Control your car legally – the advent of the digital vehicle

A post examining vehicle recognition and control in the digital age

Others will write about Barcelona and Cambrils – recalling Paris and London. They may address urban terrorism that has reached Turku, and even comment on Herat mosque, Lahore, Lake Chad, Abyan, Kirkuk, Bajaur, Quetta, Burkina Faso, Kunduz, and Konduga. August 2017 saw 113 global terrorist events, involving 494 innocent deaths.

Academic analysis would reveal the number of terrorist incidents involving motor vehicles used for travel to – and escape from, as well as perpetrate terrorism. Today’s radio conversation is about ‘hiring vans to terrorists’. And tomorrow?

Road traffic deaths in the UK for the year ending March 2016 were 1,780, with 24,610 people killed or seriously injured, and 187,050 casualties of all severity. Cyclist’s deaths comprise 100 in the same year, whilst serious injuries amount to 3,239 and lesser injuries 15,505. Motor traffic levels rose in that year by 1.8%.

I think you see where I am going. Now don’t get me wrong: I like vehicles. I have owned and driven many kinds over four decades, from large motorcycles to HGVs, and still own three – a motor home, car and roadster. But, like me, do you see the writing on the wall – that says ‘top gear motor days are over’?

With the advent of driverless, electric-powered cars, we entered a digital motoring age. Top of the range vehicles – including BMW and Mercedes with conventional engines – inform you remotely where they are, how they are, what they need, what they are doing, having the capacity to park themselves. They ‘live and breathe information’, with which our smart phones light up at any distance.

It seems that the days of the incognito car are numbered. We have electronic number plate recognition, so it is a small step to the digitally identified vehicle; one that can be tracked remotely, and importantly, controlled remotely.

When travelling on UK roads and motorways, I am constantly amazed by the speed of some passing cars. More alarming is their closing and stopping speed. The combination of driver error and irresponsibility is fatal. Now what if those vehicles could be remotely managed?

It has always seemed to me to be an absurdity that vehicles for UK roads are still sold on the basis of speed. Assuming use on public roads with a 70 mph limit, how is this appropriate? Why do we tacitly promote the acquisition of high performance cars? On 13 March 1996, seventeen innocent deaths in Dunblane resulted in the abolition of handguns. So why in 2017 do we tolerate a massive car-death toll?

How would it be if all UK road vehicles (with the exception of emergency services) were fitted with speed regulators linked to GPS and road-side sensors that controlled maximum speed depending on road classification, and even road conditions? Why simply detect and fine, when you can regulate?

How many lives might be saved? How many vehicles involved in crime may be traced? And, when actively used for criminal or terrorist prevention purposes, how many vehicles could be identified, targeted and electronically slowed and brought to a stop – upon leaving a carriageway, or by police in pursuit?

Of course the ‘motoring rights lobby’ will screech in anguish, neglecting the fact that irresponsible exercise of their rights frequently deprives innocents of lives and families of loved ones. We would have to ‘get over’ the fact that, unlike people, vehicles fall into the category of accountable property, and that our movements with and within them would be traceable.

What is the current price of vehicular freedom? Is it worth it? If ‘freedom’ is really what you want, why not buy a bike and take the risk with the rest of us?

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Barrister’s Survival Guide

A post about 40 years of legal practice as a barrister and my survival tips for others

Congratulate me. I have just turned 40. No, not my age regrettably, but my years in private practice as an English barrister.

40 years doing the ‘same job’ got me thinking about what it is to be a barrister, how it has changed over the years, and importantly, what tips I can share concerning survival.

As one of the bar’s ‘senior juniors’ – an oxymoronic term used to describe ‘old barristers who have never ‘taken silk’  – I remember the days of drafty court rooms that existed in almost every town, where the judge would arrive at 10.30, to leave for home as soon as a trial finished or collapsed. As barristers, we were a small band of 6,000 – mostly in London, and generally knew everyone who worked on the circuit. We travelled the circuit, appearing at a variety of courts, often in very different cases. It was commonplace to see the same opponent in civil, criminal, regulatory, family and even chancery cases. We did what came up.

Clearly, those days have passed, just as old courts have closed. Today, we are specialists, new entrants to the bar sometimes only experiencing one area of practice.

So that leads me to my first tip.

Experience life outside your specialist field. I accept that the days of general practice have passed and gone, that we are pressed into ever increasing specialisation, but with this comes two fatal flaws to excellence as an advocate. The first is the reduction of transferrable skills. Just as advocates in criminal cases do not gain regular exposure to the need for rigorous intellectual crafting of argument based on complex law, the civil practitioners finds themselves weak when it comes to the art of persuasion. Those practicing in family law (unless they have High Court and appeal practices) are frequently denied both, to wobble around with sentences like “mum says…”…and “wouldn’t you agree that contact went well?”.

Moving between disciplines over 40 years, I have been impressed and amazed at the relevance of transferrable skills between one specialist field and another, enhancing practice in each area and enriching the experience of being a barrister.

My second tip is ‘think condom’. Engaged in numerous high-level police corruption trials and hearings, my advice to the most senior police officers has been ‘protect yourself – prepare and record in anticipation of a public inquiry in 4 years’. Some listened, and survived. Others failed to heed, and were eventually dismissed or discredited. The same goes for barristers. Just round the corner is the surprise challenge, in which someone fails, complains or dies.

To address this it is wise to record the client’s decisions and the reasons for them; and our advice, the known facts on which it was based, and our justification for it. Several times I have been rescued by a comprehensive endorsement of my brief (a document that I contend falls outside client privilege), or a detailed attendance note made and shared immediately after a conference or hearing.

The third tip is ‘always have a plan B’. Just thinking about alternatives prepares our minds to address other possibilities as to approach and outcome. So we are rarely surprised, or worse, floored. More important with clients, the need for a ‘plan B’ focusses on the fact that the law is an inexact art, and advocating an outcome does not mean that the judge will agree. The plan B sometimes involves a simple matter of changing expectations, or alerting clients to the dangers of their case.

My fourth tip is ‘leave your work behind’. If, like me, you work extensively from home, find and preserve a place where you work, and from which you leave for family life. Here, I am thinking more of leaving problems behind, rather than the sharing of some of the more fun aspects of practice at the bar. In my case, my study is solely for work and legal discussion. It has a lock on the door, so I sense the moment when I depart, and return to real life.

My fifth and final tip is to take time out from practice. I have been a master at this skill, away for the summer whilst my family was young, and later taking longer trips involving months away, including sabattical breaks away from work.

Whilst I recall my very first senior clerk say to established barristers “…well, it is your practice, Sir”, and then look accusingly knowing that they would lose their nerve, I have never experienced anything other than continued prosperity, success and fulfilment coming from taking regular holidays and time out. More importantly, should you be lucky like me to survive 40 years of private practice, you will appreciate the enriching perspective that this has added to your life.

Whilst an advert may appear at the foot, this blog is neither monetarised, nor endorsing any product