Fixed Penalty Notices for Careless Driving

[400bhp]

And there lies the problem. I saw some footage for as split second and thought exactly the same.
It appeared a guy entered a hatched zone a little early, but if thats the kind of thing they're going to do you for...i'm against it.
An example, There's a hatched zone in peterborough just before the right turning lane. That lane is always heavily used but its short. If you dont enter the hatched zone, you can completely block everyone else who's going straight on. Everyone accepts the hatched zone as an extension of the r'h lane or traffic cant flow.
It doesnt cause any problems (although technically you shouldnt do it of course).
Basically its a lack of space for all the traffic.
Anyway, in those kind of circumstances, you'll end up with far worse traffic flow but everyone obeying the rules.

Rock and a hard place....

IIRC you can enter a hatched zone, so long as it isn't surrounded by unbroken white lines.

 

[400bhp]

I think the idea is, like FPN's for speeding offences caught on camera, that you can still refuse to pay on-the-spot and take it to court, although at risk of greater punishment if still found guilty.
Reading beyond the Dail Mail-type summary, the police fines will still come with 3 points, so most will be deterred after the first couple of nickings. Which is more than happens now when the police think that they won't get far in court so do nothing.

Again, we shouldn't compare the new proposals with existing legislation and punishments, we should compare them to those who just get a ticking off as the police don't think the offence worth pursuing through the courts.

In other words, someone who gets caught overtaking on the left may currently get nothing more than his arse kicked and then drive off with nothing on his record. Under the new proposals, he'll get his arse kicked and an notice to pay £xx and send in his licence, much the same as those caught on camera currently, with the option to fight if for the punks who feel lucky.

Norm talks sense again shocker.

In all seriousness I'm a bit on the fence with this. If the power is used appropriately then it can only be a good thing-it appears to be another weapon in the Police's armour for penalising people. The thing that concerns me is whether it will be used appropriately.