‘Let us keep £3.5m speeding fine money to make Warwickshire roads safer’

MORE than £3.5 million from road safety fines - including money from those caught speeding - went to the Treasury last year when it could have been put to use in Warwickshire.

Warwickshire Police Chief Constable Alex Franklin-Smith and Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Seccombe have joined over 30 leaders from across policing, local government and road safety to call for the money raised from fines to be reinvested in local road safety schemes.

In a joint letter, leaders asked the government to allow a West Midlands to lead a trial where the money raised from fixed penalty notices is retained and reinvested into preventing and tackling careless, dangerous and reckless driving.

Mr Franklin-Smith said: “Whilst we strongly welcome the government’s commitment to a new national Road Safety Strategy, we need to increase our investment in improving road safety if we are to reduce the number of people killed and injured on Warwickshire’s roads every year and this proposal would allow us to do that.”

Mr Seccombe added: “As a partnership this money would go a long way to making our roads safer and reducing collisions. This is about saving lives, reducing crime, and delivering safer roads.”

Warwickshire targeted reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured on county roads by a half by 2030.

The force said that in 2024 speed was a factor in one in six fatal collisions in Warwickshire. In that year 25 people died, 299 people were seriously injured and 1,467 people were slightly injured in collisions on county roads.