tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294928770519722820.post5785684819092315760..comments2024-03-08T14:35:24.649+00:00Comments on The Justice of the Peace Blog: SPEEDING//A BETTER WAY TO DETER & PUNISHThe Justice of the Peacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05795957459681808206noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294928770519722820.post-52398703827898404332017-03-22T12:34:13.166+00:002017-03-22T12:34:13.166+00:00No government is ever going to win the hearts and ...No government is ever going to win the hearts and minds argument on speeding, because it's a fact that every driver does it multiple times per journey. Anyone who claims not to is, charitably, simply not counting their particular level of transgression as <i>real</i> speeding.<br /><br />Unrealistically low limits contribute to this contempt for the law, and the deal sealer is road policing that is blatantly aimed at hitting targets rather than increasing safety - 'urban' 30mph dual carriageways being a favourite hunting ground.<br /><br />None of this is new. As far back as <a href="http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1907/jul/16/motor-car-legislation" rel="nofollow">1907, their Lordships were declaring</a> that "Policemen are not stationed in the villages where there are people about who might be in danger, but are hidden in hedges or ditches by the side of the most open roads in the country... I am entirely in sympathy with what the noble Earl said with regard to police traps. In my opinion they are manifestly absurd as a protection to the public, and they are used in many counties merely as a means of extracting money from the passing traveller in a way which reminds one of the highwaymen of the Middle Ages."<br /><br />Conversely, if you cause a collision through excess speed, then unless you're intoxicated or it results in serious injury, the police are vanishingly unlikely to take an interest. "Talk to your insurance, that's a civil matter."<br /><br />Given all that, I see little hope of rationality running rampant through the legislation, policing and prosecution of what is in the vast majority of cases a victimless crime.Rogerborgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294928770519722820.post-791630806013833602017-03-22T09:42:41.957+00:002017-03-22T09:42:41.957+00:00I’ve heard an apocryphal story of French Police st...I’ve heard an apocryphal story of French Police stopping a car, and giving the driver a choice, he can either put the phone infront of one of his wheels of his car and he is free to drive away, or he can get a fine and points on his licence.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com