3 POints and £100 fine for turning left!!

Tilt

Cornucopia wrote: »

I wondered how long it would be before someone suggested some form of automated policing. Which is a typically authoritarian response (and therefore not where I'm coming from at all).

Looking at the geographical layout of this particular junction, it would be 'irresponsible' of the highways department NOT to have these restrictions in place. Obviously night time traffic has to be considered as well. Oh and by the way, I am not an "authoritarian" of any kind.

Cornucopia wrote: »

If it's possible and practical, yes.

But the inability to do so doesn't automatically require that the banned turn is the subject of a Policing operation.

So you want it both ways. Perhaps there are some drivers who are not competent enough to negotiate certain types of road junction without such restrictions in place. Perhaps this particular junction is an accident hot spot thus having the police monitor it.

Fortunately the public don't make the rules when it comes to road safety or traffic management and amen to that. A lot of drivers today have problems keeping to the left on a motorway so what chance have we got with them negotiating road junctions without pretty coloured signs and lights to guide them.

matttye

Cornucopia wrote: »

Not assume - analyse.


Extreme, and not relevant to the scenario in this thread, where visibility is excellent.


This doesn't really make sense in the context of your other comments. It's obvious that in many cases, banned turns are purely about traffic management rather than safety, as such. In such a case, it's entirely possible that a banned manoeuvre is safe, or could be safe, given reasonable precautions.

As you've pointed out there are other reasons apart from safety why such turns might not be allowed.

Driving through a pedestrian crossing when the green man is on is obviously a safety risk though. Pointless debating it.

Cornucopia

I'm not saying that the turn should be unbanned, I'm questioning whether it needs intensive policing.

Driving through a pedestrian crossing on "green" is not necessarily dangerous. It depends on the circumstances.

matttye

Cornucopia wrote: »

I'm not saying that the turn should be unbanned, I'm questioning whether it needs intensive policing.

Driving through a pedestrian crossing on "green" is not necessarily dangerous. It depends on the circumstances.

One police car is intensive policing? :rotfl:

Maybe the cop happened to be going by and saw a bunch of people making the turn, so pulled over and dealt with them.

Cornucopia

I think the words used by the OP were a "queue" of people waiting to be dealt with.

Is "one police car" stated anywhere in the thread, or is this an assumption on your part?

I mean (obviously) intensive relative to the lack of policing of banned turns generally across the country.

matttye

Cornucopia wrote: »

I think the words used by the OP were a "queue" of people waiting to be dealt with.

I mean (obviously) intensive relative to the lack of policing of banned turns generally across the country.

Are you suggesting that if the officer pulled up and started issuing tickets, after issuing a few of them they should just !!!!!! off and let the others get away with it?

Cornucopia

No. I'm suggesting that it was a formal operation, and not a spur-of-the-moment thing.

Whatever it was, the reality is that if they were there one day, and not the next, some people would get away with it. Similarly, if they were there one day, and not at any other banned turn anywhere else, then people at the second site would be getting away with it.

The nature of policing of misdemeanours is that they aren't normally rigorously enforced, and it's probably best that way.

esmerobbo

My daughter was a police officer, I once asked her did she think too much traffic policing went on. Her answer was she thought too many none traffic officers got involved in traffic matters, however she then said you would be surprised at the amount of more serious offences that crop up from a simple traffic stop.

If you remember the Yorkshire ripper was caught cause he had dodgy plates!

Just sayin!

rdr

The crimes that are most likely to kill, injure and restrict the freedom of me and my family are not rape, murder and assult -- they are dangerous, "I'm an exceptional driver and considerably more important than you, and laws don't apply to me" driving.
These are the criminals that stop my kids walking and cycling every where like I did, block pavements with their cars making it difficult to walk anywhere and so force more people into cars producing a vicious circle.

The victims of driving crime are not just the people directly injured, they are also the kids who have less freedom, the old, young and poor trapped at home due to lack of their own car and fear of others.

I think on any proper cost benefit analysis road policing is under resourced. The police resource expended on the weekly 7:30an on a Sunday drive down my quiet, residential street would be better spent on nicking tail-gaters on the A12.

Back to the OP, what they did was clearly not allowed and properly signed. The restriction may be more about reducing congestion rather than safety, but breaking it is a clear case of "I'm considerably more important than you plebs."

If the restriction exists, it should be enforced otherwise the selfish "sod you" style of driving spirals out of control.

Cornucopia

There are probably millions of road signs & markings across the country. It's not possible to police anything more than a tiny fraction of them. Even within that small pool, it seems unlikely that the OP's case could ever be a priority.