L
Lincsbodger
Now, lets put this in perspective, because as it so happens, In another incarnation I give legal advice to people for alleged speeding offences.
First of all, lets demolish the myth that the speeding laws are about road safety. This is merely the excuse used to justify the entire legislation. Speed Cameras are a money making scheme, and nothing else, and as such, bring road safety into disrepute and undermine the whole concept.
For a start, even by the governments own figures, excessive speed was only a contributing factor in 16% of all accidents. By far and away the biggest factor was driver error. SO we would be better training driver rather than ploughing money into speed traps, except of course, the government makes £400M a year from them.
Then you have the extraordinary lengths the government has gone to to keep the money machine rolling consider the following:
1. The government is reducing legal aid for people specifically accused under the Road Traffic Act to discourage people from challenging tickets in court. They want people just to roll over and take the 3 points and £60 without a fight, so by removing legal aid you either admit guilt when you may well be innocent, of shell out £2k - £4k to prove your innocent. That is outrageous!!
2. The S.172 notice is the only legislation that FORCES you to incriminate yourself whilst NOT UNDER CAUTION. It makes you admit you were driving under threat of 6 points and £1000 fine. Furthermore, since it is effectively a FORCED confession, its shouldnt be admissible because when you fill one in, you have not been cautioned under PACE. This has been argued in the European Court, but they refused to support the point because it woudl have meant refunding Billions of pounds in fines since 1982 and paying compensation the thousands of motorists who lost there jobs because of points awarded. It violates your human rights of protection from self incrimination.
And dont think the Police play fair here, either. Ive seen dozens and dozens of cases where the police simply lie, fabricate evidence, lose evidence, and even illegally back date papers or collude with other officers to ensure the false accusations stick. We have seen multiple cases which have been withdrawn when they are challenged because of flaws in the operation of the equipment, flaws in the evidence, and flaws in the statements and the police do not want the shortcomings of the system exposed. Make no mistake, any lie is ok as long as it keeps the money machine rolling. Any deception is ok, and its wrong , because the law should apply equally to us and the police, and it doesnt, the police see ignoring the law as a perk of the job
Believe me, when you have seen as many cases as I have, you know its a money scam. If it is road safety, why are more than 20% of cameras placed on long straight roads where there has been no accidents for 3 years? - because they know people will speed on long straights!! Weve seen people prosecuted for doing 85 on a deserted motorway at 4 AM with no other vehicle for miles - what the hell has that got to do with road safety???
The law is so flawed that in fact the ONLY evidence to convict you of speeding is a copper stops you and says '"I have formed the opinion you were speeding",. and a second copper says "i agree, i also have formed the opinion you were speeding". And they have even tried that one, if they need some convictions for the targets, they can pick on YOU no matter how law abiding you are, its nothing to do with if you actually were speeding!! And if you think the police dont ever lie, I suggest you go and have a chat with the Menedez family.
Nope sorry, its a scam, and a very large one, and it sucks in perfectly law abiding people and needlessly criminalises the population.
First of all, lets demolish the myth that the speeding laws are about road safety. This is merely the excuse used to justify the entire legislation. Speed Cameras are a money making scheme, and nothing else, and as such, bring road safety into disrepute and undermine the whole concept.
For a start, even by the governments own figures, excessive speed was only a contributing factor in 16% of all accidents. By far and away the biggest factor was driver error. SO we would be better training driver rather than ploughing money into speed traps, except of course, the government makes £400M a year from them.
Then you have the extraordinary lengths the government has gone to to keep the money machine rolling consider the following:
1. The government is reducing legal aid for people specifically accused under the Road Traffic Act to discourage people from challenging tickets in court. They want people just to roll over and take the 3 points and £60 without a fight, so by removing legal aid you either admit guilt when you may well be innocent, of shell out £2k - £4k to prove your innocent. That is outrageous!!
2. The S.172 notice is the only legislation that FORCES you to incriminate yourself whilst NOT UNDER CAUTION. It makes you admit you were driving under threat of 6 points and £1000 fine. Furthermore, since it is effectively a FORCED confession, its shouldnt be admissible because when you fill one in, you have not been cautioned under PACE. This has been argued in the European Court, but they refused to support the point because it woudl have meant refunding Billions of pounds in fines since 1982 and paying compensation the thousands of motorists who lost there jobs because of points awarded. It violates your human rights of protection from self incrimination.
And dont think the Police play fair here, either. Ive seen dozens and dozens of cases where the police simply lie, fabricate evidence, lose evidence, and even illegally back date papers or collude with other officers to ensure the false accusations stick. We have seen multiple cases which have been withdrawn when they are challenged because of flaws in the operation of the equipment, flaws in the evidence, and flaws in the statements and the police do not want the shortcomings of the system exposed. Make no mistake, any lie is ok as long as it keeps the money machine rolling. Any deception is ok, and its wrong , because the law should apply equally to us and the police, and it doesnt, the police see ignoring the law as a perk of the job
Believe me, when you have seen as many cases as I have, you know its a money scam. If it is road safety, why are more than 20% of cameras placed on long straight roads where there has been no accidents for 3 years? - because they know people will speed on long straights!! Weve seen people prosecuted for doing 85 on a deserted motorway at 4 AM with no other vehicle for miles - what the hell has that got to do with road safety???
The law is so flawed that in fact the ONLY evidence to convict you of speeding is a copper stops you and says '"I have formed the opinion you were speeding",. and a second copper says "i agree, i also have formed the opinion you were speeding". And they have even tried that one, if they need some convictions for the targets, they can pick on YOU no matter how law abiding you are, its nothing to do with if you actually were speeding!! And if you think the police dont ever lie, I suggest you go and have a chat with the Menedez family.
Nope sorry, its a scam, and a very large one, and it sucks in perfectly law abiding people and needlessly criminalises the population.
