Re: For Canadians too! (was Re: Relief In Sight For Londoners)

On Tue, 4 Dec 2007 10:24:36 +1000
"Adam Whyte-Settlar" <none@none> wrote:


"Ian Smith" <ianinhoose@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:20071202235147.762ac9fa@xxxxxxxxx
On Sun, 02 Dec 2007 22:40:42 GMT
Cory Bhreckan <coryvreckan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Ian Smith wrote:
On Sat, 01 Dec 2007 22:41:10 GMT
Cory Bhreckan <coryvreckan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The Fifeshire Bimbo wrote:
<deemsbill@xxxxxxx> wrote
"Conway Caine" <cca...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<snip>
Pardon me while I vent a bit over drivers and their cell
phones. They blaze down the streets, run through traffic
lights, narrowly miss pedestrians, and give anyone who dares
criticize their driving various obscene gestures.
There really needs to be a law against using cell phones
while driving. Especially against us men who cannot do two
things at once.
I'm pretty sure a lot of states now have these laws.
Enforcement is another issue.
Unfortunately, you're right about the enforcement. We will
always have those with no common sense amongst us :(
Washington D.C. has such a law.

The UK has such a law (including Scotland), but I think we are
concentrating too much on endless reams of legislation to ban
ordinary behaviour, and very little actual enforcement of bad
behaviour, eg. driving carelessly, which has been "illegal" for
many decades. Same with the utterly obsessive use of speed camera
traps to fine good drivers in good driving conditions.

So, how many times have you been nicked by camera?

Once, 10 years ago, on a completely empty, completely straight
country road, with exceptionally good visibility and road surface
conditions; apart from a hidden camera inside a van parked off the
road.

Recently I have been under the impression that you can now get away
with all manner of stupid/careless/dangerous driving antics, as
long as your speed is lower than camera trigger settings.

I was recently left fuming with righteous indignation here too.
I was approaching the 'T' junction at the top of my road and noticed
two police cars with lights flashing parked on either side of the
road about 50 yards down the main road to the left. Unfortunately a
little kid (about 7 years old I would guess) on a bike had also
noticed them and had stopped on the grass verge to my left to gauk at
them. She had her back to me and I wasn't sure if she had heard me
coming up behind her and was worried that she might suddenly tire of
watching the cop cars and set out across the road in front of me.
Therefore I slowed right down early on and was crawling round the
corner literally at about one mile an hour watching her for any
sudden movement. She stayed where she was until I was past her so I
speeded up again and headed on my way. The police then immediately
flagged me down for what I presumed was to be the standand
drink-driving test - fair enough. Not a bit of it. They charged me
with "performing a life-threatening manoeuvre" because I had "failed
to come to a complete stop at the junction". $250 fine and 3 points
off my licence! These ridiculous events can ruin people's lives -
losing licenses, jobs, mortgages and partners. Of course I'm not even
allowed to contest it as I would have to say they were 'lying' and
that would only get me jailed for contempt. Bastards. Is it any
wonder people don't co-operate with them anymore?

Presumably there was no-one anywhere near to have their "life
threatened"? I hate that stop-line gestapo nonsense, and am thankful
there are only a few of them in Scotland, positioned (probably rightly
so) at some precarious junctions. Aye, there used to be a time when cops
would properly assess if a driving manoeuvre was indeed dangerous and
then prosecute on that basis. It was called "exercising discretion".
Now we are being cut to death by trivial bookings, invoked at best to
"boost the numbers". Meanwhile a vast plethora of bad driving
(involving interaction with other road users) goes unpunished, simply
because it is more difficult for the cops to hunt them down, and easier
for them to go after the trivia. It wouldn't be so bad if the licence
(and one's living) weren't at stake. Over here nowadays, the speed
camera is an all pervasive, supremely accurate measure of how well one
is controlling one's vehicle, and how likely one is to kill some
innocent bystander....not.
.

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