Motorists will become victims of summary justice if the government fails to build in safeguards when on-the-spot fines for careless and inconsiderate driving are introduced, the AA has warned.
Government wants to make it easier for the Police to prosecute offences like lane-hogging and under-taking, but has yet to say how it will enforce the law.
‘We want fines to depend on the offence being seen by a Police officer. They can’t just be slapped on a driver because a Police officer has turned up at an incident and the other driver is shouting more loudly,’ says the AA’s head of road safety Andrew Howard.
Another fear is that roadside cameras will be used to launch thousands of prosecutions, with drivers only finding out when a fine appears in the post.
‘It’s no good drivers suddenly being asked to justify what happened on a roundabout somewhere, weeks after the event,’ says the AA.
One solution would be for drivers only to be prosecuted when caught on-camera by a patrol car, stopped and shown the evidence before being given the option of taking three points and a fixed-penalty on-the-spot.
‘The government wants to save the time and cost of amassing the evidence and arranging a court hearing with all the trouble of getting witnesses together in court at the same time,’ says the AA.
The consultation ends on September 5th.
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Aggressive undertaking is
Aggressive undertaking is already outlawed so it's nice to some form of attempt to actually police it. However as Peter suggests it's not easy to create a fair method of achieving it.
While I disagree with the concept of on-the-spot fines maybe it's what's needed to shock lazy inconsiderate drivers into using the our roads with us rather for purely their own benefit.
I wonder.
The removal of lane-hogs should see a significant reduction in out-side lane queues, therefore fewer high-speed (70mph+) motorway accidents, more efficient and better scaling road use. Probably better driver-to-driver relations, certainly more focussed drivers (having to change lanes) and happily no undertaking.
All that leads to potentially huge cost savings - usually to the tax payer. Oh and by proxy has the potential to pay for the system required to enforce it.
Could it be lane-hoggers do more to stem the flow of the countries vital arteries than the occasional truck-on-truck overtake on a dual carriageway?
Does anyone know if the Office of National Statistics or a similar body has published figures to examine the arguements more thoroughly?
Don't worry
When was the last time you saw a police patrol car on the motorway?
Undertaking
Near empty motorway, Datsun Qashcow is doing 60mph in the outside lane (of 2 here...), after following for a few miles (but without tailgating), undertake is conducted safely and briskly, I don't see the issue.
Dangerous tailgating now is another issue, heavy traffic on the inside lane and keeping up with traffic on the outside lane (2 lanes again), there is no point in driving so close that numberplate / headlights are not visible.