scott wrote:
>> The *other* problem being that if everything is a judgement call, it's 
>> much harder to prosecute people.
> 
> Just hand them a fine for dangerous driving, they can contest it in 
> court if they don't agree.  There was a guy who was filmed doing 120mph 
> or something on an empty road by the police and was 
> fined/banned/whatever for dangerous driving.  He went to court and the 
> judge agreed with him that what he did couldn't possibly be dangerous 
> driving because the camera clearly showed a huge distance ahead on the 
> motorway that was totally clear.
> 
> That's how it should be.

Probably, yeah.

Trouble is, some people geniunely don't give a **** about anybody except 
themselves. It's their personal road, and if anybody else gets in their 
way, that person has absolutely no right to continue to be alive. If it 
was up to these people, they'd drive *everywhere* at 120 MPH, and if 
somebody gets killed... well that's their fault, right?

We have rules about speed limits so these people can't get away with it.

(Also... apparently the difference in fatality rates for collisions at 
30 MPH vs 35 MPH are surprisingly large. The people who set the speed 
limits will have access to all this data - whether they use it right is 
another matter, obviously. But most drivers don't have this data.)

> maybe in future more stuff can be detected 
> automatically by cameras rather than just if you are over the fixed 
> speed limit (tailgating should be fairly easy, as should driving too 
> fast in fog/rain/heavy traffic).

I'm still impressed at that guy who decided to overtake me over the 
crest of a hill, on a bend, in the dark, in dense fog, at twice the 
speed limit. Obviously, this person will never be prosecuted.

>> That's kinda why they made it explicitly illegal to use a mobile phone 
>> while driving - to make absolutely sure people know they WILL be 
>> prosecuted and they can't wriggle out of it.
> 
> Yeh I think it was more to make people stick to the law rather than 
> making it easier to prosecute.

Well, possibly both.

> Wasn't there some woman prosecuted for 
> eating an apple whilst sat waiting at a red light?

That's a little silly. The worst thing that can happen is that you fail 
to notice the lights change, and hold people up a little. Big deal.

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