The Department for Transport plans on introducing new £70 fines for at least 20 ‘minor offences’ and handling those powers to local councils.
The new offences are planned to be introduced this summer and include everything from driving in a cycle lane or turning the wrong way to entering a box junction.
These measures have already been introduced in London and Cardiff, but will now be expanded to 293 councils in England with existing responsibility for parking enforcement to apply for the wider powers.
Rachel Maclean, Transport minister, said that guidelines were also being developed on the use of the powers.
The RAC said there was a concern that some councils would use the powers to generate cash, particularly at a time of shrinking budgets.
Nicholas Lyes, RAC head of roads policy, said: “there is a risk that some councils might use this as a lucrative revenue-raising tool. We see box junctions as a potential flashpoint. Drivers often feel under pressure to move out of a junction or, on particularly large yellow box junctions, find it difficult to judge when they can make it across without getting trapped.”
Through their research, RAC discovered that London and Cardiff alone collected £58 million in fines for moving traffic offences in only one year.
