German looking licence plates and seatbelts.

Dabbles · 6 Aug 2011 at 17:07

ripoffthemonkey said:
I dont know about the rest of the UK, but down here in Cornwall every other VW, paticually the Transporters all sport german looking English licence plates, The look kind of cool, but they are apparently highly illegal.

Can something be 'only a little bit illegal'?

Lum · 6 Aug 2011 at 19:32

Lethal` said:
The driver is responsible for ensuring children under the age of 14 are wearing seatbelts.

That law applies to the rear seats. For the front seats the driver is responsible for any passenger who isn't wearing a seatbelt.

PMKeates · 6 Aug 2011 at 19:53

I've never been a fan of anything but standard plates. I personally feel they're a little distasteful.

aproctor · 6 Aug 2011 at 20:12

Lum said:
That law applies to the rear seats. For the front seats the driver is responsible for any passenger who isn't wearing a seatbelt.

I've never heard about the front seat bit, any sauce?

To be honest i would rather take my chances in my car, although i always wear a belt in tin tops.

http://5g.redspy.co.uk/jsp/5gmain2.jsp?mnk=410&id=224&description=Cabriolet+Crash+Test

Fr0dders · 6 Aug 2011 at 20:16

ripoffthemonkey said:
Happy Saturday all.

I was just shopping at Tesco (buying some of that choco brownie milk I saw in the random immage thread) came out to the car to find a police car boxing me in questioning a gentleman in a VW Transporter next to me.

Apparently he had been pulled over because his passenger was not wearing a seatbelt and that is a £1000 fine. Does anyone here check to see if their passengers wear their seatbelts? I myself am really bad at wearing a seatbelt at the best of times but will be wearing it all the time from now on, I cant afford £1000!

The other reason he was pulled over was his German looking English licence plate. I dont know about the rest of the UK, but down here in Cornwall every other VW, paticually the Transporters all sport german looking English licence plates, The look kind of cool, but they are apparently highly illegal. Aprantly a blind eye was being turned, but now there are so many that the 5-0 are cracking down, and hard. what was a simple beer run to Tesco has cost the poor dude £2000!

He was breaking the law on both counts, but I cant help feel a little sorry for him....

Choco brownie milk was epic BTW

All fixed penalty tickets are the same

Its normally dealt with by a £60 fine, but can be fined UP TO £1000 in a magistrates court if the offence warrants it.

Same thing with incorrect number plates (i.e. in german font), unless they issue you a VDN (vehicle defect notice) as well, which requires you to have the vehicle inspected to prove the plate was put right.

stockhausen said:
Yeah, right, sure

Yeah because seat belts don't save lives do they ? we all just wear them because the police state says so don't we ? :roll eyes:

[TW]Fox;19759218 said:
I don't believe he was told that at All

Of course he was. Just the sort of thing the local jobs worth copper would come out with.

Whether it was true or not, its impossible to say. But its such a throw away comment, its not worth arguing about whether it was said or not.

Lethal` · 6 Aug 2011 at 21:07

Lum said:
That law applies to the rear seats. For the front seats the driver is responsible for any passenger who isn't wearing a seatbelt.

Source?

Burnsy2023 · 6 Aug 2011 at 21:17

Lum said:
That law applies to the rear seats. For the front seats the driver is responsible for any passenger who isn't wearing a seatbelt.

That's not true unless you know something about s.14(3) of the RTA I don't.

Lum · 6 Aug 2011 at 21:34

Welp, looks like I was wrong. Guess I should stop listening to coppers.

4T5 · 6 Aug 2011 at 21:37

A visit to Tesco & 5-0 in one night. :eek:

You're so Rock & Roll.

stoofa · 7 Aug 2011 at 00:11

MikeHiow said:
A friends brother was in a crash recently, and he was told in no uncertain terms that if he had been wearing his seatbelt he'd be dead now.

Of course, there are probably more situations where your seatbelts help than they hinder, but it's now always so cut and dry.

Sorry, don't believe that at all.
I've heard many, many traffic officers using the phrase:
"I've never unbuckled a corpse"
Indicating that yes, people have died in car accidents but they weren't dead at scene due to their belts.

Simply don't believe a traffic officer would tell someone "Well done for not wearing a seatbelt, it saved your life".

aproctor · 7 Aug 2011 at 21:23

MrLOL said:
But its such a throw away comment, its not worth arguing about whether it was said or not.

Isn't that point of the whole thread?

Fr0dders · 7 Aug 2011 at 21:24

no the thread was started because somebody didn't know that not wearing a seatbelt can go to court with a fine of up to £1000 ??

aproctor · 7 Aug 2011 at 22:33

MrLOL said:
no the thread was started because somebody didn't know that not wearing a seatbelt can go to court with a fine of up to £1000 ??

My mistake, i thought that was what fox was argueing.

wilber · 8 Aug 2011 at 12:19

MikeHiow said:
A friends brother was in a crash recently, and he was told in no uncertain terms that if he had been wearing his seatbelt he'd be dead now.

Of course, there are probably more situations where your seatbelts help than they hinder, but it's now always so cut and dry.

Yes it happens. Two of my friends where thrown clear of a car in high speed crash. They survived and they where told by emergency service personnel at the scene that they would be dead if they had been wearing seat belts.

On the other hand I lost a friend a couple of years back due to him not wearing a seat belt.

Freefaller · 8 Aug 2011 at 12:35

stoofa said:
Sorry, don't believe that at all.
I've heard many, many traffic officers using the phrase:
"I've never unbuckled a corpse"
Indicating that yes, people have died in car accidents but they weren't dead at scene due to their belts.

Simply don't believe a traffic officer would tell someone "Well done for not wearing a seatbelt, it saved your life".

Well maybe there's a little bit of poetic licence being applied, however, it's not inconceivable that the copper would say "amazingly, person x could have potentially died had they been wearing their seat belt..." or something along those lines.

It is possible that that could have been said - but I don't know if it would have been said in such an absolute manner. It's not the first time I've heard that said before.

Though I would argue that the number of lives that seatbelts save vs not would be skewed significantly if not absolutely towards wearing seatbelts saving lives... however, one must accept there will always be exceptions to the rule.

[TW]Fox · 8 Aug 2011 at 12:38

Emergency service staff are trained not to say that. There is no benefit to telling somebody they would be dead if they were wearing a seatbelt and there are numerous disadvantages to doing so.

It's an old wives tale.

ubersonic · 8 Aug 2011 at 13:00

Moothead2 said:
How about just wear the contraption desgined to stop you being flung out the front window during a crash ?

This, im open to the idea that in 0.000001% of accidents it may be better to not wear it but I like to play the odds, if everybody wore seatbelts then Princess Diana would still be here and the drummer from Def Leppard would be able to play during a power cut*

*His injury is probably more related to his decision to buy a Corvette than the lack of seatbelt usage.

Freefaller · 8 Aug 2011 at 13:23

[TW]Fox;19772888 said:
Emergency service staff are trained not to say that. There is no benefit to telling somebody they would be dead if they were wearing a seatbelt and there are numerous disadvantages to doing so.

It's an old wives tale.

I like giving people the benefit of the doubt - afterall, we all make mistakes... well most of us do

Hodders · 8 Aug 2011 at 14:01

Thing is in a VW camper any front collision will effectively pin your legs to the chassis using the thin sheet metal that forms the front of the camper and as a result no seat belts are necessary.

alx · 8 Aug 2011 at 15:50

Freefaller said:
Well maybe there's a little bit of poetic licence being applied, however, it's not inconceivable that the copper would say "amazingly, person x could have potentially died had they been wearing their seat belt..." or something along those lines.

It is possible that that could have been said - but I don't know if it would have been said in such an absolute manner. It's not the first time I've heard that said before.

Though I would argue that the number of lives that seatbelts save vs not would be skewed significantly if not absolutely towards wearing seatbelts saving lives... however, one must accept there will always be exceptions to the rule.

This. There will be odd case where not wearing a seatbelt will leave you in a better position than wearing one (quite possibly saving your life), but 99.9% of the time when involved in an accident it will have been better to wear a seatbelt.