Carrying 4 in the back

[sonic]

I got stopped in 1975 with 6 adults in a Renault 16. Much to my amazement I was warned not to do it again, & sent on my way still with all 6 on board.

 

[d215yq]

In Cyprus the taxis still just about allow 4 in the back if you ask them nicely, in Africa our 4 hour journey out to the rift valley in "private vehicle" involved 12 to a landcruiser (a Prado not even the big Amazon one) where the elctric windows kept going up and down as the guy in the middle sat on the switches of the central console.

TBH not sure why it's automatically dangerous when you have extra passengers. Would rather be unbelted in a slightly overloaded car driven sensibly around town at 30mph than belted up seated properly in a car being "driven enthusiastically" or whatever the current buzzword is for thrashing it within an inch of its life in close proximity to trees faster than can see round tight bends, etc.

 

[Yugguy]

Unbelted at the back even at 30 if there is a sudden stop you will seriously injure yourself and the person in the seat in front of you. It's the same as falling from somewhere like 40 feet up onto them.

 

[Capra]

In Cyprus the taxis still just about allow 4 in the back if you ask them nicely, in Africa our 4 hour journey out to the rift valley in "private vehicle" involved 12 to a landcruiser (a Prado not even the big Amazon one) where the elctric windows kept going up and down as the guy in the middle sat on the switches of the central console.

TBH not sure why it's automatically dangerous when you have extra passengers. Would rather be unbelted in a slightly overloaded car driven sensibly around town at 30mph than belted up seated properly in a car being "driven enthusiastically" or whatever the current buzzword is for thrashing it within an inch of its life in close proximity to trees faster than can see round tight bends, etc.

You might be driving around sensibly at 30mph, but you cannot account for the other idiots on the road.

 

[d215yq]

You might be driving around sensibly at 30mph, but you cannot account for the other idiots on the road.

No, you certainly can't, hence it all comes down to risk assessment. Must admit the problem comes up about once a year for me and I without hesitation drive 2 or 3 miles carefully down a country road with an extra passenger to save the bother (and extra risk of meeting someone not driving carefully!!) of doing the journey twice. Maybe unnesecarily risky to some but I don't do many other risky things in cars that others do which i think are unnesecarily risky so swings and roundabouts.

But yeah, I wouldn't extend that to regularly picking too many kids up and driving them around, although it appears a lot of people regulalrly had this done to them as kids and lived to tell the tale.

 

[Blobcat]

But yeah, I wouldn't extend that to regularly picking too many kids up and driving them around, although it appears a lot of people regulalrly had this done to them as kids and lived to tell the tale.

Bit obvious that bit... if we hadn't we wouldn't be here to type...

With distinct lack of traffic police this practice along with no insurance, no tax or MOT is becoming more prevalent and there appears to almost no punishment for offenders.

 

[Capra]

Bit obvious that bit... if we hadn't we wouldn't be here to type...

With distinct lack of traffic police this practice along with no insurance, no tax or MOT is becoming more prevalent and there appears to almost no punishment for offenders.

I was gobsmacked to here that there are still 1000's of cars in this area that are not even taxed, I thought with the new setup all cars could be found and crushed. This is not as bad as the ones not even insured!!

 

[A.J.]

Bit obvious that bit... if we hadn't we wouldn't be here to type...

With distinct lack of traffic police this practice along with no insurance, no tax or MOT is becoming more prevalent and there appears to almost no punishment for offenders.

It often seems that these urks consider it cheaper to pay the fine than to pay the insurance premium

 

[keefysher]

There is the rise of the 'pool' car. People club together to buy a car, no licence, don't register it to an address, don't tax, MoT or insure it. Drive it when needed. If followed/pulled, crash it and do a runner.

 

[gramey]

The motoring world is full of tales of daring do, what they got away with blah, blah, blah and there are never any traffic cops about, and it's true their numbers have been cut. Remember this however when I was a traffic cop the last person I stopped and reported for having 6 in a 5 seater car got 6 points and £400 at court as they were convicted under Sec.40 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 -
0AUsing vehicle in dangerous condition etc.
A person is guilty of an offence if he uses, or causes or permits another to use, a motor vehicle or trailer on a road when—

(a)the condition of the motor vehicle or trailer, or of its accessories or equipment, or

(b)the purpose for which it is used, or

(c)the number of passengers carried by it, or the manner in which they are carried, or

(d)the weight, position or distribution of its load, or the manner in which it is secured,

is such that the use of the motor vehicle or trailer involves a danger of injury to any person.]

In the worst case scenario if you're involved in a collision and one of them died you'll be picking up your soap very carefully in the shower of one of Her Majesty's finest establishments as the charge is likely to be death by dangerous driving. Whilst it's stressful for the poor copper that has to turn up on someone's doorstep and tell them their loved one is dead it's nothing to what the family go through.

So if you want to chance your luck it's worth remembering, you need to be lucky every time you do it, the police only need to be lucky once to catch you, food for thought possibly?

 

[peterws1957]

I always remember one of those Police Action type progs where an ***** family were stopped and 4 adults and 7 children got out of the car. Scary.

 

[A.J.]

I always remember one of those Police Action type progs where an ***** family were stopped and 4 adults and 7 children got out of the car. Scary.

I think I remember that one. Was that where the Police woman looks into the car and says 'It looks like Fraggle rock in there'