Motorists who break the law could be set to see the penalties they face greatly increase in the future.
This is because the maximum fine for speeding on motorways is to rise from the current level of £2,500 to £10,000 as part of reforms to the penalties which can be imposed by magistrates.
Furthermore, the government announced that other motoring fines will also increase.
Anyone who breaks the speed limit on dual carriageways and other roads will find that they will have to deal with a fine that has risen fourfold from £1,000 to £4,000.
Jeremy Wright, the justice minister, said: "Financial penalties set at the right level can be an effective way of punishing criminals and deterring them from further offending," but motoring groups were quick to dismiss the fines as unfair.
Rupert Lipton, director of the National Motorists Action Group, described the proposals as "disproportionate and draconian".
He said: "I think it will have a serious chilling effect. We will find motorists will be deterred from going to court where they don't believe they are guilty of an offence and there is a potential challenge."
Edmund King, president of the AA, added that the vast majority of drivers believe the existing £2,500 fine has been an effective deterrent against excessive speeding on the motorway and although his organisation would not condone driving beyond the limit, the new fines have to be proportionate to the offence.
He explained that a fourfold increase may not be justifiable, stating that more "cops in cars" on the motorway would be a much better way of policing them.
Finally, Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said drivers who break the law always need to deal with the consequences, but such wholesale changes may not be warranted as the current system seems to work as it is.
Posted by George Davis