Drivers hit with £5m in fines for speeding through roadworks

The figures for 2006 reveal how speeding motorists ended up out of pocket after breaching temporary motorway speed limits while roadworks are carried out.

Statistics show the M2, which runs for 25 miles through north Kent from the Medway towns to Faversham, was the stretch of road responsible for snaring the most motorists.

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If all the drivers were traced and then paid up it would have generated an income in excess of £1m.

The M40 London to Birmingham road and the M1 London to the North motorway also nabbed thousands of speeders.

A speed camera safety partnership spokesman said drivers were increasingly being caught by roadwork cameras "because the public don't think the temporary speed limits count".

Drivers are said to display an "apathy" towards the reduced limit in roadworks and are often nabbed doing more than the 70mph limit even when it has been reduced to 40mph or 50mph.

But Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign said: "These figures are an outrage. The best science we have says that speed cameras increase crashes and crash severity in motorway roadworks.

"But the Department for Transport is so welded to their false beliefs that they ignore the science and do it anyway. They even tried to hide the report."

"To be fined is bad enough. To get three points is worse. But to suffer that from a system which is proven to increase danger is an absolute outrage."

"It's time for motorists to get angry. I'm convinced that Department for Transport know that speed cameras have made the roads more dangerous overall, but rather than own up to their deadly mistake they have shunted the responsibility for cameras onto local authorities. They would rather save face than save lives and they are clearly not fit for purpose."

Chris Rogers, Project Manager for Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership, which has responsibility for the cameras on the M2 and the M20, said: "We are becoming increasingly concerned with the public's apathy with temporary speed limits.

"Drivers seem to be making up their own rules and then falling foul of the actual law. Our message is clear: The limit starts where drivers see the first speed limit signs, which will be before the works start."

Mr Rogers said motorists nabbed by cameras try to evade the penalties by saying things like 'I thought the speed limit started at the first traffic cone' or 'There were no workers there so I didn't think the limit had to be obeyed'.

He said: "Drivers also think that the temporary limit doesn't apply at weekends or overnight even though most schemes do work during the night and at weekends in order to minimise disruption.

"We have had far, far too many offences detected. We are keen to protect workers and the motoring public.

"Often roadworks cause queues in advance of the works and we want drivers to slow down before hitting (literally!) the back of the queue.

"In the works there may be staff and slow vehicles that are turning into or out oif the site, often from the right hand 'fast' lane.

"In most roadworks there are no hardshoulders and so any vehicle that breaks down, gets a puncture or a shattered windscreen has no safe refuge to go to. The occupants of such vehicles will find themselves sitting in live traffic on a busy motorway.

"The consequences should be thoroughly thought out by those drivers who think that temporary speed limits don't really apply."

League Table of Motorway Roadwork Speeders Motorway Location Offences Detected

M2 Kent 16,978

M40 Thames Valley 15,813

M1 Leics+S.Yorks 13,697

M18 S.Yorks 11,177

M4 Thames Valley 10,861

M25 Herts 7,604

M20 Kent 7,455

M5 Avon+Somerset 5,092

M55 Lancs 2,164

M11 Essex 1,871

M6 Staffs 1,267

M42 Leics 524

M180 N.Lincs 62