Fines for careless drivers

[Gray]

BBC News - Fines planned for careless driving

Seems it's been on the news all day today about these on the spot fines police may issue if you're being an idiot on the road.

Seems to have a bit of resistance against the idea of it, but for some reason i feel i'm leaning towards it. If you're being a dick tailgating someone, prepare to be fined for it.

I know in my area i believe they're going to be shutting down all the speed cameras over the next few months, so if it means maybe more police cars (or unmarked) out on patrol it's all good.

 

[Deebs]

Oh come on, it is just another fucking stealth tax on the cash cow known as the driver.

 

[old.user4556]

If you're being a dick tailgating someone, prepare to be fined for it.

I mostly agree and I do think it's a good thing.

However, with reference to the above quote, I seriously hope they throw the book at people who don't drive at the speed limit (such as doing 40 in a 60, or 50 on the motorway), forcing people to overtake and tailgate on single carriageways. Similarly, I see they want to crack down on undertaking - again, I hope they deal with middle lane hoggers on motorways and fuckwits that refuse to move back over after overtaking on dual carriageways.

What about lorries? You're doing 70 mph passing a stream of lorries, then suddenly one of them that's doing 55 mph wants to go past another doing 54 mph - so it suddenly pulls out slowing down a perfectly free flow stream of cars.

Passively shite driving is just as dangerous as aggressively shite driving.

 

[old.user4556]

Oh come on, it is just another fucking stealth tax on the cash cow known as the driver.

Disagree. Far too many shite drivers Deebs.

 

[Helme]

I agree with Deebs here, sure there's a bunch of awful drivers but it's just taking after the US where the majority of police stations have a quota they try to fill with fines every month to stay open. This won't be the last one.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Passively shite driving is just as dangerous as aggressively shite driving.

In my experience, it's more dangerous. Apart from those twats who seem intent on killing themselves, that is.

People merging with A/MWay roads at 30-40mph happens all the fucking time, it's SO FUCKING DANGEROUS. Agree with G on the middle lane stuff, and stupidly slow drivers. Middle/outside lane hogs piss me off so much. They're overtaking lanes, not cruising lanes! I don't care if you feel safer in the middle. If you have to drive badly to feel safer, you SHOULDN'T be driving.

 

[Ch3tan]

Slow drivers are more dangerous, also how are they going to enforce this, seems overly complicated to me. Quite hard to prove tailgating for example.

 

[Embattle]

While I do support this idea I tend to think the effect won't be much different from the current mobile phone one, even after an increase in the fine and points I still see loads driving with mobiles strapped to one ear. Part of this is because the police simply can't be there all the time and the other fact is the punishment isn't enough.

 

[TdC]

I agree with this tbh. Casual errors should be given at the least a slap, just so the person is aware. Tbh I'm sure I make many mistakes I'm not directly aware of while driving, but the amount of idiocy I see on NL roads is shocking, and in that I am not including speeding or other deliberate law violations, etc.

 

[rynnor]

Pretty pointless - still no traffic police to enforce this so useless - reminds me of the law banning non-handsfree mobiles - that worked well

 

[rynnor]

People merging with A/MWay roads at 30-40mph happens all the fucking time,

Yah - those are bastards to be stuck behind if your driving something large that lacks acceleration - you end up being their meatshield...

 

[Tom]

They're not fines, they're offers of a conditional penalty. Only a court can fine a person.

On the surface it seems like a good idea, supplementing the arsenal a traffic officer has, but they should not be available to panda car and police van drivers, who generally don't know shit about safe driving.

The real problem is that there aren't enough trafpol, and the trafpol that are out there are now being tasked to incidents not related to roads policing.

I hope they raise the speed limit on some motorways, 70mph is pathetic.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Given their relative safety and the improvements in cars, yes. 90-100 would be more acceptable for modern vehicles.

 

[Influenza]

Hope they fine themselves for overtaking shit loads of cars with the blue lights on when they are going to pick up thier pizzas and yes i witnessed this last night.

They overtook about 6 of us with the lights going on a single lane road and when i got to the town centre one of them was walking out with a stack full of pizzas.

 

[Gumbo]

Hope they fine themselves for overtaking shit loads of cars with the blue lights on when they are going to pick up thier pizzas and yes i witnessed this last night.

They overtook about 6 of us with the lights going on a single lane road and when i got to the town centre one of them was walking out with a stack full of pizzas.

If that was actually true, which I doubt, it would be a very simple matter of taking the number of the car and emailing the local Chief Constable to cost someone certainly an investigation and more than likely his job.

But we all know it's not true.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

*waits for Scouse to enter the thread for some overdue authority bashing*

 

[Aoami]

Saw a police van today in Canterbury with 'Reckless Driving' plastered all over it, letting the people know they can be fined. It'll be interesting to see how common the fines become.

 

[Influenza]

If that was actually true, which I doubt, it would be a very simple matter of taking the number of the car and emailing the local Chief Constable to cost someone certainly an investigation and more than likely his job.

But we all know it's not true.

I wouldnt have typed it if it wasnt true but i guess people have a hard time believing everything they read on the internet.

 

[Corran]

I wouldnt have typed it if it wasnt true but i guess people have a hard time believing everything they read on the internet.

Happens all the time, infact the most common one is them using the lights to get back to the station for "clocking off" time.

 

[Raven]

The central police station for the traffic police is just up the duel carrageway from me. They always go past the end of the village with lights on at rush hour, then head into the station.

The station doesn't have cells, it is where the maintenance, storage and administration are carried out.