Monday 28th October 2002

Plan your Crimes Carefully

Plan your journey carefully

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[daver]

Got to concur on the motivations of the Essex lot. I was pulled over on the A127 heading towards Southend at 07:30 on a Saturday morning a few years back just as you pass the first '40' sign. I had eased off before the sign but was still travelling at more than 40 whilst still deccelerating.

Traffic was so light that there was probably half a mile between each vehicle. Guess what? Practically EVERYONE was being pulled. I can't remember the exact numbers but there were 3 or 4 squad cars and a number of coppers approaching double figures.

No lecture, no questions, just take your ticket and go (and make room for us to process the next guy behind you).

Is this the way to encourage public support for the police?

[Dazren]

Bloody hell.

Avon & Somerset issued more than Northants!

DAZ

[mondeoman]

Staffordshire issued 160,000 tickets - and 20,000 vehicle defects!!??

Bet most of them are locals as well - how long before everyone in the county has 9 points or so and the backlash at the polls begins??

[jmorgan]

Total for Wales is high considering the total population

[Geoffh]

Be useful to have accident statistics as well to see if any make an impression. Glad I live in Cheshire!

[hertsbiker]

Southend - home of the boy racer. Hence the activity, but very harsh to be doing this in commuting hours. I don't care what our resident Plod say about "well, speeding *is* a crime".. it isn't really a crime if everyone does it. We seem to forget that a lot of activities that were illegal once, are now widely accepted & practiced.

[PetrolTed]

Here are accident statistics for 2000-01 based on hospital admission. A total of 43,630.

Code/Health authority	Number
QA2 Hillingdon HA	186
QA3 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster HA	311
QA4 Enfield and Haringey HA	104
QA5 Redbridge and Waltham Forest HA	364
QA6 Bedfordshire HA	344
QA7 Berkshire HA	589
QA8 Buckinghamshire HA	566
QAA Bexley and Greenwich HA	278
QAC Bromley Ha	150
QAD Croydon Ha	187
QAE East Kent HA	537
QAF West Kent Ha	1,086
QAG Kingston and Richmond HA	202
QAH Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham HA	641
QAJ Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth HA	462
QAL West Surrey HA	733
QAM East Sussex, Brighton and Hove HA	645
QAN West Sussex Ha	895
QAP Barking and Havering HA	226
QAQ Barnet Ha	275
QAR Brent and Harrow HA	24
QAT Camden and Islington HA	490
QAV Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow HA	278
QAW East London and The City HA	444
QAX North Essex HA	855
QAY South Essex HA	493
QC1 South Lancashire HA	80
QC2 Liverpool HA	506
QC3 Manchester HA	422
QC4 Morecambe Bay HA	414
QC5 St. Helens and Knowsley HA	388
QC6 Salford and Trafford HA	288
QC7 Sefton HA	350
QC8 Stockport HA	223
QC9 West Pennine HA	494
QCC Northamptonshire HA	425
QCE Oxfordshire HA	625
QCF Suffolk HA	634
QCG Barnsley HA	283
QCH North Derbyshire HA	235
QCJ South Derbyshire HA	446
QCK Doncaster HA	287
QCL Leicestershire HA	517
QCM Lincolnshire HA	890
QCN North Nottinghamshire HA	610
QCP Nottingham Ha	852
QCQ Rotherham HA	257
QCR Sheffield HA	317
QCT Bury and Rochdale HA	247
QCV North Cheshire Ha	329
QCW South cheshire Ha	723
QCX East Lancashire HA	416
QCY North West Lancashire HA	493
QD1 North and Mid Hampshire HA	301
QD2 Portsmouth and South East Hampshire HA	594
QD3 Southampton and South West Hampshire HA	282
QD4 Isle of Wight HA	63
QD5 Somerset HA	489
QD6 South and West Devon HA	560
QD7 Wiltshire HA	548
QD8 Avon Ha	1,210
QD9 Birmingham Ha	1,347
QDA Wigan and Bolton HA	485
QDC Wirral HA	182
QDD Bradford HA	414
QDE County Durham HA	363
QDF East Riding HA	472
QDG Gateshead and South Tyneside HA	254
QDH Leeds HA	741
QDJ Newcastle and North Tyneside HA	445
QDK North Cumbria HA	240
QDL South Humber HA	460
QDM Northumberland HA	378
QDN Sunderland HA	286
QDP Tees HA	647
QDQ Wakefield HA	371
QDR North Yorkshire HA	808
QDT Calderdale and Kirklees HA	404
QDV Cornwall and Isles of Scilly HA	417
QDW Dorset HA	627
QDX North and East Devon HA	493
QDY Gloucestershire HA	593
QEA Coventry HA	393
QEC Dudley HA	309
QED Herefordshire HA	250
QEE Sandwell HA	148
QEF Shropshire HA	554
QEH North Staffordshire HA	236
QEJ South Staffordshire HA	319
QEK Walsall HA	206
QEL Warwickshire HA	406
QEM Wolverhampton HA	185
QEN Worcestershire HA	435
QEP East and North Hertfordshire HA	318
QEQ West Hertfordshire HA	254
QER Cambridge HA	1,046
QET Norfolk HA	981

[JohnL]

There're probably more people in Essex than in Wales - the numbers need to be compared against population, and indeed vehicle miles travelled.

Got any figures for Scotland?
IIRC we have the highest death toll per capita in the UK - especially in the central belt - yet (it seems to me) fewer poeple speed.

There's a lesson in there somewhere, if I'm right (but check, don't take it on faith!)

[madcop]

The other thing not pointed out is that there are a huge number of people that exceed the limits compared to the number of badly maintained vehicles on the road. They only produced prosecution figures and not defect rectification figures as well.

[V8thunder]

They really need to think about bringing the speed limits in line with continental Europe if any of their 'EU Integration' bollocks is to be believed. Also, I'm sure it costs the government a hell of a lot more in revenue installing anti-speeding equipment than is does to catch burglars, rapists, drug dealers etc. A report in the Guardian today said that speed cameras weren't working to cut down accidents, but the government and the numpty groups all said that speeding was the primary cause of all road accidents! They also made the ABD and other pro-motoring groups out to be the fifth horseman of the apocalypse. I would warn all motorists to watch out for red tape on the roads, and make your comments heard. It amazes me how the government can formulate policies to cater for god-knows-how-many minority groups, yet when considering that 85% of the electorate with cars, they seem rather discriminatory.

[roger brown]

It just goes to show that "speeding offences" which presumably means Gatso related 'offences' are all about revenue. How else can you account for Staffordshire's 165.000 odd speeding count? Are we all such dreadful 'criminals' up here. I'm deeply offended and yes I've been 'nabbed' by a Gatso for driving at 53 mph on an empty rural road, late evening, designated 40 mph (who by? why? on what basis?). Safety? Rubbish.

[CarZee]

all of these figures are utterly meaningless without some context..

we need figures for each of the last 5 years to see the overall trend... also we need to know the number of miles driven by the number of cars in each county..

They might as well be made up..