Are on-the-spot fines the most effective way to tackle carless drivers?

In August last year we wrote about the DfT's public consultation on whether to make careless driving a fixed penalty office. This change would have allowed the Police to issue Fixed Penalty Notices or offer remedial training to drivers for "low level" offences such as tail gating, hogging the outside lanes and driving at inappropriate speeds.

At the time we expressed some concerns about how consistently these new powers would be implemented but our cynicism was tempered by assurances that guidance notes for Police forces will "encourage the use of remedial training" rather than issuing fines which will enable "more offenders to address behaviours through education".

Well, 10 months on and with the consultation period over these changes have finally been introduced? but without a single word about remedial training.

Instead Police will be given the power to dish out on-the-spot fines of 100 and three points on their licence to "middle lane hoggers and aggressive drivers who cut up other motorists or tailgater. They will also be allowed to issue instant fixed penalty notices to motorists who do not give way at a junction, force their way into a queue of traffic or use the wrong lane at a roundabout.

"Careless drivers are a menace and their negligence puts innocent people's lives at risk," said Stephen Hammond, transport minister.

"That is why we are making it easier for the police to tackle problem drivers by allowing them to immediately issue a fixed penalty notice rather than needing to take every offender to court.

"We are also increasing penalties for a range of driving offences to a level which reflects their seriousness and which will ensure that they are consistent with other similar penalty offences."

Other changes will see the fine for not wearing a seat belt or for using a hand-held mobile telephone while driving increased from 60 to 100. And the fixed penalty for driving without insurance will double from 100 to 200.

This is all well and good. We're certainly not going criticise a scheme aiming to tackle poor driving. But we must restate our concerns about how fairly and consistently this is going to be implemented from force to force. And we very strongly feel that, with such a sharp focus on penalty points rather than on remedial training, this is an opportunity missed to improve road safety for everyone through driver training.