THE Star REPORTED a case last week in which a
motorist was convicted for dangerous driving; hearing that he had previous convictions for speeding, the magistrate said he would ignore them because 'as a motorist I often think people are just unlucky-to be caught for speeding.' I have no doubt that people are 'unlucky' to he caught, say, tax-dodging or committing any other petty crime of which detection is relatively rare; but that is hardly a reason for not taking their past offences into consideration, if they are charged
with others, later. Agreed, there is a case for putting motoring offences in a different category from other crimes; but so long as they are crimes, it is a mistake for any magistrate to allow his personal opinion that regulations are unwise or unjust (even if they obviously are) to affect his decisions. One of the reasons why the laws relat- ing to road offences are in such contempt is that magistrates put so many different interpretations on them; it does the reputation of the courts no good when motorists who have received maxi- mum sentences from one court read of the leniency of others.
PIIAROS
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