Safe Speed Forums

Co Durham's BiBs were on yesterday's R2 prog ( about 13.40 slot in show).


It seem that although the police were give power to crush chuckaway cars two year ago.. few do "because it cost them money to do so"


Apparently Co Durham have managed to negotiate some funding with Direct Line (also on prog with them) to have the cars disposed of. To date they have seized 2500, given 14 days to get insurance sorted und crushed 1300 defective "£60 at auction cars". They crush rather than send back to auction und start the cycle over again.

They find that their stance in targetting the truly dangerous - including these very dangerous drivers who all too often are criminally involved in other offences has reduced the overall crime rate.. und KSI figure for 2006 are 30% lower than their already low 2004 stats

Perhaps their record show that ist achievable to reduce KSI, enforce law fairly, with REAL POLICE OFFICERS und not forests of yellow Gatsos. :

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Nicht ganz im Lot!
Ich setze mich immer wieder in die Nesseln! Der Mad Doc ist mein Mann! Und ich benutzte seinen PC!

UND OUR SMILEYS? Smile ... und the the world smiles with you.
Smiley guy seen when you read
Fine me for Safe Speed
(& other good causes..)

Greatest love & Greatest Achievements Require Greatest Risk
But if you lose the driving plan - don't lose the COAST lesson.
Me?
Je ne regrette rien!

Brilliant! Good on them for actually getting the job done, regardless of revenue raised!

I wonder if this would constitute the 'proof' the nay-sayers are always demanding from us, though they certainly seem unable to provide any of their own to support their case!

Nah. Sorry. DfT says we have 2 million uninsured. Durham has a little over 1% of the population, so something in the order of 20,000 uninsured drivers.

So the risk of getting an uninsured motor crushed averages about once in thirty years. And the buggers are back on the road in a month in another throw away... That's not proper policing - it's bullshit.

Not that I have any quarrel with Durham - it's the same everywhere. DfT / Home Office need to take responsibility for allowing it to get WAY out of control in the first place.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I accept that, but they seem to be doing a better job than elsewhere, within the restrictions placed on them by the 'higher-ups", and without a heavy reliance on automated enforcement!

You can caveat that they can still do better, but the fact they are amongst the best at the moment warrants plaudits in my opinion.

Yeah. The last paragraph in my post above was supposed to make something of that point. I could have worded it more strongly in favour of Durham.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

The country has a whole raft of problems and issues that are essentially underpinned by abysmal social attitudes. Things aren't going to be addressed overnight and sometimes the authorities can only scratch away at the surface when the real solutions lie in long term policies aimed at restoring community spirit, altruism and a sense of social responsibility.
In the meantime anything that can be done to demonstrate to these oxygen thieves that they are not being totally ignored is a bonus. Constantly sneering at their efforts and whipping up nominal figures to show how small is the number actually caught is not the answer IMHO.

Agreed - except that's not what I'm doing.

I'm calling for an end to uninsured driving and a 100% claw-back of ALL the wasted resources by funding 3rd party motor insurance for everyone from a levy on motor fuel.

I also believe that the high cost of motor insurance for young drivers is providing a push moving tens of thousands outside the system and towards 'oxygen thief' behaviour. One way (not the only way) to build a better society is to make it easier for people to live within the usual constraints.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Ok fine, I've had similar discussions with a work colleague viz the cost of insurance and that, because it is a legal requirement to have it for driving, there should be a government scheme to provide it at a base level. I believe that there would be a problem with levying a duty on fuel to cover 3rd party insurance; as you rightly point out, insurance costs naturally fall as experience and crash liklyhood reduces therefore more experienced drivers will be subsidising the newly qualified. I can see resistance to this from people who feel that they have earned their right to cheaper insurance and therefore so should everyone else have to.



This is a real toughy, having a son of my own trying to get onto the driving and insurance ladder I know only too well the financial pain endured in the early years and the disparity is much greater now than when I first started.
Unfortunately one of the reasons this government has gotten itself into the mess it has largely because it is perceived to be 'giving' things to people who have no intention of trying to earn or work for them in the way that everyone else does. This ultimately rewards feckless behaviour.

Absolutely - but I judge the insurance-on-fuel proposal to be very much the lesser evil.



Yeah. There's a right way and a wrong way to build an 'inclusive society'. The wrong way is to 'give the keys' to anyone who happens to be hanging about. The right way is to welcome in anyone who might want to join. In the motor insurance context we can 'lower the bar' with my proposal which would welcome more in.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I disagree with this "crushing" malarky cos its designed purely as a method of promoting a "look at us arent we are tough" image.

Thats not to say uninsured drivers shouldnt be targetted, no, they darn well should.
I just dont agree that destroying a useful recyclable commodity by crushing is the best method, it suggests an action borne out of spite rather than being an effective method for getting unroadworthy cars off of the road, although it does do that.
The various parts of the vehicles should be stripped and reused/recycled (glass aluminium etc) not smashed up for a photo session by some small willied chief cop with a crusher fixation.

Just my take.....

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"Safety" Scamera Partnerships;
Profitting from death and misery since 1993.

Believe nothing- Question everything.

A valid point, why aren't the vehicles forcibly seized and stripped to be sold? I would have thought that would be an excellent revenue earner for the LA's.

[daily mail mode]
and the abysmal social attitude stems from what? A decline in respect, respect for others, respect for property, respect for elders, respect for the rule of law.
[/daily mail mode]

So where does the rot start? These young "oxygen thieves" see others lacking respect for the rule of law and getting away with it. Otherwise law abiding people who pick and choose which laws they will obey. So called "campaigns" quoted in the tabloid trash saying that the rule of law SHOULD be ignored.

Paul Smith - j'accuse.

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COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

As far as I am aware nobody here advocates the breaking of any law.

However, if people did not campaign against bad or draconian laws, we would still have the Spanish Inquisition executing people for heresy. Or perhaps we'd all be speaking German and shooting people who are not of Aryan descent?

I think my own recent experience give insight into the overall over-inflated body shop repair scam. I am frankly appalled und if repairs were valued properly.. premiums would be very affordable to all.. As discovered from horse mouth.. the repairs are over-estimated und they say they send photos to insurers who pay .. but refuse to show this to person who pay bill und who own the car outright. I smell very large sewer rats here.. feline whiskers on hunt are twitching if you like. Am not nicknamed Wildy Cat on whim Have a sassy reputation which put Anne Robinson, Alice Beer und others in my shadow once fur ist raised on rights und wrongs

IG's RPU .. which merged ages ago with other units like ARV und dog handlers und horsey und others to "give toppest values for money" .. do sterling job for Co Durham ... und are a model to mirror in my opinion...

Und lieber handy. .. we Swiss queston the way scam law ist implemented as it does not solve the problem of truly dangerous. As does Paulie.

_________________
Nicht ganz im Lot!
Ich setze mich immer wieder in die Nesseln! Der Mad Doc ist mein Mann! Und ich benutzte seinen PC!

UND OUR SMILEYS? Smile ... und the the world smiles with you.
Smiley guy seen when you read
Fine me for Safe Speed
(& other good causes..)

Greatest love & Greatest Achievements Require Greatest Risk
But if you lose the driving plan - don't lose the COAST lesson.
Me?
Je ne regrette rien!

I think maybe you are confusing the word "law" with "war" ... I know they sound similar but they are wholly different things.

There is a HUGE difference between "campaigning against unjust laws" and "choosing to ignore a law". The former is a right, nay a duty, in a democracy. The latter leads to a loss of respect across the whole legal and social spectrum.

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COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

Exactly what I was trying to say.

That has always bothered me too. What can you do with a squashed car? Not a lot.
But they come apart quite easily and most of the bits can be re-used or melted down.

Let's hope they don't start crushing cars for non-payment of VED otherwise VED becomes protection money.

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Andrew.

I'm in agreement here too - I'm not sure, but the way I interpret the environmental legislation as it is given to me in my business, is that it contrevenes such legislation, which now requires ME in my business, to arrange for the dissassembly of products such as fridges, computers, household appliances etc. etc. before disposal, or arrange for disposal to a site where this is carried out on my behalf.

One of our local scrapyards (sorry - SALVAGE yards) has stopped taking vehicles for this reason, as they should have all materials removed such as plastics, glass etc. prior to disposal.
Once youv'e cubed a car, there is not much you can do to recycle the interior etc. to fit this legislation.

I was asked by our local authority if I could supply a product which met their re-cycling code of practice - so I offered them a wooden sign cut from an old bed headboard....
Unfortunately, it was Mahogany, which contravened their Tropical hardwoods usage policy.

I tried pointing out that it would not prevent a tree which was felled 60 - 70 years ago from coming down, but to no avail!
They cant see the wood for the trees!!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Hey, don't blame me - it's the authorities who have decided to screw things up. I'm just trying to put it right.

How can there be respect for law when ~60% are breaking it (i.e. the speed limit) at sample sites on most road types? The authorities and law have to earn respect, but they are stupidly throwing it away instead.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

What tosh!

The "rot" starts long before the little rotters ever get their hands on a copy of a tabloid, look at the young ages of hoodies and neds. I'm inclined to believe that it starts at home, with a breakdown in family values, single parent families, using tv/playstation/xbox as a babysitter, meals off your lap in the lounge instead of sitting down and interacting with real people.

Do you think folk of the ilk that whacked into Wildy are the sort to campaign against unjust laws? Are they balls! They're the ones who will continue to flout the laws and damn the consequences (if there are any), and will pass this attitude onto their youger siblings, illegitimate children, and any impressionable youngsters in their neighborhood.