[UnhappyExplanation65]

🚗⚖️ Have Your Say on Motoring Offence Sentencing!

Hi, I'm conducting research on public views about how motoring offences are sentenced at magistrates' courts in England and Wales.
If you live in England or Wales, I would love to hear your thoughts!

📝 The survey is anonymous and takes just 5–10 minutes.
https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/bangor/sentencing-of-motoring-offenders-s3

Your views could help shape future discussions about motoring punishments and road safety.
Thank you so much for your time! 🙏

[Rolebama]

I believe it is Finland where most motoring fines are judged on a person's income. I think this a good idea, which we should adopt.
I used to sit in the back of Magistrate's Courts when I had a particular job, and used to watch proceedings. On one occasion, an old boy was being judged for driving with four bald tyres. He pleaded Not Guilty on the grounds that he was an excellent driver and his Jaguar had excellent road-holding capabilities, and that the law should be amended to take people like him and his car into account. The Magistrates retired for a while, and when they returned, fined him £10,000, banned him for 21 months, and added £500 costs. He produced his Credit Card and said he would be back in a tick with his Driving License, as he had to drive home to get it. He then had a full-blown rage because he was advised his ban started immediately, and his car would have to be recovered at his expense. That was a fun day.

[Beelzebub]

Originally Posted by Rolebama

I believe it is Finland where most motoring fines are judged on a person's income. I think this a good idea, which we should adopt.
I used to sit in the back of Magistrate's Courts when I had a particular job, and used to watch proceedings. On one occasion, an old boy was being judged for driving with four bald tyres. He pleaded Not Guilty on the grounds that he was an excellent driver and his Jaguar had excellent road-holding capabilities, and that the law should be amended to take people like him and his car into account. The Magistrates retired for a while, and when they returned, fined him £10,000, banned him for 21 months, and added £500 costs. He produced his Credit Card and said he would be back in a tick with his Driving License, as he had to drive home to get it. He then had a full-blown rage because he was advised his ban started immediately, and his car would have to be recovered at his expense. That was a fun day.

I guess that was a long time ago. Fines these days are indeed income-related.

[olduser]

I filled it in with a bias toward correction for first offence rather than fines.
And trying to point out that laws in general are there to protect society, and not for revenge, under the influence of the media we are dragging the law more, and more into the revenge area.

I have never met a driver who had said, "I think I'll go out and kill someone", yes, I have seen many drivers who were at great risk of killing themselves, and others but this is out of ignorance, and lack of enforcement of the laws.
I'm not saying it is the police's fault, governments make laws without thinking about how to enforce them, we need enough well trained police to do so.

[NMNeil]

Drunk driving first offence; hefty fine and a short ban (we all make mistakes)
Drunk driving second offence; no fine but the car is confiscated and crushed (not the drivers car?, then the driver has some explaining to do to the owner.)

Loud exhaust due to tampering; 500 quid fine which will be reduced to nothing provided the exhaust is fixed withing say, 14 days and it's been checked, along with a full pseudo MOT by the police.

Just a couple of top of the head suggestions.

[Rolebama]

We do have Rectification Notices. A friend borrowed my car to drive to Hayling Island. Whilst there, he ran off the road damaging the exhaust. I had to get the exhaust fixed and get an MOT Test, even though the car was not 3yrs old, then show the RN and the MOT at my local Police Station. The reason I paid was that he couldn't afford to get his own car fixed in the first place.

[NMNeil]

We have a real problem here with uninsured drivers, and Aurora in Colorado has finally cracked down on it.
https://www.9news.com/article/news/c...5-434a464cd0df

[Rolebama]

All we have is the occasional news item saying that X amount of cars have no insurance, tax or MOT. Usually include a snippet of an interview with a Govt spokesman of some kind, but never any mention of what's being done about it.

[olduser]

I think ANPR is assisting the police in their efforts but the issue is complicated by selling insurance on monthly payments without the clients understanding their insurance will lapse when the last payment is used. (in effect they have a monthly insurance)

Our drive for easy payment also adds the problem, in the past we would get reminders our insurance was running out, something that is once a year needs a reminder.

[Rolebama]

I believe that today, where insurance, MOT (where relevant) and tax are on computer databases, should be dealt with the same was TV Licensing. You have a registered car, and if the relevant computer says the paperwork doesn't tally, you get a visit where you have to prove the car is not on the road. A Govt dept could be set to do this, and it should be self-funding, as well as reducing Benefit payments. Same as DoE and MSC, Highways Agency etc, or whatever they are called nowadays.

[Beelzebub]

Originally Posted by Rolebama

I believe that today, where insurance, MOT (where relevant) and tax are on computer databases, should be dealt with the same was TV Licensing. You have a registered car, and if the relevant computer says the paperwork doesn't tally, you get a visit where you have to prove the car is not on the road. A Govt dept could be set to do this, and it should be self-funding, as well as reducing Benefit payments. Same as DoE and MSC, Highways Agency etc, or whatever they are called nowadays.

At present, if the DVLA computer says things don't tally, then you'll automatically get a reminder letter and, in some cases (e.g. lapsed tax) an out-of-court settlement offer. Much more cost-effective than a home visit.

BTW proving the car is off the road doesn't get you off the hook for tax, insurance or MOT, unless you've declared it SORN, in which case the paperwork would be in order and the computer wouldn't flag up a problem.