I have been aware of these proposed additions to the Fixed Penalty Scheme since it was announced in the press some two weeks ago but we have not had ANY notification or information at work at this present time.
Fixed Penalty Notices are used to enforce specific pieces of legislation and are only issued when the defendant accepts their guilt and chooses to accept the fixed penalty. Once issued the onus is then on that individual to (a) cough up the fine and, where required, comply with the condition of surrendering their driving licence for the application of points OR (b) notify the police that they wish to take the matter to trial at court. If the defendant fails to do either of those things then after 28 days the matter is then returned to the issuing officer for case building and the subsequent issue of a summons to court.
It is interesting to see the proposed list of punishable acts but what is not clear is whether these will become individual offences under the various pieces of Road Traffic legislation or whether they will fall under the collective of "Careless and Inconsiderate Driving" or perhaps even Dangerous Driving. At this current time neither offences can be dealt with by FPN and are dealt with by Reporting for Summons or even arrest!
It is my view that there is no need for new legislation as there are already these statutory levels of driving standards; it follows that where a level of driving is found to fall below one of these acceptable standards then a person will have been found guilty of one of these offences and will receive the appropriate level of punishment accordingly.
If new offences are going to be created then each one will have to have attached a list of factors that must be present to prove the offence - in the trade we call them "points to prove." If all the points to prove are present then, as with most traffic offences, the offence could be classed as "absolute" and could be dealt with by issuing a FPN. Clearly, the legislators would have to look at whether existing statutory defences would apply or would perhaps have to create them, look at existing case law and every other matter that may. affect the new piece of legislation. Once written there is then the lengthy and complex process of making the new offence law and so it can be seen that this is not something that happens overnight.
Without too much effort I could make a theoretical but realistic case of Careless and Inconsiderate Driving for everything in the list. Equally I could probably even make a case of Dangerous driving but the crux of the matter is that currently it is only a court that can determine if the level of driving falls below the statutory levels and this is where I cannot see that it is appropriate to be letting these matters be dealt with by FPN. The cynic within me can only see this is as a means to save court time and therefor money and does not actually deal with what is a potentially serious matter that should be dealt with by the courts.
It's late, I'm knackered and need my beauty sleep but hopefully you will get my gist. If it doesn't make any sense then I will address this when I have got a fresh mind.
