Visitors and sports fans to Cardiff have been slapped with millions of pounds in fines for blocking yellow box junctions and driving in bus lanes since the traffic enforcement scheme started.
From the data available, early indications show that the £70 Moving Traffic Offences Scheme is having an effect on drivers’ behaviour, with a gradual decline in the number of PCNs issued for bus lane violations over the last 6 months.
The MTO Scheme began in December 2014, when the Council received the authority from the Welsh Government to implement the enforcement scheme.
To begin with, the Council enforced the illegal use of bus lanes, with enforcement of yellow box junctions and the use of the camera car starting later in autumn 2015.
When the scheme first started, the enforcement of bus lanes purely focused on times of rush hour traffic. In August 2015, the enforcement times changed and were extended to cover the working day.
A Spokesman for the City of Cardiff Council said: “When comparing data, it is important that you compare’ like with like’, so it is only valid to compare each month’s data when the times of enforcement have been similar, or the same.
“There will always be spikes and troughs in the data due to how busy the city centre is and whether the city is hosting high profile events.
“This can clearly be seen in the significant increase of bus lane violations during October and November 2015 – during the Rugby World Cup – when the number of tickets issued peaked to 12, 386. Obviously, there are other possible variants as well, but it is valid to analyse the declining trend that we have seen since this peak with only 5. 955 tickets issued during March 2016.”
For bus lane violations, In November 2015 – 11, 427 PCNs were issued and 10, 853 were upheld. In December 2015, this dropped to 9, 450 PCNs issued and 8,985 were upheld. In January 2016, this dropped further to 6 192 PCNs issued, with 5, 866 upheld. In February there was a slight increase, with 6, 832 PCNs issued and 6, 708 upheld, but at this time Cardiff hosted a number of high profile rugby matches during the 6 Nations. To the latest data available for March, with only 5, 955 PCNs issued and 5, 835 were upheld.
A spokesman for the City of Cardiff Council said in a statement, “This decline in bus lane violations is very encouraging.
“In terms of analysing the data from the enforcement of yellow box junctions and the camera car, it is too early to draw any conclusions, but it is encouraging to see the number of PCNs issued for illegal use yellow box junctions reduce by 65 tickets, compared with February’s figures, and a reduction of 164 tickets issued from the camera car in March, compared with the previous month.
“The message is simple, if you abide by the Highway Code and don’t breach the law you will not be fined.”