Article: Man caught twice for speeding, arrested

A man stopped and fined R800 for speeding on the East Rand was arrested moments later when he began speeding again, Ekurhuleni metro police said on Sunday.

A man in a white VW Polo hatchback was stopped on the R23 Heidelberg Road in Brakpan for going 104km/h in an 80km/h zone, Inspector Kobeli Mokheseng said in a statement.
 
Ridiculous heavy-handedness by the cops, in my view. That a human being can be deprived even temporarily of his liberty for this is outrageous.
 
No.
I'd abolish speed limits. And seatbelt laws. And helmet laws. And a whole lot else besides. Even anti-narcotic laws. For pragmatic reasons as much as ideological ones. They simply don't work.
 
Arthur said:
No.
I'd abolish speed limits. And seatbelt laws. And helmet laws. And a whole lot else besides. Even anti-narcotic laws. For pragmatic reasons as much as ideological ones. They simply don't work.
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I do not agree. This idiot didn't speed the third time, did he? Thus, no more speeding (for him at least). (although there is a possibility that the police van sped :) )
 
The guy was clearly an idiot. So he gets fined and decides to go back to speeding right there? We know most speedsters do that but they at least don't do it in front of the cops.
 
How did they know he was speeding earlier though ??
 
Arthur said:
Ridiculous heavy-handedness by the cops, in my view. That a human being can be deprived even temporarily of his liberty for this is outrageous.
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Why do you want someone who is speeding to kill innocent people who are not speeding or walking on the side of the road and hit by a speeding driver that lost control of his vehicle? I agree with the natural selection story but since I have to share the roads with them...
 
supersunbird said:
Why do you want someone who is speeding to kill innocent people who are not speeding or walking on the side of the road and hit by a speeding driver that lost control of his vehicle? I agree with the natural selection story but since I have to share the roads with them...
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despite laws being in place, those that insist on speeding remain doing so anyway, so the law is somewhat ineffective anyway.
so one may as well remove the various laws designed to protect idiots from themselves and allow natural selection to take it's course, be it seat belts, helmets, drugs or whatever
 
Ignoring supersunbird's unfounded conclusion that I somehow think it's ok for speedsters to kill innocent people...

I don't know the stats, but I wouldn't be surprised if exceeding the speed limit was not a factor in half of road accidents, injuries and deaths.

The laws of physics in any case trump the laws of man. It's high time we started showing people that responsibility must be foundationed on knowing, understanding and respecting those more basic laws. And carrying the consequences of their breach. It's how the universe works. Locking a man up because he operated a machine at 24km/h over the "speed limit" is preposterous. No wonder people think the law's an ass.
 
grantza said:
despite laws being in place, those that insist on speeding remain doing so anyway, so the law is somewhat ineffective anyway.
so one may as well remove the various laws designed to protect idiots from themselves and allow natural selection to take it's course, be it seat belts, helmets, drugs or whatever
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The difference is, presumably, that laws are designed to protect us from the idiots, and that when they break the law, they be punished.

Lest we live in a society whereby ne'er-do-wells simply get away with their crimes because "they'd do it anyway."

Also, perhaps you forget that natural selection is great, except when they take innocent people with them.

I think a few things that are sorely lacking in South African driving instruction are real-world (graphic) examples of the risks involved with speeding, speed blindness, misjudging stopping/braking/reaction distances, preparing drivers to deal with dangerous road conditions (such as aquaplaning) and the consequences of failing to follow the rules of the road, not to mention the incomprehensible failure to maintain a basic safe following distance.

There are far too many people on the roads who should never be permitted.

Driving is not a right, it's a privilege, which means you follow the ****ing rules. Not only for your benefit but for others' as well.

It's not difficult.
 
Arthur said:
Locking a man up because he operated a machine at 24km/h over the "speed limit" is preposterous. No wonder people think the law's an ass.
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No, you should read the article before commenting ;)

After he was given an R800 fine, he sped off, wheels spinning, and was clocked doing 117km/h. Traffic police chased him and, once they had cornered him, arrested him.

He was one of 15 people arrested and charged with reckless or negligent driving on Sunday morning, and would appear in the Brakpan Magistrate's Court soon.
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The above is a) > 30km/h over the speed limit and b) amounts to reckless driving.
 
froot said:
The above is a) > 30km/h over the speed limit and b) amounts to reckless driving.
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That's simply the legal and conventional definition and bears no necessary relationship to the reality. He might in fact and reality have been safer and less reckless than most other drivers on the road - you just can't say for sure. Appealing to the legal definition is simply begging the question.

To suggest that we and our machines are somehow caught in a timeless and eternal determination from nearly a century ago of speed limits is of course ridiculous.

Tyres, brakes, and overall vehicle safety have developed somewhat from the 1920s, when current speed limits were determined. Of course I understand that the damage to soft tissue increases with the rate and extent of sudden speed changes. But I think anyone with a basic knowledge of automobile history will appreciate that driving a 1924 Morris at thirty five miles per hour is a very different safety proposition from driving a modern motor vehicle at 60 km/h.
 
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Arthur said:
To suggest that we and our machines are somehow caught in a timeless and eternal determination from nearly a century ago of speed limits is of course ridiculous.
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I think you should go spend some time helping out paramedics. I've seen enough dead bodies as a result of speed to know that speed limits are there for good reason.
 
supersunbird said:
Why do you want someone who is speeding to kill innocent people who are not speeding or walking on the side of the road and hit by a speeding driver that lost control of his vehicle? I agree with the natural selection story but since I have to share the roads with them...
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people can be killed by vehicles driving less than 60km/h.


and on another occasion I saw a bakkie hit a freeway pedestrian while driving 120km/h. The woman jumped up and ran away.

Thus I have formed an opinion that the angle of impact, movement direction, the pedestrians "air flight path, post impact, if applicable" etc are probably, at least equally important to the speed of the vehicle, if not a lil more important....
 
froot said:
I think you should go spend some time helping out paramedics. I've seen enough dead bodies as a result of speed to know that speed limits are there for good reason.
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My views do not arise from a lack of knowledge or understanding, so paramedical services won't change my view in the slightest. Rather, they arise from a rather developed but admittedly unconventional view of the role of law in society and the centrality of human liberty.
 
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