Posted on 08/21/2005 7:19:24 AM PDT by elkfersupper
DRIVERS who are unfit to get behind the wheel through fatigue, illness or use of medicines will be caught and prosecuted using a revolutionary new police computer.
As many as 800,000 drivers a year who put themselves and others at risk by driving while tired or on medication face hefty fines and penalty points as a result of the crackdown.
Scotland on Sunday can reveal that police scientists are working on a handheld device that will measure drivers' poor coordination through a simple series of roadside tests. While thousands of motorists are prosecuted each year for drink and drug-driving, no test exists to prove a driver is too exhausted or unwell to be on the road.
Tiredness is believed to be responsible for a fifth of all accidents on motorways and trunk routes, and police believe the new test could save hundreds of lives.
The Home Office has ordered its scientific development branch to design a device that can be used at the roadside to check whether a person's ability to drive has been impaired by drugs, medicines or tiredness.
Sources say the device is in the early stages of development but it is likely to resemble a handheld computer. Tests will involve using a stylus to guide a cursor around a screen.
Another test is likely to involve different kinds of road signs flashing up on the screen, with the driver having to respond appropriately.
The motorist's accuracy and reaction times will be assessed by the computer and those who fail will face a charge of driving without due consideration. The offence carries a maximum fine of £2,500, up to nine penalty points and can lead to offenders being forced to resit their driving tests.
A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed: "We are developing a device which is designed to measure impairment. We are still some time from anything yet being deployed but it is aimed at detecting whether a person is fit to be at the wheel, for whatever reason."
The Department for Transport believes that falling asleep when driving could be a factor in as many as 300 deaths a year. Many cough and flu remedies, as well as anti-allergens, antidepressants and medications for high blood pressure contain ingredients which can lead to drowsiness.
The new computer will also be able to detect the effects on the body of a range of illegal drugs. At present, officers have to put suspects through a bizarre series of physical coordination tests, including standing on one leg. These are controversial because they rely so much on an individual officer's interpretation.
A senior police insider said: "This device would be very useful because it would take the burden of interpreting these roadside tests away from the officer and make it scientific. The problem with the existing tests is that the same person could perform them and one officer would say they had passed and the other that they had failed."
The officer added: "The way this will normally work is that an officer would observe someone's bad driving, pull them over and then carry out the test and maybe question the motorist about medication or long shifts or sleep. Then they could be charged with driving without due consideration, with poor performance in the test being cited as a major part of evidence."
Kevin Delaney, an adviser to the RAC Foundation and a former head of traffic policing for the Metropolitan Police, said: "Driver fatigue is a much bigger problem than many people think. It affects your driving performance much like alcohol does: you become much less sharp at the wheel. The scary thing is that we become dangerous long before we feel it."
But Neil Greig, head of policy for the AA Motoring Trust, said many law-abiding motorists would be concerned about the prospect of the new tests.
He said: "We would worry about the dilemmas this would cause for drivers. Some prescription drugs, and some over-the-counter remedies, are linked to drowsiness.
"But in many of those cases, the consequences of not taking the drugs would be even worse. People will also be concerned that the police will begin mass-screening of drivers.
"We believe that the best approach to tackling driver fatigue is education. We recommend that motorists never drive for more than three hours without a break, no matter how much of a hurry they are in."
Keith Millar, a professor of psychological medicine at Glasgow University, said: "The advantage of the tests will be that they won't depend on the perception of an individual police officer.
"But they have their problems too. If they are electronic, then younger people with more experience of video games and the like would have an advantage over older drivers. They would have to take account of the fact that elderly people's reactions tend to be slower, even though their driving skills will not be impaired. Unless the tests can be adjusted for the driver's age, they have huge problems."
DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION BY RESTRICTIONS AND CHARGES
EVER since the first car was driven, there have been complaints of a war against motorists. Remember the seatbelt struggle? But in recent years, with fuel tax hikes and a plethora of restrictions, many motorists say things have got much worse. Here are some of the main grievances.
• FUEL TAX
Motoring lobbyists argue that the car is replacing the cigarette as the government's main tax crop, with petrol prices topping the £1-a-litre barrier in some parts of Scotland. But it is not only fuel duty: drivers are also hit by road tax and VAT on car sales.
• TRAFFIC CALMING
Speed humps, road closures, safe routes to schools, pedestrian crossings, 20mph zones and residential zones have made driving in city centres difficult.
• CONGESTION CHARGES
Last year Edinburgh residents threw out the proposals for a £2-a-day congestion charge, but motorists in London were not so lucky. Latest figures show the congestion charge has triggered an 18% reduction in central London's traffic.
• SPEED CAMERAS
There are now nearly 6,000 speed cameras on our roads. Speed cameras are currently netting more than £20m a year in profits for the Treasury. Motorists caught by the cameras have three points added to their licences and pay a £60 fixed penalty.
• ROAD TOLLS
These have been largely avoided in this country so far, but the success of the M6 Road Toll in Birmingham, which charges £3.50 a day, could precipitate further roads being built.
• PARKING TICKETS
Latest figures from the RAC show that motorists pay more than £1bn in parking charges a year. That is not surprising since, according to Privilege Insurance, there are only 2 million car parking spaces for 32 million drivers.
• ROADWORKS
Remember John Major's cone hotline? A survey for the Department of Transport found that roadworks are considered to be the main cause of congestion.
This is how law enforcement is going to diagnose people with sleep apnea.
Make everyone a criminal and you control everyone.
Sure, this is true if you're driving in a NASCAR 500 race. Most of the driving people in the US do is simple stop and go, medium speed driving or the mindless cruising of interstate highways where sharp reflexes are by design unneeded. The only real danger tired drivers pose on the interstate highway is falling asleep.
Another problem invented by the fevered, utopian mind of a cloistered do-gooder politician. It won't end until we're all tied to our beds at home, force-fed measured amounts of organic vegetables, with an armed guard outside our door to keep the bad guys out and us in. Then we'll all be perfectly safe. Kind of like the scenario in "I, Robot".
Another way to make revenue. Find another excuse to take away your drivers license and catch you driving to your job later w/o it to get even more revenue.
Consider your driver license the new eminent domain
I specially like close your eyes and stand on one leg...
Don't forget the govt.-mandated calisthenics.
Motoring lobbyists argue that the car is replacing the cigarette as the government's main tax crop
See, we told you so ping.
One of these days, maybe somebody will realize that turning police into revenue-enhancement agents puts them at greater risk and takes them away from real crime.
Not holding my breath, though.
>>Pretty soon, we'll all be pedestrians, broke, or in prison.<<
Or motorcycle riders...
But I tend to agree. Over hear in the burbs of Seattle, I was talking with people in a neighborhood where they have separate water meters for outside water and inside water. And the outside water is MORE EXPENSIVE. And they complained of an $800 water bill for one month just to water the lawn. Some of them are running hoses to their inside sinks.
But that is not the part that really hurts. Would you believe that, in an area where we get lots of rain followed by weeks of no rain, they are limited to a maximum of two rain barrels on their property. That's right, the city enforces how much of the God given rain that falls on their property they can save for use on their property.
The city is trying to ACTIVELY control the water table, and that is their excuse.
The US is becoming more and more like the Soviet Union described to me in grade school in the early 1960's. Actually, MORE SO!
Let me give a real simple reason why this is not reasonable:
Can you imagind strictly enforced speed limits in a place where it was not technically nor economically feasable to have speedometers on cars. Imagine the stress of always "wondering" if you are speeding.
This is stupid and Orwellian, regardless of it's perceived positive results.
>>Make everyone a criminal and you control everyone.<<
That is kind of what the 55 mph speed limit did. And when everyone is a criminal, the cops are EVERYONES enemy.
No watering of any landscaping between 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM. Violators are subject to escalating monetary fines, with the final step being the City confiscating your real estate and selling it at auction under the "nuisance abatement" statutes.
And, people are starting to take it out on the cops. In the last week or so, we've had a police helicopter downed by gunfire from the ground, and two police officers shot and killed.
The classic quote on that theme:
There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.
-Ayn Rand
It seems to well-apply here.
My personal belief is that ANY man in the US that aspires to be a cop at this particular moment in history is either a brown shirt or just plain stupid. Fortunately I think it is pretty evenly divided...
You and I agree. You either get Rambo or Barney.
Great. One more thing they can measure that you cannot. What if you are simply uncoordinated?
That's fersure!
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