Police chief in call to ration road use
28-03-2006, 02:25 PM
#1
PassionFord Post Whore!!
Thread Starter
Police chief in call to ration road use
Thought you might be interested in this item, published in today's Fleet News Net. I can't decide if it's good news or not...
Police chief in call to ration road use
28 March 2006
MOTORISTS must 'get on the pace or get off the roads' when it comes to driving standards, according to a hard-hitting warning from one of Britain's most senior police officers.
Meredydd Hughes, chief constable of South Yorkshire Police, the new head of road policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), says access to roads should be rationed according to ability.
Speaking at a Safer Roads: Safer Drivers conference, organised by the Institute of Advanced Motorists in London last week, he warned: 'This really is not the time for people who can't cope with today's roads.
'Driving is a privilege which you earn, not a right, by continuing to observe the laws our democracy puts in place. If you can't do that, then you should not be able to drive, whoever you are.'
Hughes insisted that this tough stance will apply across the board, with police drivers leading by example, following recent high-profile reports that deaths of members of the public involving police cars rose one-fifth last year to 44.
Outlining his vision for the future, Hughes said it would be defined by a culture of personal responsibility, with a focus on continuous improvement and encouragement of pride in good driving, not just the car. Although technology such as speed cameras and even speed limiters will play a greater role in helping police make the most of their stretched resources, he said cultural change was the only really effective way to make a permanent difference. Hughes added 'Technology designed to adapt driver behaviour is subordinate to the need to improve driver behaviour itself. Driving skill is important, whether through ability alone or through encouragement, education, re-education and retraining where necessary.'
Hughes, who replaces the controversial chief constable of South Wales, Richard Brunstrom, in the influential ACPO Road Policing role, said skills learned from extra driver training had twice saved his life during his career.
He added: 'Modern cars contain a lot of distractions and are much more sophisticated. The road environment is much more challenging, so we can not have yesterday's skills for tomorrow's roads.'
That meant dealing with offenders and sub-standard drivers 'with an iron fist in an iron glove' while striving to encourage safer driving through the culture of personal responsibility. Hughes said there was no special treatment for fleet operators, as they were part of a bigger picture, but fleet managers had to understand the legal environment in which they were operating.
This includes the launch of a new Road Safety Bill, which could see more drivers banned for speeding offences, a new Corporate Manslaughter Bill, designed to make companies more responsible for their actions and changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Deaths and Dangerous Occurrences regulations to include incidents involving company transport.
Police chief in call to ration road use
28 March 2006
MOTORISTS must 'get on the pace or get off the roads' when it comes to driving standards, according to a hard-hitting warning from one of Britain's most senior police officers.
Meredydd Hughes, chief constable of South Yorkshire Police, the new head of road policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), says access to roads should be rationed according to ability.
Speaking at a Safer Roads: Safer Drivers conference, organised by the Institute of Advanced Motorists in London last week, he warned: 'This really is not the time for people who can't cope with today's roads.
'Driving is a privilege which you earn, not a right, by continuing to observe the laws our democracy puts in place. If you can't do that, then you should not be able to drive, whoever you are.'
Hughes insisted that this tough stance will apply across the board, with police drivers leading by example, following recent high-profile reports that deaths of members of the public involving police cars rose one-fifth last year to 44.
Outlining his vision for the future, Hughes said it would be defined by a culture of personal responsibility, with a focus on continuous improvement and encouragement of pride in good driving, not just the car. Although technology such as speed cameras and even speed limiters will play a greater role in helping police make the most of their stretched resources, he said cultural change was the only really effective way to make a permanent difference. Hughes added 'Technology designed to adapt driver behaviour is subordinate to the need to improve driver behaviour itself. Driving skill is important, whether through ability alone or through encouragement, education, re-education and retraining where necessary.'
Hughes, who replaces the controversial chief constable of South Wales, Richard Brunstrom, in the influential ACPO Road Policing role, said skills learned from extra driver training had twice saved his life during his career.
He added: 'Modern cars contain a lot of distractions and are much more sophisticated. The road environment is much more challenging, so we can not have yesterday's skills for tomorrow's roads.'
That meant dealing with offenders and sub-standard drivers 'with an iron fist in an iron glove' while striving to encourage safer driving through the culture of personal responsibility. Hughes said there was no special treatment for fleet operators, as they were part of a bigger picture, but fleet managers had to understand the legal environment in which they were operating.
This includes the launch of a new Road Safety Bill, which could see more drivers banned for speeding offences, a new Corporate Manslaughter Bill, designed to make companies more responsible for their actions and changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Deaths and Dangerous Occurrences regulations to include incidents involving company transport.
28-03-2006, 02:31 PM
#2
Re: Police chief in call to ration road use
Originally Posted by Iain Mac
Hughes, who replaces the controversial chief constable of South Wales, Richard Brunstrom, in the influential ACPO Road Policing role, said skills learned from extra driver training had twice saved his life during his career.
if so
time 
28-03-2006, 02:39 PM
#4
PassionFord Post Whore!!
Thread Starter
Re: Police chief in call to ration road use
[quote="dojj
does this mean that brownstone twat has gone?
if so time [/quote]
He's still in charge of his force, just this new guy has taken over the traffic safety role in the Association of Chief Police Officers.
does this mean that brownstone twat has gone?
if so
time [/quote]He's still in charge of his force, just this new guy has taken over the traffic safety role in the Association of Chief Police Officers.
Another bloody Welshman !! 
Where are they getting these idiots from ?? 
28-03-2006, 02:45 PM
#7
PassionFord Post Whore!!
Thread Starter
On the one hand I agree with him about drivers needing to develop their skills - there are too many incompetents out there, and if driving licences were harder to get through needing to be more skilled, the arguments against raising the speed limits would fade away.
However, I don't approve of all this "laws our democracy puts in place" stuff - no-one has asked me what the speed limits should be, and surely democracy is about more than the anti-car brigade shouting up and being heard the whole time?
However, I don't approve of all this "laws our democracy puts in place" stuff - no-one has asked me what the speed limits should be, and surely democracy is about more than the anti-car brigade shouting up and being heard the whole time?
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28-03-2006, 05:43 PM
#8
so they've replaced one welsh bloke who's anti car with another welsh bloke who works for the same bloke who ran the anti car regime?
how do we know the new fella isn't just as anti car as the last fella?
spining some waffle about licensing etc is a bit crap but they need to make sure that the plonkers who sit in the middle lane, jump lights, tailgate, go through red lights and all the other stuff that old people do as well as the youngsters etc etc are taken off the road and not allowed to come back then thats what will make the rest of us believe that something is starting to be done
you get done for driving like a twat, you lose your license, end of
at the same time you have to get the buralers and the other crap off the streets too
how do we know the new fella isn't just as anti car as the last fella?
spining some waffle about licensing etc is a bit crap but they need to make sure that the plonkers who sit in the middle lane, jump lights, tailgate, go through red lights and all the other stuff that old people do as well as the youngsters etc etc are taken off the road and not allowed to come back then thats what will make the rest of us believe that something is starting to be done
you get done for driving like a twat, you lose your license, end of
at the same time you have to get the buralers and the other crap off the streets too
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