Back in June we highlighted the controversial conclusion of a report requested by the former Secretary of State for Transport into drink driving laws. Sir Peter North recommended that the current prescribed blood alcohol limit of 80mg of alcohol per 100ml be reduced to 50mg. He said there was evidence “that the public mood is supportive of the current limit being reduced” and that potentially hundreds of lives could be saved. He also said lowering the limit to this degree would not affect the driver who decides to have a drink to accompany their pub meal, or have a glass of wine or a pint of beer and then be concerned that they were in danger of breaking the law.
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There can’t be many people that were sad to hear a ban on wheel clamping will be introduced shortly. It will only apply on private land, but proponents are celebrating the fact that “the menace of rogue, private sector wheel-clampers”, as Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone describes them, will finally be dealt a severe blow.
It takes very little to sympathise with the misery experienced by scores of motorists at the hands of unscrupulous firms that have been given carte blanche to apply almost any figure they like to release a clamp. However, there is a sneaky suspicion here that the baby is being thrown out with the bathwater. We can all be sidetracked during the media’s silly season by tales of 30-hour sit-ins by drivers unwilling to pay exorbitant fees to thick-necked men wielding clamps. But between the private-land-nabbing, free-to-park-anywhere mentality on one side and spiralling numbers of unregulated clamping firms on the other is an ocean of sensible approaches, sanctions and regulation.
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Like them or not, evidence shows speed cameras work. But with police forces and local authorities now figuring out what will survive funding cuts, the Gatso’s grip on our roads has become an easy target.
Politically this is dangerous territory; campaign groups point to the statistics showing unequivocally that cameras reduce accidents.
They also raise money too, but only for central government. The cost of operating speed cameras falls to councils, which raises the question why the entire scheme is not simply ring-fenced.
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Q. Which of these is a defence to the offence of ‘driving without insurance’?
a) The fact that your car insurance company usually automatically renews your insurance but didn’t on this occasion.
b) Saying you didn’t receive a notice requiring you to renew your insurance.
c) Being told by the owner of another vehicle that you could drive that vehicle and would be insured.
d) Arranging to set up a direct debit for insurance over the phone but subsequently finding out that no payment is taken.
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The Equality Act comes into force in October and will stop employers asking job applicants about their pre-employment health other than in limited circumstances. At present, the only real guidance is that such questions will be allowed to check that an applicant can perform an “intrinsic function” of the job, such as heavy lifting. It is unclear whether those “limited circumstances” will include the right for transport businesses to probe applicant drivers about whether their health is of any particular standard. This current lack of guidance also extends to asking applicant HGV drivers whether they are medically certified to carry out the role. Perhaps proof of a valid licence in such circumstances will satisfy transport businesses without the need for further questions.
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As specialist motoring and transport solicitors we regularly represent drivers who for a number of reasons are about to approach the ’12 penalty point milestone’. The term used for such drivers by those in the business is a “totter”. This is because upon reaching 12 relevant penalty points a driver must be disqualified for a minimum of 6 months under the totting up provisions currently found in the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988.
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