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Colour blindness and red traffic lights

On February 9, 2012, Posted by , In Uncategorised, By , With No Comments

Colour-blind people make up to 10% of the population – something that surprised me. They have difficulty distinguishing between red and green, particularly when confronted by new LED traffic lights. Professor Ochiai of Kyushu Sangyo University in Japan has been working on the problem since 2003. He is now testing…

Faulty breathalyser

On February 6, 2012, Posted by , In Drink driving, By , With No Comments

When the police stop a motorist and suspect alcohol consumption, the motorist is required to provide a breath test at the roadside. The roadside device simply gives a general indication of the level of alcohol present in the system. If the device shows alcohol above a certain level, the driver…

Save our cyclists

On February 2, 2012, Posted by , In Cyclists, By , With No Comments

When I wrote my blog yesterday, I could not have predicted that today The Times was going to run a front page spread on the dangers to cyclists on out city roads. See the entry at: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3306502.ece So, be careful out there.

Beware Cyclists

On February 1, 2012, Posted by , In Careless driving,Cyclists, By , With No Comments

This may be anecdotal but worthy of an entry. Colleagues at the Bar report an increase in prosecutions of motorists causing accidents involving cyclists. Therefore, be careful when opening doors and that goes for passengers too. And, please remind yourself of the obvious, visibility is reduced in inclement weather. On…

£100 speed fines ‘will be tax on drivers’

On January 31, 2012, Posted by , In News,Speeding, By , , With No Comments

According to the front page of the Daily Telegraph: “Motorists face a huge increase in speeding fines to as much as £100 to help fill a funding gap for victims of crime, Kenneth Clark has disclosed. Standard £60 fines could increase by almost 70%.”… “Ministers hope to raise around £30…

Speeding totter keeps licence

A surgeon kept his driving licence despite being caught driving at twice the speed limit, taking him up to 12 penalty points, according to the Daily Telegraph 25/1/12. Magistrates decided that the impact of a driving ban on his patients would be too great. This is an example of exceptional…

Duty to give information

Duty to give information Road Traffic 1988 s. 172. R. (Purnell) v Snaresbrook Crown Court In a recent driving case, the registered keeper of a vehicle successfully appealed against the ruling of a Crown Court judge. The Crown Court had applied the wrong legal test when interpreting the duty imposed…

Recovery of legal costs if successful

On December 16, 2011, Posted by , In FAQ,Legal costs, By , , With No Comments

If successful in defending a case at the Magistrates’ Court or Crown Court, I will make an application for a Defendant’s Costs Order. The effect of the order is that all the legal costs are paid out of a Government fund.  In November 2011, two clients were granted such orders…

Duty to provide information

Road Traffic Act 1988, section 172. It may be tempting to decide that punishment can be avoided by ignoring the requirement to provide information under this section. Please don’t think so. This piece of legislation has teeth, and rather an unpleasant sting in its tail! When an offence has been…

Mobile telephones

On December 13, 2011, Posted by , In Road Traffic Acts, By , With Comments Off on Mobile telephones

Road Traffic Act 1988, section 41 D.  The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) (No.4) Regulations 2003. This Section states that no person shall drive a motor vehicle on the road if he is using a hand-held mobile telephone, or a hand-held device which performs an interactive communication. A person…