Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chie

Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chief has said as he called for the 10 per cent buffer zone to be scrapped.

Chief Constable Anthony Bangham also said speed awareness courses were being overused, and believes offenders should get fines and points on their licence instead.

The warning from the roads policing lead for the National Police Chiefs' Council is significant because many chief constables will take their lead from him.

The West Mercia chief’s speech comes after recent figures showed a rise in road deaths, but motoring chiefs warned it may divert drivers’ attention from the road to their speedometers.

He declared “enough is enough” at the Police Federation roads policing conference, according to the Daily Mail, as he argued that police had lost sight of their duty and that speeding drivers were no longer afraid enough of being caught.

“Let’s change the message – we are proud to be law enforcers,” he said. “I do not want the public to be surprised, I want them to be embarrassed when they get caught...

"They need to understand the law is set at the limit for a reason. They should not come whinging to us about getting caught.

“If booked at 35 or 34 or 33 [in a 30mph zone] that cannot be unfair because they are breaking the law.”

Motorists are not stopped if they are caught up to 10 per cent over the limit under current policing guidelines, and they are given an extra 2mph allowance on top of that. Typically offenders are offered speed awareness courses costing around £75-£100 instead of points on their licence, or they are fined if they have recently been on one.

Tory MP Sir Greg Knight criticised the zero tolerance approach as he told the paper it would “make criminals of good drivers”.

Full news ...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/31/motorists-should-penalised-going-just-1mph-speed-limit-britains/