The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has told all police forces that thousands of motorists caught speeding should be sent on Speed Awareness Schemes rather than having penalty points put on their licence and hefty fines imposed from next month.
The national Driver Offender Retraining Scheme database, which will be used to identify drivers eligible for the retraining scheme, will be run by Road Safety Support (RSS), a subsidiary company of ACPO, earning the association an estimated £5million a year charging police forces around £5 for each driver checked.
Last year 2.1 million motorists were caught speeding and it is very possible that a lot of those caught speeding will opt to attend such a scheme rather than have their licence endorsed, which could affect their insurance premiums at next renewal and pay a fine.
There will not be unlimited opportunities to attend such schemes however. Repeat offenders will still find themselves disqualified from attending the scheme again within a specified period of time.
An ACPO spokesman however has stated:
“The database administration charge is £1.50 but it is proposed this will increase to £5. RSS does not make profits and any surplus will be returned to road safety initiatives.”