World | UK
Red light jumpers sent back to driving school
Motorists caught jumping red lights in London are being sent on "back-to-school" courses.
- Evening Standard
- Published: 00:11 June 6, 2008
London: Motorists caught jumping red lights in London are being sent on "back-to-school" courses.
Attending the lessons allows them to avoid paying a £60 (Dh432) fine and getting three points on their licence.
During the two-and-a-half-hour course they are shown disturbing pictures of cars involved in fatal collisions with pedestrians, to make them confront the risk of killing and maiming others or themselves.
Drivers are also tested on the Highway Code, with worksheets highlighting the consequences of ignoring the rules of the road.
The courses were announced by Transport for London (TfL) yesterday, after research showed that red-light jumping is at "epidemic proportions" in the capital.
In Trafalgar Square 117 road-users were spotted charging through the lights in a three-hour period.
The courses are being run by the London Safety Camera Partnership, which is made up of TfL, London Councils, the police and the courts.
More than 360 people have already been on the course during a trial period. Officials estimate that within its first year, about 1,200 will choose to pay the £95 fee and attend lessons in Islington, Bromley or Ealing.
If successful, the scheme will go nationwide. New figures show that each week, two people are killed or seriously injured on London's roads after motorists run traffic lights.
Responsibility
Chris Lines, head of the London road safety unit at TfL, said: "We can carry on putting in engineering solutions to stop people killing and hurting each other and we shall continue to do that. But what we want is a shift in drivers' attitudes so that they take responsibility for their behaviour, as was done with drink-driving. Although London's roads are getting safer, the 129 deaths and serious injuries in 2006 caused by red-light jumping demonstrate there is much more to be done."
There are 242 red light cameras in London. Their installation has led to a 53 per cent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured at their location.
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