One in three British motorists is fined every year: Study

Experts have suggested that automation technology has created a cash cow for councils and police in the UK as one in three British motorists is fined every year, according to a study.

The study undertaken by Dr Adam Snow, a lecturer in criminology at Liverpool Hope University, found that eight million parking fines are issued by councils, while 2.5 million are penalised for using bus lanes and junction boxes, the Telegraph newspaper reported.

"As many as 12 million drivers receive a penalty notice each year, a study by the RAC Foundation found, the equivalent of one every 2.5 seconds," the study said.

"It means almost a third of Britain's 40 million motorists are now receiving a penalty notice annually, bringing in more than £800 million in revenue."

Some 1.2 million drivers who are now attending speed awareness courses instead of receiving a penalty and points on their licences are outside this figure.

Dr Snow estimated that "councils in London made more than £371 million from issuing parking and traffic fines."

The local authorities in the rest of England and Wales made almost £211 million, the report added.

The figures, which cover the period from March 2015 to March 2016,

The figures include fines from both fixed penalty notices and penalty charge notices in a period from March 2015 to March 2016.

Dr Snow also estimated that "police forces were making around £25 million per year from fixed penalty notices."

The figures will raise questions over the level of reinvestment back into Britain's roads ahead of the Chancellor's Budget.

Just last week Highways England announced it was delaying 22 road improvement schemes, despite being part of the government's £15 billion road investment proposal.

Highways England said the move would "reduce the impact of roadworks" by spreading them out.

The RAC Foundation has called for fines to be "proportionate" in light of the findings out today.

Steve Gooding, the foundation's director, said: “To maintain its legitimacy, automatic enforcement must be viewed by the public as proportionate.

“While wrongdoing should be punished and not excused, a decline in frontline policing risks an imbalanced approach to enforcement.

“When it comes to civil enforcement...some bus lanes and box junctions have become renowned as money spinners.

"If thousands of drivers a day are getting tickets this is a clear indication of a system that is failing.”

A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman said: “The priority for all police forces is to keep all road users safe from the harm that can be caused by breaking the law.

“Police forces issue Fixed Penalty Notices for a range of offences but only do so to deter dangerous and illegal driving behaviours.”

Dr Snow has suggested the increase is down to a cut in police budgets against a backdrop of cheaper speed camera technology.

“I hope this report provides the start of that debate about the acceptability and appropriate place for automation in road traffic enforcement," he said.

He added that “perhaps the main driver for the increase in the importance of automation has been the real-terms reductions in police budgets.”

The report identified an 875-yard stretch of road in Birmingham as the most lucrative speed traps, with 500 motorists being fined a month since it was introduced at the start of the year.

The average speed camera pilot scheme on the city's Bristol Road has seen 6,166 drivers handed fines in the year to September.

The city council official, however, said that the cameras were "not about making money"  but to change motorists' behaviour.

The report said quoting the official that the new number plate-reading cameras cut the speeding by 14 percent on average.