Spot fines for driving with a mobile
Dec. 2nd, 2003 01:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sobriqueLaws, crimes and other rants. Oh and a test to see if lj-cut actually works.... (cos it doesn't seem to.)
For those who don't know, as of Dec 1st, 2003, it became illegal to use a mobile whilst driving in the UK. Actually, strictly speaking the law says 'holding a handset'.
So if you're caught, the police can pull you over, and give you a 'spot fine' of £60, and 3 penalty points on your license.
Problem is, is this actually going to make any difference? We have roads crawling with speed cameras, and people still speed when it suits them.
All it's going to mean, is more revenue for the Government, or councils (whoever it goes to) and more police time wasted victimising motorists rather than going after real criminals.
I seem to recall a statistic that says that approx 90% of burglars go uncaught. And a semi-joke a while back that goes something like this:
Man calls 999: "Please send a police car quick, someone's robbing my shed."
Police: "There are no units currently available, however one will be despatched as soon as possible."
Brief wait.
Man calls police again: "Don't worry about sending out the squad car, I've shot them with my gun."
ARV rapidly arrives, to find two crooks loading a van with stuff from this guy's shed. They are promptly arrested.
Police officer: "I thought you said you'd shot them?"
Man: "I thought you said there were no units available?"
OK, I know there's about 3000 deaths a year on the road. Given that there's also a total of 50million cars in the UK, that's still pretty long odds.
Our legal system is a farce. It just doesn't work. Crimes are not prevented, because the criminal fears the punishment. Typically, they believe that they won't get caught anyway. (And they're more or less right).
I don't murder people (but believe me, there's some...), not because I could go to jail, but because I believe it's wrong. You know, that code of morality that I was brought up with. Nothing to do with whether the police are going to catch me, or send me to jail.
I also speed from time to time (typically, motorways and dual carriageways). I don't believe, that provided conditions are right, that this is wrong. Again, thoughts of getting caught are more or less ... well if they do, I knew the consequences.
No prevention by the law.
What needs to change is not crime detection, and penalisation. Those are just gimmicks. Often punishments for children in schools (sent out of class to stand in the hall) are as effective.
The problem is that people don't believe a thing is wrong. The way to resolve this is to make some of these millions of parents content to fob their little brat off onto teachers, schools, the government, or anything other than _take responsibility_ for them, SORT IT OUT.
And spend money, not on improving security, putting up cameras, ticketing motorists. That's not the way it works. They way to stop crimes being commited is to take anti-social people, and integrate them with their community.
It's very rare that crimes are committed against people you know (and don't hate for being arseholes).
It'll never happen though. This country lives in fear of the people they don't know. They shut doors, build walls, and complain when they are wronged. They don't realise that the solution is tolerance and compassion at an _early_ age. And, this is mostly the 'fault' of parents. I have no doubt that the majority of parents are fine moral and dedicated.
I also have no doubt, that the anti-social types that go on to be career criminals, and vandalise, and intimidate grew up that way, and were ignored or otherwise mistreated by their parents.
And then, it's just too late. They fear no punishment, since a few years in prison is just that. They do not respect any authority. "Why should they?". And so they're the social equivalent of a tornado. Whirling around, breaking and disrupting all around them.
For those who don't know, as of Dec 1st, 2003, it became illegal to use a mobile whilst driving in the UK. Actually, strictly speaking the law says 'holding a handset'.
So if you're caught, the police can pull you over, and give you a 'spot fine' of £60, and 3 penalty points on your license.
Problem is, is this actually going to make any difference? We have roads crawling with speed cameras, and people still speed when it suits them.
All it's going to mean, is more revenue for the Government, or councils (whoever it goes to) and more police time wasted victimising motorists rather than going after real criminals.
I seem to recall a statistic that says that approx 90% of burglars go uncaught. And a semi-joke a while back that goes something like this:
Man calls 999: "Please send a police car quick, someone's robbing my shed."
Police: "There are no units currently available, however one will be despatched as soon as possible."
Brief wait.
Man calls police again: "Don't worry about sending out the squad car, I've shot them with my gun."
ARV rapidly arrives, to find two crooks loading a van with stuff from this guy's shed. They are promptly arrested.
Police officer: "I thought you said you'd shot them?"
Man: "I thought you said there were no units available?"
OK, I know there's about 3000 deaths a year on the road. Given that there's also a total of 50million cars in the UK, that's still pretty long odds.
Our legal system is a farce. It just doesn't work. Crimes are not prevented, because the criminal fears the punishment. Typically, they believe that they won't get caught anyway. (And they're more or less right).
I don't murder people (but believe me, there's some...), not because I could go to jail, but because I believe it's wrong. You know, that code of morality that I was brought up with. Nothing to do with whether the police are going to catch me, or send me to jail.
I also speed from time to time (typically, motorways and dual carriageways). I don't believe, that provided conditions are right, that this is wrong. Again, thoughts of getting caught are more or less ... well if they do, I knew the consequences.
No prevention by the law.
What needs to change is not crime detection, and penalisation. Those are just gimmicks. Often punishments for children in schools (sent out of class to stand in the hall) are as effective.
The problem is that people don't believe a thing is wrong. The way to resolve this is to make some of these millions of parents content to fob their little brat off onto teachers, schools, the government, or anything other than _take responsibility_ for them, SORT IT OUT.
And spend money, not on improving security, putting up cameras, ticketing motorists. That's not the way it works. They way to stop crimes being commited is to take anti-social people, and integrate them with their community.
It's very rare that crimes are committed against people you know (and don't hate for being arseholes).
It'll never happen though. This country lives in fear of the people they don't know. They shut doors, build walls, and complain when they are wronged. They don't realise that the solution is tolerance and compassion at an _early_ age. And, this is mostly the 'fault' of parents. I have no doubt that the majority of parents are fine moral and dedicated.
I also have no doubt, that the anti-social types that go on to be career criminals, and vandalise, and intimidate grew up that way, and were ignored or otherwise mistreated by their parents.
And then, it's just too late. They fear no punishment, since a few years in prison is just that. They do not respect any authority. "Why should they?". And so they're the social equivalent of a tornado. Whirling around, breaking and disrupting all around them.
