Penalty tickets: It's a fix
The old cliche is changing. The are now three, not two, certainties in life; death, taxes and motoring fines.
Plod may be given the power to hand out fixed penalty tickets to drivers for de care and attention offences. Obviously using his skill and judgement.
In effect this mean that should a patrol turn up at a minor shunt, the sort where you used to swap details and leave it to Grasp, Twist and Wriggle, insurers to the stars, you may get a ticket.
Proceeds will go to the treasury which already filches £100m a year in speeding fines, primarily from fixed cameras. Well come on, someone has to pay to bale the bankers out and create thousands of pointless pseudo-jobs in the public sector.
Of course the tickets would also be available for the full range of shocking car crimes such as eating, drinking, arguing and snogging while waiting for the lights to change.
Apparently this latest assault on or bank accounts is inspired by a drop in drivers prosecuted for bad driving. No, you don't say.
Now I would not dream of suggesting that is because gatso cameras cannot spot tailgating plant pots or driver who think were have become the 51st state and overtaking is permissible on both sides.
There is also a worry that performance targets will have to be met putting scuffers under pressure to forget that bit about discretion.
Anyway, that's enough work for one Christmas day.
Clearly the world is going to hell in a pan of sprouts but I wish you and yours as good a festive holiday as is possible.
I hope you have a job to go to in the new year and sincerely wish all members of Her Majesty's Government the opportunity and challenge of unemployment as soon as is possible. It would also be nice if every single one of them was ritually pinned to the doors of Westminster in 2009. Then they too, like us, would know what it is like to be screwed.
¡Feliz Navidad!
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Steve Orme - Trinity Mirror Regionals Driving Force columnist
Why has it become socially acceptable to break the law - as long as you are in a car at the time. If murderers started complaining about sentences for their crimes, there would be uproar. However, it is more and more popular for people who have been caught speeding, talking on their mobile or parking illegally to voice their disapproval.
My advice - stop breaking the law. It's there for a reason. If you break the law, don't moan about the punishment.
Happy New Year!!!