Road Traffic Court

I was in road traffic court last week, the first time for about four years but something which will become more common following a revised listing schedule lately introduced in our court.

Two things both surprised and alarmed me.

Out of 74 cases before the court all but one of the drivers had either no driving licence, or had one which had been revoked by the DVLA.
They had all, without exception, been offered a fixed penalty by the police for offences such as faulty lights, speeding, or minor traffic infringements but without a valid driving licence had been unable to take up the fixed penalty of a £60 fine and three points on their licence.
In the majority of cases they were also charged with having no insurance, any insurance they did hold becoming invalid simply because they had no licence.

I find the prospect of so many un-licensed, and therefore un-insured, drivers on the roads every day truly alarming, no wonder the general standard of driving is so poor, and it is unlikely to improve. Those drivers so convicted, of speeding, having no licence and no (or invalid) insurance received fines averaging £600 and having eight penalty points endorsed on their licence when they finally, if ever, get one.
It is likely therefore that they will find it virtually impossible to obtain insurance at affordable cost and without insurance they will be unable to learn to drive and pass their test. It is equally unlikely that they will desist from driving, a frightening prospect.

Another equally alarming statistic came to light during the day, no less that 34% of defendants were either Pakistani, or of Pakistani descent, which must be wholly disproportionate to their ethnic distribution within the population generally.

I don’t know what this represents, speed cameras are blind to race or colour so it can’t be a deliberate targeting by the police. Does it indicate a general disrespect for the law within the Asian community, I hope not?
Someone did suggest that language difficulties may account for part of the problem, making it difficult for some to pass the written part of the driving exam, which surely validates those who call for all ethnic minority citizens to learn English as a pre-requisite to being allowed to live in the UK, as I understand is the rule in the USA.

Whatever the root cause is, along with the seemingly never-ending stream of un-licensed drivers who came before me, I had an unsettling day, and was assured by the Crown Prosecutor that such a list was typical of recent traffic courts, which does not bode well for my future peace of mind.