This morning, whilst listening to Mike Mendoza on TalkSport, he announced that from today local councils will have the power to impose fines on drivers breaching the Highway Code. The examples he gave were:
stopping on a box junction in queuing traffic
stopping on a designated bus lane, and
driving the wrong way down a one-way street
I find this frightening when you consider how inept our local council is. For example, the council changed the lanes/priorities of one of the busiest roundabouts in the town, regardless of what the Highway Code states. There was no need to change it as it wasn’t causing any congestion.
For a few days they caused a load of problems whilst they implemented a contraflow system, with temporary traffic lights, to remove the white lines and put new ones down - at the local taxpayer’s expense. The new lanes/priorities caused 2 mile tailbacks during rush hour, morning and night.
It obviously wasn’t working so they created another contraflow, temporary traffic lights etc. to erase the white lines that had been there for only a few weeks and put another set down - which were the same as the original ones! Again, at the local taxpayer’s expense.
How can anybody have any confidence in them if they’re imposing fines for certain offences when they clearly have no understanding of the Highway Code - it beggars belief!!!
brummie:
It obviously wasn’t working so they created another contraflow, temporary traffic lights etc. to erase the white lines that had been there for only a few weeks and put another set down - which were the same as the original ones! Again, at the local taxpayer’s expense.!!!
And when it’s wet, no doubt you can see all the lines .
A great contribution to road safety.
Right I think I am going to apply to be a traffic cop, sounds like an easy number these days. The local council will be dealing with traffic offences in town. Speed camera take care of the open road. Wide load escorting is done by private firms. The Highways Agency vehicles and officers deal with many things on the motorways such as broken down vehicles, minor accidents etc. VOSA no longer need the police to stop trucks as they have the power to stop. What is left for the traffic cops to do?
CM:
It beggers belief that a local authority can fine anyone for a moving traffic offence, I thought only the Police had powers of criminal prosecution.
Big Brother gone mad, or what?
It’s all do to with getting Policing on the cheap, but what you get is a sub-standard service. Camera’s of any type only suceed in policing those whose cars are properly registered and polcing by CCTV and wardens who will just take numbers and pass the details on will produce the same results. More of us who have a minor breach of the law will be fined and will pay our fines. It will look great on the target figures, but those who blatently flought the law will not be caught, as it cost to much money, make to much work and the chances of them paying the fine is zero.
The other downfull of not having police on regular patrols is that sometimes investigation of a minor road traffic offence catch major criminals. I believe this is how the yorkshire ripper was caught and this week police found an abducted 3 year old girl in a car that was chased after it went through a red light.
Hold on…Hold on…if someone was committing the offences quoted above…i for one would support the council…idiots who stop on box junctions…and completely block it…should be heavily fined…parking in bus lanes…tooo…and as for driving the wrong way down a one way st…should lose their licence…as its obvious they have lost their marbles…lets not stop there…how about the nutters…who block high streets up…by inconsiderate parking…and turn dual carriageways into single carriageways…by inconsiderate parking…no doubt the list is endless…but if we want to keep britain moving…then…we have to unblock the streets first…and keep the traffic moving…what about the family near me who have 5 cars…4 kids each have a car…and mum and dad…most of them hardly get used…and they are always taxed…so entitled to be there…but blocks a lot of the street…should restrict vehicles to 2 per houshold…and leave shogun owners alone… i aint done nothing wrong…
truckyboy:
Hold on…Hold on…if someone was committing the offences quoted above…i for one would support the council…
You wouldn’t support my local council. Another of their failings was the huge open-air concert they planned last summer. The council managed to attract some big names such as ‘Jools Holland and his R&B Orchestra’, ‘Natasha Bedingfield’, and ‘Liberty X’. Tickets went on sale at a price of £25.00 per head and I heard they only sold six tickets in total; the event cost around £3 million to stage. Anyway, the concert went ahead and the council had to let everybody in free-of-charge.
The council said they wouldn’t burden the local taxpayers with the cost. However, I’m sure even those with low intelligence will realise the money has to come from somewhere. What worries me is that they’re planning another this year and they reckon it’ll rival Reading or Glastonbury! Is entry to both of these events free too?
Besides, they’re planning to enforce breaches of the Highway Code by using CCTV . They have trouble identifying known hooligans robbing post offices or fighting on streets on a Friday night, I’d be surprised if they could manage to read a number plate! I should rephrase that, I’d be surprised if they could read!!!
i’ll put my hands up here, i live in rotherham/sheffield where the councils have gone bus and tram mad, no matter that nobody ever uses em, any “road improvements” always include some daft bus lane or box to let em go on their way without having to slow down regardless of the fact the these road changes coarse chaos for the normal road user and worst of all wagon drivers trying to earn a living! i’ll run down bus lanes, i’ll park on em and i’ll stop on boxes that in my opinion have no place being there!
until we get rid of the numpties who sit behind desks in city hall that still hold on to some misguided believe that public transport is the answer of all our problems will continue to struggle through busy towns and cities designed by idiots who have no comprehension of whats required in terms of keeping that towns or cities shops and industry moving!
I was running down one just last night. It was the inside lane of the M1. Heading North just past the M6 turn, the overhead gantry was instructing me to ‘Use Bus Lane’ .
I’d already thought I was seeing things when making a drop near the Mars factory in Sloff I was heading to the M40 when I saw an order sign which looked like the ‘No vehicles’ sign except it didn’t have a plate saying ‘No vehicles’ and just inside the red circle at the bottom were red letters saying VREET. WTF is that? Thought the next turn coming up was going to be for Den Haag.
Really must stop letting my missus roll my nights supply of rollys for me and do it myself
southampton have got themselves into a bit of bother financially so they are hammering everyone with a job. there is precious little parking in my area and they have put in a residential parking scheme ie permits but no one knows where to get them. on top of that, they have extended double yellows which has reduced space. couple this with the fact that they have doubled the residence and provided the new buildings with secure parking (again, reducing space for the rest of us) and then they send the wardens in. one of my tickets was issued late on a sunday night. i got sneaky though. there is an office with parking for 3 cars and i park there outside their opening hours
incidentally, i am up to 11 tickets totalling over £2,200
I was running down one just last night. It was the inside lane of the M1. Heading North just past the M6 turn, the overhead gantry was instructing me to ‘Use Bus Lane’ .
Thank god for that I thought I was hallucinating for while there
Councils need to implement far more measures than this…!!!
I planned a route round low bridge in London few months ago…
Took the suggested left turn for overheight vehicles…
Down residential street …
Then could not turn right at the end…all sides of junction blocked…!!!
Had to reverse best part of half mile…not easy with a 14m trailer…with inches to spare…
Poor planning on council part to route vehicles this way…
As for blocking junctions/yellow boxes…suggest they change the roads to meet the ever increasing size of vehicles…!!!
and stop putting bollards on corners !!! shortens the turning area !!
Logistics Loader:
Councils need to implement far more measures than this…!!!
I planned a route round low bridge in London few months ago…
Took the suggested left turn for overheight vehicles…
Down residential street …
Then could not turn right at the end…all sides of junction blocked…!!!
Had to reverse best part of half mile…not easy with a 14m trailer…with inches to spare…
Poor planning on council part to route vehicles this way…
As for blocking junctions/yellow boxes…suggest they change the roads to meet the ever increasing size of vehicles…!!!
and stop putting bollards on corners !!! shortens the turning area !!
I had the same problem, in London as well, funnily enough.
Instead of reversing, the traffic was too heavy behind me anyway, I called the local plod. The copper who arrived was ecstatic, he directed me through the junction, removing several car bumpers and scraping considerable amounts of paint in the process. He then started writing out parking tickets for the offending vehicles.
Result.
i had a problem once with a delivery in a residential street. i had to back on to the pavement on a corner and it was so i was completely off the road. i was there for quite a while and someone decided to park on the corner which had white chevrons painted on it. there was just enough room for me to get through but because the pavement was lowered, the wagon would have rocked so i decided not to chance it. coppers came out, ticketed the car and left a note to give the owner a row. they called out a recovery vehicle to shift it but the owner turned up and probably got the rollocking of their life
.
obviously you’d need special training 
