hey all i just thought id fill you in on what happened with my licence
i went into the court, told them what happened and the magistrate basically said "while i dont think you deserve to lose your licence over something so trivial, the only power i have within the law is to extend your P's by 6 months"..........she went on to say that i have no right to appeal any further fines/dispualifications etc, within the next 12 months, but she would happily uphold my appeal
this got me thinking and led me to a couple of questions:
1. Why on earth can you lodge an appeal and have it upheld by a judge only to have the disqualification/conviction (whatever) only partially erased. Surely it is the job of the magistrate to decide (based upon the evidence) whether that person is fit to hold a drivers a licence or not. I cannot even begin to understand how this law came about....surely if your appeal is upheld then you regain the privledges you had prior to the 'incident"???
2. Secondly I find it absolutely amazing that I now have no right to appeal any further cases that the relevant authority may bring against me within the next 12 months. Given the course that licence prosecutions take in SA i now essentially have no voice regarding these issues. If i were to recieve an incorrect speeding fine i would not be eligible to appeal... if i recieve any other fines/disqualifications within 12 months i have no right to appeal them either, regardless of how frivolous the matter is. Why do i lose my "RIGHT to appeal" (these were the magistrates words) any future prosecutions because this appeal was upheld??
I know that this probably wont have any bearing on me as i will drive sensibly and will not draw any attention to myself (as i have always done), however what if some cop decides to show an absolute lack of common sense and penalise me for something like my P plate falling down (or something similar)?? then i will automatically lose my licence for 12 months and have to be on my P's for another 2 years after that.....sorry guys im just rambling again. I tink i'll start writing a few letters
later
-jimmy
