Police to revoke licenses immediately of drivers who can’t read numberplate at 20 meters

Sporky

NelsonP said:

How come the wheels are wonky?

Too much shopping in the boot.

VimFuego

I think I've worked out a loophole or workaround for this, just make sure at all times there is a car whose number plate you know by heart 22 yards away.

JAYJO

tz

ICBM

NelsonP said:

57Deluxe said:

MagicPigDetective said:

It would be a productive stop for the policeman - they could fine the BMW driver up to £1000 for having a dirty number plate.

this is a new fad - custom 'dark' plates...

How come the wheels are wonky?

Because he's dicked about with the suspension, which is probably illegal - and will also invalidate the insurance, since it won't be within manufacturer's spec - and should be another thing for the police to pull him for.

I'd take a bet that stopping any car with an illegal numberplate or dodgy suspension adjustment would have a much higher hit rate than average for other forms of minor criminality as well...

m_c

ICBM said:

NelsonP said:

57Deluxe said:

MagicPigDetective said:

It would be a productive stop for the policeman - they could fine the BMW driver up to £1000 for having a dirty number plate.

this is a new fad - custom 'dark' plates...

How come the wheels are wonky?

Because he's dicked about with the suspension, which is probably illegal - and will also invalidate the insurance, since it won't be within manufacturer's spec - and should be another thing for the police to pull him for.

I'd take a bet that stopping any car with an illegal numberplate or dodgy suspension adjustment would have a much higher hit rate than average for other forms of minor criminality as well...

Technically it is illegal, as any type approved vehicle (all new cars approved since 98 IIRC), should not be fitted with non-type approved parts. It's a very open ended get out clause for insurance companies, as if they can prove a non-type approved item contributed to an accident, they'll cancel your insurance (which then really screws you up for getting future insurance truthfully).
There has been murmours about the feasibility of making MOT's check that vehicles still meet their type approval, however the amount of work to implement is a lot more than anybody would want to spend, and that's before you get to the practicalities of inspecting vehicles.

It's a tough thing to enforce. Taking that extreme camber as an example, how do you get the prove that it's not an official type approved modification?
Anybody who sees it knows it's not official, but how do you proof legally it's not official?

It's too much work for the police to enforce, especially for random checks, as ultimately it would likely take them a good few man hours, and expert witness testimony to proof, without a guarantee they'd win any court case. And even if they did win, the driver isn't going to get that much of a fine. They will however pursue it if it's a contributory part of a bigger incident.

Whereas an insurance company facing a very big bill will very quickly put the onus on the owner/driver to proof it's official.

skunkwerx

Those slammed so called ‘euro type’ type cars with extreme camber are a joke.

They look like micro machines.

Meanwhile theyre running about on the edge of the fucking sidewall while the contact patch is 45 degrees away from the black stuff.  

I guess they keep tyre shops in business though.  

The same lot fit smaller tyres to get a ‘stretched look’. 

Not for me. 
I’d rather have a nice looking motor with a few subtle and effective mods. 

crunchman

skunkwerx said:

Not for me. 
I’d rather have a nice looking motor with a few subtle and effective mods. 

I'd rather have a cheap motor and money to spend on guitars.

fftc

crunchman said:

skunkwerx said:

Not for me. 
I’d rather have a nice looking motor with a few subtle and effective mods. 

I'd rather have a cheap motor and money to spend on guitars.

Ah, someone lucky enough not to have to make up for deficiencies with a fancy car! Welcome to the club. lol

skunkwerx

crunchman said:

skunkwerx said:

Not for me. 
I’d rather have a nice looking motor with a few subtle and effective mods. 

I'd rather have a cheap motor and money to spend on guitars.

Haha true that! 

Sesh

So has anyone tried to see if they can actually read a plate from 20m? I did a rough test by counting the steps to a car from the point I could read the plate. I counted 40 paces so as long as my pace is more than 50cm, which it is, I'm not that short,  I'm legal. Probably.

skunkwerx

Sesh said:

So has anyone tried to see if they can actually read a plate from 20m? I did a rough test by counting the steps to a car from the point I could read the plate. I counted 40 paces so as long as my pace is more than 50cm, which it is, I'm not that short,  I'm legal. Probably.

I might do soon just for fun, but.. 

I get a free yearly check up with specsavers and as per the code on my licence that states I must wear corrective lenses for driving, I always do, so I just put em on and forget about it. 

I’d laugh if It turns out I still can’t read it though.. 

crunchman

Sesh said:

So has anyone tried to see if they can actually read a plate from 20m? I did a rough test by counting the steps to a car from the point I could read the plate. I counted 40 paces so as long as my pace is more than 50cm, which it is, I'm not that short,  I'm legal. Probably.

I did that the other day.  I was around 45m based on one step being 1m, which won't be too far off unless you are a dwarf.

MInd you, I'm finding it harder to read stuff just in front of my nose.

ICBM

crunchman said:

I did that the other day.  I was around 45m based on one step being 1m, which won't be too far off unless you are a dwarf.

It's not quite as long as you'd think unless you're very tall with long legs. OK I'm not (I'm 5'6"), but my average normal walking stride length is only about 65cm, and I have to look a bit like John Cleese to get it to 1m.

I've recently tested this because my daughter is learning to drive and I wanted to confirm she could take the test with no worries about it - it's not quite as easy as you'd think if you properly measure the distances. With my glasses on I can read them without fail to 35m, but it's not a certainly after that with some of the letters.

crunchman

ICBM said:

crunchman said:

I did that the other day.  I was around 45m based on one step being 1m, which won't be too far off unless you are a dwarf.

It's not quite as long as you'd think unless you're very tall with long legs. OK I'm not (I'm 5'6"), but my average normal walking stride length is only about 65cm, and I have to look a bit like John Cleese to get it to 1m.

I've recently tested this because my daughter is learning to drive and I wanted to confirm she could take the test with no worries about it - it's not quite as easy as you'd think if you properly measure the distances. With my glasses on I can read them without fail to 35m, but it's not a certainly after that with some of the letters.

I'm about 6', and my legs are reasonably long as well.  My dad is 5'7" (or was when he was younger anyway), and his body is the same length as mine.  All 5" of extra length is in my legs.  As long as I stride out reasonably well, I am close to 1m.  I used to pace out where to put cricket stumps when I was younger, and could get them pretty accurate.