IN a first-of-its-kind scheme, Wandsworth Council is piloting a road safety campaign that will see road users breaking the 20mph speed limit fined £130.
Interestingly, it will be the council that issues the speeding tickets to drivers, not the police, making this the first time a local council in the UK has enforced road safety in this manner. There are initially only going to be two urban routes affected by the trial, Wimbledon Park Road and Priory Lane. Both are claimed to be busy urban routes, that are subject to ‘numerous complaints from local people about excessive vehicle speeds’.
£130 20mph speed limit fines explained
The speed limit enforcement scheme will officially come into force later this month and is planned to run for eight months. It uses what is called an experimental traffic order, and Wandsworth Council is claiming it will ‘support and not replace Met Police enforcement.' Once the speeding offence has been caught on camera, a warning letter is sent to the vehicle’s owner, once a period of time elapses, a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) will be issued. The PCN will include a fine of £130 with a 50 per cent discount if it is paid within 14-days.
Speaking about the speed limit trial, council leader Cllr Simon Hogg said:
“Speeding traffic is one of the biggest sources of complaints we receive from our residents. Ensuring drivers stick to the 20mph limit not only improves safety levels and encourages more people to walk or cycle, it helps reduce harmful emissions too.
“Until now, only the Metropolitan Police have had powers to enforce speed limits, but they tend to concentrate their resources on main roads and dual carriageways, whereas most of the complaints we receive are about people driving too fast along quieter residential streets.
“Our pilot scheme will focus on two residential roads where excessive speeds are known to be an issue.
“If judged a success, we will look to make it permanent and carry out enforcement in other parts of the borough where we know vehicle speeds are excessive.”
If successful, the scheme could lead the way to other councils across the capital and further afield launching similar speed limit enforcement schemes.
