| 6.01 |
The
law must only be applied to unsafe behaviours |
There is no need and no benefit to catching
good safe drivers with enforcement action intended to make the roads safer.
Dumb speed enforcement catches all drivers, and fails to make the required
distinction. |
mail |
| 6.02 |
Changes
should not normally result in a big increase in load for the legal process. |
If there was a special case, then a significant
increase in load for the legal process might be justified on safety grounds.
However generally we should be able to extract ourselves from the present
bad legislation / bad enforcement cycle without placing an extra load on
legal process. |
mail |
| 6.03 |
The
law must not dis-incentivize good driving and must not discourage good
driving. |
Road laws which cause "dumbing down" tend
to make good driving less beneficial. Dumbing down tends to create a nation
of bad drivers and should be strongly avoided. |
mail |
| 6.04 |
The
law must provide a strong dis-incentive to bad driving |
At present there's little legal emphasis
on "bad driving" as such. Since bad driving is clearly the major cause
of road accidents this is clearly a bad thing. |
mail |
| 6.05 |
People
must be able to respect the law. |
We are already creating a new class of
lawless drivers. The more we create and enforce laws which cannot be respected
by normal experienced drivers, the more we cause secondary lawless behaviour.
As an example, dumb speed enforcement is causing more and more drivers
to neglect registration and insurance requirements. Misuse of Police against
generally law abiding and careful drivers reduces Police / public co-operation
and respect. |
mail |
| 6.06 |
Changes
in the law should be made on the basis of real safety and efficiency improvements. |
Far too many modern enforcement regimes
are based on "bad science" and the misuse of statistics. We need real benefit
if we are to be expected to conform to regulations. |
mail |
| 6.07 |
Changes
in the law should tend to increase the social value of driver training
and trained drivers. (And never decrease the values) |
Recent road traffic law has failed to
account for social values of driver skill. The message is always about
obedience and never about skill or responsibility. Social values are strongly
affected by law, and we need laws which value skill and individual responsibility. |
mail |
| 6.08 |
Changes
in the law should tend to encourage further driver training. |
We need to develop a culture based on
driver improvement. Anything the law can do to provide incentives for driver
training would be welcome and worthwhile. |
mail |
| 6.09 |
new
The law should be easy to understand. |
People have a right to understand what
is expected of them. |
mail |
