Safe Speed Forums

From my local paper:

Bad drivers face wrath of public

POLICE in Malvern are now operating a `three strikes and you're out' policy on anti-social driving and are asking the public to report boy and girl racers.

The crackdown comes after a high number of complaints from members of the public about inconsiderate and dangerous driving.

Sgt Sara Goodman said it can be a struggle to catch bad drivers because people are on their best behaviour when marked cars are on patrol, so intelligence from the public is welcomed.
continued...

Anti-social driving can include speeding and performing stunts, as well as offences such as driving without tax or insurance.

Sgt Goodman warned: "Just because you don't see a police officer doesn't mean that people aren't watching you and that people won't take action against you."

She described the scheme as a return to traditional local policing where the public play a key role, especially organisations such as Neighbourhood Watch.

PC Paul Lambon said a pro-active attitude is a very positive thing for communities.

"At the end of the day, we want the general public to help stop anti-social behaviour by taking responsibility themselves," he said.

Under this scheme, the first time a car is reported to police the driver will get a warning letter.

If the licence plate is brought to the attention of police a second time, a statement will be taken from the person who reported it and the driver will be issued with another warning, known as a Section 59 notice. This will register the licence number on the national police system.

If the car reaches police attention a third time, it can be seized.

Police stress the credibility of witnesses is taken into account.

10:43am Friday 4th August 2006

I find this rather disturbing. It seems to mean that on the uncorroborated 'evidence' of a member of the public you can be issued with a warning letter or even get your vehicle seized? What happened to the normal rules on burden of proof, PACE etc? Am I missing something?


Roger

And what if somebody doesn’t like you or has a grudge against you? IMO the police are so thinly spread that they want the public to do their job for them and hence save both themselves and the government money.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

The trouble is that some of have been alienated by the lack of interest shown by our local force.

I went to a local station armed with time, date, registration number, make and model and description of someone who tried to push me off the road at a roundabout. I made the effort becuase I was particularly incensed by his wreckless driving that put me and others in danger. I would have been happy for someone to have a quiet word in his shell like to let him know he couldn't get away with it.

The response I got?

"Unless there's another witness, there's nothing we can do about it."

The message that sends?

Feel free to push others off the road if no-one else is around!

Harumph, where's the incentive to be of assistance there?

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Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

I had exactly the opposite reaction from my local force when I reported some dodgy driving. They certainly appeared to take it seriously.

When I made the report I said "I don't suppose you can do much if it's only my word". They agreed that they couldn't do anything about the actual incident, but they told me they were flagging the vehicle in the area I saw it and also in the area in which the vehicle was registered to let officers know that there had been a report about the vehicle.

Did it make any difference? I don't know, but the police can't deal with nutters if they don't know about them.

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Less Kodak, more Kojak.
In times of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

While I agree with what you say, maybe if the police were out there patrolling the roads instead of in the station at their computers (or in the case of many trafpol, assigned to other non-traffic duties), they might see the nutters for themselves. Local bobbies usually knew them anyway!

There are so many duties which were once performed by BiB which are now undertaken by other agencies and quangos:

Court Prosecution - CPS
Parking - Traffic Wardens
Motorway Patrols - HATOs
Speed Cameras - Scamera partnerships
Traffic policing - Mostly nobody

So what has replaced all these? Paperwork.



Roger

I'm quite fortunate to live in an area where traffic policing hasn't been chucked out the window, but it's still unreasonable to expect them to be everywhere at once. No doubt the vehicle I saw is driven more sensibly if there's a jam sandwich around anyway.

Perhaps unmarked units will pay it a bit more attention now it's been flagged? That might be enough to catch him in the act.

_________________
Less Kodak, more Kojak.
In times of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.