No speeding fines issued for breaking 50mph limit on major roads

The limits were introduced to reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions from vehicles

No speeding fines have been issued to drivers breaking the 50mph limit on three stretches of main road and two sections of the M4 motorway in Wales.

The limits were introduced as a trial in June 2018 to cut nitrogen dioxide levels and made permanent in 2019.

Advisory notices will begin to be issued to speeding drivers to explain the reasons for the 50mph limit.

The Welsh Government said this was the "second phase" of "promoting compliance", after a monitoring phase.

Road safety charity Brake said it urges "more stringent enforcement".

A stretch of the M4 through Port Talbot is one of the roads with a 50mph limit

Transport Minister Ken Skates' decision to issue advisory letters will apply to the following roads, in which the 50mph restrictions were introduced to reduce emissions:

• M4 Junction 41 to Junction 42, Port Talbot

• M4 Beaufort Road/Rembrandt Way Overbridge to Junction 26, Newport

• A470 Upper Boat Interchange to Bridge Street Interchange, Pontypridd

• A483 Junction 5 to Junction 6, Wrexham

• A494 Wales/England border to St David's Park Interchange, Deeside

South Wales Police said management of cameras within environmental 50mph limits in its force area currently lay with the Welsh Government.

"GoSafe is working with the Welsh Government to bring the schemes under GoSafe management," said a spokesperson.

"In the meantime therefore, no Notices of Intended Prosecution (NIPs) have been issued for speeding offences within these camera systems by GoSafe."

Road safety partnership GoSafe confirmed it had not issued any NIPs within those specific areas.

The Welsh Government is trying to cut nitrogen dioxide levels on roads where they are above legal limits.

The High Court had ordered ministers to act after they failed to meet EU targets on air pollution.

The usual minimum penalty for speeding is a £100 fine and three penalty points added to your licence

Why are fines not being issued?

The minimum penalty for speeding is usually a £100 fine and three penalty points added to your licence.

A Welsh Government spokeswoman said the advisory notices would have a "strong emphasis" on giving guidance about the reasons for the reducing speed, such as public health and air quality benefits.

She explained that "a phased approach to promoting compliance with the 50mph speed limits has been undertaken - issuing advisory notices is the second phase".

"The police have been enforcing the speed limits on these routes where driver behaviour/speeds are considered dangerous.

"This phased partnership approach will ensure the small minority of drivers who do not comply with the speed limit are given the opportunity to do so before any sanctions are applied."

Joshua Harris, of road safety charity Brake, backed the trial 50mph limits to improve air quality and road safety but urged more stringent enforcement.

"Breaking the speed limit is a crime and until road crime is treated like real crime, we will never truly shift the dial on road safety," he said.

The air quality issue and speed

In January 2018, the Welsh Government conceded a case brought by environmental campaign group Client Earth which said ministers had failed to meet EU targets to cut pollution.

The Welsh Government's latest annual report on roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations last March 2020 said that although the annual trend of NO2 was falling at all five stretches of road, the situation still remained "complicated".

"Air quality is sensitive to a number of issues including the weather/seasonal effects, traffic flows including volume, speeds and fleet mix," it said.

The report also noted that "while the average speeds are below 50mph and compliance is much greater, there still remains a certain percentage of drivers exceeding the 50mph at certain times of the day".

Last month, a nine-year-old girl who died following an asthma attack became the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death.