ABSTRACT
A policeman is usually in at the first stage and sees the impact of an offence on the victims, but does not follow through the offender and so sometimes gets a rather distorted view. Lawyers and judges get a very limited and rather unrealistic view from the courts. The motor car is responsible for a great deal of crime in society and has caused a wide spectrum of people to become involved with the police and courts. Many road traffic offenders rationalise their behaviour by criticisms of the police who, they consider, should deal with ‘real’ crime. The police get caught between conflicting philosophies and are as involved in contributing to these philosophies as any other member of the community. They are bound to administer laws which they sometimes regard as absurd or even objectionable, but they lack the right to protest or abdicate their responsibility, a right which every other member of the community has in full.
