If a snail can't stamp on the gas, then the law must stamp on the snail.
A big round of applause, please, for the justices of the peace who have seen no need to overturn the penalty imposed on a tosser for obstructing the highways.
This tosser would have us believe it was not so much him who was at fault, but his vehicle, which could go no faster than the speed at which he was crawling along when a copper did the decent thing and grabbed him.
Alf was keen to have the vehicle identified, so that other motorists are warned (a) not to buy one and (b) not to get caught behind one.
It turns out to be a 1986 Mazda Titan.
This is instructive, because Alf is aware that these vehicles can be slowed by a strong wind.
The evidence is to be found in this story from a Mazda Titan driver.
It’s March 6th 2009 and I experienced my 1991 Mazda Titan in a strong head wind.
The wind was blowing pretty hard, and the drifting snow obscurred the road, making the drive a real treat.
Driving into the strong wind actually slowed me down by over 20 kph (12 mph). I couldn’t reach my normal 110-115 kph (68 – 71 mph).
I was lucky to get anywhere near 90 kph (about 55 mph) for most of the trip.
I assume that my little 2.5 L diesel is governed, and it fought the wind all it was allowed.
It didn’t really seem like the engine was struggling or revving all that much.
I realize the front of the truck is basically flat and not exactly aerodynamic. Maybe I need to look into this further and visit a diesel mechanic.
I expected more out of this engine. Are 2.5 liter Titan (T-series) drivers worldwide all crawling along when the wind picks up?
Mind you, no evidence was given of wind being a factor in the report at Stuff on the slowcoach who frustrated traffic in Hawke’s Bay.
A driver pulled over by police for driving at 67kmh in a 100kmh zone with a line of traffic banked up behind him has failed to have a $150 fine overturned.
A police officer was one of 19 vehicles stuck behind Geoffrey Hastings’ 1986 Mazda Titan, a light truck, as he drove from Napier to Bay View on April 30.
He travelled 2.5 kilometres without pulling over to let vehicles pass. When stopped, he told the officer: “My foot was flat on the floor. I can’t go any faster.”
Regardless of the handicap impossed by buying and driving what clearly is a crock, this tosser deserved to be penalised for driving a vehicle without a warrant of fitness and for not knowing what was going on behind him.
He did not know about the line of traffic because he had not been checking his rear-view mirror.
He is 54 years old and unemployed, but neither of those bits of information should be allowed to mitigate things.
He appeared in Napier District Court yesterday to defend fines of $150 for impeding the flow of traffic and $600 for driving a vehicle without a certificate of fitness.
In this case, fortuitously, the long arm of the law did not have to be too long to catch up with this bloke.
The second car stuck behind Hastings was a police car driven by Senior Constable Taina Puketapu. He told the court he followed Hastings for 2.5km along a straight section of road and Hastings failed to move to the left to allow cars to pass. “He could have done [so] quite safely.”
In addition to his fines, Hastings was ordered to pay $130 court costs.
He was bloody lucky.
Alf – who is thoroughly fed up with being caught in queues behind inconsiderate slowcoaches – would have given him a bit of jail time.
Mind you, the bloke might yet do a bit of time inside, because we learn that:
Outside court, an irate Hastings said he had been driving for 40 years and thought he had been driving “at about 80kmh”.
“But I don’t know, my speedo might have been out … It’s not a fast truck. What was the danger? What was the threat? What was the crime?”
He would not pay the fines.
The Stuff people have done the public a favour by remining them that under the Road Code:
“If a driver’s speed, when driving, is such as to impede the normal and reasonable flow of traffic, that driver must, as soon as is practicable, move the vehicle as far as practicable to the left side of the roadway when this is necessary to allow following traffic to pass.”
Drivers failing to do so may be issued an infringement notice and fined $150.
In the year to June 30, police issued 366 fines for slow vehicles or inconsiderate driving impeding traffic.
And a bloody good thing too.
Too much emphasis is placed on the speedsters.
Snails present a danger too.
