Originally Posted by
BoraxKid
Too often, dangerous drivers are let off with inadequate penalties because it's their first time in court.
By reporting dangerous drivers, a record will exist of their dangerous activities. Should one of those drivers end up in court, their record would establish that the dangerous driver has a documented history of driving dangerously. This can lead to stiffer penalties, since the record will show a pattern of behavior, and it (hopefully) prevents a dangerous driver from being given leniency.
The "record" will establish that there have been unsubstantiated report(s) (made perhaps anonymously) to a website or over the phone that may leave it up to anybody/everybody to make up their own definition of "dangerous activities." As can be seen elsewhere on BF some cyclists have a very low tolerance for motorists anywhere in their vicinity and seem to consider most, if not all, motorists as dangerous and seem to report all kinds of issues with "dangerous" motorists quite frequently to BF.
I will leave it to the BF legal scholars, (licensed, would-be or otherwise) to give an opinion if a "record" of alleged "dangerous behavior" gathered by such a non governmental call-in hotline/website would carry any weight at all in a court for determining a defendent's guilt for a specific violation/crime or could be used when determining a penalty, especially for a defendant who is in court for the first time.
My untrained legal opinion is that such alleged "evidence" of previous "dangerous activities" based on such so-called reports would be found irrelevant in any court.