SPEEDING drivers have racked up nearly £700,000 in fines across Test Valley in the last three years, the Andover Advertiser can reveal.

The Advertiser has obtained data from Hampshire Constabulary through a Freedom of Information Request, showing that over 20,000 motorists have been caught speeding by mobile cameras across Test Valley between 2013 and 2015.

The data, which is broken down by settlement boundaries, also reveals Andover to be the speeding hotspot of the borough with a quarter of those 20,000 motorists being caught in or near the town.

Last year alone, 2,005 drivers were caught speeding within the boundary of Andover while more than 5,000 motorists have been clocked over the speed limit in the vicinity of the town since 2013.

Longparish was shown to be another highly targeted area in Test Valley with over 1,300 drivers caught in 2015, while Bullington completed the borough’s top three speeding hotspots with 861 motorists caught last year.

A spokesperson for Hampshire Constabulary said ‘almost all’ of those caught in Andover, Longparish and Bullington were caught on the A303.

Andover Advertiser:

(The A303 (pictured) was the road most targeted by police mobile speed cameras in the borough)

On the borough’s more rural roads, Leckford was one of the areas most targeted by mobile speed camera teams with over 200 drivers caught per year between 2013 and 2015.

Meanwhile 328 drivers have been caught speeding by mobile cameras in the village of Enham Alamein since 2013.

However the data also shows a reduction in the number of drivers caught speeding overall in Test Valley over the last three years.

In 2015 a total of 6,116 drivers were caught speeding in the borough, down almost 2,000 when compared to the 8,053 caught in 2013.

When asked the reasons behind this reduction, a spokesperson for the police said: “There has been over the last few years a decrease nationally in the number of people who speed.

“Since the recession data shows people are driving more carefully.

“However the change in the number of offences detected is more likely to be due to how we direct our resources. Our activity is all intelligence-led, and so we periodically change how we deploy our resources and this changes the number of offences we detect.

“Sometimes offences increase, and sometimes they decrease.

“Generally the A303 is the most targeted route because it is a major arterial route through the county and there is a higher number of crashes and serious injuries compared to other roads.

“We work with data to identify where the majority of crashes occur and this is why we primarily go to these roads.

“However if a resident reports a road that they think is a problem we will react to that and deploy our units.”

Rob Heard, Road Safety Sergeant for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, told the Advertiser in a statement: “The law is that you must not drive faster than the speed limit for the road and for your type of vehicle.

Andover Advertiser:

(PC Rob Heard)

By continuing to deploy safety camera vans on rural roads in Test Valley and elsewhere in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight we hope to remind drivers that speeding can have tragic consequences. It’s not worth the risk.”

However the police’s use of mobile speed cameras has drawn criticism from the Association of British Drivers, who claim the method does not improve road safety.

ABD director Ian Taylor said: “We have been saying for many years that we would prefer if police forces did not use mobile speed cameras.

“There is so little evidence that they reduce the number of serious accidents where they are used.

“What they do do is provide a steady income for the government, the camera manufacturers and police forces who get a referral fee when people go on these speed awareness courses.

“Taking from the pockets of motorists will not improve road safety.

“At the end of the day there does need to be enforcement, but what has been neglected is the need for better roads and proper driving education for all road users.

“Using the road safety budgets in this way would save an awful lot more lives.”

Have you received a ticket?

What are your views on mobile cameras? Please email newsdesk@andoveradvertiser.co.uk