Safe Speed Forums

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4392092.stm

A motorist was fined £150 and given three penalty points - for driving through a puddle and soaking a workman.

Jason Evans, 34, from Yeovil, splashed the man's jeans as he drove through 2ins-deep flood water near Charlton Mackrell in Somerset.

A policeman driving behind Mr Evans snapped a photo of the incident before pulling him over.

Mr Evans pleaded guilty to driving without due consideration for road users at Yeovil Magistrates' Court.

He told The Sun: "I wanted to apologise, but I did not want to stop the traffic."


In this case he had slowed down and was only doing 15mph... it was unintentional
Edmund King, RAC

Mr Evans was offered the chance to go on a two-day drivers' course, but declined.

He said it was an accident and he had not intentionally splashed the workman.

Workers were clearing drainage ditches after the road had partly flooded.

A spokeswoman for Avon and Somerset Police said the force was looking into the case, but that the offence was considered serious enough by the court and the Crown Prosecution Service to impose a fine.

"This was clearly an act which was inconsiderate to other road users and if the driver had shown a little more care or a little less speed he would not have found himself in court," she added.

Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, said: "I think we've all seen and we all know motorists who do this kind of thing on purpose and I think if someone does do it on purpose they should be prosecuted.

"But in this case he had slowed down and was only doing 15mph. He hadn't realised how deep the puddle was. It was unintentional."

Errrr, what evert happened to Mens rea aka criminal intent.

Since when was driving without due consideration a strict liability offence??

Does this mean we can expect an absolute and exclusive list of activities that consitiute this crime to be published in the near future??

This is madness - I assume that this was some 'fixed penalty' arrangement that the parties came to and wasn't pursued in court, because if it had been, the presiding judge should and almost certainly would have thrown it out!!

Proof that even if you didn't actually commit a crime they will happily extort your cash....

Yes it is an offence, but little used.

It is not a strict liability offence, but offences of careless, inconsiderate and dangerous driving are assessed by an objective test of the standard of driving relative to that of a competent and responsible driver. The court has to make a subjective assessment of the standard of driving, but there is no requirement to prove intent.

Indeed, by definition people do not intend to be unobservant or incompetent.

_________________
"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

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

_________________
Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“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

The guy pleaded guilty.

What would have been wrong with the police giving him a good talking to and letting him proceed - sheepishly - on his way?

Just more alienation of the motorist from the police.

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

I wonder if there was more to this than what you read. How would the policeman have had any inclination what was going to happen?…. and just happend to have had a camera ready to use at the time.

_________________
Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

More to the point, if the policeman was alone in the car and was moving while using a camera - isn't he guilty of "driving without due care and attention"?

_________________
"Politicians are the same the world over... We build bridges where there aren't any rivers." - Nikita Kruschev

perhaps the snap was from an in-car video?

perhaps the chap did it deliberately?

however, personally either way said copper should have made him compensate the soaked worker rather than take it further.

I've only read a small amount of this debacle today, but whatever happened to preventative maintenance.
Does this driver not now have a strong case against the council for allowing the drainage ditch to cause the road to flood.

_________________
Semper in excreta, nur quantitat variat.

going off tangent slightly has anyone else noticed the standard of drain cleaning.

over the weekend out and about with the family, i must have come across a dozen blocked drains with resulting puddles unto the carriageway, one a dual covering both lanes

ok youcould argue that being Autumn the drains get blocked with leaves washed down the heavy rain we have had, but i cannot recall the last time i saw one of them 'drain sucker machines' out and about[/quote]

CO, there was one like this in Corby last thursday, both lanes of the carriageway were flooded, even the cop car had to stay in L2 to get through it.
Less than an hour later the road was dry.
Preventative maintenence seems to be a lost art these days.

_________________
Semper in excreta, nur quantitat variat.

CO - I don't know about your area, but in Surrey. The council have diverted road maintenance budget to road safety budget, due to their ability to get better grants.

this unfortunately contributes to bad drainage - not to mention the odd accident. I nearly came off my bike the other day on a roundabout when I encountered a ditch right in the middle of the avoidoil line. It was about 4inches deep and a foot wide. Reported it only to be told they already new about it

In other words, buying speed cameras. Yes?

_________________
“For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.” - H. L. Mencken