Footage hosted on YouTube is beginning to be used by police to crack down on dangerous drivers. Many users are promoting their speeding and driving skill by documenting themselves breaking the law and posting the content online for others to see, something that has become somewhat of a craze for the ‘boy racer’ community.
Police in the UK and America have attempted to charge drivers if they find videos online that prove they were breaking the law. However this is proving difficult as it can be hard to prosecute someone if they cannot prove any one of a list of factors.
The video must be able to prove who was driving, where they were driving, how fast they were driving and the car they were driving in. They would subsequently need to be able to prove the car’s speedometer was calibrated and all other factors could not be variable.
A Motorcyclist in Canberra, Australia was successfully convicted with the help of evidence in the form of a video he had posted online. The footage showed him driving at speeds of 125mph in a 30mph speed zone. Lawyers protested as the footage was not sufficient proof that the man had been speeding in Canberra or that it was even him on the bike.
18 year old Nathan Campbell was recently charged with speeding and dangerous driving for a video he posted on YouTube which showed him driving at over 140mph down the M65 near Burnley. During the video Campbell raced down the motorway, undertaking cars on the hard shoulder.
Despite claims that the footage did not hold enough proof to convict the inexperienced driver, a magistrate has commented that his prosecution is an effort to deter other young drivers from committing copycat offences and putting other road users at risk.
Looking for advice on dangerous driving, then visit www.freemankeepondriving.com to learn all about advice on due care and other motoring offences.
Tags: crime, driving, law, lawyer, motoring, offence, solicitor, speeding, Video, youtube
Video | Tom Doerr | 
February 21, 2010 7:35 am | 
Comments (0)
by Gus Kalakis
Great article by Michael Hiltzik on LA Times today about tort reforms role as health cares circus sideshow. As Hiltzik puts it:
“Insurance companies love it because the less money they pay out to plaintiffs, the more they get to keep. Republicans love it because trial lawyers give three-quarters of their political donations to Democrats. And Democrats pay it lip service because theyre afraid to look like lawyer lovers.
Scapegoating medical liability as the reason for high health care costs is certainly nothing new. It just so happens that it is a convenient argument to make during debates on health care. “Frivolous lawsuits are causing this problem,” they shout. Are you surprised that the only people making these arguments are the ones who would benefit from not medical responsibility?
That facts according to Hiltzik are:
“Medical liability isnt a big driver of health costs overall. Studdert estimates the cost of malpractice litigation, in court and through defensive medicine, at roughly 2% to 3% of all U.S. healthcare spending ” in other words, no more than $50 billion out of a total annual bill of $1.7 trillion. (Youll hear estimates as high as $200 billion from outfits like the American Medical Assn., which is the antithesis of an objective source.)”
The myth of medical liability being the main cause of health care costs has to end. We need to start focusing on the real problems and inefficiencies of the current system and stop chasing ghosts. Even if we got rid of medical liability in total, we would still be facing the same problems. Therefore, let’s shift the discussion to the real problems and stop filing in with the insurance lobby.
Tort reform has simply not solved the problems as promised. In almost every area that tort reform measures like damage caps have been implemented, there has been little to no change in health care costs. The real tragedy of tort reform is that plaintiff’s with legitimate claims go without help and without care for their serious medical needs.
by Gus Kalakis
Michael Hiltzik makes some great points calling tort reform the circus sideshow of the health care debate:
“Insurance companies love it because the less money they pay out to plaintiffs, the more they get to keep. Republicans love it because trial lawyers give three-quarters of their political donations to Democrats. And Democrats pay it lip service because theyre afraid to look like lawyer lovers.
Couldnt have said it better myself. In almost every political discussion, the giant elephant is self-interest. No one wants to accept that we all argue from our own self-interests. The unfortunate problem is that too many of us are losing sight of whats actually good for us. Misdirection and slight-of-hand are big business in politics today.
That facts according to Hiltzik are:
Liability for medical mistakes is estimated to contribute to no more than three percent of all U.S. health care spending. That means out of the over one-trillion dollars of annual health care costs, approx. fifty-billion dollars is comprised of malpractice litigation. In other words, even if we eliminated medical liability altogether, we would be in the exact same situation with health care.
The myth of medical liability being the main cause of health care costs has to end. We need to start focusing on the real problems and inefficiencies of the current system and stop chasing ghosts. Even if we got rid of medical liability in total, we would still be facing the same problems. Therefore, let’s shift the discussion to the real problems and stop filing in with the insurance lobby.
In fact, in places where tort reform has taken firm root, we have not seen a dramatic decrease in health care costs. Do you know what we have seen in those areas? Greater profitability for insurance companies. Even worse, people with legitimate personal injury and medical malpractice claims go without compensation.
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