INCONSIDERATE yobs who deliberately disturb people’s sleep by driving noisy vehicles and revving their engines are on notice they could soon be caught and fined.
Southend Council is considering bringing in moving vehicle cameras to pick up drivers who commit road offences during their journeys.
If approved, the extra revenue from those cameras could fund noise cameras, which activate by noise instead of motion, to catch anti-social drivers.
Stephen Wakefield, councillor responsible for highways, transport and parking, is set to present his case for funding the moving vehicle cameras at cabinet next month.
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He said: “It’s coming to cabinet now to present to cabinet the need for these moving traffic cameras to go in.
“It’s to prevent people going up a one-way street or parking in a box junction or going into areas where no HGVs are allowed. It will help to make the town safer and enable a better flow of traffic across the town.
“Box junctions are there to keep the traffic flowing and if people park on them it stops that. These cameras can also be used for school streets.”
The installation of the cameras will cost £150,000 and it is not clear whether the cash-strapped council will be prepared to bear the cost.
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Mr Wakefield added: “I will be urging cabinet to fund it. There is a budget of £150,000 up front to get the project going but it should be self-funding like in London.
“As when the new noise cameras become available for people who go around with really noisy cars in the middle of the night, we’ll be looking at that. That would be down the road.
“The money we get back from the moving traffic cameras can be reinvested that back for noise cameras.”
Local authorities across England are gaining the power to issue penalty charge notices for decriminalised driving offences such as straying into a restricted route, stopping in a yellow box junction or performing a prohibited turn.
The scheme has already been introduced in London and Cardiff which have netted a total of over £58 million in fines
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