Driving the point home to motorists who break the rules

From: Karl Sheridan, Selby Road, Holme on Spalding Moor.

I APPLAUD the fact that “on the spot fines” for inconsiderate drivers hogging the middle lane of motorways are to be brought in, as indeed are stiffer fines for using a mobile and having no insurance.

To be effective, the fines also need to be eye-wateringly stiff in an effort to educate these idiots by financial pain, as well as deterring others from acting stupidly too.

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In my opinion, driving standards have dropped drastically over the last few years with a good majority failing to understand even the most basic rules of the road.

The most obvious one being the rule of giving way to the traffic on the right at traffic islands – one either sits there waiting for someone to make up their mind or else having to brake sharply because some idiot thinks he/she has right of way regardless!

The other basic rule that seems to have been forgotten is that of giving way to traffic coming towards you if there are parked cars on your side of the road to avoid a collision.

I can’t count the number of drivers who ignore this rule and just overtake into your path when you have the right of way, forcing you to brake or mount the kerb to avoid them, and I’m afraid to say it mainly seems to be women that do this.

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I certainly won’t bother expanding on the number of drivers that speed through our village with a phone clutched to their ear, totally oblivious to either the speed limit or the proximity of our primary school and associated risks. I personally think the new idea from North Yorkshire Police, that of patrolling motorways in plain truck tractor-units, is utterly brilliant – in fact I think that there ought to be far more “plain-clothed” police cars about, which to my mind would be far more effective at catching culprits red-handed as they wouldn’t be on their guard having spotted a police liveried vehicle.

I also think the idea of announcing where police camera vehicles are to parked is absurd, and the police statement that the camera vans are there to act as a deterrent is equally absurd – the vans really ought to be “plain-clothed” vehicles as well in order to catch the serial offenders who at the moment spot a camera van and instantly slow down, only to speed up again once past them.

However, this initiative to make our lives safer is all subjective. Thanks to this Government’s horrendous cutbacks on police numbers and especially motorway and traffic police, and regardless of the manipulated figures, the amount of real crime is on the increase as indeed are motoring offences.

We daily see breathtaking stupidity on our roads, but where are the police to catch these idiots? The answer is that they are far too thinly stretched, and as a result bad or indifferent drivers and bikers know that the odds of them being apprehended are minimal.

From: N Bywater, Airedale Terrace, Morley, Leeds.

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THE recent letter from T. Maunders about the “menace of pavement cyclists” is rather one-sided. In many areas cyclists are meant to share the pavement with pedestrians. On Dewsbury Road, near to the White Rose centre, cyclists have the option of a narrow pavement that is a joint path/cycle lane on one side or sharing the road with vehicles with a speed limit of 70mph. So much for encouraging a healthy lifestyle.

I constantly see vehicles parked on the pavement or driving on it just because they don’t want to stop. I am not sure why the police ignore all these offences. I am sure it’s much easier to just collect the fines from speed cameras than actual patrol the streets.

Of course we have PCSOs, but they don’t have the power that real police officers have. I haven’t seen a police officer walking the beat for years. Of course they are about in Leeds city centre, but why don’t they have the time to ensure people obey the law in the suburbs?