Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster has handed in findings of a consultation which saw the public give its overwhelming backing to his bid to have money raised from fixed penalty fines spent on road safety schemes here in the West Midlands.
The PCC handed in his findings to the Department for Transport, which showed a grand total of 93% of people, who took part in a four-week consultation, agreed that money raised from fixed penalty fines should stay here in the region, rather than be sent to Westminster.
He visited the DfT’s office in Birmingham to hand in the findings.
Preventing, tackling and reducing crime and anti-social behaviour and reducing the number of people tragically and avoidably killed and seriously injured on our roads is one of the PCC’s top priorities and he has called for money raised from fixed penalty fines issued in the West Midlands to be used to fund road safety schemes here.
He said the funds should be ringfenced for use by both West Midlands Police and the seven local authorities, in the delivery of the West Midlands Regional Road Safety Strategy 2023-2030. They are currently sent to a central pot controlled by The Treasury.
PCC Simon Foster said: “As Police and Crime Commissioner and as Chair of the West Midlands Road Safety Strategic Group, reducing the number of people tragically and avoidably killed and seriously injured on our roads are top priorities.
“That is because the consequences of road traffic collisions are catastrophic and devastating. This consultation gave a clear endorsement for my view, that money raised by fixed penalty fines here in the West Midlands should be retained here and invested in making our roads safer.
“I was pleased to hand in the findings and trust they will be taken on board.”
More than 1,300 people took part in the consultation, with 94 per cent saying they had personally witnessed cars driving at inappropriate or excessive speeds, while the same number said more needs to be done to tackle speeding on our roads.
Asking how safe people feel on our roads, 77 per cent said they felt either unsafe or very unsafe.
An average of 16,654 fixed penalty tickets are processed by the West Midlands Police ticketing office per year, generating £1,654,000 in income for HM Treasury every year.
Currently, all money recovered from these fines are retained by the Treasury, via the fixed penalty office. This money is not available for investment back into roads policing or to support local authorities’ road safety activities in the West Midlands.
The PCC added: “This disposal method is not cost neutral to the police or to the local authorities who own the cameras which enable excessive speed activations and the tickets to be generated.
“All money generated through the enforcement of unlawful speeding on West Midlands roads should be spent in the West Midlands on roads policing and local authority road safety activities.
“This can be used to fund further enforcement and improve safety on the road network for all road users.”
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