Fleet managers warned of the plans to increase motoring fines

Many Fleet mangers have been told to prepare for this eventuality in the near future and to put plans in place to make sure their drivers avert any chance of getting a fine.

This advice comes as the fines for breaking the rules of the road could be increased from £60 to £90 under Government plans.

Transport Minister Mike Penning told Parliament the current enforcement process for dealing with careless driving takes too long and is inefficient.

The Government is proposing to create a new fixed penalty offence of careless driving and increasing the fine for a range of motoring offences, usually ones which add points to a licence.

Parking fines issued through fixed penalty notices (FPN) will not be increased, Mr Penning said.

In a written statement to Parliament, the minister said: “We are therefore proposing to make careless driving a fixed penalty offence and open to the offer of education training.

“We believe this will help the police to enforce against this offence more efficiently. It will also provide greater flexibility in dealing with those low level careless driving behaviours that fall below the threshold for a court summons, enabling the greater use of educational training.

“We will also be consulting on raising the level of many motoring fixed penalty notices, including increasing the penalty levels for many, usually endorsable, road traffic £60 FPN offences to £90.

“We have broadened the scope of the measure and are consulting on other options including, increasing the levels for non-endorsable offences, motor insurance offences, and graduated fixed penalties – all by a similar proportion.”

Mr Penning said many of the penalties had not been increased since 2000 and are lower than fixed penalties for other offences, such as disorder. He added: “These measures will play an important role in improving road safety for all road users as well as maintaining compliance with motoring laws.”

The Department for Transport has published a consultation paper and said the work followed the Government’s Strategic Framework for Road Safety published in May 2011.

In other news, Licence Beaureau call for thorough checks on fleet drivers.

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