Six Points For Failing To Identify The Driver Comes Into Force

On Monday 24th September the provision from the Road Safety Act 2006 to raise the driving licence penalty points from 3 to 6 for the offence of 'failing to identify the driver' becomes active.

The change applies mainly to offences detected by speed camera.

Paul Smith, founder of SafeSpeed.org.uk, said: "This change has absolutely nothing to do with road safety - it's just spiteful."

"The authorities have forgotten that driving licence points were supposed to help identify risky drivers. Giving extra points to people who simply fumble the paperwork will further devalue the licence points system."

"Vehicle owners should be aware that they have no obligation to 'name the driver' if they do not know who the driver was at the time of the alleged offence, and cannot discover the identity of the driver using reasonable diligence. This a is a statutory defence - sometimes known as the Hamilton defence - and is enshrined in the statute (RTOA 1988 S172(4))."

"It's crystal clear that speed cameras haven't made our roads safer. We're still waiting for Department for Transport to admit that their road safety policies have failed."