Jersey’s road safety officer, Philip Blake, has backed the move to introduce penalty points – which he has spent 15 years pushing for – saying that it would reduce the number of fatalities on Jersey’s roads.
Meanwhile the head of the Constables’ Committee, Len Norman, has called for the introduction of penalty points and on-the-spot fines to be ‘urgently’ examined, saying it could ease pressure on the criminal justice system.
And the brother of a woman killed in Manchester by a driver using a mobile phone, and who now campaigns to raise awareness of the dangers of driving using such devices, said it would be a ‘big step forward’.
The comments come after Transport Minister Eddie Noel said that his department was working on a new road safety strategy and that he had not ruled out introducing a penalty points system.
- The courts can fine you and endorse your driving licence with penalty points if youre convicted of a motoring offence.
- Endorsements will stay on your driving licence for four or 11 years, depending on the offence.
- The endorsement (and penalty points) is put on your driver record and is also written on your driving licence.
- You can be disqualified from driving if you build up 12 or more penalty points within a period of three years.
- New drivers will have their licence revoked if they get 6 or more points within two years of passing their test.
- Each endorsement has a special code and is given penalty points on a scale from 1 to 11. You get more points for more serious offences.
That followed the news that hundreds of Islanders caught using their mobile phones while driving are escaping with little or no punishment, with just three per cent of the 372 motorists pulled over for the offence last year taken to court.
In the UK drivers who accumulate 12 penalty points over the course of three years automatically lose their licence.
Being caught driving while using a mobile phone incurs a £100 on-the-spot fine and three penalty points.
Mr Blake, the secretary of the Island’s Road Safety Panel, has now backed the introduction of a penalty points system, saying it would cut road deaths.
‘It should be a rare event that we have a death on Jersey roads and at the moment we have two or three a year, in addition to an average of one serious injury per week,’ he said.
‘Penalty points are only one item in a whole package of measures aimed at reducing casualty rates, but it’s certainly going to help.
‘The road safety panel support it 100 per cent. We have been talking about a points penalty system since I have been on the panel, so for at least 15 years,’ he said.
Mr Norman said: ‘It’s something that we need to examine quite urgently. It could well take the burden off the courts as if you had point penalties and on-the-spot fines it could bring down the number of people coming to court.’
Campaigner Paul Newman, whose sister was killed by a driver using a mobile phone, added: ‘I have always been pushing for penalty points and on-the-spot fines and it will be a big step forward if they are put in place. It has been talked about before, though, so I will believe it when it actually happens.’
The following road crimes currently receive the following numbers of points in the UK:
- Failing to stop after an accident – 5 to 10
- Driving while disqualified – 6
- Driving whilst using a mobile phone – 3
- Driving without due care and attention – 3 to 9
- Causing death through careless driving when unfit through drink or drugs, or inconsiderate driving – 3 to 11
- Using a vehicle with defective brakes, tyres or steering – 3
- Dangerous driving – 3 to 11
- Driving or attempting to drive with alcohol level or drum level above limit – 3 to 11
- Using a vehicle uninsured against third party risks – 6 to 8
- Exceeding statutory speed limit on a public road – 3 to 6
- Failing to comply with traffic light signals or stop sign – 3
THERE are clear benefits to introducing a UK-style penalty points system for motorists who flout the law.
Not only would such a move ease pressure on the courts and save taxpayers a fortune, it could, says road safety officer Philip Blake, save lives. There is no doubt that something needs to be done to tackle the menace of people using mobiles when at the wheel.
If the comments reported today by Constable Len Norman are representative of the views of others, road safety campaigners might well be pushing against an open door.
But before anyone gets carried away with what may appear to be a win-win answer to tackling motoring offences, there must be clear direction on what new powers are to be used for.
The police in Jersey enforce the law by consent and laws are successful because they have the support of the public. Drink drive laws, for example, are effective – in a way that those aimed at stopping drivers using mobiles are not – because ordinary people want to see them properly enforced.
If on-the-spot fines and penalty points are introduced, they must be used to promote safety and cut costs.
If they become an easy way to raise cash and hit performance targets, they will become unpopular in the way speed cameras have in the UK.
A common sense approach towards the use of any new measures will win the support of Islanders.
