www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/court-allows-company-boss-caught-3207677
I don't blame the accused - I blame the JP .
This should have been a 10 second hearing, racked up the points, there's your ban.
Next please.
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I agree it's unfair to all the other poor beggars who get a ban.
A 6 month ban for totting up, usually speeding points, with no evidence required as to any danger caused, is outrageous.
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>> A 6 month ban for totting up, usually speeding points, with no evidence required as
>> to any danger caused, is outrageous.
>>
You have to be hopelessly unaware to get done for totting up with just speeding...so a ban is probably about right, to encourage you to get some extra tuition or drive more slowly everywhere, because you're not fit to drive faster, because you don't notice things.
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I support the judge. Speeding tickets are issued with exponential frequency and are enforced far more vigorously than real crimes which have victims.
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If he was that bothered about his business and he's daughters education he wouldn't have been caught speeding. Several times. I'd give him a ban, not for speeding but for stupidity. I can never understand all the hardship tales people spew out to get off with it. If x,y,z was so important they wouldn't speed as their licence is so important and it's not that difficult to stay out of trouble. Mind you more fool the courts that let them get away with it.
He's not the worst by a long way, there's someone in Liverpool with 54 points and still driving.
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>>You have to be hopelessly unaware to get done for totting up with just speeding
And that's pretty much the kindest thing you can say about someone who gets so many points from speeding.
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>> You have to be hopelessly unaware to get done for totting up with just speeding...so
>> a ban is probably about right, to encourage you to get some extra tuition or
>> drive more slowly everywhere, because you're not fit to drive faster, because you don't notice
>> things.
Sounds reasonable - but is it true?
I'm not defending myself here, I've never got close - but I have a good pal who on the evidence is a good driver - he does a lot of miles, has never worried me as a passenger, and having known him for nearly 30 years I don't think he's been involved in any sort of "accident" in that time. Yet he was banned 4 or 5 years ago on a totter, all mid-high 30s in 30 limits. For 6 months.
It may be true that he wasn't paying enough attention to not getting caught, but I don't think you can extrapolate that to a general lack of attention or competence.
There are other things to pay attention to, besides the speedo - including being at a safe speed.
The other thing about a long ban is that the effect on the offender can be anything from trivial, to great hardship.
I could accept the smugness from anybody who says they never break the limit.
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It doesn't matter much whether or not the law is pointless, there is danger or risk to life from speeding, or anything else. Those are reasons that may be used to drive a change in the law, they are not reasons permitting breaking the law.
It *is* the law, the actual limit is advertised, and the known penalty is points ultimately culminating in a ban - its not a sudden surprise.
If you get sufficient speeding offences in 30mph limits to become eligible for a ban, then at the least you are a very slow learner. Almost certainly unaware, oblivious and without the understanding that deliberate conscious thought could override your normal behaviour for at least long enough to get rid of the points.
So whether one should be banned for speeding or for being oblivious is a matter of opinion, being banned doesn't seem outrageous in either case - at least that's one less hazard on the roads for a brief period of time.
As it happens I think speed limits are often inappropriate, usually applied without proper thought and in any case are a blunt instrument failing to account for changing conditions and environments.
I think strict limits on points, bans and fines do not allow for different circumstances of either the offence or the offender.
I'd still rather not share the roads with someone so unaware that they get caught repeatedly.
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>> It doesn't matter much whether or not the law is pointless, there is danger or
>> risk to life from speeding, or anything else. Those are reasons that may be used
>> to drive a change in the law, they are not reasons permitting breaking the law.
>>
>> It *is* the law, the actual limit is advertised, and the known penalty is points
>> ultimately culminating in a ban - its not a sudden surprise.
And you get a lot of leeway in its enforcement. Normally you won't get done unless its 10% +2mph over, and you get 4 chances to get caught before they get nasty with you.
So I have no sympathy for anyone getting done on totting up. If I managed to drive 45k miles over three years with 9 points and not attract any more, so can any half normal driver.
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'It may be true that he wasn't paying enough attention to not getting caught, but I don't think you can extrapolate that to a general lack of attention or competence.'
I would. It's not that hard to stay clear of getting caught if you don't notice what means or device is recording you on several occasions then a period off the road with some good retraining is in order.
'There are other things to pay attention to, besides the speedo - including being at a safe speed.'
I'd agree, perhaps 'the effect on the offender can be anything from trivial, to great hardship.'?
'I could accept the smugness from anybody who says they never break the limit.'
For my part I'm not smug at all about. I've been done once, but learnt from it. Some people don't, it's those we need to worry about.
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>> Sounds reasonable - but is it true?
Yes, it is.
>> It may be true that he wasn't paying enough attention to not getting caught, but
>> I don't think you can extrapolate that to a general lack of attention or competence.
I think the two DO go together.
>>
>> There are other things to pay attention to, besides the speedo - including being at
>> a safe speed.
100% agree...but...if something's happening that suggests 'danger' (to you or others) then you adjust your speed downwards to cater for it. The same principle would apply to 'danger of prosecution'.
Trouble is, if you are utterly unaware of what is really going on, you won't notice things. The 40mph everywhere brigade seem safe, but are not really, because they are in their own little worlds.
>>
>> all mid-high 30s
>> in 30 limits. For 6 months.
That means he was driving along, absolutely oblivious to either:
- a great big metal camera, usually in high vis yellow..or..
- a scamera van with high vis markings..or
- a cop with a hand held device, either in a damned great jam sandwich or stood wearing
a high vis reflective jacket
>> I could accept the smugness from anybody who says they never break the limit.
>>
Don't look here then...;-)
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The scamera van that sometimes parks in the next village is just a plain white van. Parks in a very weird place and folk like me both slow down and move to the middle of the road. Not because we were speeding, but because the van site blocks a safe view of the road ahead of it.
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And speed guns can see you long before you see them. Just saying.
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Mockery of our court system - Manatee
