For some time I've been of the opinion that UK drivers are paranoid, claiming persecution by all and sundry (both here and overseas) in the form of unfair stealth taxes, speed cameras, parking fines etc. etc.
I read yesterday however that a bill intended to deal with the miscreations of foreign drivers in the UK had run out of time and, to cap it all, a leading car magazine has demonstrated how drivers of foreign registered vehicles are effectively above the law in many respects, there being virtually no enforcement action pursued by the authorities here. Easier money to be made here I suppose!
Perhaps driver attitudes here aren't paranoid after all.
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Paranoid?
Who told you that?
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VM - I'm not paranoid I just know they're out to get me!
I was at a mate's reading the paper (can't remember which one but it wasn't a good one) and it had a double page spread over a French plated Renault 5 driving through bus lane cameras, parking on double yellows etc. etc. For the parking issues it got tickets but they were never follwed up.
I'm afraid I didn't finish the article. The introduction of scalding hot coffee into my lap put an end to my read rather prematurely.
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Adam
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You'd be paranoid too, if everyone was out to get you.
;-)
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Have a friend from Guernsey who regularly drives his car in the UK - he's got parking fines, been flashed by speed camera's etc etc but has never been chased up on these...
There was an article somewhere about why they don't prosecute, and it basically comes down to cost. When the collection agency etc ask a foreign country for information on one of its citizens, they charge an exorbitent amount (normally a great deal more than the fine), so it doesn't make financial sense.
We should do what they do abroad and do on the spot fines for foreign drivers who break the traffic laws. (maybe!)
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Interesting Chris.
It strikes me that so far as speed cameras and road safety issues are concerned, if the official argument is that enforcement is about creating a credible deterrent as opposed to raising revenue then anyone who offends should be pursued by our authorities even if the outcomes aren't always successful. Given this recent report, I wonder how many more people are going to buy/register cheap cars overseas just to evade prosecution here.
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Have thought about it myself - registering a car abroad to avoid any unfortunate endorsements etc. I don't drive like a lunatic and (touchwood) have never been caught speeding (obviously I stick to the speed limit all the time).
I find the times I am most likely to be caught on a camera etc, is when I am somewhere I don't know - and am generally more concerned with trying not to get lost than keeping an eye on my speedo - no excuse, but it's these times where you're doing things on autopilot that you're most likely to get caught, rather than intentionally breaking the speed limit.
I'm sure I'll get a response from one of the perfect drivers out there who concentrate 100% all the time, have never had any points in 40 years of driving and are a good friend of almighty god, but I think there must be a lot of people who have points that they got purely from a moment or two's lapse in concentration.
Sorry, went off topic a bit there, but just hate this constant persecution of the motorist.
Yes I am paranoid!!!!
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Well, when I was a yoof I had a quite remarkable number of endorsements and points - for all the usual hooligan type approach to motoring offences.
But I haven't ever been through a camera unwittingly other than when I was being daft. A couple of times I have floated off into my own little world and unthinkingly went through [or almost] one too fast, but that's about it.
If I'm I an area I don't know I think its even less likely that I would go through a camera by mistake since I am paying more attention to the limits, junctions, scenery, pedestrians than I normally would - simply because I don't know the area.
I would have thought the most likely place to get caught, would be the extremely familiar areas where lack of concentration (familiarity breeds etc. etc. ) is more likely.
I am sure that there are people who've got caught through a momentary lapse in concentration. And we all do it. However, it being a momentary lapse, or the fact that we all do it, doesn't really excuse it. It could have been somehting worse than a camera that we didn't see.
The speed limits really annoy me though. There are an increasing number of ridiculous ones. Evrybody has got the wrong approach to speed limits. The bunch of clowns who seem largely responsible for setting them clearly have absolutely no idea what they are doing at all other than a notion held by the intellectually limited that slower is always bettter.
Sadly, most drivers don't really seem to get the point either. A speed limit is just that, a limit. Its not a minimum, or a target. Why is it that people are capable of deciding that a sunny day means you might be ok going faster than the limit, but they really can't cope with the notion that a wet day means you perhaps should be going slower ? Everybody seems to state that there are times when its ok to exceed the speed limit, but never seems to acknowledge that there are times when the limit is too fast.
And please stop trotting out this tired old chestnut about being unable to look at the road and your speedo. If you are a little incapable, then drive at 37 instead of spot on 40 to give yourself some space, and if you can't even cope with doing that you really shouldn't be in a car.
Drivers should be paranoid. Because as a race they are damned near as incompetent as the people setting the rules of the road.
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Bingo, we have a winner.
It's not that I'm incapable of looking at the speedo, it's just further back in my mind - however, as I said,
I never speed in built areas, ever. After narrowly missing a small child who ran into the road a couple of years back I am ultra conscious in areas 40 or below.
I often drive quicker than the motorway speed limit when I get the chance, mainly because I get so fed up sitting in traffic all the time. My car trip computer for my last 300 miles shows me at an average speed of 12mph!! Again I'm sure I'll have someone preaching to me about this.
It's easy to take the moral high ground and pretend you're the best and safest driver the world has ever seen, but you're probably just kidding yourself.
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>>It's easy to take the moral high ground and pretend ...blah blah blah
I trust that your ability to drive safely significantly exceeds that of your ability to read accurately.
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LOL
Me? Oh, I've been paranoid for years!
ps that doesn't mean Lots of Love Patently.
Seriously though, why is that other countries seem to be able to extract money from the owners of foreign vehicles when we can't? When working in the oil industry in Turkey, Tunisia and the UAE years ago, our drivers were frequently stopped for all sorts of (mainly trivial) reasons and the inevitable outcome was an on the spot fine and a whole load of grief.
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>>demonstrated how drivers of foreign registered vehicles are effectively above the law in many respects, there being virtually no enforcement action pursued by the authorities here.
Pretty much the same for me in any of the other countries I drive in.
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Hmm, I think the argument about on the spot fines for foreigners won't work in the UK because in order to issue on the spot fines, first you have to stop the vehicle and extract the fine from the driver.
Speed cameras can't do that. It needs real traffic police and although I drive 30k miles ayear I very rarely see one.
Should traffic police be put on the endagered species list?
Joking aside it boils down to making enforcement less cost effective so why bother when there are easier pickings.
Oh BTW, you'd be paranoid too if everyone was following YOU!
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The time has come to introduce variable speed limits dependent on road and weather conditions. I know the system on the M25 etc. but they are fairly crude. The technology exists to enable limits to be varied more flexibly and universally. Not a hope in hell I know. Nice thought though.
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Yup the system on the M25 is very crude.
How I love braking for a camera when the overhead sign says 40 but the road is completely clear except for the guy now up my chuff because he can't work out why I'm breaking on a clear stretch of road. What fun we have. Now you want it on all roads?
Gotta get me one of them foreign registered cars...
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The time has come to introduce variable speed limits dependent on road and weather conditions.
The backroom has a steady stream of postings from drivers who claim that it's beyond their ability to adhere to a fixed limit, even on roads they know well. I fear that varying the limits might leave the poor dears terminally confused :(
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Paranoid, I'm not saying anything. Someone might be watching, or listening, or have tapped into the phone line.
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Are there any cheap foriegn 'plates on E-Bay?
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