Thread: Driver Testing

Originally Posted by Crackerjack

Has anyone thought of the other side of the coin, where there are now so many laws about driving that it has turned into a situation where one can never keep up, what happened to common sense?

Not just driving - there are far too many laws about everything! Unfortunately a large majority of parliamentarians are trained lawyers, trained to see the law as the solution to every problem. In my view, this is rarely the case, and the result is that almost everyone breaks some law they have never heard of or thought about virtually every day - and since there is no possibility of enforcing 90% of laws effectively, it does tend to bring the the law as a whole into disrepute.

John

Probably relevant to this discussion - just heard a news item. Yesterday a car hit five thirteen year old boys in a school zone, demolished a fence and then drove off.

Last night a 21 year old P plate driver was arrested and charged with a number of offences, including failing to stop after an accident and driving with smooth tyres. Now this is a driver who passed a test within the previous few years, and undoubtedly knew that he should have stopped, and probably that his tyres were unserviceable (probably why he failed to stop).

Also worth noting that this was in NSW, which has annual roadworthiness tests - this appears to be one of those rare occasions when a vehicle defect has been a major factor in the accident, although I should point out it was not the "cause". The accident was, as with any accident, the result of a chain of factors, removal of any of these would have prevented it from happenning. These include the tyres, the decision to drive with these, the weather, and probably the actual driving decisions.

John

There are, so we are told a lot of unlicenced drivers and drivers whose licences have been suspended or cancelled driving around out there. No amount of extra testing or education will make any difference to these. They simply wont be involved and will continue on as they are.

In the early 1970's Queensland had laws that required a driver caught driving whilst suspended or cancelled be sent to gaol. This had to be changed after a few years. There were too many of them and they were filling the gaols.

A fair while ago a friend I have known since high school told me he had to go for a driver's licence test. Turns out he had been cancelled for drink driving 14 years before. At the conclusion of the period of cancellation then, one had to be retested to recover one's licence. He told me the treatment he received at the testing centre was demeaning and embarassing, & the testing officer failed him. He said it was apparent from the start that the guy had no intention of passing him. So, he did not bother returning for another test.

I asked how he managed to drive for 14 years without a licence. His reply was that you drive very, very, carefully. It was the start of the RBT squads that convinced him he should get a licence.

And there's the case, a few years back, of the young fellow who did a Q-Ride course, enabling him to skip the manditory 12 month 250 cc limit, being killed in a high speed incident with less than 80 km on his new machine. He died within an hour of gaining his licence.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Not just driving - there are far too many laws about everything! Unfortunately a large majority of parliamentarians are trained lawyers, trained to see the law as the solution to every problem. In my view, this is rarely the case, and the result is that almost everyone breaks some law they have never heard of or thought about virtually every day - and since there is no possibility of enforcing 90% of laws effectively, it does tend to bring the the law as a whole into disrepute.

John

This is exactly what has happened in the UK, the last Labour Government passed over 2000 laws in 10 years, some of them are motoring laws, but most people don't know what these laws are as they are poorly publicized. how is the ordinary motorist meant to keep up? its just giving the opportunity for the authorities to issue more on the spot fines for breaking laws we have never heard of, are not safety related or in any way related to common sense.
Good example, we have marked boxes in the street to park in, they are too small for some cars and people have been fined for having their wheels outside the box when the passenger side wheels are hard against the kerb.

Originally Posted by Crackerjack

Good example, we have marked boxes in the street to park in, they are too small for some cars and people have been fined for having their wheels outside the box when the passenger side wheels are hard against the kerb.

And you can guarantee that the same enforcement officer (if they had the power) would issue an infringement notice if the driver had sat the passenger side wheels up on the kerb in order to "stay inside the lines".

We all should know that it's illegal to park on a footpath, but we should be able to expect some degree of common sense in the enforcement. I've been booked for parking with wheels on the kerb where the road was not wide enough to safely accomodate three vehicles (one parked, two passing) and yet there was 3-4 metres between the kerb and front fence of the property I was parked in front of.

Going back to earlier comments in this thread - I knew that what I was doing was 'technically' illegal, but I did it anyway. I did it because I thought that I was acting in the interests of publice safety by not blocking the road - obviously the issuing officer did not agree!

BTW, I paid the fine, rather than contesting it, as I knew that 'technically' I was in the wrong - despite the fact that had common sense been allowed to prevail then either the fine would be waived or, in this instance the more sensible of the two options, that section of the road would be marked as "No Parking". (Forgive my cynicism, but I have a suspicion that there is a not insignificant amount of revenue earned from parking fines on this short stretch of street...)

Originally Posted by Jonno_G

We all should know that it's illegal to park on a footpath, but we should be able to expect some degree of common sense in the enforcement.

(Forgive my cynicism, but I have a suspicion that there is a not insignificant amount of revenue earned from parking fines on this short stretch of street...)

Common sense in ticket issuing, you must be kidding!

Cynicism forgiven, it is common practice in some areas of London to ticket perfectly legally parked cars to keep up the "quota" and therefore the revenue stream. The authorities do this as they know the majority will pay to avoid the massive inconvenience of contesting and the usual threats from city hall, even though they (city hall) are in the wrong.

Always contest a ticket if you think its wrong, many councils have been forced to publicly state that they are forced to refund up to 30% of their parking tickets because they weren't legally issued.

This is how confusing traffic laws can be, and a lot of it is to do with revenue.

Unless it became politically fashionable I'm not sure that it would happen.

I think it is a good idea though, not just every 10 years but after licence suspensions also.