woman drives 10mph on motorway, only gets 7 day ban!!!

[theBOD]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7171154.stm

unbelievably dangerous and when stopped admits her own inability to drive on a motorway.so she knows she can't drive on the motorway yet risks others safety for her own convenience. personally i think she should be made to resit her test as she clearly isn't competent.

(this isn't intended as man v woman drivers etc,the title was only as i thought "person drives..." sounded overly pc)

oops misread it, she was ordered to take another test sorry

bit daft of her. Is there actually a minimun on a motorway btw?

50 min on motorway it hink

It seems reasonable to me. She needs more driving lessons to get her confidence back so she can pass her test.

WHY do so many people drive at 50 on the motorways?

Surely they don't feel safer with all the other traffic, including big trucks, constantly overtaking and getting backed up behind them?

just out of interst, what do people think of the phrase in that article

"Magistrates said they took into consideration the fact that Mrs Cole has multiple sclerosis"

i mean that can only mean she received a lighter sentence due to her disability as if the reverse is true and they had been harsher it wouldn't make sense. so how come we then allow for positive discrimination with regards to breaking the law? i understand employment law/grants/access etc being things that are necessary to create a level and accessable playing field for those with disability. but i imagined the law would be the great equaliser. i am only studying law at the moment so i am by no means an expert, i am merely looking for the insight of others and how you would view it so i might understand the reasoning.

If she'd been speeding would she have been banned at all - or would it have been points and a fine?

As far as her being disabled, I think the judge was considering that a weeks ban for her is equivalent to a longer ban for an able bodied person. It's not like she can stand on the bus-stop or walk to the shop for a loaf.

nothing wrong with pootling along at 10mph down the road to your local village shop

seriously dangerous on a motorway

no matter how urgently you want an ink cartridge

I take your point MV - but not driving would probably mean she'd be housebound.

Just a bit of background - reading that story, the Staples store she was going to is on the M32, and that section actually has a 30mph speed limit on it - it's a motorway that comes right into town, and is speed restricted for the last half of it (graded downwards, so 60-50-40-30 etc), so it's not like she was going along the M4 at 10mph....she was obviously a danger or wouldn't have been pulled over, but perhaps it wasn't as dangerous as it sounds.

What she did is dangerous, but it sounds as if she needs help for her fear or else more practical help to assist with her disability, and that punishment is a bit beside the point.
But she shouldn't do it again.

That's an intersting and important fact, Tortiosell.

Its sad that she has MS, but the lives of people on the road have to be considered as well.

I think it sounds like she is medically unfit to drive.

The punishment is that she has to retake her driving test. This is in affect a life time ban as she will probably never pass her test.

I agree that she shouldn't be on the road unless she can drive safely, whatever the cause of that. None of us should.

Why doesn't she have some motorway lessons then ?