RE: Gatsos generate £20 million 'stealth tax'
Thursday 3rd February 2005
Gatsos generate £20 million 'stealth tax'
Cash cow cameras raise seven-fold revenue increase
New figures show that speed cameras are generating £20 million of extra revenue for the government's coffers as the number of fixed penalty fines issued in England and Wales has rocketed from some 260,000 in 2000-2001 to 1.8 million in 2003-2004 -- a seven-fold increase.
A report in the Telegraph suggests that the increase in cameras, up to 6,000 of which 2,500 are mobile units, is the direct result of a government decision that allows local councils to retain any revenues generated by the devices. However, if the councils don't spend the money, the cash goes directly into central government's war-chest.
Only two counties remain free of "safety camera partnerships", consisting of local councils and police and which manage Gatso installations, according to the report: N Yorks and Co. Durham.
Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said the most cameras had brought "real benefits in safety and prove that they are justified", while the Conservatives have renewed their call for a review of what they called "a stealth tax" on motorists.
More: www.telegraph.co.uk/
Discussion
It's telling that North Yorkshire don't have them because the police don't believe in them.
Never EVER been stopped for anything in North Yorks, and drive at my briskest there. Always seen very professional police response to accidents (had family and been in one myself in North Yorks), and found their presence out in the countryside to be nice and clear and a good deterrent.
Cross over to West Yorkshire and it's like a police state... get stopped for looking suspicious, response to accidents is poor (don't close roads, or have cars driving all over evidence etc), and they have cameras all over the shop in Headingley and Horsforth, even though they always seemed VERY safe to me!
North Yorkshire thankfully stand out as a country with traffic police that still do their PROPER job, police the roads, not just send out NIP's and respond to accidents once they've happened.
I guess the same can probably be said for Durham too, good on the road presence!
Dave
Never EVER been stopped for anything in North Yorks, and drive at my briskest there. Always seen very professional police response to accidents (had family and been in one myself in North Yorks), and found their presence out in the countryside to be nice and clear and a good deterrent.
Cross over to West Yorkshire and it's like a police state... get stopped for looking suspicious, response to accidents is poor (don't close roads, or have cars driving all over evidence etc), and they have cameras all over the shop in Headingley and Horsforth, even though they always seemed VERY safe to me!
North Yorkshire thankfully stand out as a country with traffic police that still do their PROPER job, police the roads, not just send out NIP's and respond to accidents once they've happened.
I guess the same can probably be said for Durham too, good on the road presence!
Dave
Let's remember too that the insurance companies also make a fortune out of speed cameras albeit indirectly.
Everone who has speeding points as a result of scameras will, if they are honest enough to have informed their insurers, find that are penalised with increased premiums for years after the event. I certainly have been.
Everone who has speeding points as a result of scameras will, if they are honest enough to have informed their insurers, find that are penalised with increased premiums for years after the event. I certainly have been.
Watching the (much-repeated) programme last night on road cops, and noticed the BiB in the mobile 'safety camera' van complaining that drivers passing the other way were warning on-coming motorists of his presence, and as a result they were slowing down and he wasn't getting his catches.
I thought getting drivers to slow down was the whole point of the safety camera strategy.
I thought getting drivers to slow down was the whole point of the safety camera strategy.
Dare I hope that drivers will remember this punitive behavious by the government, when voting time comes. Let me see, how many drivers on the roads ?
If we actually vote the parasites out, then maybe next next miscreants the come to power will start to get the message.
As they say, power itself does not necessarily corrupt, but when a fool comes into a position of power, they corrupt that very position.
Maybe this is the sign to drivers that we are being taken for fools, and the time to stop it is approaching.
I have little doubt that Tony and his cronies will launch some form of damage control offensive in the form of some tidy verbage about listening to the driver and the safety conscious. In effect they will sit on the fence with their ears to the ground on either side. They will rely on our gullible nature, and we will continue to prove them right.
If we actually vote the parasites out, then maybe next next miscreants the come to power will start to get the message.
As they say, power itself does not necessarily corrupt, but when a fool comes into a position of power, they corrupt that very position.
Maybe this is the sign to drivers that we are being taken for fools, and the time to stop it is approaching.
I have little doubt that Tony and his cronies will launch some form of damage control offensive in the form of some tidy verbage about listening to the driver and the safety conscious. In effect they will sit on the fence with their ears to the ground on either side. They will rely on our gullible nature, and we will continue to prove them right.
Dare I hope that drivers will remember this punitive behavious by the government, when voting time comes. Let me see, how many drivers on the roads ?
If we actually vote the parasites out, then maybe next next miscreants the come to power will start to get the message.
As they say, power itself does not necessarily corrupt, but when a fool comes into a position of power, they corrupt that very position.
Maybe this is the sign to drivers that we are being taken for fools, and the time to stop it is approaching.
I have little doubt that Tony and his cronies will launch some form of damage control offensive in the form of some tidy verbage about listening to the driver and the safety conscious. In effect they will sit on the fence with their ears to the ground on either side. They will rely on our gullible nature, and we will continue to prove them right.
If we actually vote the parasites out, then maybe next next miscreants the come to power will start to get the message.
As they say, power itself does not necessarily corrupt, but when a fool comes into a position of power, they corrupt that very position.
Maybe this is the sign to drivers that we are being taken for fools, and the time to stop it is approaching.
I have little doubt that Tony and his cronies will launch some form of damage control offensive in the form of some tidy verbage about listening to the driver and the safety conscious. In effect they will sit on the fence with their ears to the ground on either side. They will rely on our gullible nature, and we will continue to prove them right.
only £20 million ?
WOuld of thought it would of been alot more than that !
Re insurance - yep 3 points adds around 20 - 25% extra in premium !
I always said I had a clean license - I've had a 3 pointer back in aug 2000 - but when I changed insurers on my second car they actually wanted to see my licience (paper part) sent a copy in thinking won't make any difference because the endorsement has been wiped off the DVLA systems by now (4 years ago) - but the insurers have now said that it doesn't matter, that it has to be 5 years clean ! Of course I could of sent the licence back to the DVLA to have the endorsement removed and no one would of been the wiser !
We'll all being shafted !
I've never thought about being really political but I can see myself starting a new bloody party before the next election !
>> Edited by woof on Thursday 3rd February 16:01
WOuld of thought it would of been alot more than that !
Re insurance - yep 3 points adds around 20 - 25% extra in premium !
I always said I had a clean license - I've had a 3 pointer back in aug 2000 - but when I changed insurers on my second car they actually wanted to see my licience (paper part) sent a copy in thinking won't make any difference because the endorsement has been wiped off the DVLA systems by now (4 years ago) - but the insurers have now said that it doesn't matter, that it has to be 5 years clean ! Of course I could of sent the licence back to the DVLA to have the endorsement removed and no one would of been the wiser !
We'll all being shafted !
I've never thought about being really political but I can see myself starting a new bloody party before the next election !
>> Edited by woof on Thursday 3rd February 16:01
Whilst I agree that this is a considerable cash cow for the Government rather than a concerned attempt at reducing accidents, I do not agree with the term "Stealth Tax".
A tax is normally a compulsory levy that everyone within a certain group has to pay. The only people who have to pay speeding fines are motorists who are caught breaking the law - that's a very small group indeed. I supposed you could call it a "stupid-reckless-lawbreaker-tax", but the words "fine" or "penalty" already sum that concept up.
Driving within the speed limit may require extra concentration, but if you can't cope with that, you shouldn't be driving.
A tax is normally a compulsory levy that everyone within a certain group has to pay. The only people who have to pay speeding fines are motorists who are caught breaking the law - that's a very small group indeed. I supposed you could call it a "stupid-reckless-lawbreaker-tax", but the words "fine" or "penalty" already sum that concept up.
Driving within the speed limit may require extra concentration, but if you can't cope with that, you shouldn't be driving.
Unfortunately many of Britain's drivers out there seem to have the blinkers on and can't see what the governemnt is up to. Everyone on here has woken up and seen the stealth taxes but the majority hasn't. News and current affair programs that brain wash the masses into believing it's all about safety don't help. Face facts. Chances are the next government will be Labour too.
crazydave said:
Chances are the next government will be Labour too.
Not if you don't vote for them.
Don't just not vote, vote for someone else. I 'll go for Conservative. (However, I do like the Lib. Dems'. anti-ID card stance, it's just that I don't seem to like anything else they stand for.)
Done some maths here:
6000 cameras (seems way too high to me)
1,800,000 people caught speeding.
Thats only 300 catches per camera which strikes me as being very low and ineffiecient considering all the rumours of Gatso's costing £40,000 to install.
And 1.8 million people caught, £20 million revenue, that works out at £11.11 each. Is the other £88 million spent running the scamera outfit? (assuming everyone gets standard £60 fine)
Bernie
6000 cameras (seems way too high to me)
1,800,000 people caught speeding.
Thats only 300 catches per camera which strikes me as being very low and ineffiecient considering all the rumours of Gatso's costing £40,000 to install.
And 1.8 million people caught, £20 million revenue, that works out at £11.11 each. Is the other £88 million spent running the scamera outfit? (assuming everyone gets standard £60 fine)
Bernie
I thought 3 points meant a tenner or something extra on insurance… 
not 25%! the gov are really trying to f*** us over with this, even the insurance industry are making a killing from it, they will be standing up for cameras next which will no doubt carry some heavy PR weight with the numpties of this country. Sod iraq, we are at war with our own government.
Some statistics… I based these on the same technique they use to relate improved road safety with speed camera deployment
. After all, gatsos are so effective at lowering speeds, they just cant stop making money . (Based on the news article... which I think is wrong anyway but...)
Assuming there’s what, 56million people in the UK (very aprox) and 1.8million fines, does that mean that ROUGHLY for every 30 people 1 of them has been had, which would imply that in the next few years, at the current rate of prosecution (700%) everyone in the UK would technically have been done at least once within 3-4 years?
We are a nation of criminals :|
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