Drivers could soon be slapped with fines as the Government prepares to introduce new road rules to crack down on dangerous driving and cycling.
The Department for Transport has responded to a consultation which proposed to add 13 fixed penalty offences to schedule 3 of the Road Traffic Offender Act 1988.
The new measures will be included in the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS) regulations listing fixed penalty offences that offer educational courses as an alternative to prosecution.
The course costs roughly £100, although this does vary according to local course arrangements.
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Drivers could soon face new punishments for road traffic offences
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The consultation highlighted how fixed penalties make enforcement easier for police forces and also result in a dramatic drop in the number of cases brought before the courts.
Despite the number of bike matters, the Government’s response to the consultation confirms that “the Order will not produce an undue focus on cycling offences”.
It continues: “We will lay secondary legislation to amend Schedule 3 of the RTOA 1988 in January 2025. The NDORS regulations will be laid following this.
“The Home Office will continue to work with the police, the Department for Transport, UKROEd and others to monitor the implementation of this Order to add offences to Schedule 3 of the RTOA 1988.”
A number of new road traffic offences are set to be added to schedule 3 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act. These include:
- Offences under Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997
- Failure to comply with any direction given by a constable or by a notice exhibited by order of the Secretary of State regarding the use of a pedal cycle in a Royal Park or other specified land
- Using a pedal cycle in a manner that endangers or is likely to endanger any person in a Royal Park or other specified land
- Using a vehicle or pedal cycle between sunset and sunrise, or in seriously reduced visibility between sunrise and sunset, with no lights in a Royal Park or other specified land
- Failure to stop at a school crossing patrol
- Cyclist holding on to a vehicle while in motion on a road for the purpose of being drawn along
- Cycling on a road dangerously
- Cycling on a road without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road
- Offences under Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989
- Using a pedal cycle without lights between sunset and sunrise
- Using lamps so as to cause undue dazzle or discomfort to other persons using the road
- Using a non-motor vehicle with any lamp so as to cause undue dazzle or discomfort
Responses to the consultation came from the likes of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), Transport for London (TFL), UKROED, and the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS).
In addition to these, two county councils provided feedback and one Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office responded.
The Department for Transport also confirmed that it would set out the next steps for a new Road Safety Strategy “in due course”.
Former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh pledged that the DfT was putting processes in place to improve road safety, as well as publishing the first strategy in over a decade.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
The Department for Transport is expected to unveil a new Road Safety Strategy soon
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Speaking in November 2024, she said: “I think if the numbers of people being killed or seriously injured on our roads were happening in any other way, we’d be treating it as a pandemic – we have normalised it for too long.”
Haigh, who still represents Sheffield Heeley for Labour, said the Government was considering setting up the country’s first-ever Road Safety Investigation Branch.
She added: “That is one of the measures that is being considered as part of the road safety strategy.”
