Friday, April 25

Stoned

Local Barrow youth’ stoning taxis and buses seems to have become an accepted occupational hazard. Most drivers don't even bother to report it to the police as they feel that they would be wasting their time.
But on the other side of the world in Australia as a result of a 22-year-old woman suffering a fractured skull and brain damage when hit with a 1kg rock thrown from an over-pass last year the law has been changed. The mere act of throwing a rock at a vehicle - whether it hits something or not - will now become a criminal offence carrying a jail term of up to five years. The Australian Government say "we will not tolerate this kind of idiotic behaviour. To deter rock throwers, we will legislate to make it a crime to throw an object at a car, boat or train, even if nobody is harmed."
Under legal changes which remove the need for prosecutors to prove intent to injure or cause damage, anyone who simply drops or throws a rock toward a moving vehicle will be guilty the minute the missile leaves their hand. It will no longer be a defence for the yob to claim they didn't mean to hurt anyone. The prosecution will not even have to prove that the accused was aware their conduct risked the safety of any person, or that the object made contact.
Maybe our lawmakers should be taking a long hard look at following suit over here and the sooner the better. We have had many cases in the UK of drivers being killed and injured by objects being thrown at vehicles, isn't it only right that we should have the same protection from these mindless yobs.

6 comments:

Inactive said...

The Aussie government seem to have a heck of a lot more sense than ours do, that's for sure!

If ours (and the country itself) continue the way they are I'd be half tempted to move there myself :P

Rado Zupanc said...

hi

I am taxi driver in Slovenia. As I am also blogger , check my taxi stories blog.
http://taxi-story.blogspot.com/

If you want, we can make link exchange

cheers from Europe

Eugene Salomon said...

I had some kind of wet ball, which exploded on contact, thrown at my cab by a 12 yo punk just a few days ago. Didn't do any damage but was quite startling, of course. Once had a snowball hit go right through an opened window and hit me in the head. I think 5 years in jail is bit harsh, but I agree it should be taken seriously and prosecuted, if you can catch the jerk.

bob mullen said...

deryk: I can't see much getting any better over here any time soon, but as they say, better the devil you know.

bob mullen said...

ismabera: OK I will sort that out as soon as I get time.

bob mullen said...

g.s: I have had an egg hitting the cab which made a bang that you wouldn't believe, frightened the the life out of me. As you say five years is bit harsh but the catch lays in the words "up to" always a favorite for the advertiser, you know the one "up to 90% discount, but in reality you are lucky to get 10%.