Is aim to cut jams or raise cash?

THEY are known as “Box Junction Bullies”, maverick motorists who make up their own rules of the road.
But the Town Hall is confident that, thanks to a new CCTV blitz, drivers who ignore traffic signs are now paying the price with £100 fines.
Camden Council revealed on Monday it has collected £2 million in a 12-month pilot campaign targeting drivers who attempt banned turns, drive the wrong way down one-way streets and block yellow box junctions.
Labour’s environment supremo Councillor John Thane has hailed the scheme’s success as a way of reducing congestion and cutting danger on the borough’s roads.
But as he did so, Tory rivals maintained the project’s real aim is to boost council coffers.
Conservative group leader Councillor Piers Wauchope said: “This has got nothing to do with road safety and everything to do with revenue collection. This council has already proved itself to be over-zealous with its parking enforcement and this is just another engine to raise even more money.”
During the 12-month scheme, the council issued 51,563 penalties. Just under 33,000 have been paid – meaning Camden has collected £1,977,284.
The penalty system, based solely on CCTV evidence, has raked in about £40,000 a week for Camden’s environment department. Other London councils will now begin fining drivers for similar traffic infringements.
Cllr Thane said: “The aim of this pilot was to deter selfish motorists from disobeying traffic signs, clogging up our roads and putting other people’s lives at risk. I’m pleased with the results to date.”
Traffic strategists believe that the penalties have hammered home a tough message: that if you are caught breaking the rules, you will be punished.
The number of junction box blockages peaked at more than 2,000 in November last year. In March that figure had plummeted to just 200.
Cllr Thane added: “While the pilot has been enforced borough-wide, we have prioritised road casualty sites, areas near schools and places where residents have complained about motorists behaving illegally.
“Camden’s casualty rate is at a record low and it is possible that this pilot has contributed to this achievement.”
But Cllr Wauchope remained unimpressed. He said: “This business about the casualty rate being lower because of these penalties is nonsense. The casualty rate has been coming down across London, whether a pilot scheme has been in place or not.There is no correlation.”
He added that the rules were being enforced as strictly as parking regulations – “even if a driver has one wheel over the edge of a junction box”.
The Town Hall was forced to check the legality of a box junction in Southampton Row, Holborn, earlier this year after a challenge from an irate motorist.