Is it time to punish ALL law breakers

[Oneeyedvic]

There are (and have been for the last 10 years) between 200-220 knife victims a year.

There are around 3000 deaths through car accidents per year.

Is it time to have a zero tolerance approach on speeding (which is often a contributing factor).

Cars should be restricted to 70mph and anyone caught going over the speed limit should be put in prison for 5 years.

Anyone agree?

[whiffey]

Good point OEV.

The corollary, with which I agree, is that knife crime is too rife to be an imprisonable offence, it is a part of Britain 2008. People speed, people use mobile phones while driving (I counted 7 today), people use knives and kill each other. You can't put 200,000 extra people in prison. Knives and street murders are here to stay. Tough titty I suppose, because there aren't any solutions.

[Booldawg]

I suppose if people drove round in cars looking for innocent people to purposley kill then yes, your analogy works. Other than that it's total cods**t.

Theres a difference between murderous thugs and negligent tw*ts - marginal as it may seem.

[Myriad2112]

Is thaere actually ANYBODY that still drives at 70mph?

[Oneeyedvic]

Booldawg Most young people keep knives in self defence. As stated, it averages at between 2 and 3 a week. That is hardly kids going out murdering each other intentionally.

Driving at over the prescribed speed limit is hardly negligent.
It is a deliberate act which causes far more deaths than knives.

[anotheoldgit]

All cars sold for the British market should be governed down to the national speed limit 70 MPH.

This governer should have a seal. If this seal is found to be tampered with, the owner would be jailed and the vehicle crushed.

Zero tolerance.

[Myriad2112]

You really are another old git, even the police expect to be overtaken at 80.

[vehelpfulguy]

What is the point of putting a limit to stop cars going over 70mph, motorways are the safest roads - on a cars per mile basis.

You can kill someone going at 30mph.

And I bet most "accidents" are on local roads with people doing 40 or 50 mph.

[vehelpfulguy]

What we SHOULD have is a ban on Clarkson and his cronies glorifying speed and acceleration.

I notice Clarkson and his mates are always driving fast on quiet roads, or on race tracks with no other cars.

Then you get some 18 year old spotty kid who tries to do the same in his Fiesta near the local primary school when the kids are comng out.

I would love to know how many people have been killed and injured by idiots trying to drive like they do on Top Gear.

[jno]

AOG is right - yes, it must be possible to put speed governors on every car sold in this country, and for every one that arrives driven by tourists.

[stokemaveric]

ok lets put a governer on ALL cars keep their limit down to 70 mph but you can rest assured that even then people will STILL get killed ie by drink drivers,joy riders,and people driving whilst using mobile phones.there are still people who do all these.....some people will never adhere to the law so therefore cars will always kill and maim...by the very nature of the people who drive them.......

[Panic Button]

Speed does not kill

Richard Hammond is proof of that.

It is inappropriate speed that kills.

Putting limiters on cars to stop them going over 70 wouldn't have much effect. There are plenty of times when 70 is much too fast.

[jno]

hmm, is there some sort of stupidity filter drivers can be made to wear? Just trying to think laterally here.

[sp1814]

Car can and are fitted with speed limiters...normally 155mph (BMW M Series, Ferraris etc).

So the technology is there.

I personally think that the government should scrap the 'Causing Death By Dangerous Driving' offence, and call it 'Manslaughter' instead. Manslaughter carries a heavier sentence, and to answer Booldawg's post - if a loved one was killed by a bloke driving at 60mph in a 30 zone, your grief would be the same as if the loved one was killed in a knife attack.

[sp1814]

By the way...has anyone ever noticed that it's almost always blokes who are done for speeding? Sorry, what I mean is whenever you see stories in the papers of someone doing 120mph on the M6...they always have testicles.

What is it with us? Is it a testosterone thing???

[naomi24]

sp1814, please tell me if you're the same person as the other sp who contributes here. (Sorry for the interruption).

[jake-the-peg]

I think new sentencing guidelines are coming out today governing serious motoring offences like causing death by dangerous driving.

I can't remember all the details but 7 years if using a phone at the time sticks in my mind.

Actually the number of fatalities where excessive speed is the cause is very low (as Panic button says)

Where it is a contributary factor though is a much higher factor.

I'm not sure that limiting cars to 70 is a good idea but somewhere between there and 100 seems sensible.

Might help the police recover stolen vehicles too.

Would be better if it could be done at a European level though otherwise the papers would be full of people moaning about "These Poles coming over here doing our plumbing speeding on our roads"

You could even send a radio signal to the limiters on cars on motorways when there's fog or an accident ahead - but you'd have to run it a bit better than the police run the current warning system

[flip_flop]

Jesus christ, judging from some of the comments on this thread I assume most of you like being increasingly governed by Nanny.

70mph in the right conditions is not dangerous - as has been previously said, our motorways are the safest roads in the country, in fact I believe they are the safest roads in Europe.

It is absurd to suggest the antics on Top Gear encourage foolish driving - Wayne in his chavved up Nova has always driven like a prat and Clarkson doughnutting in a Koenisegg does not have any bearing on this.

The analogy in the question doesn't stand up to any scrutiny because drivers do not jump in their car with the intention of killing somebody, whereas knife carriers do - the self defence argument is utter rubbish and is used by these mindless scumbags to provide them with some sort of warped justification for carrying a knife.

Going back to the speeding issue, I do believe a stricter adhereance to speed limits is required in built-up areas, but equally I can see a perfectly valid argument for increasing the speed limit on motorways in the right conditions to 100mph and beyond.

[R1Geezer]

Accidents are caused by bad driving, speed is a factor in the outcome, rarely the cause. I can only assume the "7o guvnor" mob above by their ignorance are the types that are th cause of accidents. Dawdling along in the outside lane ate 70, because "no one can legally over take me" perlease. Or the old git , or should I say AOG doing 30 on the inside lane of a dual carrageway.motorway forcing all the trucks to overtake, now THAT'S dangerous, or how about the car drivers who think it's illegal to look before you approach a roundabout and hence do an emergency stop just before looking even when there's nothing comming. I ride a bike and I've done several courses one with the police. We try because if we hit things hit hurts. If everyone spend a year on a bike before driving a car then the roads would be much safer.

[Oneeyedvic]

flipflop The analogy in the question doesn't stand up to any scrutiny because drivers do not jump in their car with the intention of killing somebody, whereas knife carriers do - the self defence argument is utter rubbish and is used by these mindless scumbags to provide them with some sort of warped justification for carrying a knife.

People carrying knives do not intend to kill people - otherwise there would be a lot more than 220 deaths a year.

[sp1814]

naomi24

No...that's (I think) sp1214.

And to make matters even more confusing, we come from completely opposite ends of the political spectrum.

However, I am the original sp!