RobPhoboS Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Apart from what I said about another way of taxing us... I think it should be like the States, over take using any available lane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yampiedog Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 About time, if people actually get ticketed and the masses are re-educated in keeping left. This should also reduce congestion slightly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanzed Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 (edited) I think the fixed penalty for using a mobile phone still isn't high enough. I see people with their phones glued to their ears all the time, and not just when on motorways, but when negotiating junctions, parking, all sorts. It's worrying how much disregard they have for other peoples safety. Yes, the guy who fitted my boiler has just been done for the 4th time for using his mobile phone . Some people aren't getting the message and IMHO the deterrent isn't tough enough. I'd like to see 4 points instead of 3 and a punitive sliding scale of fines, first time £250, second time £500, third time £1,000 and a 12 months ban. Anyone caught texting should get 6 points and a £500 fine. Pete Its going to make the cost of a new boiler more expensive though! Edited June 5, 2013 by stanzed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yampiedog Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 I cannot believe the fine for "No Insurance" was only £100 - 00 can see why people don't bother when they get quotes of "grands" for a small hatchback. I am sure it was £300 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanzed Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Butter wouldn't melt!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 So instead of educating drivers, the solution is to punish them. Yup, what a cracking idea that is. Anyone who sees this as anything other than a spurious attempt at winning popularity via headlines is kidding themselves. For starters, this is as bad as s.59 currently is. Now all they will have to do is have the policeman's opinion that you were tailgating/MLM'ing/pushing in and that's enough for the 3pts. Having seen what an utter mess they made of wording the mobile phone law (look up the definition of 'using' and exactly what constitutes a mobile phone, it's horrendous), you can guarantee that this will be no better and it will either penalise 99% of drivers or be utterly useless. If I get caught speeding by a copper, then I'll expect to see evidence shown to me at the roadside and that's a pretty good indicator that I've done wrong and I'll cough up. Now what happens if I'm in an unfamiliar area with road junctions that are horrendous (let's use a city, like London or Leeds), and due to terrible signage and/or lane markings I get into the wrong lane at a roundabout. I pop my indicator on, calmly wait for someone to let me in, and then BOOM I'm done for 3pts and a fine. Policemen will still have to stop you, pull you over, give you the lecture, and issue the FPN. At the moment they need to stop you, pull you over, give you the lecture, and give you the 7 day wonder as well as telling you that you'll be taken to court for careless driving. Aside from the court stuff, there is zero difference in effort for them, so will they bother? Will they heck. Utterly, utterly pointless, and the only thing it does do is leave the system open for abuse by the very small minority of trafpol who seem to think that they're the second coming. How about, and this is a crazy idea, we do away with the points and make the fines significantly bigger and on the spot? Like they do in France. MLM'ing, £750 fine, straight to the cashpoint with you sir. That would make the difference, and fill coffers back up pretty quickly too. Or my real opinion on what they should do: Use the existing road signage network properly. Attach an ANPR camera to it, get it to work out if people are MLM or tailgating, then flash up their numberplate and the words "MY12 ABC - MOVE OVER, YOU ARE THE REASON THAT TRAFFIC IS NOT FLOWING". Embarass them, and it will cost precious little. Makes people think too, and education is what is needed here not easier ways to get 3pts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanzed Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 I agree with........Ekona, There, I've said it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetSet Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 How about, and this is a crazy idea, we do away with the points and make the fines significantly bigger and on the spot? Like they do in France. MLM'ing, £750 fine, straight to the cashpoint with you sir. That would make the difference, and fill coffers back up pretty quickly too. The points system works pretty well and is fair to both rich and poor. Personally, I'd rather get idiots off the road than fill the coffers, it could save my life one day, maybe even yours. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 How does it work though? Are there significantly less mongs on the road now? Nope. They don't care about points or bans or whatever, they just carry on without a licence if necessary. They would care significantly more if they couldn't afford to own a car though, even a £1K shed would be out of reach if you'd just been fined that for driving like a knob. The current system isn't fair to rich and poor alike anyway, as the rich guys just buy expensive lawyers who get them off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 You lot might like this http://www.lum.co.uk/mloc/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Brilliant, I GLOL'd! :lol: I love the overtaking page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian@TORQEN Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 PMSL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetSet Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 How does it work though? Are there significantly less mongs on the road now? Nope. They don't care about points or bans or whatever, they just carry on without a licence if necessary. They would care significantly more if they couldn't afford to own a car though, even a £1K shed would be out of reach if you'd just been fined that for driving like a knob. The current system isn't fair to rich and poor alike anyway, as the rich guys just buy expensive lawyers who get them off. They don't care about points or bans. Those sort of people don't care about fines either, they never pay them . £750 fine, straight to the cashpoint Jeez, you must move in different circles to me, I'm only allowed to draw out £200 . Are there significantly less mongs on the road now? Can't answer that but there are currently 13,000+ drivers banned under the totting up procedure and a further 55,000 convicted of drink driving and an unknown number who've been banned for other offences by magistrates. The current system isn't fair to rich and poor alike anyway, as the rich guys just buy expensive lawyers who get them off True, but that applies in all walks of life, not just motoring offences. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bockaaarck Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 The Highway Code States: Many of the rules in The Highway Code are legal requirements, and if you disobey these rules you are committing a criminal offence. You may be fined, given penalty points on your licence or be disqualified from driving. In the most serious cases you may be sent to prison. Such rules are identified by the use of the words ‘MUST/MUST NOT’. In addition, the rule includes an abbreviated reference to the legislation which creates the offence. Although failure to comply with the other rules of The Highway Code will not, in itself, cause a person to be prosecuted, The Highway Code may be used in evidence in any court proceedings under the Traffic Acts (see The road user and the law) to establish liability. This includes rules which use advisory wording such as ‘should/should not’ or ‘do/do not’. Part 5: Lane discipline (264 to 266) 264 You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past. Slow-moving or speed-restricted vehicles should always remain in the left-hand lane of the carriageway unless overtaking. You MUST NOT drive on the hard shoulder except in an emergency or if directed to do so by the police, HA traffic officers in uniform or by signs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 How will the prisons cope with all the AUDI drivers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sipar69 Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Im all for punishing intentional bad driving but I can't see how much of this can be reasonably enforced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Im all for punishing intentional bad driving but I can't see how much of this can be reasonably enforced. I'm guessing just visually as with phone penalties.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Keyser Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 I think have come up with this cause they heard the SMD was buying a Jag and they know what he's like Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJRFulton Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 (edited) Apart from the the phone issue, which will be clear cut, I can't help but wonder if the other 2 are going to end up like the scameras, just an opportunity to rape drivers for more money. How is tailgating going to be measured? Vehicle lengths at any time? Or distance from the vehicle for a given speed (stopping distance?). I'm glad they're tackling the issues, I just want more clarity on what will constitute an infringement. I concur. The thing is there are obvious cases of what is tailgating and what is lane hogging, but once you tether away from the obvious then it becomes a lot more subjective and much more of a grey area. How easy would be for a police officer to say you were tailgating? I say that as somebody who got done a few years back for driving without a seatbelt, when I certainly was as my car at the time beeped constantly if I didn't have one on, simply because a police officer decided to be a bit of an arsehole to me. I drive up and down the M6 during off peak hours a lot. I'll find myself staying in the middle lane a fair bit of the time, rather than weave in and out the inner lane over taking the lorries. I might be in the middle lane for a couple of minutes without actually overtaking anything. I just do so as I'm in autopilot driving down a very quite road. Is that, or similar, middle lane hogging? What contitutes tailgating? Where is the threshold where tailgating becomes non tailgating? I know they say drive 2 seconds behind the car infront, but what if in my head I count 2 seconds as 1.5 seconds? Am I then tailgating? It's quite subjective, and open to a traffic officers opinion. Same with the roundabouts/junctions, it is easy to get into the wrong lane on an unfamiliar road. Will you be penalised for this? Where is the line between reasonable and unreasonable behaviour. I'm all for punishing intentional bad driving, but I can see a lot of innocent mistakes going punished. Edited June 6, 2013 by Badgeronimous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 I think have come up with this cause they heard the SMD was buying a Jag and they know what he's like That my good lady is absolute slander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 to be honest i think if you drive courtesly you wont have an issue. if you try to keep left as much as you can and leave a decent gap between you and the car in front you'll get left alone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 I think have come up with this cause they heard the SMD was buying a Jag and they know what he's like That my good lady is absolute slander Can't be as it's been written down, not spoken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetSet Posted June 6, 2013 Author Share Posted June 6, 2013 If we look at what's proposed, Mobile phone and seat belts are just an upward increase in fines so no change there. There isn't a current offence of tailgating but it comes under careless driving right now. As before, the police will have to stop you and issue you with a ticket and instead of having to go to court you will get a fixed penalty notice...as in any motoring offence you can if you wish go to court. In cases of tailgating, the police will have to have evidence they won't be able to just stop you and issue you with a ticket without photographic/film evidence. What constitutes tailgating? don't know but I would imagine the same rules will apply that are in force now for careless driving. Lane Hogging is a new law and as such I'm pretty certain there'll be a 12 month period in which they'll pull drivers over and tick them off without issuing a ticket. When the seat belt law came in in the early 80's, no one got a ticket for a while, same as when mobile phones were banned a few years ago. We really need more info on what the authorities class as lane hogging...20 seconds, a minute, or longer , I'm sure they'll tell us eventually. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 I think have come up with this cause they heard the SMD was buying a Jag and they know what he's like That my good lady is absolute slander Can't be as it's been written down, not spoken It was early and I'm not a morning person so yes libelous, but thinking about it Kim is no shrinking violet and would certainly say it to my face as well!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Pfft, excuses excuses! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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