Institute of Advanced Motorists director of policy and research Neil Greig said: "This is a major change in traffic law enforcement and the IAM is concerned that issuing fixed penalty tickets for careless driving downplays the seriousness of the offence.

Careless covers a wide range of poor to reckless driving behaviour that often merits further investigation. 

"This could free up traffic police time and allow them to maintain a higher profile. But without traffic cops out on the road to enforce this new approach it will have little impact on road safety."