Drivers in London and Cardiff are being unfairly stung with fines of as much as £160 for yellow field junction infringements as a result of the highway markings are unnecessarily massive.
A new examine from the RAC reveals nearly each yellow field junction is larger than it must be, resulting in unjust fines handed out to motorists and in flip has turn out to be a profitable money cow for native authorities.
Staggeringly, nearly 98 per cent of the 100 yellow field junctions in London and Cardiff answerable for producing essentially the most penalty cost notices (PCNs) in 2019 have been bigger than obligatory for stopping automobiles blocking the trail of different crossing site visitors.
*Scroll to the underside of this story to see the complete listing of the 100 most profitable field junctions of 2019 and the way a lot of the painted highway markings are pointless
Sam Wright, chartered engineer who was previously answerable for the design and approval of yellow bins on Transport for London’s roads, discovered that the typical field was 50 per cent larger than it wanted to be to serve the first function of getting a yellow field within the first place – to forestall automobiles blocking the trail of different crossing site visitors
Sam Wright, a chartered engineer previously answerable for the design and approval of yellow bins on Transport for London’s roads, was commissioned by the RAC to look at yellow bins in each capitals.
He discovered that the typical field was 50 per cent larger than it wanted to be to serve the first function of getting a yellow field within the first place – to forestall automobiles blocking the trail of different crossing site visitors.
In 2023 the Authorities determined to let councils exterior London and Cardiff apply for powers to implement shifting site visitors offences, with the outcome that 27 native authorities put ahead proposals to implement 111 yellow field junctions.
The yellow ‘criss-cross’ bins are used to maintain site visitors flowing by way of busy junctions, with drivers not allowed to enter a field until the exit is evident and there is sufficient area to clear the field with out stopping contained in the yellow traces.
1. Talgarth Highway and Butterwick junction, Hammersmith, West London – 25,681 tickets costing as much as £3.4million. Supply: Yellow Field Guru. Freedom of Data requests. Utilizing newest figures pre-pandemic 2019 as estimate for present site visitors fines. Worth calculated on Penalty Cost Discover of £130*, £160**. These prices halve if paid inside 14 days.
2. West Hill Wandsworth fireplace station junction, South-West London – a grid in entrance of the station on a busy highway – 18,000 tickets a 12 months, costing as much as £3 million
3. Site visitors lights on the junction between New Kings Highway and Bagleys Lane in Fulham, West London – 16,000 tickets a 12 months, costing as much as £2.1 million*
4. Homerton Excessive ST/Homerton Fireplace STN precipitated 10,391 PCNs between 2018 and 2019 however 56 per cent of the field served no function
5. New Kings Rd J/w Bagleys Lane, underneath Hammersmith & Fulham authority was answerable for 16,199 fines but 69 per cent of the field has no use
6. Churchill Method/Bute Terrace in Cardiff meant 9,144 drivers had PCNs despatched to them whereas 68 per cent of the field is redundant
7. New Rd/Hyperlink Rd, a part of Barking council issued 7,245 fines that 12 months regardless of 70 of the field clearly pointless
8. Putney Excessive Avenue/ Lacy RD a part of Wandsworth’s council has an enormous 82 per cent of yellow criss-cross that is not efficient however 6,877 have been nonetheless issued between 2018 and 2019
9. Croydon Rd/Langley Rd in Bromley issued 6,802 in 2019 however 62 per cent of the field just isn’t an efficient site visitors measure
10. Rounding off the highest 10, Excessive St EN5/St Albans Rd in Barnet caught 6,796 drivers however this 76 of the field is of no use
Yellow bins rake it tens of millions of kilos annually for native authorities.
In 2019 alone, the highest 100 yellow bins answerable for 374,276 fines.
The next 12 months, TfL issued 77,000 field junction penalty cost notices value a minimum of £5million for contraventions on Pink Routes in 2020, a Freedom of Data request revealed.
That works out to a mean of 1,500 drivers per week snared by computerized quantity plate recognition cameras round Central London policing field junctions.
RAC spokesperson Rod Dennis mentioned: ‘With an increasing number of councils beginning to implement yellow field junctions, it’s completely important that they’re designed before everything with aiding site visitors stream and that they don’t exist merely to lift income from drivers.’
‘Sadly, any field that’s larger than wanted – whether or not that’s as a consequence of an oversight on the council’s half or as a result of it was painted on the highway a few years in the past and hasn’t been reviewed – dangers drivers being fined unnecessarily when their actions haven’t contributed to congestion.’
Automated quantity plate recognition cameras cowl all of London and main cities, catching drivers for site visitors offences, with penalty notices despatched by way of the put up to unsuspecting motorists
Final 12 months, the RAC and Wright warned that as much as 90 per cent of those bins are more likely to result in drivers being fined unfairly.
Greater than half (55 per cent) immediately contravene the present authorities steerage, typically on a number of counts.
Some 40 bins have been discovered to pose visibility points for drivers, but drivers are those parting with hard-earned money after they stray over the traces.
The RAC discovered that eight out of ten drivers say they wrestle to clear yellow field junctions — with half saying they’ve unintentionally obtained caught in a single, largely as a consequence of unhealthy driving by different motorists.
And the penalties for stopping illegally in a field junction will be costly.
On TfL purple routes, the penalty cost discover is £160, decreased to £80 if paid inside 14 days.
In London Boroughs the penalty is £130, decreased to £65 if paid inside 14 days.
Cardiff and different English authorities penalise motorists £70, decreased to £35 if paid inside 21 days.
Bromley Council in South London made £2.59m in 2022 alone from field fines.
The RAC discovered that eight out of ten drivers say they wrestle to clear yellow field junctions — with half saying they’ve unintentionally obtained caught in a single, largely as a consequence of unhealthy driving by different motorists
There have been events the place drivers have efficiently challenged fines from councils the place bins are too large, however this hasn’t led to a long-lasting change in the way in which the regulation is utilized.
The RAC and Sam Wright are calling on the Authorities to urgently refresh its recommendation to councils on yellow bins and make it crystal clear when and the way they need to be used.
Wright added: ‘The Authorities has acknowledged that ‘poorly designed schemes can undermine enforcement total and provides rise to public notion of income elevating.’
‘Nevertheless it must go additional and be crystal clear with native authorities about what is appropriate and what isn’t in the case of the design of yellow field junctions.
‘The present official design steerage is woefully insufficient and must be up to date.’
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