§ Mr. DonaldsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the tolerance levels permitted by the Police Service of Northern Ireland are for motorists exceeding the speed limit and who have been detected using(a) fixed cameras, (b) mobile cameras and (c) other detection devices; and how long these tolerance levels have been in force. [152847]
§ Jane KennedyThe Northern Ireland Safety Camera Scheme was launched on 1 July 2003, comprising four fixed sites and over 70 mobile enforcement sites. To date a total of 10,321 motorists have been detected through the scheme.
The PSNI do not think that it would be appropriate to disclose the threshold they operate to in respect of speeding offences as this may lead motorists to make an assumption that it is safe to travel at this speed without fear of detection, thus contributing to an increase in the overall average speed of vehicles on our roads.
The purpose of a threshold is to allow for inaccuracies in the target vehicle's speedometer and to provide a consistency in police enforcement. The threshold does not vary according to the type of enforcement being conducted, however should there be extenuating circumstances, for example, children entering and leaving school, the threshold may be lowered in order to deal with offending motorists.
The thresholds have been in place since October 2001.