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Dorset drivers caught up in safety check Vortex (From Bournemouth Echo)
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Dorset drivers caught up in safety check Vortex
8:27pm Tuesday 18th August 2009
MORE than 100 drivers were issued with fixed penalty tickets in just three days following road safety checks across Dorset.
During Operation Vortex dedicated teams of traffic officers used marked and unmarked cars as well as motorcycles to patrol the county’s roads.
The operation was part of a concerted campaign in the South West to promote road safety and tackle motorists who flout road traffic laws.
The figures are released as Britain’s magistrates said police could not be “relied on” to hand out £60 fixed penalty fines for careless driving because it was a “certainty” that officers would misuse their powers.
Between August 11 and August 13 a total of 134 fixed penalty tickets were issued in Dorset including 55 motorists detected for failing to wear a seat belt and 45 motorists found to be using their mobile phone while at the wheel. Other tickets were issued for a range of motoring offences including speeding and driving without insurance or a valid MOT.
Chief Inspector Bob Nichols said: “The number of drivers caught in just three days is alarming and what is especially worrying is the number of motorists using a mobile when driving or not wearing a seat belt. Even careful drivers can be distracted by a call or text message.
“Offences such as not wearing a seat belt and using a mobile phone while driving can have devastating consequences; at the very least a £60 fine as well as three penalty points for mobile phone offences. I’d urge people to consider whether it’s really worth it.
“We need the support and co-operation of all motorists to help to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads.”
The Magistrates Association this week issued its comments in response to the government’s plans to allow police to issue £60 fixed penalties for careless driving.
Dorset Police said they were in agreement with the comments of Mick Giannasi, Chief Constable of Gwent Police and ACPO lead on Roads Policing.
He said they broadly supported the proposed option of fixed penalty notices for careless driving offences but that education was the key and driver improvement schemes would be used as an alternative to fines and penalty points.
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Your Say YourEcho
karateman1964, Poole says...
8:32pm Tue 18 Aug 09
ferret38, bournemouth says...
8:33pm Tue 18 Aug 09
karateman1964, Poole says...
8:37pm Tue 18 Aug 09
Tautologist, says...
8:38pm Tue 18 Aug 09
Vortex = a whirling mass, especially a whirlpool or whirlwind. (OED)
.
If the word mass was replaced with mess, I would agree with the use of the word vortex in this context.
.
I can just picture all these "whirling" policemen surrounding each car that is stopped !
richw, Bournemouth says...
9:02pm Tue 18 Aug 09
Sadly, though, traffic coppers are not the sharpest tools in the shed..they tend to be power-hungry control-freaks who are too thick to get promotion so they take their frustrations out on their motorist victims by bullying them.
Giving them the right to dish out tickets over 'subjective' matters such as 'careless driving' will lead the average 'fik' copper to say 'u gonna argue wiv me sunshine...eres a ticket to do it wiv'.
cantique, bournemouth says...
9:54pm Tue 18 Aug 09
peterdw777, says...
9:58pm Tue 18 Aug 09
Not wearing a seat belt does not cause accidents. In fact wearing a seat belt causes more internal injuries to the victim in an accident than if he had not been wearing one.
gudmenrmist, wimborne says...
10:07pm Tue 18 Aug 09
PokesdownMark, Bournemouth says...
10:11pm Tue 18 Aug 09
If you use a mobile when driving then you really ought to think along these lines and think hard.
(security word: term-life. spooky!)
djd, bournemouth says...
10:16pm Tue 18 Aug 09
ta2, Bournemouth says...
10:18pm Tue 18 Aug 09
PokesdownMark, Bournemouth says...
10:18pm Tue 18 Aug 09
peterdw777 wrote:Sorry, but that is incorrect.
Offences such as not wearing a seat belt.....devastating consequences".
Not wearing a seat belt does not cause accidents. In fact wearing a seat belt causes more internal injuries to the victim in an accident than if he had not been wearing one.
In all collision scenarios a seat belt will reduce injury. I am prepared to change my mind if you point to a number of convincing, well founded scientific studies. But good luck with that.
Just to add... any car built in recent years (decade) will have crumple zones. So that days where a car would transmit excessive loads through the seat belt anchor points is long gone.
rainbowkisses, Bournemouth says...
10:19pm Tue 18 Aug 09
peterdw777 wrote:Got to disagree with you over this one peter. Without seatbelts, I, and my two daughters, would have been dead four years ago.
Offences such as not wearing a seat belt.....devastating consequences". Not wearing a seat belt does not cause accidents. In fact wearing a seat belt causes more internal injuries to the victim in an accident than if he had not been wearing one.
cooperman, bournemouth says...
10:21pm Tue 18 Aug 09
mikeh2000, Poole says...
10:24pm Tue 18 Aug 09
richw wrote:You know nothing! Traffic officer positions are very sought after, and there's a lot of competition for them. It's not a role you're given because you can't get promotion, far from it!
Dorset plod should get off their high horses over their own (in)competences. OK, plod, dish out tickets like confetti when you see someone using a mobile phone, stopping in a yellow box junction, or ignoring a red light. Either they did it or they didn't. Sadly, though, traffic coppers are not the sharpest tools in the shed..they tend to be power-hungry control-freaks who are too thick to get promotion so they take their frustrations out on their motorist victims by bullying them. Giving them the right to dish out tickets over 'subjective' matters such as 'careless driving' will lead the average 'fik' copper to say 'u gonna argue wiv me sunshine...eres a ticket to do it wiv'.
In Absentia, Bournemouth says...
10:40pm Tue 18 Aug 09
ferret38 wrote:So catching idiots driving whilst using mobile phones is just a money making exercise? Don't be ridiculous.
Yeah Yeah its just a money making event ! Admit it ?
This is the type of traffic policing we should have rather than self perpetuating organisations like the Dorset Safety Camera Partnership.
asj, poole says...
10:50pm Tue 18 Aug 09
Bournemouthstorm, Bournemouth (Town Centre) says...
10:56pm Tue 18 Aug 09
ferret38 wrote:Don't be a plonker. We need more traffic police to get some of the selfish morans off the roads.
Yeah Yeah its just a money making event ! Admit it ?
West Howe Sean, Bournemouth says...
11:16pm Tue 18 Aug 09
Just another case of the Police ripping us off while ignoring violent crime and robbery.
Chris..., says...
11:21pm Tue 18 Aug 09
Bob49, Bournemouth says...
11:31pm Tue 18 Aug 09
Hear hear
Proper crime like murder, nothing less, brutal murder at that. Brutal murder where the victim is not only middle class but photogenic.
The traffic police should be put to driving vans in and out of courts so that outraged folk (many on here) can rightfully bang their fists on the sides of those vans.
Others should be obliged to stroll nonchalantly up and down the High Street whistling Dixon of Dock Street pausing only to help old ladies across the road and dispensing the time in a cheery fashion.
GB1980, Southbourne says...
1:33am Wed 19 Aug 09
Drivers should be competent, and those posing a risk to other road users (regardless of age, race, need to get somewhere, whether or not they have children, etc) should not be on the road unless they can display a proficiency of driving as they did on their driving test; a traffic officer should have good reason to stop and fine a motorist, and ideally have solid evidence to back that up.
On the flip-side in I would not like to see or hear of incidents in England where traffic officers have behaved like those in American films who are out to pocket the fines; "Pardon me sir, you appear to have a tail-light out...... Smash!... That'll be a £20 fine".
gd58, bournemouth says...
2:17am Wed 19 Aug 09
I wonder how many cyclists were fined for no lights, failure to stop at red lights etc.?
EGHH, says...
7:24am Wed 19 Aug 09
pd7, Dorset says...
7:36am Wed 19 Aug 09
Far more effective than some idiot with with a Kodak brownie hidden in a bush.
MandinVerwood, Verwood says...
8:50am Wed 19 Aug 09
What about the cyclists!! Rant - moan - winge!!!
;-)
GB916, christchurch says...
9:22am Wed 19 Aug 09
2 cyclists ignored a red light Boscombe and Christchurch.
met one foreign student cyling down wrong side of road,Cycle lane Old christchurch road
A family of four cycling on pavement
Christchurch
White van person ignored red traffic light Boscombe
2 cars excessive speed Bournemouth
White van person nearly took out a cyclist by driving in the cycle lane Fairmile
6 pedestrians walked into road without even looking first,worst place for this bus interchange Bournemouth Square
And this is just in one 2 hr period,so it shows we all need to be careful and it all people who use the roads or footpaths that dis-obey the highway code.
The above is why we need more police on the streets and be less reliant on speed camera's
rayc, Wimborne says...
11:23am Wed 19 Aug 09
djd, bournemouth says...
12:51pm Wed 19 Aug 09
West Howe Sean wrote:Quite simply, if people wear their seat belts and don't use their mobile phones whilst driving, police could not issue fixed penalty tickets.
So almost half the fixed penalty tickets issued were for not wearing a seat belt - It is more dangerous to go skiing than drive without a seat belt. Just another case of the Police ripping us off while ignoring violent crime and robbery.
Maybe the police could then be better employed on the pistes, ticketing the skiers.
Zzzz, Poole says...
2:27pm Wed 19 Aug 09
PokesdownMark wrote:Anyone who uses a mobile while driving is 'hard of thinking' anyhow. They are not normal but subnormal.
There are not many ways for ordinary folks to end up in prison. Well I say ordinary, but you know what I mean. Very few ways in fact. To lose your liberty. Then your job. Then possibly your spouse. But one way is to use a mobile phone and be involved in a serious accident. Even if its not their fault. Its very very very stupid. Because the consequences can be so bad.
If you use a mobile when driving then you really ought to think along these lines and think hard.
(security word: term-life. spooky!)
The-Bleeding-Obvious, bournemouth says...
6:07pm Wed 19 Aug 09
al exercise by the authorities to show the public that the government is doing something to try and keep death of the road.I wonder if the non-technical jobsworths have consulted a statistician to see if their efforts will save lives? If you do the sums you find 75 million miles are driven for each road death, if every body took their driving test before going to work each day I doubt the statistics would show an improvement!
You would have thought by now that the money harvested from the normally safe but unfortunate drivers caught up in this would be used to send out the latest edition of the highway code on an annual basis when road tax is renewed! The highway code is a code of practice, a quality control document, and when updated users should be notified as is the case with just about every other proffession!
solitaire, christchurch says...
6:21pm Wed 19 Aug 09
tommytorets, christchurch says...
8:10pm Sun 23 Aug 09
If ,as we are always told, speed is the real killer on our roads hence the fixation with speed cameras, then why run an operatiion like this in the first place, we are told that it is speed that is the main killer, we have to remember that speed cameras do not take a photo of drivers on mobile phones, drunk drivers, drugged drivers, drivers not wearing seatbelts, untaxed vehicles, uninsured vehicles, bald tyres, no mot, overweight vehicles or stolen vehicles, i rest my case, demolish all speed cameras and get the traffic police out there again, that would save a lot more lives all the year round rather that only when a special operation is run.
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karateman1964, Poole says...
8:32pm Tue 18 Aug 09