MOTORIST groups in Bolton have hit out at plans to prosecute drivers for exceeding speed limits by just one mile an hour. And the head of Bolton police traffic management has branded the move an impossible measure to enforce. The radical 'zero tolerance' proposal endorsed by Home Office Minister Charles Clarke aims to clamp down on speeding drivers by slapping penalty points on their licenses for even the slightest indiscretion.

Difficult

But Inspector Chris Slater, a traffic management inspector at Greater Manchester Police's Bolton Headquarters, believes it is doomed to failure.

He said: "If you look at it logically it would be very difficult to enforce.

"At the moment having a tolerance level means we can filter out those motorists who aren't going excessively over the limit and concentrate on the real speeders instead."

Claire Price, a spokesman for the North-West branch of the Automobile Association, said: "A speed limit is a maximum limit and to break it is against the law. But enforcing a strict approach like this is not the answer.

"We have found that people would respond better if the speed signs carried explanations such as 'school ahead'.

"Drivers need to be able to rationalise the reason for a speed limit and while we welcome moves to cut accidents I hope the police are sensible and do not start targeting otherwise innocent motorists."

One of the key arguments for the proposal is that people are much more likely to survive being run over by a car travelling at 30mph than one doing up to 40mph.

But one Bolton motoring organisation, the Institute of Advanced Motorists, hope the police will continue to use their discretion and distinguish between driving at 31mph outside a school between the hours of 3pm and 5pm and doing the same on a virtually deserted road at 10pm.

Les Wardle, secretary of the Institute of Advanced Motorists in Bolton, said: "We always advise our drivers to stick to the speed limits but it is very difficult to constantly keep the vehicle at exactly 30mph, especially with some new cars which can run away with you.

"We believe that some tolerance should remain in place. It would help out the police as they are currently struggling to keep on top of speeding offences and that is with a 10 per cent plus two tolerance level. "The number of photographs and cameras being dealt with is overwhelming for police officers so they would need more staff to police any zero tolerance levels effectively.."

Mr Wardle believes that drivers have to use their heads and, while he fully supports bringing speed limits down in problem areas, he fears that only an increase in penalties will be effective.

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