lets keep speed cameras!!!

[littlegearl]

this thought came to me the other night, although i fundamentally don't agree with speed cameras and would prefer to be caught by a policeman if i was doing wrong i accept the fact that police forces and local council's aren't going to give them up if pressured slightly by a bunch of car enthusiasts

so i propose we keep them, but abolish the points system!!!

alot of people drive for a living, but on any given day they could get caught 4 times, loose their license and not even know about it for 14 days, where's the sense in that?

now i can't afford a £60 fine, but if i do get caught i'm more worried about the points and likely increased insurance premium... i should not need to be concerned about loosing my license everytime i drive a car...

so if we just got fined, i don't think everyone's going to start driving round like a crazy loon as they have neat little bundles of 6 £10 notes to thrust in the hand of the local copper as they get caught by a gatso

and even if the government fears this, why not claim 1% of the speeders earnings (for example) everytime they speed!?!

so that means if i get caught i pay £125, but in theory someone like david beckham (eg) could pay around £25,000 just for being caught speeding!!! i think that would stop him and me!!!

obviously there would need to be a cut off, if you were caught doing 100mph in a 30 zone you deserve to loose your license... but being caught doing speeds like 35 in a 30 and 80 in a 60 (providing its clear etc...) should only warrant a fine and not loosing your license

this is my plan based on my opinions, i just wish it would work!!!

edited to add: sorry, thought this was more general than the plod section!!!

>>> Edited by littlegearl on Thursday 6th May 20:54

[V8 Archie]

littlegearl said:

why not claim 1% of the speeders earnings (for example) everytime they speed!?! so that means if i get caught i pay £125, but in theory someone like david beckham (eg) could pay around £25,000 just for being caught speeding!!! i think that would stop him and me!!!

That sounds like what they do in Finland. IIRC some bloke recently got a fine of over £100,000 for some offence or other because it's based on your taxable income.

[antera309]

I agree the points system threatens many people's livelihoods every time they go out on the roads.

This is rule by fear.

[Plotloss]

1% of your income?

So if you have worked hard and achieved something you get to pay more for doing the same speed as scum?

Bollocks in a word.

[Munter]

Plotloss said:

1% of your income? So if you have worked hard and achieved something you get to pay more for doing the same speed as scum? Bollocks in a word.

OI!....not all low payed people are scum! Just ask the next nurse whose patching up johnny after he fell of the swings if their scum because they have a low pay!!!!

Come the revolution.....

*edited because not all nurses are female....oops"

>> Edited by Munter on Friday 7th May 10:45

[littlegearl]

Plotloss said:

1% of your income? So if you have worked hard and achieved something you get to pay more for doing the same speed as scum? Bollocks in a word.

that wasn't what i was thinking...

i meant that if the fine was "only" £60 then if i get caught 3 times in a month (for example) its going to be best part of a weeks wages...

but (to continue using beckham as an example) it will be only about 20 minutes work...

so in theory he could drive as fast as he likes as he can afford the fines, whereas i can't!!!!]

so is it fair that a rich person can drive fast and just waive the fines but someone who works equally hard but doesn't get paid as much has to suffer financially!?!

[_Al_]

destroyer said:

I think that there should be a £20/mph over the posted limit fine imposed but there should also be a totting up system of some sort otherwise you would end up with a similar situation as fat cats in London just paying off their parking fines because they can afford to. Cash is not quite the deterrent it would seem.

£40 fine for 32mph??? Doesn't sound good to me...

[victormeldrew]

A percentage of income would be pretty hard to calculate for those of us not in a regular 9 to 5 PAYE job. I suppose they could wait for end of year returns, but it would seem like a lot of effort for not much gain really.

Better off doing something positive about accident stats, like improving training, harsher testing, etc etc.

[littlegearl]

i would like to see improved training etc... but i doubt this will happen on a large scale... i doubt something like my proposal will happen either but would like to see something put into effect were you were in no danger of losing your license from speeding but it was costly enough so you didn't just speed, pay the fine and walk away!!!

[victormeldrew]

As I posted on another thread recently, I think they'll abolish "totting up" bans anyway as its ultimately revenue limiting. Bit like pubs barring all the regular drinkers - not exactly a succesful business model.

Unless you really think scameras are a safety measure?

[littlegearl]

no i do not think they save lives, they do sweet FA and i disagree with them entirely... i know of not one speed camera that i have passed that has been anything but a revenue generator!!!

but, i have accepted the fact they are part of modern life so if i have to put up with them - and inevitably one day get caught - then i would rather just pay the fines and not loose my license!

[MilnerR]

Why not keep the points system but allow points to be credited to your licence for good driving. A sort of no claims bonus for careful drivers?

[destroyer]

_Al_ said:

destroyer said: I think that there should be a £20/mph over the posted limit fine imposed but there should also be a totting up system of some sort otherwise you would end up with a similar situation as fat cats in London just paying off their parking fines because they can afford to. Cash is not quite the deterrent it would seem. £40 fine for 32mph??? Doesn't sound good to me...

The threshold is 35mph so the fine would be £100 for starters.

at 40mph it would be £120, 50mph = £140, 60mph = £160, 70mph = £180. These are all just at the threshold speeds so to me it seems pretty well expensive considering it goes up £20/mph on to of thse speeds.