Guilty just for getting behind wheel?

getting behind the wheel of the car these days is the first step in leaving themselves open to breaking one law or another.

Certainly many feel that there has been a legislative move to curb drivers at every corner, with each subsequent new rule and regulation adding to a catalogue of injuries, taxes, penalties, obstructions and petty harassment.

Speed cameras and 20mph restriction zones are one thing, but soon it could be illegal to drive in a bus lane outside prescribed hours, to park in an area where you’ve been able to park freely

before because it’s suddenly a permit-only zone, to park 50cm from the kerbside, or even to have your engine idling while you pull over to answer a phone call (because, of course, it’s illegal to speak on the phone while driving if you don’t have a hands-free set). And all of that’s before you mention the dreaded parking Enforcers, who slap red and white parking tickets on stationary vehicles - even when they’re burnt-out wrecks.

It does feel that there’s a constant battle between government and councils on one side and drivers on the other, but are motorists really being criminalised?

The AA certainly believes so. Scottish spokesman Neil Greig says: "There is no doubt that many hard-pressed, law-abiding drivers do feel they are being unfairly targeted. The problem is that because of cameras and the use of automatic enforcement, nearly everything has to come through the registration of a car now.

"There are people out there who are quite willing to falsify plates and drive around without insurance, MOTs and that sort of thing. They never seem to get caught, whereas your law-abiding motorist who has paid for his car, paid his insurance . . . the moment he steps out of line, he gets traced and the summons and fines start to arrive at his door and he feels put upon because of that."

He adds: "We have noticed a growing concern amongst Scottish drivers that the law abiding are being targeted because the police find it difficult to catch criminals. For the police, in particular, the concern should be that they are potentially alienating the people who are most likely to help them with crime - the law-abiding majority. If they feel they’re not getting support from the police, that’s not going to help the police’s task.

"It’s an issue of fairness and trust. If councils and the police want the majority of drivers to trust them, then they must be seen to be chasing those people who are flouting the law as well as catching the ones who may have inadvertently strayed over the limit or inadvertently overstayed at a parking meter."

Greig says the main problem in Edinburgh is parking, and "people get annoyed when they get a ticket for going a minute or two over on a parking bay - especially when they see people driving around illegally or they see traffic causing congestion that’s not being seen to by the traffic enforcement people".

He adds: "The whole reason for parking enforcement being privatised was to keep traffic moving - it was supposed to be a congestion issue. But it seems to have become a money-raising thing for the council."

As for the belief of some motorists that the city council is anti-car, he says:

"Edinburgh has allowed the image to grow. It’s too late for the council to change that image, with green lanes, Blue Meanies, congestion charging . . . all these measures are seen as being anti-car, whereas if they’d presented it in a more positive way, they might have avoided that. They’re the only ones bringing in congestion charging so they’re the main focus of our attention at the moment."

As Greig says, parking is, along with road tolls, the major point of controversy among Edinburgh drivers, and it seems it’s not likely to improve. While transport convener Councillor Andrew Burns says that, in parking bay number terms, drivers have never had it so good, motorists would emphatically disagree as they’ve seen spaces lost to wheelie bins and traffic-calming measures.

On top of that there’s the plan to extend the permit-only parking zone to take in areas where drivers never needed a permit to park before and there’s a further suggestion that councils will also be able to arm traffic wardens with rulers and give them the power to slap tickets on vehicles left more than 50cm from the kerbside.

Even if you pull over, environmental wardens could give you a 20 fine for leaving your engine idling - although you will be warned to switch off first - as a way of helping Edinburgh meet strict European targets on emissions, which include cutting current rates of dangerous nitrogen dioxide by 70 per cent by 2010.

But as a spokesman for Residents Parking Independents says: "We believe parking and transport issues to be matters which impact on everyone’s daily life and we don’t believe the councillors of this city are aware or care how frustrating and difficult their transport policies have made it to live and work in Edinburgh. Park anywhere now except your own drive - if you’re lucky enough to have one - and you risk breaking some rule or regulation or other."

Greig says there’s also increasing dissatisfaction with speed cameras. The AA has been tracking public support for the cameras, and has discovered it is falling as drivers believe they are about raising money rather than road safety.

"Our research shows that support for speed cameras as a road safety measure runs at 75 per cent, down from 80 per cent a year ago, but it goes down to 50 per cent if you ask people if they support them in terms of raising money," he says.

However, Superintendent Colin McNeill, traffic commander for Lothian and Borders Police, says that as far as they’re concerned, speed cameras are working - and those drivers who break speed limits are breaking the law.

"Most forces, like our own, have been tasked by the Government to reduce the number of casualties on the roads. The 2010 targets relate specifically to a reduction in fatal and serious casualties by 40 per cent and a 50 per cent reduction in those involving children. That’s a tough task by anybody’s standards.

"One mechanism for reducing casualties has been the use of speed cameras and virtually every force is employing the use of these now. All the research shows that they do work, provided forces are circumspect in where they deploy the cameras. The sites chosen have to satisfy fairly stringent criteria in terms of the number of casualties in that area and that speed is an influencing factor in the collisions."

He says that the original pilot project in Glasgow proved that at 28 sites the number of personal injury accidents fell by 64 per cent over a two-year period.

"That’s quite staggering. Clearly they had a successful influence and the statistics speak for themselves. Average speeds in the area of the cameras was down eight per cent, which equates to a 4.2 mile-an-hour reduction."

He continues: "Research shows that if you reduce the average speed on a given section of road by one mile per hour, you could achieve a five per cent reduction in casualties.

"If you then apply that understanding to where the city council - and a lot of other councils - are going with regards to 20mph zones around schools and housing estates, then there’s a considerable emphasis to reduce the speed of vehicles."

But he adds: "We don’t want to be in a position where we’re continually pursuing the motorist. If speed limits are inappropriate and motorists perceive them to be inappropriate, then don’t be surprised if nobody complies, whereas if there are sufficient traffic management measures introduced - humps, bumps and narrowings - then people will appreciate the need to drive slower or within the speed limit. That removes the need for the police to be there to enforce the limits."

As for the AA’s accusation that the police could be alienating those most likely to help them, he says: "It’s the same with any enforcement. You’re likely to impact on private individuals and how they perceive [what you are doing]. When you’re enforcing road traffic laws, members of the public often see that as a waste of police time and energy, but when you witness the amount of carnage on the roads, we have a statutory responsibility to pursue road traffic offenders in the hope we reduce casualties on the road. Road deaths can affect entire communities."

HOWEVER, there are motorists out there who are prepared to take extreme measures in their bid to see an end to speed cameras. Motorists Against Detection have vandalised and blown up several speed cameras around the country and claimed responsibility for destroying a speed camera on the A1 near Torness Power Station last year.

A spokesman for the group, who calls himself Captain Gatso, says they have an active "cell" in east central Scotland which will continue to target speed cameras in the Lothians, Fife and the Borders. "We represent an unheard band of motorists and bikers fed up with this continuing proliferation of speed cameras, bus lanes, parking and now congestion cameras.

"We are fed up with lining the pockets of police forces and councils as a stealth tax revenue-raising scheme. We totally agree with existing road traffic laws and speed cameras sited within built-up and urban areas and we applaud them - because that’s where 75 per cent of all accidents occur. But we are tired of having speed cameras sited on major trunk roads and motorways where there are never any children playing.

"Deaths in the UK have increased in the last ten years by a third through drink-driving and drug-driving which cameras can’t pick up. Because the police and authorities are busy investing in camera technology and cutting back on their traffic patrols, they will not detect other sorts of motor crime."

But Cllr Burns says: "Over the last 20 years there has been a very dramatic improvement in safety levels on urban roads. Scotland has quite literally gone from having one of the worst road safety records in Europe to having one of the best. In 1981, approximately 100 people a year were being killed on Lothian’s roads, yet by 2001 this had halved to 50 people a year being fatally injured.

"These statistics indicate the very real human cost that would occur if we did nothing. Measures such as speed cameras, red light cameras, speed humps and 20mph zones have all played a significant part in achieving the transformation in road safety that the Lothians have enjoyed over the last two decades. The trend could easily be reversed with very real consequences if such measures were not implemented."

For Captain Gatso, however, that’s not good enough. "We are not criminals, just drivers going about our daily business and we are essentially law-abiding citizens," he says. "However, every time a person gets behind the wheel or rides a motorcycle they can become a criminal in respect of absolute motoring laws administered by the non-discretionary nature of camera systems."