Luddy,

I'm not in favour of a widespread 'dob in a driver' campaign, though some definitely need straightening-out, and should be 'dobbed'.

We need better roads, better drivers, better public transport, fewer vehicles, and more-visible cyclists who also look to their own safety by being more aware and more cautious about their riding habits.

When I was cycling to and from work in city traffic, I kept in the middle of my lane (making like a car) except when ascending a steep hill - which I mostly tried to avoid like the plague - and in general kept reasonably up with the traffic flow.
I caused no significant problems for others, nor they for me.
And, I wasn't an exceptional rider - but tried to be highly visible.
Maybe I was just lucky?

Perhaps we need more dedicated cycling tracks (circuits), for racing and serious cyclists, so they can avoid those pre-dawn and post-dusk training sojourns which place them at such great risk.

I think you are very lucky Saltpetre.

Lucky you didn't have a meeting with one of those drivers talking on the phone, while eating A MCMUFFIN while reading the morning paper, who had just spilt their coffee in their lap. Oh & while putting on her makeup if it was a lady.

Don't bother buying any lottery tickets, you've used up all your luck.

I'll drive a tank, the bigger the better, if I'm forced to go into the city.

Haz, yes Salty was very lucky not to come unstuck.

Me too. I used to ride like that. I rode for 40 years. I don’t ride at all any more. I must have used up huge gobs of luck… and I can’t have much of the stuff left! ( :>/

<< I'm not in favour of a widespread 'dob in a driver' campaign >>

Why not Salty?

It really does seem like the obvious thing to do to me.

We are urged to ‘dob in a litterer’, we’ve previously been implored to dob in smoky vehicles, we are asked to report suspicious people (whether or not they have been seen doing anything wrong) as part of the Neighbourhood Watch program…. And yet we not at all encouraged to dob in dangerous drivers!!

That does not compute!

Dangerous drivers, or those that drive really poorly and without any respect for the law or other road-users, are surely as significant if not a whole lot more so than the abovementioned categories.

I just don’t understand at all why our politicians and police don’t see fit to launch a major ‘dob in a dangerous driver’ campaign.

As I say; it would initially increase the workload of the police but would then considerably reduce it below what it was before the program.

I can envisage it being very successful indeed in pulling errant drivers into line and considerably improving road safety.

The way in which the police have disempowered the public to assist in the road safety effort is just appalling. The public absolutely needs to be able to make complaints to the police and have the police treat them positively for their efforts and follow right through on those complaints. And they need to be encouraged to do it, just as with littering and Neighbourhood Watch.

Salty, you say:

<< We need… better drivers… >>

Absolutely! This is one way to do it. And I think a very significant way indeed.

Luddy, I guess my reservations are on two bases:

Firstly I'm not keen on drivers diverting their attention from the main game, that is on their driving, in order to get the details of a deviant driver's vehicle number plate - particularly if in doing so they have to speed, overtake other vehicles, and perhaps themselves unwittingly engage in questionable practices in this quest (and maybe then risk getting 'dobbed' themselves, as well as possibly placing others at risk.
(Mind you, if opportunity presents itself to dob in a 'hoon' or idiot driver without any question of hazard, I am fully in favour.)

Secondly, I wouldn't like a situation to develop where drivers generally felt it was their responsibility to dob in every minor deviation - a 'vigilante' mindset - which could of course lead to many spurious complaints, possibly including some simply because a driver was peeved (maybe at being late for work) or in a foul mood, and felt like taking it out on someone else.

Still, dangerous driving needs to be reined-in, and some 'dobbing' would be very much in the public interest.
I also see a place for speed/power-limited vehicles for our younger drivers - in the interest of safety - and maybe one day there will also be a mental-fitness (attitude) evaluation as part of driver assessment to gain a driving licence (as there should already be for gaining a firearms licence).

(Maybe also I'm a little reluctant because I don't always exactly toe the line myself - a few K's over the limit here and there. But, I'm very far from being a hoon - I need and respect my licence far too much for that.)

Salty, the details of number plates and driver description would hopefully be recorded on the video cam.

All a person needs to do is to then go to the police, or phone in a complaint straight away or later on, on 131444 or 134666 in Queensland.

You definitely should NOT pursue the driver in order to get the licence number, if it means speeding or driving dangerously or illegally to do so.

And you should not interact with the offender. Just be cool and get the police to take care of it.

Well…. that's how it should be.

But in my experience, involving quite a few contacts over many years with the police at police stations while trying to make complaint about rank drivers, the police just really don’t want to know and don’t treat you well for your efforts.

On a couple of occasions they have, but on the rest, which numbers about ten I guess, they certainly haven’t. And this has left me feeling very disturbed about the whole police and law and order thing. Very disturbed indeed.

I really don’t want to ever have anything to do with the police ever again.

But I will continue to lobby for a decent policing regime and a much better standard of road safety.

I can’t imagine that a ‘dob in a dangerous driver’ campaign would result in lots of complaints about really minor thing.

Look at Neighbourhood Watch. The scope is very broad indeed. We are encouraged to report people who are suspicious or different, regardless of any lack of wrongdoing. But this hasn’t resulted in large numbers of complaints about trivial things. It is pretty much used only in instances where people are obviously doing the wrong thing or acting in a very strange or suspicious manner.

So I’m sure a DIADD campaign would get ~99% legitimate and serious complaints.

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