SPEEDING drivers who use Jersey’s roads as a racetrack should have their vehicles seized and destroyed, Island officials have said.
The call for tougher penalties for those tearing along roads and country lanes – often during organised night-time meetings – at dangerous speeds comes following a spate of accidents.
Honorary police officers said that speeding was now the ‘primary complaint’ they received from parishioners.
Jersey has an annual road-traffic casualty rate of 312 people per 100,000, compared to Great Britain’s figure of 262, and the Island of Man’s equivalent rate – minus their TT racing injuries – of 236, according to police data.
St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft said he was ‘dismayed at the amount of careless and dangerous driving’ in his parish, but was ‘extremely pleased that the police were taking it so seriously’.
Mr Crowcroft cited Operation Canvas, an attempted crackdown on anti-social driving relaunched in June by police chief Robin Smith, which has so far resulted in the owners of 35 vehicles being warned about their behaviour, with covert patrols and checks used to catch speeders.
Mr Crowcroft said: ‘We’ve got a dedicated new campaign to tackle this minority of dangerous drivers. I believe that most drivers are sensible, but there is a group of drivers who enjoy treating our island roads as a race track.’
He proposed that the States Assembly ‘look into longer suspensions’, saying: ‘There are those driving in a manner that could cause serious injury or death to Islanders – and they only lose their licences for a year. Driving is a privilege and those drivers shouldn’t get it back after a year, when they have used their car as a weapon on the Island’s roads.’
He further proposed that cars belonging to those driving at inappropriate speeds and which are involved in accidents should be confiscated and destroyed.
‘When these people are behind the wheel, nowhere is safe. We can’t predict where the next collision will happen. In particular, it’s pedestrians and cyclists who are so vulnerable, and it is extremely worrying. We’re all trying to encourage more people to cycle and walk, but you don’t know what’s around the corner.’
Joao Camara, St Peter’s Chef de Police and chair of Comité des Chefs de Police, confirmed that speeding was the main complaint received within his parish too.
He added: ‘We have officers who go out regularly and check speeding, but the problem with these socalled “boy racers” is there’s no set time or pattern when they go out, so it’s really hard to catch them.’
He agreed that he would support the destruction of cars belonging to those driving at inappropriate speeds ‘on a regular basis’.
Mr Camara continued: ‘Reducing speed limits doesn’t reduce speeding. We can lower speed limits to 20mph, but at the end of the day we need people to actually comply. If people are not complying with the 40mph speed limit at the moment, then how are we going to get them to comply with the 20mph?
‘What we need to do is stop these miscreants from going out and driving at really dangerous speeds not thinking about consequences to other people on the road.’
Philip Heard, Chef de Police for St Clement, agreed that cutting speed limits did not necessarily deter speeders.
‘If someone’s going to speed, they’re going to speed. It doesn’t matter what speed you make the road by law,’ he said.
‘What fines we can give at parish hall level are too low. We should be able to give a higher fine for speeding, especially when it’s at higher speeds.
‘These have been in force now for some years and could do with reviewing. Hopefully that won’t be too far away.
‘We get many complaints from the public about speeding, but unfortunately it’s always the same situation: we’re not in the right place at the right time.
‘Harsher sentencing would certainly put a few of them off, but not all.’
