Rioja

What do you consider to be the worst traffic offences; those worthy of fines, points, etc.

Do you consider 40mph in a 30mph limit, or 100mph in a 70mph the worst?
What about seat belts? We all speed (generalised sweeping statement!) because we don't think we're going to crash, yet we all wear set belts because we might crash!? do we consider the not wearing of a worse offence than speeding?
Using a mobile phone? is this thought of as being a worse offence than speeding or not wearing a seat belt?

Any others that we think are 'minor' offences that are over-punished, or 'major' offences that are under-punished; drink driving for example: which side does that fall on?

OllyK

The biggest issue I have is with the attempt to blanket apply a punishment with no element of discretion or taking account of the circumstances / conditions.

At the end of the day - just about any driving offense falls under driving without due care, or driving in a manner inappropriate for the conditions, beyond that it's a case of degree. To put that in context, what may not be inherently dangerous on a deserted motorway at 3am could easily be passing a school at peak time.

Angry

Drink driving is the most dangerous in my mind, as it is driving is one of the most dangerous things people(22 million of us) do day to day, its basically operating heavy machinery after all.

OllyK

Better add drugs to that or just generalise as driving under the influence. Driving while tired is almost as bad, don't have the hyper confidence issue though.

Angry

Agree'd, driving in an unfit state then to cover drink, drugs and tiredness.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Observation/awareness - Due Care and Attention along with drink/drug/tired driving would be top of my list.

That would include: Failure to adjust speed for conditions (i.e traffic, rain, cold weather etc.). Driving too close to the car infront, Braking too late and failure to aticipate the conditions ahead (i.e stationary traffic 10 cars ahead). Mobile phones (especially texting ) Failure to "make good progress" - i.e 40mph in a modern car for no reason on a national speed limit main truck road with no hazards or vehicle limitations) - or Obstruction of traffic flow (as previous + middle lane/outside hogging + parking opposite junctions etc. ). Incorrectly adjusted mirrors and bad seating positions (too close to the steering wheel increases blindspots in mirrors).

I'd probably put speeding after that little lot Focusing on speed in residential, town/city centres and outside schools during busy periods (kicking out time at pubs or schoold etcs. So 40 in a 30 would be a very heavy punishment, but 100 on an empty dry motorway in daylight at 5:00am would be just a warning.

Strange how our politcal and police peers seem to lack the above common sense- amazing what money can do

ru'

...driving in an unfit state then to cover drink, drugs, tiredness, age, sex, nationality, religion, mental capacity...

lightning101

Heroin and cocaine are the worst traffic offences, but customs are 'wising up'

EBRWRX

Allowing women to drive. No excuse for it at all

OllyK

Oh you are so wrong, there is one excellent caveat for women driving:
When they are driving you back from a night on the beers!!

lightning101

Adidas

1) Drink/drug driving.

2) No insurance, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

3) Noisey exhaust

vindaloo

1. Hit and run, leaving the scene of an accident wher ethere are likely to be injuries.
2. Driving with no insurance.
3. Joyriding or (driving it like you stole it) in urban ares.

J.

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

Drunk Driving
Leaving the scene of an accident
Driving under the influance of drugs
Driving up someone's chuff
All but the last one should carry a prison sentence and mad too take a retest.
Cheers
Colin

EBRWRX

Whoops, how right you are. I stand corrected.

richs2891

Interesting how the general feeling of what are the worse traffic offences seems to be very different than the current feelings of the govement re worse traffic offences, which seems to be speeding.
Oh but hang on none of the above managed to put millions upon millions of pounds into the goverment coffers !
Nice to see profit above genuine safety !
Richard

carl

Interesting that the blanket application of a punishment for drink driving is acceptable to the public (including most people on here) whereas the blanket application of a punishment for exceeding the speed limit isn't.

Fact is, a lot of people who are marginally "over the limit" for drink driving may be in a better state than someone who's tired, feeling ill, or just crap at driving. In the same way that someone who's marginally over the speed limit may be driving more safely than some numpty driving under the speed limit.

It is clealy the government's goal to make speeding as socially unacceptable as drink driving, and they're going about it in the same way.

pete1977

I think people with loud exhausts,those dump valve thingamies,gold wheels and sonic blue paintjobs should all be fed to the lions!Damn kids!

Skitz

Speed Cameras a way of reducing crime stats and increasing revinue.. Now thats criminal

Leslie

Spy cameras all over the country is an offence against humanity!

Any offence which involves unfair risks towards other road users or people in general are bad and the degree depends on the size of the risk involved.

Any situation where the driver is not in control of his faculties due to his own actions should be dealt with extremely severely.

Speed may not necessarily cause more accidents than anything else but when it does happen the resulting damage will be worse if the speed is higher.

I think the lesson is to enjoy driving by all means but think of others while you are doing it.

Les

2000TLondon

One thing that I think gets overlooked as being an offense and should incur somesort of fine, is people who take up two residents / metered bays when parking, you know, park three feet in from the back of the space. This is obviously quite petty, but its early on a Sunday, and living in central London, this really, really gets to me.

Less petty - No excuse for drink driving or speeding in residential areas.

2000TLondon

Also, there is a spy camera (CCTV) near my home, just installed when I moved in. Tiny little round thing on a lamppost. It's opposite a banned right turn, but there is no obvious reason not to be able to turn right, plenty of room, no crossings etc. There were banned turn signs on the junction, but it is an odd junction, very busy with pedestrians, and the signs were set back on buildings and very old. Anyway, beofre I realised the turn was banned, I must have turned there 15 to 20 times in my first few weeks in the area. I got three fines of £100 (£50 with discount) for doing this from the CCTV camera operated live by a civil servant to supposedly cut crime. Stroy in Sun about this camera last week, has netted several hundred grand from this one banned turning alone in a mtter of months.

Just last night I was kept awake by a group of trust fund teenagers running around screaming and shouting for an hour and a half at 2am, I can't bring myself to report the noisy fackers for having a laugh, but I assume the CCTV operator had gone home as there was no traffic around.

Rioja

Cheers all, I raised the question after reading all the posts regarding 'i've been done for speeding', and speeding as less socialy acceptable than drink-driving.

It seems we've all got our own ideas of offences that annoy us, and generally drink-driving is at the top of the list, which I agree with. My personal hate is mobile phone use whilst driving, and why is it always the top-end car owners that do it? you would think that someone driving an 80 grand porsche could afford a bluetooth headset!?

As for speeding being socialy unacceptable?! Nah! it's far to much fun!

Cheers

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Worst offence? Easy!

Driving under the influence of ****e music!!! Some people should be banned from In-car-entertainment.

NS04