General Discussion

Nissan note WF13 FHL - reported to Devon and Cornwall police with front and rear video footage.

I think somebody needs to get a life !!!

It shows very poor driving skills and it's very common in Dawlish the junction with Exeter Road and the High Street is a black spot for drivers cutting the junction the question is would these drivers pass a UK driving test if they drove like that on there test.  I have carried out research for a number of major organisations in and around Dawlish with reference to exactly these problems up to 80% of drivers dont indicate when turning left into Brunswick Place 68% cut the junction at the High Street. Other problems are driving while on a mobile driving with fog lights one or more lighting faults ie brake lights not working, faulty side lights , headlights. mounting the kerb when parking and the list goes on it all these drivers are breaking the law a few fines would soon change the way they drive.

To be honest, we see worse examples of driving than this practically every day on Badlake Hill. Usually when someone cuts the corner like this it is because there are cars parked on the opposite corner which stick out into the road. This is not to excuse the driver in this instance, just that in the great scheme of things, it might be classed as something of a minor misdemeanour.

Just go down the Strand and you will see plenty of samples of not just bad driving but bad parking also.

At least the driver in the video was driving at a safe speed and approached the junction with caution.

Stand on any road in Dawlish and witness the bad driving, speeding and parking on double yellow lines. People get away with it because, as I found out very recently, traffic wardens employed by TDC (or whatever their newfangled name is) only focus on meter and car park offences. On-street parking offences are covered by Devon County Council, but, when I asked how may officers were employed in Dawlish or how many hours they worked to cover on-street offences they gave a very woolly answer with no data! 

When the Police where in charge of parking there where 2 full time wardens and one part time but they also dealt with other issues like VEL,s Insurance, MOT'S, ILLEGAL NUMBER PLATES, FOG LIGHTS, LOUD MUSIC. ILLEGAL EXHAUSTS plus many other issues covering road traffic offences. But they also carried out duties for the community like bringing all the children from Gatehouse to Church for there Carrol Service, they managed all the roads for the Carnival and Air Show and the Christmas market and dealt with non fatal accidents on the A379 and the back lanes and what did we replace them with CEO,S who have no traffic powers cant deal with obstructions and are not trained to understand the road traffic regulations.  We also have the PCSO,S but they have had there traffic powers removed leaving the system open to abuse and drivers aren,t stupid and take advantage of the situation and know they can get away with offences that a few years ago they would have been penalised for the answer i have no idea.

The laws are in place but nobody enforces them any longer.

The laws are in place but the only people who can now enforce them are Police Officers and they are stretched to the limit PCSO,s  have had there traffic powers revoked i presume to save money so the driver has a free hand to do as they please knowing full well there is nobody to enforce the law.  Just to put it in perspective a Police Officer issues a ticket for parking on zig zags the offence carries 3 points the paperwork will take up to 2hrs to complete then if the driver fails to produce a further load of paperwork about 2hrs then has to appear in court and the driver doesn't appear a further 2 or 3 hrs wasted and it wouldn't finish there. Now the old Police Traffic Wardens they where trained to deal with it all and had the time to do it,  now with DCC running parking its all about money they say it's not but it,s very strange they make a profit from Parking.

Should'nt we (the public) want DCC to make a profit from parking enforcement rather than run it at a loss? Any loss would have to be subsidised meaning other more vital services (eg: Education and Care) have less funding. DCC can only make a profit if people are ignoring or failing to comply with parking rules. From what I've read, any profit is required by law to be spent on schemes to improve local roads & transport so it's the public that benefit from any profit not fat cats.

I am amazed at the number of drivers who have not cleared ice from there screens and side windows and are driving with only a small square cleared on there front screen this morning apart from braking the law it's extremely dangerous.