Motorist with 62 penalty points legally allowed to drive
Discussion
t has clearly been taking the P for years, whereas plenty of other people have got banned for one-off incidents.thelawnet1 said:
It's really not impossible to obey the law.
Of course it isn't but this is a motoring enthusiasts site first and foremost, where people like to enjoy their cars or bikes on the roads. And, gasp, this will mean travelling above the limit from time to time where it is safe to do so. I was just interested in having an adult discussion about it, however that's next to impossible on PH these days.hornetrider said:
thelawnet1 said:
It's really not impossible to obey the law.
Of course it isn't but this is a motoring enthusiasts site first and foremost, where people like to enjoy their cars or bikes on the roads. And, gasp, this will mean travelling above the limit from time to time where it is safe to do so. I was just interested in having an adult discussion about it, however that's next to impossible on PH these days.Enjoying ones cars or bikes on public roads is not a problem either, including going above the limit. I don't think most on here will disagree.
Does having a ban for 12pts stop this? I don't think so.
What pisses me off more than this is people who have points on a licence they don't even have i.e. Ghost licences.
Well done sir this is your 6th time caught driving with no licence, no tax, not insurance. Have another 6 points on a licence you don't actually have.
How about instead of points (on the licence they don't have) give them a £1000 fine for each point. What's that your on the dole you say. No worries we can take it at x% of you dole/jsa/wft etc. What's that you say it's going to take 10 years. Tough luck. Get a job but don't worry we will garnish it direct from your wages then.
Well done sir this is your 6th time caught driving with no licence, no tax, not insurance. Have another 6 points on a licence you don't actually have.
How about instead of points (on the licence they don't have) give them a £1000 fine for each point. What's that your on the dole you say. No worries we can take it at x% of you dole/jsa/wft etc. What's that you say it's going to take 10 years. Tough luck. Get a job but don't worry we will garnish it direct from your wages then.
hornetrider said:
Of course it isn't but this is a motoring enthusiasts site first and foremost, where people like to enjoy their cars or bikes on the roads. And, gasp, this will mean travelling above the limit from time to time where it is safe to do so. I was just interested in having an adult discussion about it, however that's next to impossible on PH these days.
I understand this, I'm just talking about the realities of 'I fought the law and the law won'.You can speed, even on 9 points, just more selectively.
I don't agree with the mitigating circumstances bit, if you know losing your licence will be life changing, don't bloody speed, there really is no excuse in the vast majority of circumstances, certainly not enough to amass 62 points. Maybe a bit of leniency once, but 62 points is bonkers, the driver clearly has no regard for speed limits (which, rightly or wrongly, are as they are, so we all have to deal with it).
A 22 year old locally recently managed to flip his car onto a pavement in a 30mph zone because he was on Facetime, amazing that he didn't kill anyone. The judge gave him a £180 fine and 5 points rather than a ban, because he has to get to the town 5 miles up the road for work each day (which, unusually, is well served by public transport with a train every 30 minutes and frequent bus service).
A 22 year old locally recently managed to flip his car onto a pavement in a 30mph zone because he was on Facetime, amazing that he didn't kill anyone. The judge gave him a £180 fine and 5 points rather than a ban, because he has to get to the town 5 miles up the road for work each day (which, unusually, is well served by public transport with a train every 30 minutes and frequent bus service).
Edited by ukaskew on Thursday 23 February 12:26
Trouble with this story is that it doesn't provide any context. The 62 points could have been amassed by someone on holiday in an unfamiliar area doing 45 in one of those "40 for no genuine reason" limits twice a day for a fortnight. Or they could have been doing 40+ past a busy school every morning. Or somewhere in between.
Yes, 62 points is far too excessive and probably suggests the driver 'has a few issues', but my point is that it doesn't automatically make them a maniac. Without more details all you can do is speculate.
Yes, 62 points is far too excessive and probably suggests the driver 'has a few issues', but my point is that it doesn't automatically make them a maniac. Without more details all you can do is speculate.
spookly said:
hornetrider said:
GT03ROB said:
Why is 12 too low? Over a 3 year period you can't avoid getting 4 speeding tickets??
Well, I have avoided it cheers thanks for asking.You ought to try living in Avon and Somerset. They have vans all over the place randomly, and never in accident black spots. Always somewhere it's easy to stray a few mph above. I think in cases like that where points are accumulated for SP30s in a 50 limit for example, or on the motorway, that the ban threshold needs to be higher.
If that means increasing the points for more serious driving offences such as careless, dangerous etc so that the same instance of those results in a ban, then fair enough.
hornetrider said:
62 is ridiculous but I do think the current number of 12 is too low. A driving ban can be life changing and with the recent proliferation of cameras everywhere making being caught a few mph over a limit so much more likely, I think the ban criteria needs to move up a few. Maybe 18?
I totally disagree, I'd like to see lots more points handed out for all sorts of things apart from speeding, and lets clear some cars off the road.Congestion is abysmal and air quality is constantly said to be bad, why don't we address both raise the bar of driving standards at the same time, and clear a few mill drivers off the roads?
The issue of increased numbers of uninsured and unlicenced drivers will need to be tackled, but apart from that, what are the downsides?
heebeegeetee said:
I totally disagree, I'd like to see lots more points handed out for all sorts of things apart from speeding, and lets clear some cars off the road.
Congestion is abysmal and air quality is constantly said to be bad, why don't we address both raise the bar of driving standards at the same time, and clear a few mill drivers off the roads?
The issue of increased numbers of uninsured and unlicenced drivers will need to be tackled, but apart from that, what are the downsides?
An already overstretched public transport system finally buckles, and the economy grinds to a halt as millions of people can't get to work Congestion is abysmal and air quality is constantly said to be bad, why don't we address both raise the bar of driving standards at the same time, and clear a few mill drivers off the roads?
The issue of increased numbers of uninsured and unlicenced drivers will need to be tackled, but apart from that, what are the downsides?
Zetec-S said:
Trouble with this story is that it doesn't provide any context. The 62 points could have been amassed by someone on holiday in an unfamiliar area doing 45 in one of those "40 for no genuine reason" limits twice a day for a fortnight. Or they could have been doing 40+ past a busy school every morning. Or somewhere in between.
Yes, 62 points is far too excessive and probably suggests the driver 'has a few issues', but my point is that it doesn't automatically make them a maniac. Without more details all you can do is speculate.
I really struggle to understand this comment around unfamiliar areas. Why is that an excuse? The road signs and rules are the same, if anything you'd take a bit more care if you're unsure. It also doesn't say much formthe competence of the driver if they can't drive in places they don't know. Yes, 62 points is far too excessive and probably suggests the driver 'has a few issues', but my point is that it doesn't automatically make them a maniac. Without more details all you can do is speculate.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
The fact that you've got to 9 points in the first place probably suggests that you aren't very good at selective speeding, and probably shouldn't push your luck any further.
I agree in the main, but it does depend if they're all for speeding. In my youth I got hammered for 6 points for a silly crash that didn't involve anyone else, but was spotted by a passing patrol and then picked up 3 points for speeding two and a half years later. It was a painful 6 months. Zetec-S said:
An already overstretched public transport system finally buckles, and the economy grinds to a halt as millions of people can't get to work
Outside of major cities many bus services are subsidized by councils, the system really isn't overstretched for a large proportion of us. Aside from large and very infrequent events I don't think I've ever seen a full bus or train in any of the local towns.ukaskew said:
Zetec-S said:
An already overstretched public transport system finally buckles, and the economy grinds to a halt as millions of people can't get to work
Outside of major cities many bus services are subsidized by councils, the system really isn't overstretched for a large proportion of us. Aside from large and very infrequent events I don't think I've ever seen a full bus or train in any of the local towns.scorcher said:
...There's also a couple of motorcycles with mobile speed camera equipment operating around the county too...
I saw one of those on the A420 in Bridgeyate last week.Half a mile down the road there was a helmetless promising footballer on a (presumably stolen) motocrosser, without a registration plate (or VED/insurance) wheelying up the ring road from the Warmley roundabout. To his credit, he did slow slightly for the red light.
GT03ROB said:
Why is 12 too low? Over a 3 year period you can't avoid getting 4 speeding tickets??
I managed to obtain 6 points in the space of 48 hours. Both times were by roadside 'traps' when travelling <50 Mph on a dual carriageway. I didn't see the first (I went back to look and it's very difficult due to a cluster of trees that are used for cover) and I was about 20 metres from a national speed limit sign the second time but knew I'd been caught.
Both times my mistake was 1) driving to the conditions and 2) accelerating ahead of a speed limit change. Easily done with 400+ bhp.
They were there purely for purposes of revenue generation, yet I could easily have done the same since and lost my license. I'm more cautious now, but I'm sure I've done similar since without realising it.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff