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A friend of mine, who lives in Walton-on-Thames, in Surrey, has been complaining for years about the Pol Pot parking regime, which set me thinking. A little research turned up the fact that traffic wardens began patrolling Walton as long ago as 1966, and in Guildford, 1963. One research trail led to another, and I discovered that during the 1930s, Reigate Borough Constabulary instigated an aerial patrol – an early version of India Nine-Nine – which worked in conjunction with a high-speed road-patrol group using Alfa Romeos and under the command of Sir Malcolm Campbell, no less, who was at the time an inspector in the Special Constabulary. Digging further into the Surrey archives, I discovered that the first prosecutions for speeding in the county took place just five years after the last turnpike trust was wound up. In 1900, Surrey’s Chief Constable, one Captain Sant, issued “…a caution to the drivers of motor cars in respect of furious driving”, and warned that he would resort to “stringent measures”. In those days, few cars were capable of exceeding 10 mph. His ‘stringent measures’ earned Sant a reputation, even among magistrates, for being too heavy handed with motorists. In 1905, a Guildford magistrate stated from the bench that “…a crusade was being waged against the motorist.” In the same year, a number of police constables manning a ‘speed trap’ on the Cobham Mile were successfully prosecuted for perjury. The Surrey Constabulary became the butt of national humour, with cartoons appearing in Punch, for example, depicting ‘A day on the Ripley Road’ and similar themes appearing in the cartoon pages of The Graphic and The Sketch. Undeterred, Sant continued his war on motorists for more than 30 years and although retiring in 1930, he apparently remains a government consultant.
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What a fascinating and revealing piece of research!
It would also appear that the Automobile Association, having been founded in 1905 supported the interests of the motorist, and there were several clashes between the organization and Sant’s Constabulary. Matters were brought to a head when an AA patrolman was fined for obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty by waving at motorists to warn them of a ’speed trap’.
So nothing much has changed… And we now know who to blame for the continuing blinkered persecution of the motorist.
AlfaMartini | 21 Aug 08 - 14:28Further to my last comment, I’m not trying to say that speeding is OK.
I do witness many accidents in UAE, both on my daily motorway commute and also within town on the weekend shopping run. However 90% of them occur at relatively low speeds and are blatantly caused by lack of driver aptitude and/or training… usually related to random lane-changing without observing following traffic, and failing to signal their intention… And similarly by drivers in following traffic who fail to observe safe following distances, and the un-signalled ‘Body-English’ of vehicles ahead of them.
Unfortunately traffic regulations world-wide are targeting their speed limits etc against the lowest common denominator… i.e. those drivers who have recently acquired a driving license but have absolutely no real world experience of the required driving skills regarding car handling and/or understanding of road & traffic conditions, plus those who simply do not have the mental/physical aptitude required for safe car handling, and will never be safe drivers, regardless of training and unschooled experience etc.
The current official approach in UK would appear to be a move away from car handling training to appreciation of traffic conditions etc… which is basically robbing Peter to pay Paul. Would it not be more effective for drivers who pass the basic driving test to continue driving on perhaps ‘L2’ plates until such time as they have attended and successfully completed one of the many excellent ‘Advanced’ Driver courses available.
AlfaMartini | 25 Aug 08 - 17:42