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Do speeding tickets etc. keep us safe or raise funds?

10/27/2015

6 Comments

 

Parking restrictions:

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 A 64-year-old retired Rover worker from Birmingham, UK, suffered an angina attack while driving through the city. He pulled over and went into a shop nearby to take his medication, but when he returned, he discovered that he had been given a parking ticket. The council sent him a £35 fine.

He appealed, and sent a doctors' letter, which stated he should stop what he was doing, take medication and rest. The letter took a while to organize. For his trouble and because of the delay, the council increased the fine to £70.

There was no way he could drive safely while suffering agonising chest pains. When his first appeal was rejected, he took his claim to a second independent appeal. The council accepted the second appeal and cancelled the fine.

Here are other cases from the UK in recent years.

1. Last November, a woman who had pulled over at 11am on Armistice Day to pay her respects, after hearing Big Ben strike. While she was standing by the car, observing a minute's silence, a traffic warden slapped her car with a ticket. She was urged to appeal.

2. In February last year, a motorist was ticketed for being stationary beside a bus stop: he was stuck in traffic at the time. The fine was later cancelled.

3. A month later, a man was fined for stopping for 90 seconds to check the parking restrictions. The photo sent with the fine clearly showed him checking the sign beside his car. The fine was eventually dropped.

4. In 2013, a woman was fined for pulling into a disabled bay on a city High Street. The warden ignored the fact she was a few feet away giving first aid to a woman who had collapsed in the street. The council withdrew the fine.

5. A year earlier, traffic wardens ticketed a lifeboat, after a crew member left it on a trailer outside the lifeboat station to pop back in for some paperwork. The ticket was eventually cancelled. Source Aol Money. 
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 Speeding tickets:


Okay, here's my story. My husband was driving along a street close to home when he was struck with a sudden urge. He wears a catheter and when it plays up, he is gripped with agonizing pain. He had to decide, whilst in pain, weather to return home, thereby doing a u-turn, or continue to the closest pub. Unable to think straight, he chose the latter.

When a fine came in the mail, he was staggered. There is a camera part-way along the street, which consists of steep rises and dips. In order to slow down on one hill, the driver has to ride the brakes and turn on the incline before the next dip. There has never been an accident on Allum Lane, nor do people cross the road.

He sent a letter of explanation. The council expressed their sympathy, but his claim was rejected and he's paid a £100 fine, which we can ill afford because of financial circumstances attached to his cancer.
This fine has nothing to do with public safety. Extenuating circumstances have no bearing on the money-making scheme of some hungry municipal councils.
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Do you have a story to tell?

6 Comments
Alana link
10/27/2015 03:13:02 am

I don't have a story to tell, although there are plenty in our country. This story deserves sharing on social media. Shame on the authorities!

Reply
Roy A. Ackerman, PhD, EA link
10/27/2015 04:36:21 am

So, the parking tickets were all justified. The agent (they are rarely if ever cops) has no idea as to extenuating circumstances. But, the approving body will learn- and must forgive them.
Re: the up and down street and your ticket- that is CLEARLY a method for revenue enhancement, as it is a trap. There seem to be more and more places where speed cameras are placed along steep declines. (In prior years in the State, the traffic code recognized that declines should not be subject to close speed enforcement (you can't double the speed limit) to preclude folks from riding their brakes, which could result in their failure- and serious accident.)
As you see, I am with you on that ticket's inanity. Because the device was placed to deliberately collect revenue..

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Ruthanne link
10/27/2015 05:41:58 am

Ridiculous how city employees are more interested in passing out tickets, than showing care to the people they've pledged to serve.

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Meena Menon link
10/27/2015 06:08:19 am

Ouch! Tht one was definetely not justified!

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Bonnie Gean link
10/27/2015 03:30:48 pm

Hi Francene,

I don't know what it's like where you live (but the stories aren't too far off from how the ticket-givers act in the states). I often tell my husband that it's as if these people are earning a paycheck based on how many tickets they hand out per week.

I often wondered how true this is, but when a person feels that it's okay to overlook a human emergency just to give out a ticket, one has to wonder where all the humanity has gone.

So sorry to hear about your husband's circumstance.

- Bonnie

Reply
Barbara link
10/27/2015 09:19:29 pm

Oh Francene. So sorry to hear about your husband's situation. I read an interesting article recently about the result of removing street signs in the Netherlands. http://www.citylab.com/commute/2011/09/shared-spaces/116/ Interestingly enough, individuals became more responsible.

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    Francene Stanley
    From England, I use news items in my novels which you can see below, all linked to an Amazon near you.

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