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 Post subject: FINED OVER FURRY DICE..
PostPosted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 20:55 
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Fined over furry dice
Exclusive Deborah Linton
22/ 7/2008

A TAXI driver involved in a car crash in which a man died has been fined - for having two furry dice hanging from his rear view mirror.

Javaid Alam was devastated following the accident in which dad Wayne Kerrigan was killed.

Mr Kerrigan, 28, stepped in front of his taxi in a poorly lit stretch of Rochdale Road, Collyhurst, after a night out with friends, an inquest into his death heard.

The coroner said Mr Alam, from Levenshulme, was not to blame for the death and there was no evidence to suggest there was anything wrong with his driving or his car.

But the dad, a taxi driver for 11 years, he has now been ordered to pay a £45 fine after being taken to court for having the dice and two air fresheners hanging in the car - even though prosecutors said they did not contribute to the cause of the accident.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the dice, which had been in the car for two years, had the `potential' to obstruct his view and charged him with failing to have a full view of traffic.

Mr Alam, 38, who pleaded guilty to failing to have a full view of traffic and has no previous driving convictions, said: "To pursue the furry dice seems so trivial when you think what the young man's family are going through.

Heartbroken

"I was heartbroken when I heard he had died, but it is nothing compared to what his family must feel. In 11 years I have never been involved in an incident in my taxi and when my car has been in for tests no one has ever told me the dice could be a problem.

"Paying a fine doesn't take away the fact that someone lost their life."

The inquest heard that Mr Kerrigan, of Burgin Walk, Collyhurst, who had a young daughter Poppy, had been at a party at The Swan pub last September when he stepped in front of the taxi as he waved goodbye to friends.

He suffered multiple injuries and was taken to North Manchester General Hospital where he died three days later.

Mr Kerrigan's father Joseph, 70, said: "I will never know who was at fault. I don't think this man deserves to go to prison but less than £50 because of some furry dice does not seem like justice for my son's life. He was a happy go lucky lad. That night was the first time he'd been out in a while."

A CPS spokesman said: "The size and position of the dice was such that the driver's vision had the potential to be obstructed.

"GMP indicated that their normal practice would have been to issue a fixed penalty notice."




A decent man. Genuinely upset at this death which was not his fault.

Personally .. we do not place naff tat in our cars .,,,but even so .. the dice never caused the tragedy. The pedestrian made a tragic error of his own judgement in all reality. The driver may have failed in more than one COAST discipline as he failed to see or anticipate this sort of behaviour outside a pub.. :roll:

But the furry dice prosecution would seem an insult to all parties here. A token gesture to the bereaved .. which fails to show to them how their loved one died that night .. and I would rather know if my nearest and dearest died as a result of their own folly than go through my life blaming an innocent .. or a person who made an error and will feel the same horrors .. face the same nightmares.

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 17:28 
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West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership is celebrating Yorkshire Day on August 1 by offering drivers a free dangly air freshener for your car to show you're a true Tyke. We've teamed up with Pulse FM to help deliver the air fresheners, so if you'd like one, you'll need to register at Pulse via the casualty reduction partnership www.safetycamneraswestyorkshire.co.uk. Supplies are limited, so you'll need to be quick!

In our other summer-time campaign, you can win a once-in-a-lifetime experience by showing off your road safety knowledge in a competition called Roll the dice to somewhere nice that we're running with Pennine FM.

Lucky caller 13 is brought to air, the morning show presenter Tony Collins rolls a dice, and the caller has to answer the number question the dice lands on. If you get the answer right, you go into the draw for a sports car thrill day. Or you can roll the dice again to go into the draw for a luxury spa day. You get to "stick" or roll the dice one more time for the chance of a hot air balloon ride.

If you get an answer wrong or pass, you lose the chance to go into the prize draw. But we'll send you a pair of West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership fluffy dice for your car. Full terms & conditions are on the Pennine FM website. Or visit http://www.safetycameraswestyorkshire.co.uk.

These campaigns have been created to provide a fun and interactive way of reminding us all of the need to be careful on the roads this summer.


So there you are - a camera partnership is handing out furry dice, in the hope that you will put them up on your rear view mirror, and get a £45 fine!!

Of course there are other places you could hang them within the vehicle... aren't there?

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 23:31 
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Ah! But 'tis illegal! :roll: :)

http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_830.htm


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PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 17:52 
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Actually it does not say they are illegal to hang - only reason to reject the vehicle from an MOT test!
Quote:
e. a Windscreen sticker or other obstruction encroaching more than 40mm


In effect, if the dice are in position while the vehicle is in use, the mere fact that they swing too and fro should be reason to preclude their use! (IMHO)

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 19:19 
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so most sat-nav suckers are not to be in the swept windscreen!
(navman=60mm,tom-tom=55mm)

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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


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PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 20:56 
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"Sat Nav Suckers"

Great expression! :lol:

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 21:09 
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Off topic a bit .. but to answer anton's point..


I seem to recall a thread on this board and running alongside a PH one - about whether or not the Sat Nav should be in the middle of the windscreen or discreetly at the side. Ours came with the car and we have an "update facility"... which also takes in European scams :twisted: (We have an RA in one of our classics and have placed origin b2 cradles in the Stag and Wildy's Moggie - she uses the soft top :cloud9:) and the pogo drive version goes in the rest of our family collection. I have the land and garage space .. so I keep some of the family's "prized toys" up here for them. We bought the property at auction when we first married..spent our free time and spare cash on bringing it up to "quite nice as a family home" and some of Wildy's compo did help .. but it was not how we actually wanted to get "solvent". The place was originally a farm.. with two barns .. which have made jolly nice stables for the cars :D ...

Off topic ADVERT... :hehe:
Anyway .. that's just to explain how come I can house these ravishing beauties for me and the family up here. Some of them will be present at the Sizergh Castle Classic Car fest in September.. I think Ju-Ju and Jazz are going to be showing off the Ford Zodiac and Zephyr they bought and managed to get the kids they teach to help restore as a combined project.. :lol: Krissi intends to show up in the "phallic symbol" .. aka the sporty Capri .. :rotfl: and we've managed to get the Moggie estate and the van version into some sort of feline feisty shape .. eventually... Took longer than I thought...

Anyway .. my point as to why I have "sullied their dashboard with summat reet daft and modurn"...

These old cars have speedos which are probably illegal as some of them under-read and over-read by as much as 8 mph at higher speeds .. :yikes: We have tracked down new ones as India up until fairly recently was still making the Morris Minor.. but even these proved themselves completely inccurate when compared to a GPS version..

Now that's the background as to why we have the RA/origin/pogo etc which can be moved between all the classic vehicles .. including the almost new, but basic and soundly common sense cars we bought at auction for the three eldest to use..

Now.. we have been very careful as to where we placed these gadgets on the dash. I had no option but to wire one into the car used mostly by our eldest son as the ciggy wires were to my mind .. on the wrong side of the car and a bit "untidy" to me.. I do not know why ciggy lighter sockets are on the passenger side.. but they create a headache when trying to fit any useful gadget so as to be fairly "unintrusive" :roll:

So.. we try to place the Sat Nav in the corner of the windcreen on the driver's side. This is in view , but not focussing him or her on the device .. but allows the odd glance in the same way as the mirror check.

We do have a Tom Tom and a Garmin.. but find the Pogo and the ones already in the Jags to be be the most accurate to be honest. :wink:

But back to the topic of the furry dice....

I have always disliked these and stuffed toys stuck to car windows. A car's interior to me has to be precise, simple, minimal but elegant in decor, and uncluttered within reason.

However, whilst furry dice and other chav-tat might not be to my own taste... I have to say that fining this bloke who is feeling just awful about what happened despite being exonerated of any blame... ovder the dice which had nothing to do with this accident .. just a daft waste of time and paperwork administration. If they think it placates the bereaved .. they are mistaken.. :banghead: They see it for what it is.. a naff prosecution which the idiots perceive to be a "token gesture"! against the driver who killed their loved one by a purely awful tragic accident - caused by the deceased's casual and over-relaxed behaviour on a night out with his mates. Not his fault either... he just relaxed too much and dropped that guard of our survival instinct..

I understand more of human nature than most may think :wink: I raise charity cash by over-egging smilies.. I have asked the Swiss "judges of all our posts on-line" to put their money on my words instead.

I would rather have seen the chap given a quiet talking to over the wisdom of furry dice a-dangling - mainly because of the remorse he has shown.,... and the signs that he will be serving the same life sentence as the nearest and dearest of the man who died here.

I see little point in token prosecutions. I see more point in educating and pointing out potential dangers.

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Smilies are contagious
They are just like the flu
We use our smilies on YOU today
Now Good Causes are smiling too!

KEEP SMILING
It makes folk wonder just what you REALLY got up to last night!

Smily to penny.. penny to pound
safespeed prospers-smiles all round! !

But the real message? SMILE.. GO ON ! DO IT! and the world will smile with you!
Enjoy life! You only have the one bite at it.


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 06:32 
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It is worrying that 'blame' is so prevalent in our current culture.
Fault implies that one was and one wasn't, but in the vast majority of incidents, both are likely to be to blame.
Yet another tragic case of inattention from both parties.

I wonder if the driver that was never told of the potential dangers of these 'dangly things' could perhaps now have a case against the Government for lack of advice or some such on such an important safety issue ?

After all isn't this Gov trying to making themselves responsible for the driver ? Telling them how, what, where & when?

Surely this is yet another example of how the wrong education, and guidance, helps us to forget simple things like watch the road ahead?

I am always tree-less, dice-less, etc as they can be distracting and obstructive. Anything 'additional' to your car, may one day help, to open an unwanted discussion, from an undesirable person - so they are best avoided.
My sat-nav is carefully placed, so that it causes practically no, interference to driving observation whatsoever.

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 09:18 
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Quote:
My sat-nav is carefully placed, so that it causes practically no, interference to driving observation whatsoever.


My sat-nav is placed low on the screen and to the drivers side of centre.
It is also set-up so that the display (the map picture itself) is hidden at a speed higher than 30mph.
This follows from an event where I nearly wiped-out a bollard.

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