If you 'shop a suspected drink driver - does anything happen

[XCP]

Mr A Daly would seem a good choice if pressed for a name.
Some drunk crashed his car outside my house, I was straight on the blower. I even went out and made sure he didn't leg it before the cops arrived.

Can't say that not giving my name even crossed my mind TBH.

[longshot]

zarjaz1991 said:

longshot said:

For me there is a World of difference between this and grassing/snitching.

If the bloke down the road is selling a few packs of duty free fags then that would be grassing.
If your neighbour's vehicle duty is a month out of date then that is grassing.
If a bloke down the road has a cannabis plant in his greenhouse then that is grassing ().

If you see someone driving while pissed then calling the plod is doing the right thing.

The reason drink drive is illegal is because the chances of an accident go through the roof.
If he does this every week, surely its only a matter of time before something happens.

Ok, but....why the distinction?

All are illegal. It does sound like you're applying your own personal standards to this. Which is fine in itself. However, all that's really different is that your 'grassing threshold' is different to mine.

I'm surprised so many people seem to be uncomfortable with this being pointed out.

Everyone applies their own standards. We can't help it.

I wouldn't get out of shape over petty crime like the examples I gave but I draw the line at reckless behaviour.

Speeding could fall into that catagory but a lot of speeding is accidental where people creep over the limit.(like my bust recently)
However, you don't accidentally get st faced and then drive a car.

[zarjaz1991]

longshot said:

Everyone applies their own standards. We can't help it.

I wouldn't get out of shape over petty crime like the examples I gave but I draw the line at reckless behaviour.

Speeding could fall into that catagory but a lot of speeding is accidental where people creep over the limit.(like my bust recently)
However, you don't accidentally get st faced and then drive a car.

That's fair enough.
The point I'm making is that everyone has their own level at which 'grassing' becomes ok, my only crime on here has been to state that drink driving is not part of mine.

And yes, part of it is my inherent dislike and distrust of the police, I will admit that.

[longshot]

zarjaz1991 said:

That's fair enough.
The point I'm making is that everyone has their own level at which 'grassing' becomes ok, my only crime on here has been to state that drink driving is not part of mine.

And yes, part of it is my inherent dislike and distrust of the police, I will admit that.

And that's fine. As I said, we're all different.

Ofcourse we all have to live with the concequences of our actions.

If I saw someone who'd had a skinfull jump in his car and I did nothing about it only to find that 30 minutes later he had killed someone's 6 year old daughter, I couldn't carry on after that.

[DoubleSix]

zarjaz1991 said:

That's fair enough.
The point I'm making is that everyone has their own level at which 'grassing' becomes ok, my only crime on here has been to state that drink driving is not part of mine.

And yes, part of it is my inherent dislike and distrust of the police, I will admit that.

Fair play.

I once worked with a chap that said openly that he would report another colleague if he attempted to drive home after having a couple of after work jars... He was probably a tad over the limit but not enough to raise my concerns personally.

Someone stumbling towards their car in a right state would certainly justify this however.

I get the impression many on here are "not a drop if I'm driving" types so it's no surprise you have raised a few hackles.

[longshot]

DoubleSix said:

I get the impression many on here are "not a drop if I'm driving" types so it's no surprise you have raised a few hackles.

I fall into the "not a drop if I'm driving" catagory for several reasons.

Reason 1 is that I don't drink anymore (apart from a couple of freezing cold lagers every July in Greece)

Reason 2 is that I was prosecuted for Drink/Drive about 30 years ago after binning my car and being a couple of feet away from killing someone.
I was young, dumb and an habitual offender if I'm honest and getting caught was one of the best things that has ever happend to me.
I'd had a couple of close shaves before the accident/conviction but had just shrugged them off.
It woke me up and from then on I was either drinking or driving.

[DoubleSix]

If you managed to 'bin it' I assume you were smashed as opposed to a few milligrams the wrong side?

[longshot]

DoubleSix said:

If you managed to 'bin it' I assume you were smashed as opposed to a few milligrams the wrong side?

Twice the limit. Took my eyes off the road because I was busy trying to retrieve something I'd dropped in the footwell and ploughed into a lamp post just missing some pedestrians.

[DoubleSix]

longshot said:

DoubleSix said:

If you managed to 'bin it' I assume you were smashed as opposed to a few milligrams the wrong side?

Twice the limit. Took my eyes off the road because I was busy trying to retrieve something I'd dropped in the footwell and ploughed into a lamp post just missing some pedestrians.

Awful. Glad the outcome wasn't more severe for you and them.

I think in the context of what we're discussing this would probably fall on the wrong side of most peoples acceptable law bending...

[Mr SFJ]

Slight speeding (35 in a 30) doesn't bother me at all but when I see plain dangerous/drunk driving I feel tempted to call the BiB because it's much more serious than driving 5mph to quickly, because it's easy to stray up to 35-40 without realising but you make a choice getting into the car wkered and drive it home, putting yourself and others at risk.

[Rovinghawk]

zarjaz1991 said:

That's fair enough.
The point I'm making is that everyone has their own level at which 'grassing' becomes ok, my only crime on here has been to state that drink driving is not part of mine.

And yes, part of it is my inherent dislike and distrust of the police, I will admit that.

Distrust of the police is one thing- allowing drunken pillocks to risk lives is another.

Let the police earn some trust by doing something we can all approve of.

[V8forweekends]

zarjaz1991 said:

That's fair enough.
The point I'm making is that everyone has their own level at which 'grassing' becomes ok, my only crime on here has been to state that drink driving is not part of mine.

And yes, part of it is my inherent dislike and distrust of the police, I will admit that.

We haven't found out what your grassing threshold is yet - clearly it's not burglary, criminal damage or drinking & driving (leaving aside the pointless example of speeding). What is it? Murder (arguably riskier to bear witness to if it's in the course of crime)? Child Abuse?

[TurboHatchback]

longshot said:

For me there is a World of difference between this and grassing/snitching.

If the bloke down the road is selling a few packs of duty free fags then that would be grassing.
If your neighbour's vehicle duty is a month out of date then that is grassing.
If a bloke down the road has a cannabis plant in his greenhouse then that is grassing ().

All of these carry no risk to anyone and many would believe they should not in fact be offences at all. I wouldn't report any of them.

longshot said:

If you see someone driving while pissed then calling the plod is doing the right thing.

The reason drink drive is illegal is because the chances of an accident go through the roof.
If he does this every week, surely its only a matter of time before something happens.

Quite so, drink driving carries a huge risk of innocent people being hurt or killed hence I would report it. Equally if I saw a 9 year old running around with a gun I would report that too as there would again be a huge chance of someone being hurt/killed. Frankly I would assume that anyone who had a problem with reporting drink drivers was either a habitual drink driver themselves, a wannabe gangster scum or an idiot.

[XCP]

Rovinghawk said:

Distrust of the police is one thing- allowing drunken pillocks to risk lives is another.

Let the police earn some trust by doing something we can all approve of.

Giving information in such matters is not helping the police after all. It does not make their lives better. It is helping your fellow citizens.

[zarjaz1991]

XCP said:

Giving information in such matters is not helping the police after all. It does not make their lives better. It is helping your fellow citizens.

Unfortunately, doing so involves dealing with the police, and I do not trust them.

[V8forweekends]

zarjaz1991 said:

Unfortunately, doing so involves dealing with the police, and I do not trust them.

So are there no circumstances where you would deal with the Police?

[Greendubber]

V8forweekends said:

So are there no circumstances where you would deal with the Police?

I reckon when his xbox/iPhone gets nicked and he neds a crime number for insurance purposes.

[zarjaz1991]

V8forweekends said:

So are there no circumstances where you would deal with the Police?

Not if I can help it. I accept that on occasion it may be inevitable.

[zarjaz1991]

Greendubber said:

I reckon when his xbox/iPhone gets nicked and he neds a crime number for insurance purposes.

This sounds very much like you are pre-judging me on the basis that I am young.

I understand (correct me if I am wrong) that you are a police officer of some sort yourself.

If so, your attitude is hardly doing much to alter my opinion.

[Greendubber]

zarjaz1991 said:

This sounds very much like you are pre-judging me on the basis that I am young.

I understand (correct me if I am wrong) that you are a police officer of some sort yourself.

If so, your attitude is hardly doing much to alter my opinion.

So adults can't own an iphone or an xbox?