Warning: Summer clampdown on drink driving coordinated by all 8 Scottish Police Forces

The article below was published on: http://scotland.newsfed.net/2009/07/06/summer-clampdown-on-drink-driving/

Whilst at roadtrafficlaw we are specilsist at dealing in the defence of people charged with drink driving in Scotland… we would always encourage people not to drink and drive hence we feel it is important to reiterate this article’s message.

Start:

Summer clampdown on drink driving

Drinking alcohol reduces the reaction times of drivers

Drivers have been warned not to allow the good summer weather to tempt them to drink and drive.All eight Scottish police forces are coming together to reinforce the drink driving message with a two week long summer campaign. The co-ordinated campaign has been organised by Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland. It coincides with the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, The Open at Turnberry and the T in The Park music festival. Chief Superintendent Brian Anderson, from Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, said: “With the summer months now upon us and potentially many more motorists travelling across Scotland to visit the major attractions I would urge drivers to act responsibly.” He said it was not worth the risk of “either killing or seriously injuring themselves or others”. Chief Supt Anderson urged people to be “aware of the consequences of being caught for drink or drug driving”. During a similar two week campaign across Scotland in 2008 officers caught 343 people who were over the limit. He added: “Those drivers will currently be disqualified and may have lost their jobs. In the present climate they may find it increasingly difficult to find work. Officers will again be out in force, as they are each day of the year, to keep our roads as safe as possible.” The campaign will run until 20 July, and the police have urged the public to contact Crimestoppers if they suspect anyone of drink driving.

Ends

The above article was published on: http://scotland.newsfed.net/2009/07/06/summer-clampdown-on-drink-driving/

If you have been charged with drink driving or any other road traffic advice please see our main site here

If you want to ask any queston, free and in confidence to a specialist road traffic lawyer here ]]> http://roadtrafficlaw.com/road-traffic-law-scotland/summer-clampdown-drink-driving-scotland/feed 0 http://roadtrafficlaw.com/road-traffic-law-scotland/drink-driving-penalty-scotland http://roadtrafficlaw.com/road-traffic-law-scotland/drink-driving-penalty-scotland#comments Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:35:42 +0000 admin http://roadtrafficlaw.com/road-traffic-law-scotland/?p=170 A video on the drink driving penalty in Scotland, the court appearance & why expert help is a must.  Ask a specialist lawyer a question in confidence.

This is the last in our video series and considers the court procedures, your plea and drink driving rehabilitation courses that will reduce the length of the ban

After you have viewed the video you can ask a specialist lawyer any question in confidence on drink driving penalty scotland or any aspect of road traffic law

At the least, the ACPO Rules and the police guidance document should be gone over by you or your lawyer. She or he will then know precisely what questions you should ask the arresting officer to work out if the police totally followed the published recommendations.

We understand that in the restof the UK police officers are supplied with a standard forma document to follow but in Scotland the police rely upon their coaching and ACPO rules where suitable.

You see, if the manual’s directions were not utterly followed, the test’s validity can be attacked. Obviously these manuals only supply a guideline.

They definitely aren’t the law and you can expect any Procurator Fiscal who is worth his salt to indicate that they are at best standardised guidance. A good defence lawyer should be in a position to do a lot with the undeniable fact that this guidance were authored for an excellent reason and that was to provide the best available background for the court. If the Crown now stated that doesn’t make any difference then they’re denigrating the responsibility of the judge or Sheriff .Successfully challenging such procedures often can win your case  without the requirement for you to give proof yourself.

The key to these tests have a tendency to be how objective and trustworthy they are. Remember that in Scotland they are frequently of less significance as the officer can frequently come up with virtually any old excuse to make claims that he or she had a “reasonable excuse” to stop you and demand a breath sample. Currently in Scotland a discussion is going on with reference to the extension of police powers to permit random stop and test procedures.

Candidly , as a seasoned criminal court specialist ( Like the Justice Minister ) I am aware the police can and do stop folk when they like. It is all too simple to deliver an excuse at a later stage.

Why concern yourself with the ACPO manual if these are ONLY guidelines? Easy : if you or your lawyer doesn’t know the APCO manual inside-out then how is he able to cross examine proficiently? How does he stop any possible important prosecution evidence from even being taken into consideration . It is very difficult to then un-ring a bell.

In drink drive defences we often go to the scene with our clients to take relevant photographs, video and draft diagrams.

And with the advent of Google Maps we now find that printing off some satellite photographs can also assist the case preparation. Police officers are often trained to refer to the “off side” or the “nearside” when describing the vehicle and position in relation to the offence, the accused might say left or right and another witness might say East and West. Thats why we always have Maps, Photographs and diagrams. It makes sense of all the left, right, nearside, offside, middle and don’t knows that we will have to deal with at the trial. Drunk in charge cases can sometimes involve a piece of land where the public do not have any right of access but this might only become plain once the area is visited. We tend to video the location for most cases. We had one case where our client was found intoxicated in his vehicle in a private field. The Crown allegation was that our client must have been drunk in charge of his vehicle to get into the field in the first place! What they didn’t know was that he had driven his friends to meet a helicopter in this field and when the helicopter returned later that evening (Much the worse for wear) he didn’t feel inclined to walk home so he slept in his car, dropped off in the field by a helicopter.

Roadside Tests involving walking a straight line and the like are becoming increasingly used in Scotland. Seeing and knowing the locus allows you to bring better cross examination to court as you can test witnesses on true conditions that existed. e.g. sloping, ill lit roadside that is very busy with traffic…..it may be reasonable not to be walking on the kerb? These things makes it much easier for your lawyer to understand and more importantly the Sheriff to understand your concerns about any roadside test, and, in some cases, point out a physical impossibility to the Sheriff. We had one case where the police officer admitted that he requested our client to walk a straight line inches away from a dual carriageway. Needless to say the Sheriff wasn’t too impressed by this and threw the case out.

You can ask a specilist lawyer any question free and in confidence here: Drink Driving Defence