fisherman wrote:
Mole wrote:
So if the "crime" was not remembering who was driving (a situation which I know I could EASILY find myself in two weeks after an alleged event!) why the points? and even then, why DOUBLE the points?!
As I have already posted, more than once, there is
NO PENALTY for being unable to remember. There is a penalty for not bothering to try to find out. I have already posted my understanding of the reasoning behind the points.
OK, OK! I heard you the first time! Doesn't mean I have to agree though!
I take it your understanding was set out when you said:
fisherman wrote:
To understand this case you need to know the background. When s172 first came, in a simple reply that the recipient couldn't remember who was driving resulted in the case being dropped. Then one of the forums dedicated to helping motorists avoid conviction said that if you "forgot" who was driving you would escape prosecution. The number of people who were unable to remember shot up. So new guidance resulted in such cases going to court to demonstrate reasonable guidance. Which resulted in a drop in the number of people who couldn't remember. That in turn resulted in the forum I mentioned earlier pointing out that if you were liable for 4 or more points for your speeding it would still be advantageous to "forget" who was driving. Hence the rise to 6 points. But only after the European Courts had considered S172 and decided that it was OK.
?
While I don't particularly condone the manipulation of the system advocated by the website you mentioned, I think it's very existance shows some measure of the strength of public feeling against this sort of "justice". We seem to be moving ever further away from "policing by consent"! And as for the "let's make it 6 points to put the bu66ers off" attitude, well...
Surely with all the vast array of sanctions available to the state, they could come up with something more appropriate as a punishment for (DELIBERATELY) failing to identify the driver? At this rate, it will soon be routine to loose one's licence without ever having sat in a car since passing one's test, let alone committed any actual motoring offence that involved, er, "motoring"! The world's going mad!