MarkMas
Chief pedant
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I think the issue with a driving ban is whether it is more important that 'the punishment fits the crime' or that the punishment is 'proportionate to the crime'. Does a driving offence have to be punished with a driving consequence? And if so, does burglary have to be punished by bailiffs coming round and taking all your stuff, whereas fraud should just be a cash fine?
So if person A (say in London) gets a ban so has to take the tube to work for a while, that seems like both fitting and proportionate, but if person B (say in a rural location) gets a ban so loses his job and thus is effectively fined many thousands of pounds, that is fitting but not, I would say proportionate.
There is also the problem of the relationship between severity, probability of conviction and penalty. Doing 36 in a 30 is easy to catch (with cameras) and supposedly moderately dangerous, so there are lots of convictions and 3-point penalties, whereas driving like a d1ck is hard to catch and very dangerous, so very few convictions and 6-point (or higher) penalties. But totting up has a multiplier effect, creating severe penalties (for some) for a few moderate offences. If the penalty for parking on a double yellow was death, we would only need 10 parking wardens, which would be effective, but it is not proportionate to the offence.
So if person A (say in London) gets a ban so has to take the tube to work for a while, that seems like both fitting and proportionate, but if person B (say in a rural location) gets a ban so loses his job and thus is effectively fined many thousands of pounds, that is fitting but not, I would say proportionate.
There is also the problem of the relationship between severity, probability of conviction and penalty. Doing 36 in a 30 is easy to catch (with cameras) and supposedly moderately dangerous, so there are lots of convictions and 3-point penalties, whereas driving like a d1ck is hard to catch and very dangerous, so very few convictions and 6-point (or higher) penalties. But totting up has a multiplier effect, creating severe penalties (for some) for a few moderate offences. If the penalty for parking on a double yellow was death, we would only need 10 parking wardens, which would be effective, but it is not proportionate to the offence.