Motorists fork out over €5 million in speeding fines

Almost 70,000 speeding offences have been snapped by eight speed cameras, collecting over €5.1 million in fines in the past three years alone, according to figures provided by the Malta Transport Authority (ADT).

Private contractors employed by the various local councils to manage the Law Enforcement System (LES) are earning millions in revenue for providing warden services and speed cameras.

According to the LES audited accounts seen by The Sunday Times, over €4.2 million was paid to three contractors in 2007 for traffic management. The companies receiving these funds are The Guard and Warden Service House Ltd, Sterling Security and Datatrak.

For warden services alone, the local councils paid close to €1.9 million in fees. Sterling Security, which provides wardens to 14 local councils, received €151,785. The Guard and Warden Service House Ltd, which is responsible for the majority of wardens, received over €1.7 million. Datatrak, which provides software services for the system, received close to €1.3 million.

The local councils, meanwhile, only added around €100,000 to their joint coffers.

When contacted the Parliamentary Secretary responsible for local councils, Chris Said, said the system would be revised because it needed to work better.

"It is too expensive to run. Moreover, the new system should not look only at traffic offences but should be more wide ranging and include noise, littering, construction, animal welfare - more of the issues that are irritating people."

The LES includes services provided by wardens as well as speed cameras. Contrary to popular perception, a large chunk of the money paid by motorists for speeding fines in the past three years - from cameras in Pembroke, Attard, Burmarrad, Żebbuġ, Mrieħel and the Regional Road - does not go to the ADT.

According to a contract between a Joint Committee (a regional grouping of local councils) and The Guard and Warden Service House Ltd seen by The Sunday Times, the ADT only receives €11.65 per offence, which is paid by the local council. Out of over €5.1 million in fines over three years, the ADT only received €815,500. The highest amount of revenue was generated by the speed camera on the Regional Road, followed by one of the speed cameras at Żebbuġ and then the one at Attard, which has a speed limit of 50 km/hr.

Kenneth De Martino, chief executive of KDM Group, which includes The Guard and Warden Service House Ltd, declined to comment on revenue figures. But in a letter today, he states: "While one can confirm that during the first three months a number of fines are issued, reality shows that this is reduced to practically nothing over a short period of time."

Mr De Martino said that to "to give a true picture one must see what happens over a 12- or 15-month period".

The Sunday Times requested the figures from the ADT, which show that while significant decreases fines did occur at Żebbuġ and Mrieħel, in some locations the number remained relatively constant; some even increased the following year.

According to the revenue-sharing agreement seen, 66.6 per cent of revenue in the first 12 months goes to The Guard and Warden Service House Ltd. This decreases to 60 per cent in the following six months and to 53.4 per cent in the six months after that. From then on, the company and local councils get 50 per cent each.

Calculations based on the lowest percentage earned (50 per cent) show that the minimum revenue generated for the company from eight speed cameras between 2006 and 2008 is €2.6 million.

Mr De Martino said the company also bore the financial risk, "including the high capital outlay both for the speed camera and the back end infrastructure, maintenance, calibration and license fees".