This morning I was driving on a stretch of road, that has a limit of 40 mph.
I had stopped at some lights, and I could see that in the car in front there was a boy (maybe 6 or 7), stood on the centre console between the driver and front passenger sheets.
I'm not one to judge or report the minor transgressions others, but I personally felt that it was so deeply irresponsible, that I was tempted to make a call to the BiBs.
It came to nothing because the car turned off the road a couple of junctions down, but would you guys have been tempted to report it, or should I have considered it none of my business?
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wouldnt even consider phoning that one in.
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>> wouldnt even consider phoning that one in.
Agreed.
Up to the owner fo the car if he can't be bothered and can't take responsibility to ensure the passengers are strapped in securely.
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"Up to the owner fo the car if he can't be bothered and can't take responsibility to ensure the passengers are strapped in securely."
While I'm strongly tempted to agree, this and other posts supporting the "don't-report" view miss an important point.
The driver of the car is responsible in law and morally, but if there's an accident the child is the one that will most likely suffer. However attractive the "natural selection" argument is, it's tantamount to saying the sins of the father will be visited upon his children.
The fact is that there are plenty of people unable or unwilling to accept responsibility for almost anything, but at least the law attempts to protect the innocent.
I say report the driver, in the hope that he'll mend his ways and ensure the safety if his children.
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>> this and other posts supporting the "don't-report" view miss
>> an important point.
No we didnt, we didnt miss that point at all. I for considered its not my place to educate another driver, and I also considered the more important point - that not to bother the police with a non criminal offence.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 25 Jul 11 at 13:24
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"...we didnt miss that point at all."
Well, you and the others certainly didn't make the point at the time.
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Mon 25 Jul 11 at 14:28
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Bearing in mind the limited response one can get from the over stretched and under-funded police service these days I wouldn't bother. Let Darwin's methods take their course.
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Natural selection in action. Absolutely do not report it.
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And yet in the 1970s (and before) it was perfectly normal behaviour which no-one would have thought twice about.
I used to stand on the centre armrest of Dad's Zodiac Executive with my head out of the sunroof as we belted around town and country. Wouldn't dream of letting my children do it now.
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>> I used to stand on the centre armrest of Dad's Zodiac
Not to mention the times we'd squeeze four people in the back seat (and a couple in the boot, if an estate car) on youth group daytrips 30 years ago.
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I don't suppose SS is too bad in the flesh, but he certainly makes himself sound like the very worst sort of tiresome modern twerp: a pushy and impatient, perhaps arrogant, but not very good driver, and also a fussy sneak who considers making nuisance calls to the fuzz when he sees someone picking their nose or something.
I spent a lot of time as a child sitting unsecured on the front seats of fast-driven cars on bad roads, standing with my head out of the sliding sunroof, standing on running boards, the rear axles of tractors, etc. etc. Perhaps all the adults involved should have been punished. But things were so primitive and backward in those days, before we were civilized.
I wish these people with a vocation to enforce the law would join the police or intelligence services and fight crime, terrorism etc., instead of spotting people transgressing minor regulations with their beady little eyes and playing the class sneak. But I suppose the big picture is a bit difficult for them, poor dears. In the meantime it would be useful if the police would visit all nuisance phonecall makers and give them a savage clip round the ear, instead of prosecuting an infinitesimal percentage of them for wasting police time. They should be made to understand that their behaviour is anti-social, whatever they may think.
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I think you're being a bit harsh here AC. As I reply to this post, I see a comment above on the page saying "All we ask is that you act in a respectful and courteous manner". I would hazard a guess that you don't know the OP, so your rather unpleasant first paragraph isn't really called for. On the basis that he was asking what he thought was a perfectly reasonable question, you could have made your point without those comments.
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To be fair to AC, I suspect he is one of those who doesn't really read what was originally posted.
He certainly doesn't seem stupid, and you'd have to be stupid to think that my post suggested that I thought it was a good idea to report every minor transgression.
Here is how it goes.
1) I wouldn't normally consider judging or reporting minor transgressions, but I though this was very dangerous, but I wonder if I could ask the opinion of others.
2) No you shouldn't report it, because it is a minor transgression
3) Why is the OP trying to report minor transgressions
4) The OP is obviously one of those tiresome people, who always wants to report the smallest transgression
5) The OP would have been at home in Nazi Germany, handing over Jews and other undesirables
6) Has anybody snip read what the OP wrote?
or maybe
1) I will move into a space in a queue, if I can safely do so, even if I am jumping the queue
2) You are an arrogant, idiot
3) Arrogant, idiotic driving causes accidents you should stop before you cause an accident
4) I've seen too many people on slabs, because of idiotic dangerous driving
5) Has anybody snip read what the OP wrote?
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 26 Jul 11 at 10:22
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>> Has anybody read what the OP wrote?
I did read it of course SS. But having said you don't normally make nuisance phone calls to old bill, you added that you had considered doing so on this occasion.
I don't suppose you're really a nuisance on the road at all in practice. But you make yourself sound as if you might be. Similarly, I don't suppose you are often the cause of a tailback at the bar faffing with your card. Perhaps you give it to the barman to keep a running tab, something some pubs ask you to do to save time. But to amuse us, you make yourself sound as if you don't mind about keeping people waiting.
Is it surprising that one or two of us respond in kind by playing the retired major writing to the Times? Just what you want I would think. Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, not above pulling the odd leg. Damn whippersnapper.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 26 Jul 11 at 10:21
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>> Similarly, I don't suppose you are
>> often the cause of a tailback at the bar faffing with your card.
No, not because I don't use my card, but because doing so, doesn't actually cause a tailback, anymore than the "wave theory" that you so vehemently argued against recently.
It's just all in the mind.
>> But to amuse us, you make yourself sound as if
>> you don't mind about keeping people waiting.
Not really. Just another example of the lack of reading comprehension.
>> Is it surprising that one or two of us respond in kind by playing the
>> retired major writing to the Times? Just what you want I would think.
Oh, and you play it so well AC. ;)
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>>On the basis that he was asking what he thought was a perfectly reasonable question.
That's the problem, isn't it. Encouraging a nation's residents to inform on each other is a mark of some of the most successful regimes.
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"I don't suppose SS is too bad in the flesh, but..."
Classic.
"...a fussy sneak who considers making nuisance calls to the fuzz when he sees someone picking their nose or something."
In some contexts, this remark would be quite amusing.
I hope the OP will see AC's contribution for what it's worth.
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>> I hope the OP will see AC's contribution for what it's worth.
From what I have seen of his stuff FP, he is more likely to understand it than you are. I wouldn't scold him in that acerbic manner if I thought he was an idiot.
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"...he is more likely to understand it than you are."
Go on, AC. My shoulders are broad.
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>> My shoulders are broad.
You may yet need them to be FP. I am wondering whether I should give you an ambiguously jokey mouthful just to show that I don't think you are an idiot...
The tangles people get one into here...
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"...an ambiguously jokey mouthful..."
That sounds dodgy. Does it mean you might be nasty, really nasty and then say it was all a joke and I just didn't get it? People do things like that on here, you know.
"The tangles people get one into here..."
Well, as for my comment about my shoulders being broad, at least allow me to do my own little bit of winding up! I do hope you can take it as well as dish it out!
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He can in fairness...blow him a raspberry...!
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Turning in your neighbours for minor misdemeanours was one of the more attractive parts of Hitler's Germany. It was marvellous to think that in exchange for a small remark criticising the powers that be, you could have your neighbour dragged off to a concentration camp, for forced labour or - ideally - death. In fact, if you didn't like somebody much you could make up a similar story, and send them to a happy ending in a gas chamber.
OP, you bring back such delightful memories to the world; yes, for the greater good you should report your neighbour to the police.
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>> Turning in your neighbours for minor misdemeanours was one of the more attractive parts of
>> Hitler's Germany.
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>> OP, you bring back such delightful memories to the world; yes, for the greater good
>> you should report your neighbour to the police.
Oh, I suppose the Nazis are the bad guys now, are they?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEle_DLDg9Y
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That culture of reporting each other crept in and was encouraged by management in the later years when I was employed by BP.
Sad state of affairs but it happens.
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The child has no knowledge of the dangers but the driver should have, and indeed is responsible for ensuring passengers comply with the laws regarding seat belts, booster seats etc. I see similar flouting of the law around here and I ought to report it but don't get round to it. And yes, we've all done it as kids and lived to tell then tale, but the volume and speed of traffic is rather different now and children (and adults) not properly restrained are killed or seriously injured every day.
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>> That culture of reporting each other crept in and was encouraged by management in the
>> later years when I was employed by BP.
>>
>> Sad state of affairs but it happens.
The report I would like to see, is a breakdown of what proportion of a comment the average user here, actually reads and digests before firing back responses, comparing posters to Nazi collaborators and the like.
I imagine it quickly gets to a point where people don't even bother to read the original post and just respond to the rabid responses.
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"I imagine it quickly gets to a point where people don't even bother to read the original post and just respond to the rabid responses."
Well, yes, SS - that does happen sometimes. Despite that other thread about us being "above average" (in what, one might ask) we're pretty much a mixture here.
Keep it in perspective. Don't let it get under your skin.
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>> Keep it in perspective. Don't let it get under your skin.
No, it doesn't. Just amuses me.
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SS Schutszstaffel. could be coincidental.Protection Brigade.:)
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It is irresponsible letting a child stand in between a seat whilst driving nobody is denying this.
If I was that incensed I would have flashed the car in front and have a word with the driver.
But that would be confrontational.A bit of a no win situation but I understand your point of vieuw Steelspark.
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AC, you were in wrong here - I know it's not supposed to happen, but there you are ! :-)
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>AC, you were in wrong here - I know it's not supposed to happen, but there you are ! :-)
I think his posting above (15:52) is as close to an apology as you'll get.
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Mon 25 Jul 11 at 16:00
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AC is the first to apologise when he thinks he's gone OTT
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I think that the difference was that what the Nazis/Stasi wanted reported was verbal insults against Hitler or the Head of State and genral grumbling about the Administration. What we are talking about here seems to be minor law breaking, seat belts, mobile phone use, dog poo etc and we each probably have our own views on what demeanours matter or do not and whether to do something about them, or not
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There's a threshold, I reached mine on two occasions I can remember in recent years, once was to report what was plainly a car full of yobs being driven out of Crewe, it had all the hallmarks of a stolen car. I had to stop to make the call, I was on the bike. By the time I had re-mounted and ridden a few miles further, I came across the car having been stopped by the Police. The second occasion was on the A55 a couple of years ago, again on the bike, when I was "making progress" in lane 2 and I was overtaken on the outside (between the bike and the barrier) by another bike, it was hideously dangerous manouvere by any measure of common sense and put me at risk, so I stopped to call in...
Edit:
I called in quite recently late one evening, again on the A55 when I saw an unlit broken down car on a an unshouldered piece of road - very dangerous, all occupants were out and the woman had a babe in arms...I would, do all three again, I'm no Nazi by the way.
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In my life I have only reported one thing to the police.
One evening, a few years ago, when the level of fear of a terrorist attack seemed more feverish than now, I drove on to the A41 dual carriageway at Hemel Hempstead (yes, I know it's not exactly a high-profile part of the road system) one evening and there was a battered car stopped under the fly-over. Could have broken down, perhaps.
When I returned about three hours later it was still there. Was it a genuine breakdown? Or something more sinister? I agonised over this for some time, but eventually phoned. There didn't seem to be much interest on the part of the person who answered, or perhaps it was feigned nonchalance. I have no idea what the outcome was.
That's not quite the same as reporting an individual, I know.
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Mon 25 Jul 11 at 17:46
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Indeed there is a threshold. There is, and has always been (before the "country has gone to the dogs" brigade chirp up) a level of lawlessness, mostly observed by the law abiding. We each have a threshold of positive action, but mine is not at a level of a seat belt offence.
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You wouldn't report them round here....you'd never be off the phone.
There is a fairly large slice of the population round here who cannot grasp certain aspects of the law.
Ted
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Would you report this? - Zero
