I wonder how those that condoned the snow balling of vehicles in a recent thread , square up to their beliefs when faced with this sort of thing.
preview.tinyurl.com/bz9ulr
Seems some of us have lost the ability to know where to draw the line.
How come these cases aren't getting to court under attempted murder charges.
I know that I am extremely wary of passing under a motorway bridge when I see people on it, especially when they are leaning over the side.
Edited by Honestjohn on 09/02/2009 at 11:00
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What's your solution?
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My solution. Charging any one caught throwing or dropping any item on a moving vehicle, with attempted murder. Thats any age group from around 8 years up wards. No excuses in court about not being old enough to understand the danger or coming from a home with the leccy cut off, the usual mitigating circumstances as dreamt up by defence lawyers.
Secondly, we must prevent pedestrians from stopping on bridges, by way of fixed penalties if need be.
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My solution. Charging any one caught throwing or dropping any item on a moving vehicle with attempted murder.
They are. police always go for an attempted murder charge when it hits a car. Plenty of previous cases where this is the case.
Thats any age group from around 8 years up wards. No excuses
the age of criminal responsibility comes in here. You cant bypass that just for one crime.
Secondly we must prevent pedestrians from stopping on bridges by way of fixed penalties if need be.
Hey we could do this with cameras and monitoring where everyone goes 24 hours a day, I understand you like that idea.
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Mr X, please dont suggest that when ID cards are introduced we have to wear them in clear view so that ANPR can read them.
Edited by Old Navy on 09/02/2009 at 11:37
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MrX, you clearly don't live in the real world, neither do you like the idea of living in it. I am sure a watered-down version of the solution you propose is already in force. The uncomfortable fact is that the great majority of lowlife get away with most of the offences they carry out - including dropping heavy objects from bridges. That's why they go on doing it. Only by the public reporting every criminal act they witness, would any improvement take place - or by the lowlife suddenly becoming less anti-social.
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Somebody dropped a chunk of masonry onto the motorway in Lausanne, Switzerland, a while back. They cured this by boxing-in all of the bridges along that stretch of m-way.
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>>Secondly, we must prevent pedestrians from stopping on bridges, by way of fixed penalties if need be.<<
What?!
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Seems some of us have lost the ability to know where to draw the line.
You are so right there. You've already shown on the thread in question that you see no difference between a single snowball thrown by an over-excited kid and a car surrounded by a baying hound. You then went on to equate it to someone deliberately hiding a brick in a snowball and hurling it through a window, now you're trying to tell us that there's no difference between the kid with a snowball and a murderous imbecile dropping a breeze block off a motorway bridge.
Now THAT is not knowing where to draw the line.
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Lets keep the snowball bickering to the other thread, and the bridge discussion to this thread, please.
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>THAT is not knowing where to draw the line.
Not quite - it's not accepting that there is a line to be drawn. Most of us accept that some (e.g.) throwing of snowballs can be tolerated - it is the limit of the tolerance that varies.
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20 years ago, spitting at cars from a motorway bridge was about as far as your average kid dared go. Now we need a campaign backed by posters and school visits to try and prevent attempted murder by the same age group. Frightening.
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20-30 years ago, children also carried flick knives in school. I know, 'cos I was there. About 20 years ago a friend of mine was almost killed by a brick thrown from a motorway bridge falling through the windscreen of his car on the M1.
Please stop using anecdote to villify today's children, nothing much has changed. It will get us nowhere, other than earning the resentment of the vast majority of children, who have excellent dispositions and display good behaviour. As has always been the case.
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38 years ago my fathers friend (both trainderivers) was blinded by a lout who SUSPENDED a brick from a railway bridge.
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>SUSPENDED a brick from a railway bridge.
The Railway Group Standards for modern trains include stipulations for the strength of forward facing windows which mean that a modern train window should withstand such an impact. Although I haven't witnessed one myself, the proving test where a sharp edged projectile is fired at a representative window and frame at high speed is quite spectacular.
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20-30 years ago children also carried flick knives in school. I know 'cos I was there.
Please stop using anecdote to villify today's children nothing much has changed.
Absolutely, 100% couldn't agree more! One of the great disservices the media performs is getting across this ridiculous idea that what kids get up to nowadays is in any way new. The gangs of feral kids shown roaming some inner city estate on News at Ten could not be further from the life of the average child.
I left school 18 years ago. Kids carried knives, kids smoked cigarettes and pot in the woods at lunchtime, and kids occasionally assaulted teachers. Some of them stole cars in the evenings, some of them mugged people, a few dropped out with hard drug habits and one sadly died as a result of it. The significant majority though, despite the odd wobble on the way, left school as successful, functional members of society. The same is true today.
We must be the only society in the world where a significant number of adults is actually afraid of its children. So sad.
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>Ridiculous idea that what kids get up to nowadays is in any way new.
You are probably right, but what I think may have changed is the variety of things they can get up to, and the money they have to do them with. Perhaps they should be encouraged to stay indoors on their playstations more, rather than less?
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MrX
Am I right in thinking that you think there is no differance between a snowball and a concrete block?
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There is indeed a difference but the intentions are still the same - to cause damage, injury or death. Is it really necessary to box in every road ( or for that matter rail ) bridge to rid us of the problem ? Can any one actually tell me why a youth feels the need to drop a life threatening object from a bridge on to a moving vehicle. I would be interested to know why .
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>>Can any one actually tell me why a youth feels the need to drop a life threatening object from a bridge on to a moving vehicle. I would be interested to know why<<
Your local library will have a section on psychology. That's where I'd start. Given that behaviour like this has been a feature of society for hundreds of years, there should be plenty of evidence.
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Sometimes its Psychopathy. Now also termed Personality Disorder. = no conscience - behaviour only altered by fear of harm to self.
Edited by oilrag on 09/02/2009 at 18:05
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Mr X was inviting discussion. It isn't obligatory to respond, especially if your comments don't add anything to the discussion.
NB This has come up on the wrong place, but it's a general point anyway, so please don't anyone take offence.
Edited by smokie on 09/02/2009 at 18:25
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I agree with something Mr X has said.
He would like to be able to phone in comments. So would I. I would love to be able to phone up and start a new thread about the stupidity of driving I see around the roads of Manchester; with live video footage as well. It would calm down my driving thats for sure..
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