The high court has ruled that using a mobile phone for certain functions while driving is not necessarily illegal. Ramsey Barreto, 51, was convicted at a magistrates court for using his mobile phone while driving to film a crash in north London in 2017. His conviction was subsequently overturned at crown court last October, when a judge ruled the law did not prevent using a phone to film a video while driving. That verdict was referred to the high court and two judges have now upheld it. They ruled that laws banning phone use while driving, introduced in the Road Safety Act 2006, do not apply in all cases, because of how the law defines a ‘hand-held mobile telephone’. The high court ruling judgment read: “The legislation does not prohibit all use of a mobile phone held while driving. It prohibits driving while using a mobile phone or other device for calls and other interactive communication (and holding it at some stage during that process).” That means the law, as written, only prohibits use of a hand-held mobile device when it is being used to make a phone call, or other “interactive communication”. That potentially means the law does not prohibit filming a video, taking a photo, playing a game or other functions that don’t require two-way communication. However, in their conclusion, Justice Thirlwall and Justice Goss stated it “should not be thought that this is a green light for people to make films as they drive”, noting that such behaviour could result in drivers being charged with careless or dangerous driving. The law banning mobile phone use when driving was written before the widespread take-up of smartphones and it is likely that the loophole uncovered by the ruling could now be closed – although the two high court Justices noted that “whether a review of the regulations is necessary to take account of the myriad current and potentially dangerous uses of a mobile phone or other device while driving is a matter for Parliament, not the
Origin: Driver who filmed video on phone cleared by high court
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Ferrari 250 GTO recognized as art by Italian court to block imitators
Simon Kidston, of Bonham and Brooks auction house, peers inside a vintage 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO which won the 1963 Le Mans GT race, in London, 30 October 2000.Adrian Dennis / Getty An Italian court has officially recognized the Ferrari 250 GTO as a work of art, thus protecting the design from companies building replicas or fakes.The Ferrari 250 GTO is regarded as the Holy Grail of classic cars, a claim supported by the people who drive and buy them, and backed up by its status as one of the most expensive cars in the world.The last 250 GTO to hit the auction block, a 1962 model with upgraded Series II bodywork, sold for a staggering US$48,405,000.Its the first time in Italy that a car has been recognized as a work of art, a Ferrari spokesperson told the Daily Telegraph. Its not just its beauty that makes it special it also has a long racing history.Ferrari started a petition to have the design and intellectual property rights of the GTO recognized after a company claimed it was going to start building 250 GTO replicas in Modena, Italy, Ferraris hometown.Only 36 original GTOs were built, and all of them survive today. Under the hood of a Ferrari 250 GTO is a 3.0-litre Colombo V12, which produced somewhere around 300 horsepower; that doesnt sound like a lot, but keep in mind the body only weighed 850 kg. The low weight and high power for the time allowed the GTO to take numerous victories in almost every aspect of European road racing, earning it much praise.Ferrari has always been a stickler for blocking imitators and recreations, famously destroying a Ferrari replica used in Miami Vice in order to give the main character a real Ferrari. More recently, the automaker asked the owner of a Ferrari F40 that had been transformed into an open-top race car to remove all Ferrari badges from the body, because of its
Origin: Ferrari 250 GTO recognized as art by Italian court to block imitators
Saskatchewan court says the carbon tax is constitutional
Car exhaust contains lethal carbon monoxide, so its important to make sure exhaust systems are working properly.Sue Reeve A Saskatchewan court has ruled that the federal government has the power to fight climate change on a national level, despite objections from the province. The decision allows the government to set a minimum national price on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and hit specific provinces with a carbon tax if they do not enact their own measures. The province filed the motion with the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in February, arguing that the carbon tax intruded on provincial jurisdiction, and was unconstitutional because it was not applied equally to all jurisdictions. Premier Scott Moe said that “climate change itself was not on trial,” but the province’s lawyers argued that a national tax would give the federal government power over Saskatchewan’s natural resources and its industrial regulations. In a 3-2 decision released today, the court sided with Parliament and said the carbon tax is constitutional, and is actually a regulatory charge on emissions, rather than a tax. Lawyers for the federal government had argued that a national carbon tax was required because the provinces can’t respond to GHG on their own. The carbon tax isn’t applied to all provinces, just to those that have not enacted their own carbon-pricing schemes that meet the national standards – which are Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Alberta. Ontario has already launched a similar court case and is awaiting a ruling, while the premiers of the other three provinces have said they will launch legal actions of their own. The dissenting judges on Saskatchewan’s court said that the tax should be struck down, and that “federalism in Canada means that all governments of Canada must bring all law-making power to bear on the issue of climate change, but in a way that respects the division of power.” It’s expected that the Saskatchewan case, along with those of other provinces, will eventually end up at the Supreme Court of Canada, where all would likely be assembled into one challenge. The federal tax took effect on April 1, 2019 and is currently $20 per tonne of CO2, with an increase of $10 each year until 2022. Saskatchewan said the tax has or will raise the price of gasoline, heating oil and electricity, while the federal government said the majority of families will receive more in rebates than they pay for the carbon
Origin: Saskatchewan court says the carbon tax is constitutional
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