Last week there were concerns about the accelarator, now it is concern over brakes.

Where does this leave the Toyota driver in relation to the law?

It is hard to imagine that there are many Toyota drivers that are not aware of the potential fault given all of the publicity. This has effectively put them on notice that there may be a safety issue with the car.

If a Toyota driver was involved in an accident, having been made aware of the potential safety issues, then they may face criminal charges because they drove a car knowing that there may be a fault.

Dangerous driving can be committed in relation to either the manner of driving or the condition of the car.

If you are convicted of dangerous driving then the court must disqualify you from driving.

The best advice to Toyota drivers is to ensure that their car is not affected, if it is then arrangements must be made immediately for it to be collected and repaired.

In a recent report the governement agency predicted that if all drivers stuck to 70mph, the UK’s carbon emissions would be cut by 1.4 million tonnes.

The Sustainable Development Commission argued against traditional speed cameras saying that drivers slam on the brakes as they approach and then speed off after.  Average speed cameras encourage more smoother driving, which, it argues is more environmentally friendly.

The average speed camera devices lead to fewer accidents and speeding tickets on the roads where they are installed than normal speed cameras, a new report by the Government’s environmental advisers claims.

The government is looking to extend this beyond motorways with a new generation of cameras that can track journeys over a network of streets. This could mean speed cameras being fitted on all residential roads with a speed limit of 20 mph.

Quite how this would work in practice is unclear. The average speed cameras work by calculating the distance travelled and the time taken, arriving at an average speed. It is rare indeed to be able to drive at anything approaching the speed limit on Britains crowded urban streets.

We may not have the choice of speed soon as the report goes further, suggesting capping all cars to make it impossible to break the speed limit. Given that the courts sometimes accept special reasons for speeding such as an emergency this would be an interesting development

A course for drivers who have been caught speeding is being launched in Nottingham today.

The course will be for people caught speeding and will be an alternative to points.

This type of course is available in many parts of the country but until today was not available in Nottingham.

It is estimated that as many as 15,000 motorists a year will take the half-day course, which  looks into why people speed and the consequnces of speeding

Guidelines vary across the country as to whether motorists are eligible for the speed awareness course. Generally it is available for people who have no points on their licence and who were only slightly over the speed limit.

Drivers will have the option of going on the course which means they will not have any points put on their licence.

Initially they were used on motorways when there were road works. Anyone who drives along M1 between  junctions 25-28 will be familiar with them.

We have now been told that the average speed cameras will stay on the M1 after the roadworks are finished. It was also announced today that average speed cameras will be introduced into an urban area for the first time. Average speed cameras will be installed along a 7 1/2 mile stretch of the  A13 east of London.

So how do average speed cameras work? Unlike traditional speed cameras it is no use braking when you see one and then speeding up, as the name suggests they work out the average speed between 2 points. 

The cameras can be located between 200 yds and 10Km apart, normally they are fairly close together.

Each camera has a ‘pair’, an entry and exit camera.  The camera recognises your number as you go past the entry camera and then again as you go past the exit camera. They then work out the time it took and your average speed. If you are above the speed limit then you will be prosecuted.  The cameras to be installed in London are made by RedFusion – thier website states - 

“Initially, lane specific cameras, utilising Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) software, capture and record details of a passing vehicles license plate. This information is then sent via a public network to a centralised computer. As the vehicle travels along the carriageway it then reaches a second set of cameras at which time its license plate details are captured and recorded for a second time. Again this information is sent to the central computer where the data from the two readings is matched and analysed. By using the data from this analysis it is possible to measure a vehicles average speed by looking at the time taken to travel a known distance. When the system calculates a speed that is above the desired threshold a violation file will be created.

Within the violation file all the high resolution images and data collected by the camera system relating to that particular offending vehicle are collated. This violation data is then transferred into specialist computer software for back office processing. From here violation notices can be created against which payments can be made.

All data that is sent to the central computer system is encrypted to ensure the nature of the data is unrecognisable to an unauthorised observer. This allows for total security and ensures complete evidential integrity.

By using multi point to multi point technology, RedFusion is capable of offering accurate speed measurements even if a vehicle changes lane or leaves the particular carriageway being monitored, reducing potential incidents caused by vehicles changing lane in order to avoid detection and in turn ensuring maximum possible offence detection.”

The good news is that there will be a series of photographs. This should help identify the driver and avoid the many cases where drivers are unable to recall who was driving and face 6 penalty points as opposed to the 3 for speeding.

I am often asked this by clients. What can a specialist drink drive lawyer do for me?

There is rarely a defence to drink driving and often it is a case of damage limitation. The court must disqualify you for drink driving and the minimum disqualification for drink driving is 12 months.

So how can a drink drive solicitor help? For a lot of people a driving licence is crucial, it can mean the difference between being able to work and being unemployed.

There is no excuse for drink driving and the courts come down hard on those that are caught drink driving. The courts have a large discretion in terms of length of ban for drink driving. Say the wrong thing in front of the court and they will think you are not taking it seriously and increase your ban.

Expert mitigation by a specialist drink driving lawyer can make a difference in terms of the ban. A specialist drink drive solicitor will know the right thing to say to the court to show that you do understand the seriousness of the situation but also persuade the magistrates that you are not a risk to the public and that you can be trusted with a short ban.

If having a licence is essential for your work employing a drink drive solicitor to reduce the ban by a few months may well be a good investment.

You would think that with all of this snow it would be quiet on the motoring law front but it seems not.

I am getting lots of calls from people who have received a notice of intended prosecution for careless, even dangerous driving for driving the wrong way up a motorway exit. It seems that with a lot of motorways blocked people were turning around and getting off the motorway.  Some times they were ordered to by Police officers, sometimes it seemed the only thing to do.

What can you do if you are caught up in this? My guess is that a camera triggers a lot of these Notice of Intended Prosecutions, I would suggest writing to the police and advising them of the circumstances, if they insist on prosecuting then it is unlikely that you will have a defence as such BUT – there is a way to avoid points.

If you receive a summons contact us immediately and we will advise how to argue that there are special reasons not to put any points on your licence. We will be able to offer expert representation in court to try and ensure that you do not get any points on your licence.

A lot of people confuse what amounts to a defence and what is special reasons, I even see this mistake being made by non specialist motoring solicitors.

There are very few defences to drink driving. Basically they are – either you weren’t driving or you hadn’t been drinking. There are technical defences to drink driving and these relate to the drink driving procedure. To prove a case of drink driving the prosecution have to show you were driving and at the time you were over the legal limit. If you are caught at the scene and the police can show that you were over the legal limit then it is unlikely that you have a defence to drink driving unless they make a mistake on the drink drive intoxiliser procedure.

If you were not caught at the scene then you have a potential defence to drink driving. If you can establish that you drank after you drove then this is a defence, simply put; at the time of driving you were not over the limit.

How would you go about proving this? You are going to need an expert to give evidence of the effect of the post driving drinking. One of the questions you will be asked when giving a breath test is “have you drank since the accident?” If you have then it is essential that you tell the police this. You will probably then be interviewed and a detailed note will be taken of what you had to drink, how much and when. This will form the basis of the experts report who will be able to calculate what your breath reading would have been at the time you were driving by taking away the effect of the post driving drink.

If the experts report shows that you would have been under the limit at the time of driving then this is a valid defence and you should plead not guilty at court.

In terms of technical defences these are rare, the police have a form to fill in to help them through the procedure and generally mistakes are avoided. That is not to say mistakes are not made and a good specialist motoring solicitor will go through the form to ensure it is accurate.

For further advice on a drink driving matter contact us anytime on 07799 383239 or email at info@motoringlawyersonline.com

No one would condone drink driving, it is rightly considered one of the most serious motoring offences and certainly something that you would need advice from a specialist Motoring Solicitor.

There are a number of misconceptions about drink driving and in particular about failing to provide a sample.

 It is one of the few offences (along with terrorism) that the police can take action in the police station before a solicitor arrives. You are not entitled to wait for a solicitor to arrive, or to give advice over the phone before you give a breath sample.

If you fail to provide a sample then unless you have a reasonable excuse you will be guilty of a offence. This offence carries a disqualification – just like drink driving and the sentencing guidelines for failing to provide are more serious than drink driving.

A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that because they were not drunk or were not driving then they do not have to give a sample. This is plainly wrong. If you were not driving it is essential that you provide a sample, even if you are over the limit you have a defence to drink driving – namely that you weren’t drink driving. If you don’t give a sample because you were not driving then you are guilty of failing to provide a sample and the fact that you weren’t driving is no defence at all.

What counts as a reasonable excuse? Generally it has to be a medical defence and one that can be supported by a doctors report at a later date. The fact that you have a cold and a tight chest is not going to be enough. It is not hard to blow long enough on the machine to get a sample, I have done it often (for research only obviously!)  If you suffer from asthma or a chest complaint then that may be a defence and you need to mention it to the police at the time.

If you think that you may have a defence to failing to provide a specimen or drink drive it is essential that you contact a specialist motoring solicitor as soon as possible.