3 POints and £100 fine for turning left!!

Cornucopia

trubster wrote: »

I only wanted to go to the chemist. :eek:

marvin

Looking at that I would say the whole road engineering says no left turn right only, not easy to turn left.

And yes the blue sign says right turn only.

System

Cornucopia wrote: »

People don't understand risk. The Police (what with them not being statisticians) certainly aren't using true analysis of risk in their roads enforcement work..

Correct, they are not. Somebody else has done the risk analysis and deemed that the risk in allowing a left turn there is unacceptable.

Police are merely enforcing the ban on left turns because, at a guess, there has been a spate of people ignoring it.

For the same reason that police will prosecute you if caught for doing 100 on an empty motorway. There is no increase in risk but the law states max 70 for cars.

Cornucopia

!!!!!! wrote: »

Correct, they are not. Somebody else has done the risk analysis and deemed that the risk in allowing a left turn there is unacceptable.

Really? Are you sure it simply wasn't built that way? That's what it looks like to me.

Police are merely enforcing the ban on left turns because, at a guess, there has been a spate of people ignoring it.

With what, if any, consequences?

For the same reason that police will prosecute you if caught for doing 100 on an empty motorway. There is no increase in risk but the law states max 70 for cars.

I think even the most hardened speeder would concede an increase in certain aspects of risk between 70 & 100.

DoaM

Cornucopia wrote: »

With what, if any, consequences?


I think even the most hardened speeder would concede an increase in certain aspects of risk between 70 & 100.

These retorts appear to be at odds with each other.

On the one hand you're implying there's no increased risk by ignoring the Right Turn Only signage, yet on the other you're saying there is an increased risk by driving at 100 versus 70 on an empty motorway.

(Of course there is, if you're driving at that speed in unfavourable conditions. But on a clear, dry night there's no discernible increased risk).

Cornucopia

I think they're different kinds of risk situations.

With correct observation, and the precaution of driving at, say, 10mph, the banned left-turn could be negotiated 100% safely 100% of the time. The approach to mitigating the already small risk of the manoeuvre is common sense rather than driving skill or experience.

Driving at 100mph increases, for example, the risk of a tyre blow-out, and the potential consequences of it, particularly for an inexperienced driver. The risk itself might be small over any given drive, but the consequences could be quite serious.

Tilt

Cornucopia wrote: »

I think they're different kinds of risk situations.

With correct observation, and the precaution of driving at, say, 10mph, the banned left-turn could be negotiated 100% safely 100% of the time. The approach to mitigating the already small risk of the manoeuvre is common sense rather than driving skill or experience.

Driving at 100mph increases, for example, the risk of a tyre blow-out, and the potential consequences of it, particularly for an inexperienced driver. The risk itself might be small over any given drive, but the consequences could be quite serious.

Not being funny, but what has this got to do with the OP's situation? I've just gone through the thread and it appears that it's a clear case of failing to comply with a traffic direction sign.

Can't see anyway out of it.

System

Cornucopia wrote: »

I think they're different kinds of risk situations.

With correct observation, and the precaution of driving at, say, 10mph, the banned left-turn could be negotiated 100% safely 100% of the time. The approach to mitigating the already small risk of the manoeuvre is common sense rather than driving skill or experience. .

Maybe it was never designed to be a left turn at that point. The road needs to exist for people traveling in the opposite directions. The signage tends to uphold that view

Cornucopia

!!!!!! wrote: »

Maybe it was never designed to be a left turn at that point. The road needs to exist for people traveling in the opposite directions. The signage tends to uphold that view

Yes....? I agree with that. But it's not that relevant to whether turning left is actually dangerous or not.

Clearly it's possible to turn left, because the OP did it.

Cornucopia

Tilt wrote: »

Not being funny, but what has this got to do with the OP's situation? I've just gone through the thread and it appears that it's a clear case of failing to comply with a traffic direction sign.

It's the question of whether/why the Police are wasting time on enforcement when there is little or no danger involved, when there are actual crimes and dangerous activities elsewhere that are going un-Policed.