Musings and Snippets from a recently retired JP. I served for 31 years, mostly in west London. I was Chairman of my Bench for some years, and a member of the National Bench Chairmen's Forum All cases are based on real ones, but anonymised and composited. All opinions are those of one or more individuals. JPs swear to enforce the law of the land, whether or not they approve of it. Nothing on here constitutes legal advice.
Saturday, March 08, 2014
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What drugs will replace the alcohol do you think?
ReplyDeleteAs my Colombian wife says, when faced once again with the obvious comments, "we make it but you're the ones that buy it". I can't imagine the ban would do much for the standard of driving though; in Bogota you can barely do more than 5mph most of the day and for those in the countryside the tight mountain curves (barriers? what barriers?) are lethal enough even for the sober.
DeleteGraham
I'm not sure I necessarily agree that such a law is excessive.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I necessarily agree with you.
DeleteAnd who suggested that the law was excessive? Without knowing the scale of the problem, the efforts already taken to attempt to address it, and the details of the proposed measures, it is hard indeed to form a meaningful opinion.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I woud agree with Bystander that it does seem pretty draconian. Courts in this country tend not to go to the full extent of their powers in terms of the length of the bans they impose, because the evidence suggests that very long bans are more likely to be flouted.
We need an intrepid reporter on the spot to tell us how it really is (it would be rather tame for him, but it would be wonderful to hear the analysis of the extraordinary young British journalist who penetrated the world of cocaine production in Colombia and produced a compelling set of films on his experiences: oddly enough, his dad was a JP!).
I shall believe the measures are really working when I see that shares in SAB Miller have plummeted, rather than experiencing a temporary blip in sales...
"Courts in this country tend not to go to the full extent of their powers in terms of the length of the bans they impose, because the evidence suggests that very long bans are more likely to be flouted."
DeleteThat is an interesting conclusion to draw. Its never been a consideration of mine - if you break the ban you face an even more serious charge, which *I* would hope will result in serious consideration of a custodial sentence. I sentence what I think is appropriate for the offence and offender before me - not because he may not comply. I do sometimes temper my initial thinking with "will the appeal court quash this".
"I shall believe the measures are really working when I see that shares in SAB Miller have plummeted, rather than experiencing a temporary blip in sales...". SAB Miller is a large international corporation; this comment is naïve.
Deletehttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-24/colombian-drunk-driving-crackdown-slows-sabmiller-growth.html
ReplyDeleteThere is always a tension between the desire to make the punishment appropriate to the crime, and the drive to make the penalty (the expected value of punishment, taking into account the likelihood of being convicted of the offense) a sufficient deterrent. Which direction is preferable depends on one's economic views.
ReplyDeleteIs that crackdown or crack down in Colombia ?
ReplyDeleteSales at local beer monopoly go down, value of roadside bribes of police officers go up... This measure alone is not going to solve persistently weak rule of law and low standards of driving.
ReplyDelete