Laws that are not enforced

[b]What use is it passing laws that are ignored because there is nobody to enforce them?
The last government passed a few laws(I could stop there)
A few laws that have not a cat in hells chance of working.
Fox hunting(never stopped)Using mobile phones while driving(never stopped)
Smoking ban in public places(worked upto a point)filled streets with fag ends.
Caused pubs that are still open to stink of toilets instead of tobacco.
The two worse things to happen to this country in recent years is the birth of M Thatcher,
and the death of John Smith(Labour leader)

What's worse...ignoring laws which need to be enforced or ordering the laws ignored due to political gain to be had?

Passing a law has never, not once in human history, ever stopped people from committing crimes. Criminals never engage in a crime believing they're going to get caught so the law and the consequences aren't even a factor in deterrence. These are the people who believe it will never happen to them. On the other side of the spectrum, there are those (like myself) who believes, perhaps with a twinge of paranoia, that it will always happen to them. They will never become criminals because they are convinced that half the police force is watching and waiting for them to so much as J-walk, so committing a crime is futile. Sometimes laws exist to keep honest people honest. For myself, being in the latter category, I would never take up fox hunting as a hobby because I'm convinced I'd be caught. It doesn't matter if no one else gets caught or how well the law is enforced.

Here in UK we have the highway code.
It should be made mandatory IMO
There is a law that if you find a welshman between 12 o clock and 4 pm in Shrewsbury on a sunday, you can shoot him with a Bow and Arrow - still in statute from AD 1500 ish.

these stupid annomalies only bring the law makers and judiciary into disrepute, as if they dont do enough on that score by themselves!

One of my favorite archaic laws still on the books here in America concerns the state of Pennsylvania. While driving on a rural road, you must stop every 500 feet, get out of your car, and fire off a rocket (firework) to signal any oncoming horse riders that a car is coming. Of course, this law was written when cars were still novelty items and most people still rode horses. Apparently, the state was trying to prevent cars from spooking the horses as the cars drove by, potentially throwing the rider. The irony of this law is that fireworks are illegal in the state of Pennsylvania (which I know firsthand because I had some fireworks I had bought in Tennessee confiscated by a Pennsylvania state trooper, the bastid!). I wonder ... do you think if I had cited the old law requiring me to have a supply of rockets with me so I could signal horse riders, the cop would have let me keep them?

Only towards the end of World War 2 did King's Regulations and Army Council Instructions finally cease to require that a Soldier must not sleep further than fifteen feet from his horse.

Quote : " There is a law that if you find a welshman between 12 o clock and 4 pm in Shrewsbury on a sunday, you can shoot him with a Bow and Arrow "

I regularly drive into Shropshire on Sundays- armed with a tempting leek on my person, which no self-respecting Welshman could resist- for that very purpose, but my aim is poor and,thus far, they have escaped unscathed. But it can only be a matter of time...

Persistance me dear, I'm sure it will pay off!!

We have a by law where I live.
It states that two piece swimware is not allowed on the beach.
It does not say what part women can use to keep their modesty.

Whatever happened to the RSPCL?

Leeks evidently still require protection.

There are not only Laws which are not enforced, but we also have customs that are no longer observed. Our dog is now twelve years old, but for the first five years of his life he was terrified every November 5th. when the air was filled with the sounds of explosions. Not recently. He has been able to doze undisturbed next to the television.

"Passing a law has never, not once in human history, ever stopped people from committing crimes. Criminals never engage in a crime believing they're going to get caught so the law and the consequences aren't even a factor in deterrence" ~ Shirina

That is a completely false statement. Passing laws prevents MOST people from committing crimes...just not ALL people.

And you must not know many "criminals" because they DO think they'll get caught...just not "this time".

just not ALL people.

Exactly, which is why laws have never stopped people from committing crimes. There has never been a crime-free society. Ergo, my statement is completely true.

Some European countries have Laws based on the Code Napoleon which sometimes requires the accused to prove their innocence.

That's a handy catch-all when the Authorities wish to impede an activity which is not strictly unlawful but is nevertheless considered undesirable.

News reports today indicate that a Private Investigator was paid by the Screws of the World to follow, and report upon, up to 150 well-known people ranging from Footballers to Royalty. NONE OF WHICH IS ILLEGAL.

A chap I know was carring a sandwich board, just like oftenwrongs.
Only this time it was blank.
I said why are you walking around with a blank sanwich board,
Like any right thinking pearson would say to someone who was walking about with a blank sanwich board.
He looked at me with eyes that could kill.(if eyes could kill?)
He said,"It's MY DAY OFF.

Phil Hornby wrote:Quote : " There is a law that if you find a welshman between 12 o clock and 4 pm in Shrewsbury on a sunday, you can shoot him with a Bow and Arrow "

I regularly drive into Shropshire on Sundays- armed with a tempting leek on my person, which no self-respecting Welshman could resist- for that very purpose, but my aim is poor and,thus far, they have escaped unscathed. But it can only be a matter of time...

Well Phil you posted this in November. have you had any luck to date? ha ha

We have laws here in the UK where the burden of proof is on the defendant to prove his innocence rather than the crown proving guilt.
 
Made and adapted offensive weapons, some pointed and bladed articles, and other recent laws ( POCA )  in relation to having large amounts of money about your person.
 
IMHO there is no point in making laws that the state has no realistic prospect of enforcing.

Police have made several arrests this week of Romanian men suspected of being "mules" for money-laundering. Successful internet bank fraud and/or identity theft proceeds are paid in to a bank account specifically opened for that purpose by the arrested individuals, who will only have used it once - sometimes several months after opening it.

Banks have been criticised for failing to share information on such fraudulent activity, which they prefer to minimise for public consumption.

Stox 16 wrote:

Phil Hornby wrote:Quote : " There is a law that if you find a welshman between 12 o clock and 4 pm in Shrewsbury on a sunday, you can shoot him with a Bow and Arrow "

I regularly drive into Shropshire on Sundays- armed with a tempting leek on my person, which no self-respecting Welshman could resist- for that very purpose, but my aim is poor and,thus far, they have escaped unscathed. But it can only be a matter of time...

Well Phil you posted this in November. have you had any luck to date? ha ha

There are no actual fatalities to report, but I have it on good authority that a few of our Taffia cousins have been wounded by my savage comments...

DVLA figures show that more than 10,000 drivers are still on the road despite racking up 12 points or more. This to me is crazy , exceptional hardship is the loop hole that allows these drivers from being banned , this does not stop the problem for the reason the points were awarded.

Phil Hornby wrote:

Stox 16 wrote:

Phil Hornby wrote:Quote : " There is a law that if you find a welshman between 12 o clock and 4 pm in Shrewsbury on a sunday, you can shoot him with a Bow and Arrow "

I regularly drive into Shropshire on Sundays- armed with a tempting leek on my person, which no self-respecting Welshman could resist- for that very purpose, but my aim is poor and,thus far, they have escaped unscathed. But it can only be a matter of time...

Well Phil you posted this in November. have you had any luck to date? ha ha

There are no actual fatalities to report, but I have it on good authority that a few of our Taffia cousins have been wounded by my savage comments...

Phil
do you think you could just speed up this wounding of our Taffia cousins please ha ha ha the odd Tory banker would not go a miss either ha ha

RockOnBrother wrote:
Drivers who threaten lives should be banned from driving. Drivers who ignore bans and drive anyway should be incarcerated. Kinda hard to drive despite being banned from behind bars.

Rock
have to say I full agree with you...

In Scandinavia if you lose your driving licence through drink or any other driving offence, that it! Never get it back again, no matter how high and mighty, it's gone for good. I believe Norway has engineered it so they cannot come to another country to get THAT country's licence and thence drive again in Norway! - It's a privaledge NOT a right of passage!

Not being in the EU, Brussels has to behave itself, much to their chagrin!

Well, not all drivers who lose their license are bad or unsafe drivers. I'm actually an excellent driver, and many have said I'm one of few people they can confidently fall asleep with while behind the wheel. This is a mixed blessing, though, because it makes having an actual traveling companion (instead of a sleeping lump) much more difficult.

Yet I lost my license for a year due to a long string of nonsense that had nothing to do with my driving ability.

1) Only once was a caught dead-to-rights breaking the law. I was pulled over for speeding as I was coming down a hill. I call shenanigans though since I think cops sitting at the bottom of hills where a person doesn't have time to slow down is completely unfair.

2) I was caught passing in a no passing zone while I was being chased by a gang of hooligans. I was actually fleeing - quite possibly for my life! The issue here is that there was a strip of snow down the middle of the road obscuring the center lines, so there was no way for me to know if I was allowed to pass. I told the cop this, and he claimed I should have known by the "No Passing Zone" signs. The trouble is that there are only signs to tell you when NOT to pass; there are no signs indicating the start of a passing zone! Oh, and he thought I was lying about the hooligans even though I named names. Nice, huh?

3) I was cited for weaving - complete with full field sobriety test! I may have weaved ... but only because it was the middle of the night, no street lights, the road was freshly blacktopped (it was as black as the night itself) and they hadn't painted any lines on it yet! I couldn't tell the road from the sky from the fields! Not fair, I say, but to no avail.

4) I was pulled over for "running" a stop sign at 4am at a rural crossroads in the middle of a cornfield in October. Essentially this means I could see for a mile in every direction. The bored, small-town cop was probably just itching to give someone a ticket ... anyone ... for any reason ... just to break the monotony of watching an intersection that had roughly the same amount of car traffic as the moon. Is it possible that I didn't come to a full, utter, complete stop? I suppose, but you would literally need special detection equipment to decide whether I still had forward momentum when I went through it.

5) Finally I was cited for drag racing ... yep, drag racing! This only occurred because I was following a friend whose car was on the verge of breaking down. His catalytic converter was literally on fire, belching smoke and obscuring my vision. So when I passed him, I did so while driving by the house of a vindictive ex-boyfriend who just happened to be dating the daughter of a cop. He called the police (I wonder which one?) and that night a State Trooper showed up to my house and gave me a ticket ... based on this guy's word alone! More shenanigans!

So I lost my license and had to be carted around by friends ... one of whom ran a red light, I mean literally just ran it, at a city intersection. He was pulled over ... and given a warning!!!! Oh man, was I ever pissed off. After that, I drove, and I didn't care if my license was revoked.

There is a habit here in the North of England, that when roads are being replaced, the repeat signs on 40mph roads are not replaced on every second lamp post, when the work is finished. Everyone resorts to 30mph - 50kph national speed limit. I have had this out with the malitia who say it is part of the "Traffic Calming" excercise at the moment. When I pointed out that the signs have not been replaced since 1999 (when "Traffic Calming" was in it's infancy), I insinuated his superiors were telling him porkies he started looking round my tyres, licence plates and road tax. Later in the month I called for polis assistance as trouble on my train, and who trolleyed along the platform? you got it - My Personal Uniformed Hero! He asked me the trouble, even though it was a stark as the pimple on a lepers nose! and asked me to show him. The reply was that by law I was not allowed to leave the cab and had to keep radio contact open. GOTCHA! Stoopid I know, but I was singing - however out of tune for the next half hour!

Quote : "Phil do you think you could just speed up this wounding of our Taffia cousins please ha ha ha the odd Tory banker would not go a miss either ha ha "

I am rather hoping that the England Rugby Union team will do some Taffy-bashing for me tomorrow at Twickenham. But I have my doubts. Failing that, I may have to dress up in my stunningly attractive sheep's disguise , cross the border, and hope I 'strike first'.....

It's more difficult to effect a disguise to ensnare a banker. After all, how does one dress up as a bonus....?

Ah it's the sharpened points on them there horns.

Give em a dose of their own treatment!

Mind though, the silver tips covered tips may give the game away!

Motor Insurance for teenagers can cost two or three thousand pounds a year, i.e. "We don't want your business, thank you."

A development is the "Black Box" fitted to the car which records speed, manner of driving, and location as well as time of day and number of occupants. Almost as good as having Dad sitting behind the driver, and therefore cheaper insurance.

How long can it be before the Government decides that EVERYONE must have one?

How long can it be before the Government decides that EVERYONE must have one?

The government won't ever require it. However, the insurance companies will most likely start requiring everyone to have them in order to be covered. I think the only reason why it hasn't happened already is because none of the various insurers want to be the first one as they will lose the most clients. However, sooner or later all the major insurance companies will get together and work it out so they all do it relatively simultaneously.

"The government won't ever require it."

Possibly not, but there is already pressure to extend road-pricing beyond London, which will require some kind of meter in the vehicle that could readily perform other functions at the same time.

Britain already has a greater concentration of CCTV than any comparable Nation. Our officials like to know what we're doing.

" Our officials like to know what we're doing."

Wives perform a not dissimilar function....

In the same day's news have come a pair of stories which could (should?) be linked.  The first concerns the continuing problem of selfish drivers who allow themselves to be distracted by mobile phones:

Police dish out £5.5m in fines for phone use

"In the six months after the Government doubled mobile-phone penalties from a £100 fine and three penalty points to a £200 fixed penalty notice (FPN) and six points, 27,614 drivers have been caught for the act. "

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news/police-dish-out-%c2%a355m-in-fines-for-phone-use-since-march/ar-BBFsLx6?li=AAnZ9Ug&ocid=iehp

Story number 2 comes from a Motor Manufacturer;


New 2018 Mercedes-Benz A-Class interior revealed
Wouldn't drivers find that "aircraft cockpit" style to be somewhat distracting too?

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news/new-2018-mercedes-benz-a-class-interior-revealed/ar-BBFwvgW?ocid=iehp