOSA to immobilise any vehicle that has been prohibited from continuing a journey where a driver is breaking the rules on drivers' hours; is driving an overloaded or unroadworthy vehicle; or in cases where a driver refuses to pay a requested financial deposit.

Notes to Editors

1. New rules enter into force today under the Road Safety Act 2006, relating to immobilisation, fixed penalties, financial penalty deposits and driver records of unlicensed and foreign drivers.

2. The immobilisation powers are an additional sanction to help enforce prohibitions issued against vehicles - for instance because they are mechanically defective or, in the case of a commercial vehicle, the vehicle is overloaded or the driver has been driving too long. The powers will also help to enforce the requirement to pay a financial penalty deposit from those without a satisfactory UK address.

3. Police can already issue fixed penalties for a range of endorsable and non-endorsable offences as set out in Schedule 3 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. There is a publication called "Revised Guidance on the operation of the Fixed Penalty System for Offences in Respect of a Vehicle" available on the Home Office website.

4. These powers will enable the police and, for the first time, VOSA, to issue fixed penalties for a list of non-endorsable offences including:

* offences under drivers' hours rules

* failing to hold an Operator's Licence

* overloading a vehicle

* 'cabotage' offences

* failing to produce evidence of a driver Certificate of Professional Competence.

5. The police and VOSA, for the first time, will also be able to issue fixed penalty notices to non-UK residents for endorsable offences. Details of the offence, including the penalty points, will be recorded on the DVLA driver record. VOSA will not be issuing fixed penalties/penalty points for all endorsable offences, eg speeding. Serious offences, such as fraud / counterfeit documents will continue to be prosecuted.

6. The levels of fixed penalties range from £30 to £200. Drivers' hours and overloading offences will be subject to graduated fixed penalties (according to the seriousness of the behaviour and the circumstances of the offence). The level of graduations are set out in the Fixed Penalty (Amendment) Order 2009 (S.I. 2009/488, which amends the Fixed Penalty Order 2000).

7. A deposit will be the same as the level of a fixed penalty (between £30 and £200) or, for those cases which will be brought before a court, £300.

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Department for Transport Website: http://www.dft.gov.uk