Another example of RIPOFF BRITAIN

[01s/as/br]

I have had the recent misfortune of being caught on camera in both the UK and Germany but the different way the countrys deal with speeding gives us another example of RIPOFF BRITAIN!!!

UK - 36mph in a 30mph zone
60 pound fine and 3 points?!?

Germany - 35mph in a 30mph zone
10 pound fine (15euros) and thats it

why is there such a difference in punishment?
What really annoys me more than anything is they take nothing into consideration....clean licence(15 years) , weather conditions etc

[cortinaman]

because the 'anti-car' labour govt are in power.the police are bigger thieves than ronnie biggs and they have gvt legislation that says they can do it.

they want as many people as possible to use public transport so they dont have to give so much in subsedy.they dont care about your job,social life or standard of living.all they care about is fleesing you for the fine(for the cops),giving you points(as many as possible),getting you to 'tot up' over 12 points so they can ban you for 6 months and your life up as much as possible.

bastard polititians!!!

[apache]

I wouldn't blame the cops mate, they have to enforce whatever the govt deems to be suitable. Speak to some (there are some on this forum) and you'll find that talivans and inappropriate punishments are not popular with them either.

[cortinaman]

but if they are so unpopular with the police,why do they enforce them so rigerously?

surely if they think a law is unjust,they dont have to enforce it???

[d3v]

whoa all that for 6mph over

have a look at this
www.streetracing.org/boards/showthread.php?s=e921d5963c88b8a31fdabe12b216e34c&threadid=68972

[dcb]

I have had the recent misfortune of being caught on camera in both the UK and Germany but the different way the countrys deal with speeding gives us another example of RIPOFF BRITAIN!!!

UK - 36mph in a 30mph zone
60 pound fine and 3 points?!?

Germany - 35mph in a 30mph zone
10 pound fine (15euros) and thats it

why is there such a difference in punishment?

Because one country is a reasonable place to live and one isn't.

Hint: No speed limits on the autobahn,
sensible coppers equipped with guns, pubs open sensible
hours, social attitudes not 100 years old, etc etc etc


In short one country treats you like an adult, and expects you
to behave like one, the other country treats it's folks
like children, and then wonders why they act like children.

[gnomesmith]

I'm acting as Devils advocate but:-

I wonder if there is any inverse connection between the magnitude of the fines imposed and the national accident rates of the two countries.On a per capita or miles travelled basis there are far fewer fatal accidents in UK than in Continental Europe.

Or could it be that a country with an NSL naturally takes speeding more seriously than a country that sees no need for one.

To make any meaningful comparison between fines levels in the two countries you would need to compare fines for all offences. Best not to get caught in either place.

[kevinday]

cortinaman said: but if they are so unpopular with the police,why do they enforce them so rigerously?

surely if they think a law is unjust,they dont have to enforce it???

They don't. The police have no control over the siting or operation of the cameras.

[granville]

What I can't stand about the points system here is the potential punitive effect (other than financial) ito potential loss/threat to livelihood, etc...

Now, some will retort with "well don't speed" and perhaps also, "yes, well it's supposed to be a deterrent."

But frankly, the financial impact of even a relatively large fine is insignificant next to the potential economic upset caused by (mass) licence loss.

I would argue, that in reality, as we all know, the 'safety' argument which seeks to 'save' other road users by the potential banishment of all those horrendous speedsters is but that much lamented smokescreen to hide the real agenda of revenue raising.

It staggers me that the morons in government don't simply scratch the points on the licence for mere speeding penalty for a more suitable system of fines.

That way, the fact that speeding is actually bloody good fun means that arrogant swines comme nous can rattle our automotive sabres at will, knowing that we might suffer an horrendous fine but the 'antis' can be told to 'shut it' because actually, their evil adversaries are actually being hit harder than ever but overall, the economy is benefitting.

Frankly, if I could enjoy the very occasional 180 up the M6, without worrying about tea & buns with Mr.Big that evening and losing my ability to travel by car generally via a ban, albeit at the risk of a fairly stiff {hopefully discretionary c/o the BiB } fine, then I genuinely think this would make immensely more sense.

I'm sure traffic police would prefer a system which allows them to do just that - police - rather than rely on a public relations disaster c/o an army of inert ED-209s?

Excellent policies for a warp speed Albion.

[JMGS4]

gnomesmith said: I'm acting as Devils advocate but:-

I wonder if there is any inverse connection between the magnitude of the fines imposed and the national accident rates of the two countries.On a per capita or miles travelled basis there are far fewer fatal accidents in UK than in Continental Europe.

Or could it be that a country with an NSL naturally takes speeding more seriously than a country that sees no need for one.

To make any meaningful comparison between fines levels in the two countries you would need to compare fines for all offences. Best not to get caught in either place.

Gnome, yes you definitely are a devils advocate!
Firstly as deaths per mile of Mway, germany has the lowest rate anywhere in the world! because Germany has 10 times more miles of Autobahn! Congestion and other things are NOT taken into consideration, and don't forget there are 80 million germans and only 63 million brits so lets get these things into perspective!.............
Germany has a FAR higher home/child death rate than GB.... does that mean that they're all child beaters???
Nooooo...............
John........also playing satans jurist!

[spnracing]

Its only a public relations disaster if you believe that speed cameras are universally unpopular - and I thought there were several surveys that shows otherwise?

Fines without points might however be a good idea, financial punishment should be enough without potential licence loss and increased insurance costs. Points could then be allocated for more serious offences purely by the courts.

[kevinday]

SPn, agree with your second comment but not your first. I do not trust any surveys that claim things like '67% of people approve of xxxx' because we do not know what questions were asked and in what way they were asked. For example if I was asked to choose between a and b as an answer to what would I prefer to see as policing for speeding:
a) speed cameras with fines and points
b) instant non reversible revocation of my driving licence
I am sure I and many others would choose a.

[gnomesmith]

JMGS4 said: Gnome, yes you definitely are a devils advocate!
Firstly as deaths per mile of Mway, germany has the lowest rate anywhere in the world! because Germany has 10 times more miles of Autobahn! Congestion and other things are NOT taken into consideration, and don't forget there are 80 million germans and only 63 million brits so lets get these things into perspective!.............

Well as devils advocate you don't have to agree with the points you propose but they are arguments that others may throw at us. The accident rate one is difficult to answer, note I used both miles travelled and per capita so the population numbers and size of country doesn't have any effect, I also used 'all roads' so the number of autobahns doesn't matter either. UK must be doing something right though.

Congestion is an interesting one, you would imagine that the more congested an area is the more pedestrian deaths you'll get, the more minor collisions but the fewer vehicle to vehicle deaths. Well UK is generally more congested than most western countries but the rate of pedestrian death is lower than Europe average and there are fewer reported minor accidents and fewer vehicle to vehicle deaths. Also interesting in a very nerdy fashion is the disproportionate increase in German road deaths when the West was reunited with the East. No doubt the EU Transport Commissioner who kindly sent me a load of stats is scrathching his head over it all.

With my DA horns on again, isn't it refreshing for all PH Eurosceptics that GB is going its own way fine and points wise rather than following the European model?

Off for a cold shower, all this Devilish stuff is getting a bit much for me.