Keeeping banned drivers off the road.

[ufkacbln]

Well it is a Daily Mail link and I wanted to get your attention.

Whether a licence is a right or privilege there is a real question raised in the above link.

When a driver is shown to be inadequate or unsafe then their license is revoked....

How do you proceed from there?

In 34 years the driver in the above article has 20 convictions for driving whilst disqaualified (16 in HGVs) , he has drink issues and uses a mobile phone whilst driving.

I admit execution is a little severe, but how do you keep people like this from behind the wheel?

 

[summerdays]

Well I think that the industry has to take some of the blame for actually employing him. Not that I'm a fan of the CRB system of checks ... I could commit an offence the day after getting my check and still carry on working, but is there a system whereby when a company takes on a new driver they can check their licence (not just look at a piece of paper), and that if they knowingly employ someone with that kind of track record that they then get fined themselves? It should be impossible for him to work as a driver.

As to stopping him driving full stop - the only way is to lock him up permanently which I'm not sure is really a solution. He is obviously going to ignore the ban himself, so he has to become known to the local police so that they can pull him over any time they see him driving and send him to prison each time I guess.

How many banned drivers are there at any time and what percentage of them are found to be ignoring the ban I wonder? (Knowing that there will be more who don't get caught.)

 

[psmiffy]

There has to be more policing - which costs money - and a lot of bad feeling for motorists -persecution, inconvienience - short of having to insert a valid licience in some sort of box in the vehicle and a biovalidation (fingerprint reader etc - and there will always be people who get round that) only draconian dispraportionate sentancing (automatic jail sentences and life time driving bans) of people caught driving while disqualified will even begin to chip away at the problem - but going back to the begining - first you have to catch them

There has to be a case in this country for a dedicated traffic police - financed from the results of their activities - more people they catch the better resourced they would be - eventually supply and demand would equal out - but would a goverment that brought such a monster to life be re-elected

 

[marinyork]

Speaking generally, I think it's reaching the point where much more draconian things are needed. We all know perfectly well that people get out of court and get straight back in their cars. For those banned more than once for some offences I think we need to start looking at things that government already have like install breathalisers in the car (expensive), impounding cars (expensive), demobilising cars or extremely tough measures like the south dakota sobriety programme.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Supervison and curfew by means of a GPS enabled ankle cuff with enforcement by a Highway Patrol dedicated force like the BTP. Once the offender travels a certain distance above a certain average sepped without previously notifying the plod of his intent to get on a train, automatic 999 call, arrest and imprisonment/rehab. Automatically and non-negotiable confiscation and destruction, or seizure and sale at auction (to finance highway patrol) of any vehicle he is caught driving regardless of who owns it. etc., etc..

Three bans for me should mean revocation of license for life. Making this real means supervision.

 

[661-Pete]

Supervison and curfew by means of a GPS enabled ankle cuff with enforcement by a Highway Patrol dedicated force like the BTP. Once the offender travels a certain distance above a certain average sepped without previously notifying the plod of his intent to get on a train, automatic 999 call, arrest and imprisonment/rehab. Automatically and non-negotiable confiscation and destruction, or seizure and sale at auction (to finance highway patrol) of any vehicle he is caught driving regardless of who owns it. etc., etc..

Three bans for me should mean revocation of license for life. Making this real means supervision.

Good idea at first glance, Greg, but maybe impracticable! There are many ways other than train in which one can be travelling at speed - e.g. passenger in someone else's car. How can you police that? Moreover, the lorry in the Futz case was journeying across Central London - probably no faster than speeds that a capable cyclist can maintain, therefore.

I think supervision of the person concerned would have to be the answer. How many of these worst-case offenders are there?

I would have hoped, relatively few, but alas! I regret to say I have had personal acquaintance of such an individual. A heavy drinker, habitual drink-driver and a violent man, he persisted in driving in defiance of a driving ban, as confided by his ex-wife (a close friend of my mother - who felt inclined to believe her story). Anyway, the man in question is dead now. I hesitate to say, may he rest in peace. And before anyone asks, I don't know how he died.

 

[newb]

I think all banned drivers should be named and shamed locally in the papers and tv etc. That way if they are driving the information from witnesses could be passed to the police more regularly and the police can target the drivers.

Just a thought

 

[byegad]

At one time our local free paper reported a number of banned drivers being pulled over by the police every single week. The number of repeat offences (of driving while banned) was amazing, the record I can remember was 35 occasions of which almost all included drink driving.

Either the paper got sick of reporting the offences or the offenders gave up as I have not seen one report this year. The magistrates started handing out prison sentences so maybe that has been enough???

 

[Dan B]

Require the driving licence with photo to be displayed at all times the vehicle is being driven, hefty penalties for both parties and the vehicle owner if anyone found using someone else's ID

Requiring insurance to be tied to named drivers would also help: then ANPR could be used to track banned drivers through their lack of insurance.

 

[newb]

thats a really good idea. If insurance companies could have instant access to dvla records (dont know if they do already??) then no disqualified driver could get insured that way anpr would flag it. The only problem is it would be easy to get around. Any insurance policy on a vehicle means anpr does not flag it and as such anyone could insure the vehicle and the disqualified driver could use it.
The only way is to give it to the police on a plate ie: such and such a person is using this car at these times and they are disqualified. that way there is a higher likelyhood that they would be stopped and subsequently arrested.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Good idea at first glance, Greg, but maybe impracticable! There are many ways other than train in which one can be travelling at speed - e.g. passenger in someone else's car. How can you police that? Moreover, the lorry in the Futz case was journeying across Central London - probably no faster than speeds that a capable cyclist can maintain, therefore.

I think supervision of the person concerned would have to be the answer. How many of these worst-case offenders are there?

I would have hoped, relatively few, but alas! I regret to say I have had personal acquaintance of such an individual. A heavy drinker, habitual drink-driver and a violent man, he persisted in driving in defiance of a driving ban, as confided by his ex-wife (a close friend of my mother - who felt inclined to believe her story). Anyway, the man in question is dead now. I hesitate to say, may he rest in peace. And before anyone asks, I don't know how he died.

The OP did not state practicality as a requirement.

Prior notification of all journeys to be undertaken as a passenger in motorised transport, spot checks and a network of camera's with face recognition to assist in enforcement.

 

[661-Pete]

I have a horrible vision, in my mind, that if I were ever to be found banged up in the same cell as this - creature - I might be sorely tempted to do a 'Peter Sutcliffe' on him. Think: Gloucester in King Lear. That at least would keep him off the roads - for keeps. .

Sorry Only idle musings...

 

[steve52]

i would do it the first time ! but in the interest of fairness to morond let say the third time u drive while disqualified your are removed from society for our protection! either by a one way trip to the vets (my fav) or we bring back assylums, a cheaper option is to let you chose to live somewhere other than britain.

 

[661-Pete]

...a cheaper option is to let you chose to live somewhere other than britain.

We don't have a 'transportation to the colonies' option anymore, I'm afraid! Anyway, why inflict our problem on an innocent road user in another country?

 

[MartinC]

I can't undersrtand why the Judicial system takes such a lenient view of this. If you've been sanctioned by a court then ignoring the disqualification is just treating the whole system with contempt - and you think you'd get a custodial sentence which would make 20 repeat offences impossible in a normal lifetime. I'm just gobsmacked that a system that's normally so protective of it's dignity and status is content to let people drag it into disrepute.