Motorists at fault in minor accidents face £60 fines and three points on their licence in a clamp down on careless driving by the Government.
Thousands of drivers who would have escaped prosecution for collisions after simply swapping insurance details will now face likely prosecution as soon as the police become involved.
An array of trivial motoring offences in addition to minor crashes are also likely to lead to action under proposals to give police powers to issue fixed penalty notices for careless driving.
They could include eating, drinking or smoking at the wheel, reading a map, tuning a radio or arguing with a passenger.
All funds raised from the on-the-spot fines will go directly to the Treasury, which already makes more than £100 million a year from speed cameras.
Yay! More milking the motorist by stealth taxes! And of course, the spineless British motorist will just roll over and take it.
I've gone beyond being angry and frustrated. I'm beginning to hate this country.
19 comments:
"Thousands of drivers who would have escaped prosecution for collisions after simply swapping insurance details will now face likely prosecution as soon as the police become involved."
Have the police been consulted about this? Can't believe they'd be too happy being summoned to every little fenderbender!
The police know who's boss. They'll just roll over and do whatever their government commands.
I would like to see how plod are going to enforce this. From my perpective (and I have had the odd shunt over the past 30 years' driving) once the minor incident has occurred (do remember, in ligua de plod they are incidents now, not accidents) the relevant parties exchange details and go on their merry way. Plod just don't get involved.
Now, with the opportunity for the treasury to make some of the debt we have suddenly found ourselves in, will plod:
1. Crash out, blue and twos, to a bent bumper on the high street, closing it off on arrival and for the following two hours to secure the crime scene? I think not, they can't be bothered to even attempt to solve the most basic of crimes and they tell us that they have enough paperwork to keep them off the street as it is.
2. Insist on a change in the law that has all minor and trivial incidents are reported to them so that they can issue a fine? I think not. Motorists can be stupid at times, but not that stupid.
All we shall see is an increase in the number of cars on the road with minor dents and scratches caused by an unknown other motorist in a car park. Or, we shall see an increase in minor repairs being undertaken without the involvement of insurance companies.
@Bill: I'd love to think so, but I suspect there will be a fair number of sheeple who will dutifully report everything, especially if they're not at fault.
Expect even stiffer fines for being caught not reporting an accident, for instance. Expect insurers and accident repair companies to be audited annually for suspicious claims. Expect a quango that will spring up to take care of all this, funded by the taxpayer and creating more state supplicants.
We really are fucked, aren't we?
Yes you really are fucked, my daughter is no longer begging me to return to the UK!
"Expect a quango that will spring up to take care of all this..."
Aha, the real dasdardly plan hoves into view! That'll take a few off the unemployment figures, and in line for index-linked pensions, no doubt...
Turing word: arnerasq. Wasn't that a minor character in 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth'?
They could include eating, drinking or smoking at the wheel, reading a map, tuning a radio or arguing with a passenger.
Effectively banning smoking in your own car, along with eating and drinking and talking and listening to the radio and even working out where you're going. I expect you'll be pulled over if you have a satnav too.
Cars will have to be built like those Routemaster buses with a separate compartment for the driver.
I wonder how this will boost the car industry? I certainly won't buy one now.
"there will be a fair number of sheeple who will dutifully report everything, especially if they're not at fault."
They'll be the same ones who stick rigidly to the speed limit (or 5 mph below - just in case) in the fast lane of the motorway
You know where this is going - it's finding work for the plastic plod who drive orange-lighred shoguns up and down the motorways between filling their fucking fat faces at McDonalds.
We're fucked.
In some respects this is nothing new. Failure to comply with the Highway Code could always be used against a motorist and the police could decide that an offence has been committed when attending a minor bump.
However, given the present climate, I agree with your analysis - this is a terrific way to raise revenue and a convenient stick to beat people with - particularly those filthy smokers, eh?
All of that said, as a motorcyclist, I am vulnerable to the antics of the British motorist, who, on the whole has an inflated opinion of his driving abilities. If you must smoke at the wheel, can you please refrain from chucking your burning dog end out into the slipstream straight into the face of the passing biker - and while we are moaning, can you please concentrate on the road, not your newspaper, the kids fighting in the back, your girlfriend in the passenger seat ( I mean, can you really not wait?) and if you can't multi task, perhaps you should stop somewhere convenient to eat your lunch rather than career across the carriageway straight into my path.
Okay, rant over. And, yes, I've seen all of the above and more.
@Longrider: I've seen sufficent motorcyclists do things that caused me to lose my natural sympathy for them. My particular favourite is their habit of driving on entirely the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic and then getting the hump because said oncoming traffic won't get out of their fucking way.
While in no way disagreeing that the average British motorist is a wall-eyed cunt, I do wish to point out that the average British motorcyclist is no fucking better.
"...in a clamp down on careless driving by the Government."
Perhaps this means that only the Govt will be targetted and not us sensible highly skilled automobile operatives (First Class)?
Another thought (blame the two large measures of Lagavulin - it is Christmas Eve after all). If points and a fixed penalty could be the result of a minor altercation on the high street, or any other busy thoroughfare for that matter. I can foresee drivers refusing, point blank, to move their vehicles after even the most minor of collisions, until the plod have arrived and apportioned blame (the German model)/taken evidence etc.
Now given the number of minor collisions per year in the UK (221,751 reported in 2002), this could have a disproportionate effect on traffic in some areas. Add to this figure the number of unreported minor collisions and accidents and the unforseen consequences may infuriate the most tolerant of drivers.
Imagine, a small shunt on the M25 or any other busy road on Friday afternoon where, in normal circumstances, the vehicles would be driven or pushed to the side of the road. It is established that nobody is injured, insurance details exchanged and everyone goes on their merry way. Now imagine that one of the drivers has 6 points on his licence and he/she considers that the accident (sorry incident) was not his/her fault but the request from the other driver to move the vehicle may result in the elimination of evidence the proves that he/she was probably not at fault. The vehicle doesn't get moved, holding up traffic until plod arrives. With almost one quarter of a million accidents pa(2002 figures), how long do you reckon they will be waiting for plod to turn up?
I was expecting a comeback ;)
My particular favourite is their habit of driving on entirely the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic and then getting the hump because said oncoming traffic won't get out of their fucking way.
Annoys me, too - it gives the rest of us a bad name and pushes up our insurance premiums. My particular favourite is the despatch rider who thinks filtering involves weaving between seventy mile per hour motorway traffic undertaking and overtaking with inches to spare. It doesn't.
I do wish to point out that the average British motorcyclist is no fucking better.
The dead ones... ;)
My point generally stands, the standard of driving on British roads is pretty appalling.
My point generally stands, the standard of driving on British roads is pretty appalling.
If you think it's bad here, you would be amazed at how bad it is everywhere else in he world. From experience, South Africa, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi and Russia are the most notable examples where each journey is a gamble with your life.
Funny old thing, I didn't recall many motorcyclists in those countries, perhaps the risk is too great or perhaps they are all dead.
I have spoken to many, many foreign business associates who tell me that British drivers are extremely good and polite.
I still wake up screaming some nights after dreaming about driving in Kuwait!
Not driven in those places - although I have experienced being a passenger in Tunisia (that was interesting). Cyprus can be pretty hairy.
Portugal is pretty bad, Spain better, France is pretty good, Germany and Austria are excellent. Britain was in the pretty good category a couple of decades ago - despite the best efforts of the DSA (piss be upon them) things have not improved, they have deteriorated. Twiddling with the driving test does not improve driving standards; it goes somewhat deeper than that. Politeness is a diminishing quality I'm afraid.
My work takes me on the road for much of my working day and these days I can rely on having to take avoiding action as a consequence of laziness or negligence on the part of another driver at least once per trip.
"My point generally stands, the standard of driving on British roads is pretty appalling."
Very good point Longrider. You should be in possession of a business whose purpose is delivering school children, unharmed and on time, to school, like me. The fucksticks we see on a daily basis! Sheesh.
As for the fags being thrown out of windows in the path of bikers, I was lucky enough to be given an 'Ogri' annual from a biker friend in 1985 when I first passed my test. Having read that, I always look for bikes before lozzing it (I used to be more environmentally conscious until these arseeholes took the piss, now I couldn't give a shit, as they don't about me).
Back on topic, if anyone thinks this can't be enforced, just think of recent cases in other areas. The lollipop man stripped of his tinsel because of Health & Safety ... reported by an anonymous passer-by. The shop owner banned from giving out a leaflet with jokes in it ... reported by an anonymous passer-by.
Monkey Government say, monkey citizens do.
I'm not sure from the newspaper reports whether 'smoke-driving', tuning the radio, chatting with passengers while driving will be crimes in themselves or whether these behaviours will be used to determine guilt when an accident has occured.
Parliament foolishly decided to criminalise the mere use of a mobile phone while driving ( even though the governments own figures showed that such action was partly to blame for 17 [ seventeen ] out of 3,000 fatality/serious injury cases in the previous year ).
These ideas have been drip fed into our collective conciousness for over twelve months usually with a contemptuous denial and yet here they come to pass. Standard Government practise. Who voted that arguing in the car, checking your sat-nav or smoking while driving was a criminal offence ? Some 'best practise' consultant cunt, that's who.
Each and every one of the proposed on-the-spot fines can be challenged in Court especially the ones that may result in the loss of your license.
It is up to each and every one of us to so challenge in every case.
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