Across the pond, British bikers won’t be the only ones picking out reckless drivers with a new government backed plan increasing awareness, fines and hopefully decreasing accidents.
"We will focus relentlessly on cracking down on the really reckless few who are responsible for a disproportionately large number of accidents and deaths on our roads,” Britain’s Secretary of State for Transport Philip Hammond said, “By allowing the police to focus resources on dealing with these drivers, we can make our roads even safer."
In the upcoming campaign careless driving will become a fixed penalty offense with the hopes it will allow the police to more effectively to tackle reckless driving that puts other road users in danger. And life will not be fun for the drivers that are considered reckless, the new rules and laws will;
Require offenders to pass a test before they regain their license after a serious disqualification.
Make greater use of powers to seize vehicles to keep the most dangerous drivers off the roads.
Increase the ticket’s fines and points if caught with the cost nearly doubling for some offenses.
The campaign also takes the fight against reckless driving off the road and into prevention with increased use of police-approved educational courses, a new post-test qualification for new drivers and ongoing improvements to the driving and motorcycling training processes.Other initiatives include;
Create a new website to allow local people to easily compare the road safety performance of their local area against similar areas.
Improve enforcement against drink and drug driving.
Launch an annual road safety day.
An advocate of road safety, Britain’s Automobile Association, has cautiously welcomed the news."It must be ensured that the new powers are used to concentrate on those who willfully drive badly – for example tailgaters, not those who make momentary slips and errors,” Edmund King, AA president said, “We are pleased that on the spot fines will not be issued."
Offering the alternative of a safety course over a traffic fine falls in line with the driving public’s sentiment according the AA who found 80% of AA members were in favor of the use of education as an alternative to prosecution for driving offenses.
Retesting and retraining those who are disqualified is a logical step forward as well the AA notes.
“It has long been a major concern that uninsured drivers are fined less than the cost of the premium they have not paid,” King said, ”The AA welcomes the decision to review fines and fixed penalties for this offence and this should help deter the uninsured drivers who add [more cost] to every legal driver's premiums. “
