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Careless Drivers - Could Be Fined Or Even Banned

 
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mark occomore



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 9955
Location: UK

PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 5:13 am    Post subject: Careless Drivers - Could Be Fined Or Even Banned Reply with quote

The Government is considering to fine drivers who undertake,Tailgate and cut others up. Repeating offenders may have to re- take a test before being allowed back on the roads. These reckless drivers could be fined £100.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13356057

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There are too many idiots on the roads. With so many Vehicles on the roads now changes should be introuduced.
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ruddlescat



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PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 9:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mark, these people can already be fined if caught and technically they are generally guilty of careless driving not wreckless driving which is a completely different offence

The main point of the proposal is for on the spot fines which is great so long as resources are put it so these people are caught but unless more traffic patrols are put on the road the system will simply be seen as a political gimmick

However I certainly agree with the Government's view that when it comes to road traffic enforcement this country has a ridiculous over obsession with speed and a total lack of interest in other equally serious areas like defective tyres, brakes etc and simple bad driving because in my view these things cause many more accidents rather than people driving a few miles per hour over the speed limit
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mark occomore



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PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 9:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's ok having traffic officers out on a Sunday & bank holidays sitting on hard shoulders with speed cameras because it's quite, but there needs to be a balance. I can't see there is enough police resources to catch every driver in every corner of the road network. Hopefully cameras will be used in towns to catch offenders. I wonder if they also catch drivers who hog the middle lane. I guess a lot of cases will still be thrown out of court.
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ruddlescat



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PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 10:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've long been strongly opposed to the concept of speed cameras because essentially it is a very lazy way of road policing but unfortunately a highly profitable one for those involved which explains why we still have so many cameras though they are not all active owing to financial constraints

A perfect example to illustrate my point is the case of Peter Sutcliffe otherwise known as The Yorkshire Ripper
He was the most wanted man in Britain at the time having killed more than 14 women and he was finally caught when his car was stopped by a traffic patrol car in Sheffield on suspicion of having committed road traffic offences and it was only at that point they realised who he was

Just imagine if, instead of that patrol car being on the road, there had been a speed camera
Either nothing at all would have happened if he had been driving within the speed limit but even if he had been speeding the chances are the car would have been in the name of a third party or registered to a false address and the chance to arrest the most wanted man in Britain would have been missed and who knows how many other women could have been killed

That is exactly why in my view the whole speed camera system should be scrapped and the money reallocated to fund a proper system of road traffic policing like we used to have until the early 90s
So many more offences would be detected and the fines from these could be reinvested in the system so that our roads would be genuinely safer instead of what we have now which is purely financially driven and has very little to do with road safety
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mark occomore



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PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 12:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

People are still driving around on there mobile phones and fines for that offence hasn't been tackled correctly.
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ruddlescat



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PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 12:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I completely agree Mark

Recently a friend of mine was travelling on a bus and noticed the driver was on a mobile phone and had been for several minutes
When the bus stopped at traffic lights he approached the driver and asked him if he would get off the phone because this was an offence and putting at risk the lives of all the passengers and for his trouble the driver threw him off the bus and he ended up having to walk home

He reported the matter to the local police who contacted the bus driver who denied using the phone and called as witnesses several dishonest people who were obviously friends of his who had been on the bus and all supported his story so nothing was done

Even worse the police threatened to prosecute my friend for wasting police time and incidents like that really just go to show why our society is in such an appauling mess

If the police don't have the resources to properly police existing legislation I just can't see how this system of fixed penalty fines can ever work
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Eric Shone



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PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 2:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another way to milk the cash cow that is the motorist?

Everyone makes mistakes and I've seen some pretty shoddy driving from some of the police. Am I understanding it right that if we misjudge a situation, say pull out when we shouldn't have, that we can be fined if PC Plod is about?

The whole point of the driving test is to make sure that every licensed motorist is able to control their car and anticipate (and react safely to) other licensed drivers that aren't!

Anyway, unenforcible. Aren't they cutting police funding anyway?

Switch off the speed cameras, since they're "subsidised" and "make no profit", think how many policemen can keep their jobs then!
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Angela W



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PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 8:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wonder how many drivers have poor eyesight and that is why they drive badly. Perhaps a sight test should be included at the scene of an accident, as well as a breath test.
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Eric Shone



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PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 9:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Angela W wrote:
I wonder how many drivers have poor eyesight and that is why they drive badly. Perhaps a sight test should be included at the scene of an accident, as well as a breath test.


The sight test has to be done in good light, in dark conditions people will be more short sighted than normal so it might be harder in the dark.
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childprufe



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PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2011 2:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Speed cameras are invaluable in tracking down unfaithful MP's who fiddle their expenses whilst plotting against their party leader............. Confused
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ruddlescat



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PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2011 6:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If there had been a police traffic patrol in Essex on that night back in 2003 we all would have known who was driving that car and possibly the person concerned in that case would never have wormed his way into the Cabinet

In addition we would have saved all the cost of what is now likely to be a lengthy police enquiry as to whether any offences have been committed

Still as long as the police make their usual £60 profit it seems that they are quite happy unless someone rocks the boat Mad
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Eric Shone



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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2011 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ruddlescat wrote:
If there had been a police traffic patrol in Essex on that night back in 2003 we all would have known who was driving that car and possibly the person concerned in that case would never have wormed his way into the Cabinet

In addition we would have saved all the cost of what is now likely to be a lengthy police enquiry as to whether any offences have been committed

Still as long as the police make their usual £60 profit it seems that they are quite happy unless someone rocks the boat Mad


Surely it's not going to be that long and drawn out. The ex has an alibi so can prove she wasn't driving. The fact that he stated that she was proves he lied about the driver at the time of the offence. Seems pretty open and shut, he'd have to prove where he was to fight it as far as I can see.
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ruddlescat



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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2011 2:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You're right Eric but the wider point is that had the likely truth come out in 2003 then the chances are we would never have been stuck with the person concerned as a member of the present Government so in other words history would have been different

This exactly illustrates the point why speed cameras are not fit for purpose and purely a moneymaking exercise

It seems to me that in most cases the police don't give a toss who the driver is just as long as someone admits to it and fills in their little form and coughs up £60
There must be thousands of guilty people over the years who've got away with offences by simply passing their penalty points to a family member who hardly ever drives which simply would not happen if our roads were patrolled properly

Also a policeman in a patrol car has some discretion to give drivers a warning if their speed is slightly excessive whereas with a camera it's black and white with no middle way
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Eric Shone



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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2011 3:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ruddlescat wrote:
You're right Eric but the wider point is that had the likely truth come out in 2003 then the chances are we would never have been stuck with the person concerned as a member of the present Government so in other words history would have been different

This exactly illustrates the point why speed cameras are not fit for purpose and purely a moneymaking exercise

It seems to me that in most cases the police don't give a toss who the driver is just as long as someone admits to it and fills in their little form and coughs up £60
There must be thousands of guilty people over the years who've got away with offences by simply passing their penalty points to a family member who hardly ever drives which simply would not happen if our roads were patrolled properly

Also a policeman in a patrol car has some discretion to give drivers a warning if their speed is slightly excessive whereas with a camera it's black and white with no middle way


Indeed, but the average speed cameras do work (though I hate driving through them).

I don't buy the whole "they don't make any profit" story they tell us. The places I've seen speed cameras... It's perfectly safe to do more than the 30mph limit. Here's one I drove through today:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=milngavie&aq=&sll=56.028512,-3.919544&sspn=0.026234,0.055189&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Milngavie,+Glasgow,+Glasgow+City,+United+Kingdom&ll=55.948357,-4.298985&spn=0.013144,0.027595&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=55.948357,-4.298985&panoid=nk1rCR4EMDJIWo6qmuGOtQ&cbp=12,199.7,,0,0
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ruddlescat



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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2011 4:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I gather that in some places a new type of speed camera is being tried which comprises a very small camera hidden in a rubber strip on the road surface which logs a driver's speed and takes a photo of the car numberplate

Many people are unaware of this new technology but what gives it away is that there are three adjacent rubber strips across the road

Of course the problem is that you have to be very vigilant to spot it because unlike a fixed camera or a van it is hard to see until you are virtually on top of it

I think in the present economic climate it's unlikely these type of cameras will be fully rolled out because they are expensive to operate but where they exist any sat nav camera warning system will not necessarily pick them up

As for average speed cameras yes they do work and I think we will see their numbers increasing in the future
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John W



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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2011 9:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm getting annoyed with Sky News's 'rolling headline update' which keeps saying 'Huhne denies asking his wife to take penalty points....'

Well it's right he DIDN'T ASK HER!

It's alleged he just filled in the form saying she WAS the driver; he didn't ask her.
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Eric Shone



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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2011 9:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

John W wrote:
I'm getting annoyed with Sky News's 'rolling headline update' which keeps saying 'Huhne denies asking his wife to take penalty points....'

Well it's right he DIDN'T ASK HER!

It's alleged he just filled in the form saying she WAS the driver; he didn't ask her.


If she paid the fine then she was complicit. The registered keeper of the car gets a form asking who was driving at time of offence, then whoever is named gets an NIP which they have to fill in. She's just as guilty as he is (if indeed any crime were to have been committed).

Fortunately in Scotland if you can hide from the police for 6 months you're home free!
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John W



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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2011 9:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If she paid the fine, yes. Maybe he paid it, but if with her knowledge then yes she would still be complicit.

But the answer to the question 'Did he ASK her?' the answer might still be no. The Sky News need to say something like 'Huhne denies he lied about who was driving'
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ruddlescat



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PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2011 8:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

John, that is completely typical of the vast majority of media organisations.

They slant stories and headlines purely to generate sensationalism and operate by the old adage that one shouldn't let the truth get in the way of a good story which is why I dislike the media so much

Not that I'm defending the possible fraudster in this case as if guilty he deserves all he gets and yes his wife could be charged with the offence of perverting the course of justice if she was complicit

On the subject of Sky I spent 20 minutes hanging on the phone yesterday in an effort to speak to them on a premium rate call and noticed from someone posting on Digital Spy that they have now very quietly stopped all their freephone numbers so customers have to use their very expensive main lines

I think it's disgusting that such a situation should arise when their system doesn't allow a prompt response to customers calls and this situation should be highlighted but since Murdoch now seems almost to run this country I don't suppose things will change any time soon Mad
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