The county that raked in £11m in speeding fines: Motorists in Norfolk top the nation for road offences… with almost half a MILLION drivers fined in one year
- Norfolk’s 485,188 drivers received 106,876 fines in 2019, worth £11.5million
- London, which has the worst congestion in the UK, is eighth on list of offences
- Police in England and Wales fined drivers £300million in 2019, a survey shows
Norfolk motorists top the nation for motoring offences, according to a survey.
The county’s 485,188 drivers clocked up 106,876 fines in 2019, forking out £11.5million.
Second was Bedfordshire, with 77,103 fines issued and 356,300 registered vehicles.
North Yorkshire, with 420,400 motors, came third, racking up 90,217 fines.
Police in England and Wales fined drivers £300million during 2019, most recent figures show. Car lease firm Moneyshake analysed data from 43 forces. It said Norfolk’s tally equates ‘to one in five drivers hit with a fine per year’.
Norfolk motorists top the nation for motoring offences, followed by Bedfordshire (picture posed by model)
London, which has the worst congestion in the UK and is widely considered to have the most inconsiderate drivers, could only manage eighth, with 305,474 fines issued compared to 1,952,100 vehicles on the road (15.6 per cent). Motorists there accrued 875,000 points.
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, said the lack of motorways ‘could account for some’ of Norfolk’s bad record but suggested there was probably a mixture of reasons.
‘It could be that even though they’ve got no motorways they could have a high density of static [speed] cameras,’ he said.
‘They could also have a police force that understands policing the roads is a good thing as you can stop other forms of crime.’
The county also has a large number of country roads with ‘tight bends, blind corners and animals running across’, which makes them more dangerous, Mr Cousens added.
Norfolk has many A roads but the most dangerous is the A1122 between Swaffham and Downham Market, which has had one fatality, one serious accident and nine slight collisions over a six-year period.
The best behaved motorists live in Wiltshire, where the equivalent of just 0.5 per cent of the 524,400 vehicles
Essex drivers received the most fines for careless driving and not wearing a seat belt, according to other information unearthed in the survey by car lease firm Moneyshake.
Bedfordshire’s 356,300 registered cars produced the most speeders, with 72,784 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued, costing more than £7.2 million, along with 218,352 points.
London had the most drivers committing multiple offences including using a mobile phone (5,548 FPNs), ignoring traffic signs (30,919 FPNs) and driving cars in a poor condition (14,566 FPNs).
The best behaved motorists live in Wiltshire, where the equivalent of just 0.5 per cent of the 524,400 vehicles received an FPN.