Over 1,300 motorists will be receiving a partial refund of their speeding tickets because they were fined double for driving faster than they actually did.

The drivers will be contacted individually in the coming weeks and will each receive a cheque of €34.94 by post, a government spokesman said.

They were caught on speed camera surpassing the speed limit by less than 15 kilometres per hour but were mistakenly fined €69.88, the fine applicable for doing more than 15kph over the limit. They should have been fined €34.94.

In April of 2008 an amendment was made to the Traffic Regulations Ordinance introducing this stepped fining system following complaints by motorists that they were being slapped with hefty fines for exceeding the limit by only a few kilometres per hour. Before that day, people caught speeding were fined a flat rate of €69.88.

In an internal exercise carried out lately it was found that during the first few months after the change came into effect, some people were fined €69.88 by the local tribunal despite not having been more than 15kph over the limit, the spokesman said.

21,969 speeding fines issued so far this year

Over the years, the number of speed cameras has grown to 17: one in Attard, two in Birkirkara, one in Burmarrad, four in Qormi, two on the Regional Road, two in Santa Venera, two in Żebbuġ, two in Żejtun and one in Gudja. Between January and November 12 this year, 21,969 fines were issued from these cameras. They government insists they play an educational role as well bringing in revenue. When cameras were first installed in December 2004, between 12 to 15 tickets were issued daily by each camera, the spokesman pointed out. This has gone down drastically to about four tickets per camera per day.

“This shows that speed cameras are reaching their aim - that of educating the Maltese driver to slow down, and not to speed unnecessarily,” he said.