Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Police clamping down on speeding evaders

[Ray]

Uk figures for 2004

Deaths and injuries on the road

3,221 people were killed in road accidents in 2004
31,130 were seriously injured
246,489 were slightly injured
Taken from www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk


Driving for work

Over one third of all road traffic accidents, about 1,000 deaths a year, involve someone who is at work at the time

Ban the use of the roads for work purposes. The govt needs to act NOW!!

Be tough on work and tough on the causes of work, to reduce the deaths???clearly absurd

Don't confuse cause and effect, and deal with the cause.


Motorcyclists

585 motorcyclists were killed in road accidents in 2004
6,063 were seriously injured
Motorcyclists represent 1% of traffic but represent 19% of deaths and serious injuries
Motorcycle riders are over 40 times more likely to be killed than car drivers

Now you can see why motorcyles are targetted, tough on motorcyclists and tough on the causes or motorcycling, get bikes off the road, problem gone, simple thinking from simple people who have no concept of the idea of cause and effect.

NURSE!!!!!!!!!!!! me tablets


Ray

[aka.eric]

Laws are written down and applied by courts in a pedantic way for everybodys protection.There wouldnt be any "loop-holes" if the police/CPS did their job properly in the first place.

[philthy]

Yes it is wrong that someone '' can get away with it '' once they are caught commiting an offence.

Most people however '' get away with it '' every day of their driving lives.

The average driver ( Including me ) makes mistakes. In addition some drivers are incapable of driving properly because they are idiots or on drugs ( And I include medicines in this ) and some drivers drive in an extremely aggressive manner, using their vehicles as weapons to bully people out of their way.

The police can't be everywhere at once and as andy says they are the ones who have to deal with the aftermath. The speed limits act as a control element. If you police them properly and enough drivers obey them they become a very basic safety measure.

[twpd]

But speeding is only one of a plethora of traffic offences. yet, it is the only one that the authorities seem interested in. It does not make sense if you are trying to have a properly integrated policy towards road safety. Errrrr....hang on....we don't have one, do we?

[philthy]

twpd

Yes I agree, but speeding can be measured with ( In theory ) reasonable accuracy and with few grey areas.

If the camera / patrol car says you were exceeding the limit then you are guilty in law. If you are driving badly / dangerously then it is up to the judgement of an individual police officer who stops you and can be challenged, apparently successfully in court.

Where things seem to fall down at the moment is in a lack of police traffic officers and a lack of real penalties for the worst offenders. I.E. the latest one I read of was a young man driving at well over the speed limit and performing dangerous overtakes and eventually killing a young woman in another car. His sentence I believe was 4 years, so he may serve say 18 months / two years max?

He drove like an idiot and killed someone. If I handled my rifle like an idiot and killed someone I would probably get 7 years minimum.

I drive for a living ( As near as I can to ' the system ' ) and see some abysmal
driving every day, but I can drive all day and see no police traffic cars, so who is keeping me safe?

[749er]

Originally Posted by twpd

But speeding is only one of a plethora of traffic offences. yet, it is the only one that the authorities seem interested in. :

too true, the worst I see regularly are

undertaking
racing from the on ramp to the third lane immediately with scant regard for what is behind.
running red lights in London where I drive daily
tailgateing