Road Carnage

[Highflyer_GP]

Well I think all motorists should be required by law to carry an AA roadworthy certificate in their vehicles. If this cannot be produced upon request, the vehicle should be impounded until the certificate can be produced. Doubt many taxi owners will ever see their taxis again.

Then again we can come up with all the laws in the world that could theoretically make a large impact on road safety - however the problem is that none of these laws are being enforced. The focus seems to be on speeding and drunk driving, however they are not the only contributing factors. They should focus equally on all aspects.

To me it seems retarded to let the owner of an unroadworthy vehicle get off on a warning not to drive their vehicle, because technically the moment the vehicle is driven away then they're breaking the law again. It should be impounded straight away, otherwise they're allowing the law to be broken!

 

[IanC]

Well I think all motorists should be required by law to carry an AA roadworthy certificate in their vehicles. If this cannot be produced upon request, the vehicle should be impounded until the certificate can be produced. Doubt many taxi owners will ever see their taxis again.

Now there's a real shame ...

Then again we can come up with all the laws in the world that could theoretically make a large impact on road safety - however the problem is that none of these laws are being enforced. The focus seems to be on speeding and drunk driving, however they are not the only contributing factors. They should focus equally on all aspects.

No kidding ... just ask any biker whose had to dodge a piece of rubber moving at 100kph

To me it seems retarded to let the owner of an unroadworthy vehicle get off on a warning not to drive their vehicle, because technically the moment the vehicle is driven away then they're breaking the law again. It should be impounded straight away, otherwise they're allowing the law to be broken!

'Nuff said

 

[Claymore]

Not only drunk drivers...it's drunk pedestrians!

 

[JimM]

In my native UK once any car is three years old, it must have a MOT (Ministry of Transport Test) once every year! If you do not have a valid MOT test certificate then you are unable to obtain the road tax license disk. As these disks are colour coded and can be read from a distance - expect to be stopped by police within a few days of the tax disk expiring...

The general concept of someone walking from a bar (drunk) to drive a car would result in at least a few calls to the police to report the driver before he/she has turned the key in the ignition! Drinking and driving is socially no longer acceptable! Its quite common when in a eating establishment to hear someone say something like "no I've had one glass and I'm driving" - I've never heard that here! Sadly here it seems that if you can manage to climb into a vehicle and make some sort of effort to drive it is quite acceptable!

It has got to be said: In general standard of driving in South Africa is pretty poor to say the least! It could be that in the UK we have a better understanding of physics, in that we understand overtaking on a blind bend usually results in hitting a truck head on and an untimely death! It could also be that the UK has smaller narrow roads and if you don't stick to your half you generally end up deceased...


On the speed side, if you exceed the 70mph limit in the UK up to 90mph (and providing good conditions) you'll usually get a traffic cop lecture you and make you look 3 feet tall. Between 91 and 99 you'll get a heavy fine and four points on your driving license (get a total of 12 in four years and you lose your license for a month or two) anything over 100mph usually ends in a short prison term! This refers to motorway driving, do 60mph in a 30mph zone and you'll probably get a fine and prison term! added to this most main roads have more "cameras" than there are at the Oscars!

As a footnote: A bald tyre would get you a heavy fine and four points on your license, three bald tyres = loss of license!