Safe Speed Forums

I posted this in the Cycling section.. but perhaps since more look in the NEWS .. perhaps folk may wish to discuss as a thread in own right as I think discussion on this could steer away from the tragedy on the other cycling thread.




Stuck at the bottom of the middle pages of Friday's paper and written by Saiqa Chaudahari is a piece about Bolton MP, Brian Iddon, who has



Now .. This would not have resulted in McTaggart facing more serious charges - even if on the statute book at the time of this incident. He did not see the cyclist who was allegedly "tucked down" and this kind of implies that he may not have been looking ahead either.. Also .. McTaggart may have noted .. but underestimated the speed of his approach.

From next week new laws will mean drivers who manage to kill someone "while not paying care to the road or other road users may face jail"

But .. the stuff which the courts are allegedly going to consider when deciding guilt of this charge are already covered by existing laws

Note the wording here... I think a token law in all reality



Sigh.. the case of the woman.. the phone.. the cyclist .. the red light.

Already set as precedent and she has a case for appeal against the sentence on-going per some other story seen on the original news site.



Provided for under existing law .. according to the legal beagles around the family





Already fined some bint for applying mascara .. but she did not have an accident and did so at the traffic lights.. allegedly..




rubber necking some one else's accident

I think this a very grey area and it certainly offers little remedy to Jason MacIntyre's family. But then .. as IG points out .. we have to differentiate between justice for all and revenge.



OK.. I have always supported that. but then here comes the rub..



WTF? SURELY the act of getting behind the wheel of a car when completely unentitled or legal to do so .. is a DELIBERATE ACT and their action in fleeing the police and refusing to stop for them is DELIBERATE. I think they have got the penalty the wrong ways around here



Spin doctoring .. mate.. As pointed out . they already exist in current traffic law and folk have been jailed for 4 and even 6 years already for killing when doing all those things.


But what do folk think about this "new" legislation. A sop to "revenge calls" .. but really neither justice nor remedy..

What level of proof of carelessness would be required given that in many accidents .. both may be partially to blame..

Or.. punishing the wrong person harshly whilst not deterring the thugs who nick cars...

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We have had a lot of discussion on here before about eating and drinking while driving. Now, IMO this IS an avoidable distraction but others vociferously disagreed.

We also had Paul saying he could hold a mobile conversation while driving but, from my experience, it IS a distraction.

These two examples show the problem there is going to be with this law. I don't think you can have a law where a momentary lapse of observation can result in a long jail sentence. It's not a a deterrent. I await the first long jail sentence passed on a young mother who is distracted by her baby crying in the back in its fully approved child seat.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

People who have crashes whist trying to multi task beyond thier abilities deserve the punishment. However I can see the senario where the lemming runs across the road and is unavoidably hit and the motorist is prosicuted because a packet of open sweets are found in the car in the passengers door pocket and the plod falsly paint the picture that the driver was searching the car for sweets.

If a tyre burst and the driver crashes they seam determined to blame the driver ignore the tyre and find a map in the wreckage therefore off to jail. The glove box bursts open and the driver is blamed for looking for the map etc.

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“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

Absolutely! There is quite obviously a world of difference between the guy (me!) with the open bag of wine gums in the door pocket and the trucker trying to eat a plate of pasta on his knee with a knife & fork! I just wonder (in this increasingly "binary" world of motoring enforcement), whether there will be any room for common sense and discretion?!

There's also the difference between the guy tanking down the motorway on the mobile having the mother of all arguments with the girlfriend that's about to dump him, and the guy having a 15 second call to tell his wife he's safe but delayed while he's stopped at the lights. (Interestingly, the former might be in a better legal position if he'd had his argument on a CB radio)!

And what about the sleep-deprived parent of the teething brat who kept him up half the night? I guess that might be "avoidable" too - after all, nobody had a gun at his head and FORCED him to have kids!

Just another law to make driving something to avoid.

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56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

Not only pure vengence but a huge transfer of power from the courts to the prosecutors/police.

Now, if anyone is unfortunate to be involved in an accident that results in a fatality then if the prosecutors or police decide to go for it there will almost certainly always be something available to seccure a conviction. Vehicles, phone records, cctv etc etc will be scoured for any possible sign that a driver could have been distracted. So basically the police and CPS can decide whether or not someone should be jailed, they just have to look until they find something 'compelling' and given that pretty much anything goes...then it will be used.

Lets see if our judiciary are up to the challenge of maintaining justice.

This is an excellent article about the law on "causing death by careless driving":

Drive this careless law off the statute books

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Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

whats an avoidable distraction, if not an oxymoron?


The person driving up my bum constantly looking for an overtake is a distraction, as is the cyclist sailing up to my inside oblivious to my left indicater, as are the kids larking about on the pavement looking like ones going to be in the path of my van in a moment, as is the driver giving off what can only be described as idiot vibes, something you can't immediately put your finger on, but so often right before they do something idiotic, they may all take up more than their fair share of my observation to the detriment of everything else, whats the dividing line between close attention of a primary developing hazard and being guilty of being avoidably distracted? The crunch? in which case, it's a petty revenge law.

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