Speeding.....

John Young

John Young

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So annoyed I have been driving for 26 years and had various cars and a performance car and never had any tickets, fines etc.

I went along a road the other day which was a 40 but later changed to a 30 (which I had not seen the 30 sign as there were bus lanes all over the place)

Anyway I was caught by a speed camera doing 36 in a 30 - totally not good and I am not proud or trying to wiggle out of it.

But I understand you can do a speed awareness course on your first offense - is this right and does that mean I would then not have the 3 points and £100 fine ?

Annoyed at myself but also the signs on that road were terrible.....
 
I got caught a few years ago in a very similar situation at the exact same speeds ironically and I was able to do a speed awareness course, as it was a first offence and low enough speed break to qualify...your letter will however tell you if your eligible to take the course, so if it doesn't then I suspect you'll have to take the points/fine...

You'd still have to pay for the course but not get the points or fine, but the course is usually about £10-20 more than the fine
 
Thanks I will wait and see.....

So annoyed as I NEVER speed no matter what cameras are around etc. I just could not cope with speeding and killing some kid. I honestly thought it was a 40 limit as it was an unfamiliar road and it did say 40 earlier but then suddenly changed to 30 with a speed camera
 
I very occasionally might drift a few mph over the limit UNLESS there is someone right on my tail as strangely this seems to make me stick to the limit like a limpit!
 
John Young said:
I went along a road the other day which was a 40 but later changed to a 30 (which I had not seen the 30 sign as there were bus lanes all over the place)
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If you are unsure of the speed limit on a particular road where it is built up and there are streetlights, assume that the speed limit is 30mph. If the speed limit is above 30mph there will be repeater speed limit signs placed in regular intervals.
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Don't panic yet, you may not get a ticket, l've done the same and not heard a thing.
If l remember rightly they have to inform you within 14 days.
Speed limits seem to be changing all the time :(
 
Gremlin said:
Don't panic yet, you may not get a ticket, l've done the same and not heard a thing.
If l remember rightly they have to inform you within 14 days.
Speed limits seem to be changing all the time :(
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"I was caught by a speed camera doing 36 in a 30" sounds like he has had a ticket (NIP)!
 
John Young said:
Thanks I will wait and see.....

So annoyed as I NEVER speed no matter what cameras are around etc. I just could not cope with speeding and killing some kid. I honestly thought it was a 40 limit as it was an unfamiliar road and it did say 40 earlier but then suddenly changed to 30 with a speed camera
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I'm not going to lie and say I never speed because have, and I also have found myself looking at the speedo in the past an thinking crap didn't realise I was going that fast, but I do not especially post crash intentionally speed (crash was not speed related) in my case I was in rural Northamptonshire at 2am and every village I went through was 40mph except the one with the camera :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: but hey ho...
 
Unlucky fella, it's pathetic the way motorist are treated these days and looks like you have joined the "cash cow club" :rolleyes:
 
Yeah I already got my letter...

The thing was were the speed camera was there were two lanes merging (from the 40mph area) and I was not even looking for cameras as I thought it was still 40 not then down to 30
 
I got caught last year, 40mph in a 30 zone. When i returned the notice confirming who was driving i got offered the course instead of a fine and points. Course cost £90.
 
Similar situation with me couple of years ago driving into Doncaster the road alternated between 40 and 50 and i missed the 40 sign and passed a camera doing 49. Wouldn't mind but i saw the camera and checked the speedo :) Was offered the speed awareness course at a cost of £80 instead of the £100 fine and the 3 points. No brainer really. Hope they give you the option :)
 
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Perhaps things are different now John, but when I was caught (doing the same speed as you) I got the offer of a speed awareness course when I received the letter telling me I was speeding. The cost of the course was more than the fine but completing it meant no points on the licence.

There should be more use of these courses - it was really good.

I hope I am wrong but if you have not had any notification of a course already, I don't think you are going to get a chance of one.

Dave
 
I can supply anti photographic number plates, working radar detectors and laser blinders, all completely legal to use as long as they are not designed to stop an officer doing his duty. :)

I use my gps which has pretty much all speed limits loaded an constantly reminds me one I'm 2mph above limit.
 
John Young said:
Thanks I will wait and see.....

So annoyed as I NEVER speed no matter what cameras are around etc. I just could not cope with speeding and killing some kid. I honestly thought it was a 40 limit as it was an unfamiliar road and it did say 40 earlier but then suddenly changed to 30 with a speed camera
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And thus the speed awareness course is a bit pointless for you isn't it? ;) just pay the fine and move on. Three point will have hardly any affect on you ;)
 
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dejongj said:
And thus the speed awareness course is a bit pointless for you isn't it? ;) just pay the fine and move on. Three point will have hardly any affect on you ;)
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Ha...ha.....yeah no use but no points eh (y)

I have the letter but the letter just seems to be to find out / confirm who the driver was and it does mention a speed awareness course MAY be offered once I return he letter
 
John Young said:
Ha...ha.....yeah no use but no points eh (y)

I have the letter but the letter just seems to be to find out / confirm who the driver was and it does mention a speed awareness course MAY be offered once I return he letter
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From what I've remember, send the form back asap, the longer you leave it the less likely they are to offer it. Plenty of info at Pepipoo.com if you want to read up or ask advice from the experts.
 
@John Young, you know you don't havecto supply that information?
'I am unable to supply you with the information you have requested becasuse I believe in contravenes section 6 of the European human rights act 19??. I f you do insist on this information being supplied I require you to record the fact that the information was acquired under duress'

but I know you want to take your punishment & pay the fine.
You've been a very naughty boy (said in a Monty Pyhthon style voice)
 
Go back and have a look at the road it happened on, if there is not adequate or correct signage then appeal
 
Peter69 said:
@John Young, you know you don't havecto supply that information?
'I am unable to supply you with the information you have requested becasuse I believe in contravenes section 6 of the European human rights act 19??. I f you do insist on this information being supplied I require you to record the fact that the information was acquired under duress'
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I don't know where you got your info from, but it's wrong (and been to the ECHR), taking your advice will lead to 6 points and a much bigger fine, not forgetting that with a s172 conviction insurance will get extremely expensive,
 
Yeah but if you appeal and loose its a lot more money and still points. I have always been the one who stuck to speed limits with people trying to push me from behind or fly past me but my thinking is if some kid ran out and I could not avoid them and I was doing over say 30 in a 30 and the kid unfortunately died It would be horrendous and you would not get over it BUT in your heart you would know you did all you could to avoid the death doing 30. But if the same thing happened and you were speeding even if you got away with it from the police..... That would really eat away at you and you would never get over it as you would always be thinking...... What if ??

The road I was on was a duel road like a kind of dual carriageway but the left lane kept swapping from normal to bus lane and was fairly fast moving. I have looked on google maps and the 30mph signs are there right on a set of traffic lights with the road splitting into four so now I see why I never saw it was 30..... I bet I am not the only one
 
I did a course recently and on of the instructors said that is usually offered to those who are only over the limit by a few mph, most on the course were a case of 36/37 in a 30 and the like. Finger crossed
 
Neil B said:
Unlucky fella, it's pathetic the way motorist are treated these days and looks like you have joined the "cash cow club" :rolleyes:
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its crap, but if you speeding and you get caught there really is no defence or excuse, imo.
 
John Young said:
Yeah but if you appeal and loose its a lot more money and still points.
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Not at all, if you loose you would still only pay the initial amount of the fine

Mind you only go to appeal if you thought you had reasonable grounds to do so
 
Keith W said:
There is a big difference between deliberately & knowingly speeding and what the OP has described
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Perhaps,but you are responsible for driving and therefore following the signs provided to show you what speed to drive at. There is also the factor of you should be able to make a good guess of the speed limit given the quality of road, number of bends etc - in fact if I remember correctly, a 30mph limit road will not show speed limit signs intermittently where as a 20, 40 or 50 would. Etc.
 
stumeech said:
its crap, but if you speeding and you get caught there really is no defence or excuse, imo.
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I expected someone like yourself to come and say that sooner and like I said originally I was not trying to wiggle out of it I was simply explaining how I was caught through not being aware of the speed and the road was not an obvious 30 mph road
 
Did you not see bright yellow box and tell tale lines on the road? We are lucky to have those at most devil traps. In many other countries they are grey and masked.... While in US you are dealing with polis themselves as people just shoot all the cameras down
 
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John Young said:
I expected someone like yourself to come and say that sooner and like I said originally I was not trying to wiggle out of it I was simply explaining how I was caught through not being aware of the speed and the road was not an obvious 30 mph road
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I didn't mean it in a preachy way John, I was referring to the 'cash cow club' comment anyway which I took more of an issue with - that people just see being caught speeding as a way for the police to raise revenue and not in fact to protect our safety & patrol the limit of the road.
 
Neil B said:
Unlucky fella, it's pathetic the way motorist are treated these days and looks like you have joined the "cash cow club" :rolleyes:
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The revenue raising part of it is a separate aspect and is irrelevant to the speeding part. If you are caught speeding by a camera you have absolutely no defence.

A friend of mine was complaining about being caught by a speed camera last week and stating how it wasn't fair. I countered with "I was caught shoplifting in Tesco yesterday. There was a store detective watching me. That's not fair".

About 1000 deaths per year are attributed to speeding so it's no surprise that speeding is seen as a serious offence. No other offence (at least in this country) kills so many people so it makes sense to me.

I think John has the right attitude. It happened, it's his fault, he feels bad about it and wants to mitigate the effect it will have on him then get on with his life rather than moan about any perceived unfairness.


Steve.
 
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Sounds like you may be lucky, John. The one I went on took a day with a mixture of theory and practical and well worth it.

Dave
 
stumeech said:
I didn't mean it in a preachy way John, I was referring to the 'cash cow club' comment anyway which I took more of an issue with - that people just see being caught speeding as a way for the police to raise revenue and not in fact to protect our safety & patrol the limit of the road.
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Unrelated to John. If you genuinely didn't want to be seen as a cash cow, but wishing to protect road safety wouldn't it be better to:

A) reduce fines to cover administration only, but increase points to ensure a ban after say the second offence?

B) takes steps to remove the perception that traffic enforcement is now by camera, and enforce more with actual traffic officers?
 
I got caught on the motorway going through some roadworks, 47 in a 40 zone. £100 to do the course but no points.
 
SaintSLR said:
I got caught on the motorway going through some roadworks, 47 in a 40 zone. £100 to do the course but no points.
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I had exactly the same thing happen to me - didn't even notice the camera van :(

There were around 20 of us in the room at the course an everyone had almost exactly the same story.

What I would say to the OP (and in no way do mean this to sound patronising) is that if you've been driving for over 26 years nd you do the course I'll be amazed ifyou don;t find it both interesting and educational. I learned heaps - some stuff I'd known and forgotten, and some things I don't think I ever really knew (definition of a dual-carriageway, for example).
From the description of the scenario given, it sounds like a prime location for a "safety" camera to be used (not defending this, just saying). I live close to busy road that runs into Cardiff city centre. There's a fixed speed (sorry, safety) camera just past the large entrance area to a cemetary. The local plod regularly site a mobile camera there as well - less than 100 yards from the fixed camera. Work that out!!!
 
John Young said:
Ha...ha.....yeah no use but no points eh (y)

I have the letter but the letter just seems to be to find out / confirm who the driver was and it does mention a speed awareness course MAY be offered once I return he letter
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If you don't speed you won't get points. You've made an honest mistake and are unlikely to be a) making it again b) caught making a mistake again.

One set of points makes no difference to insurance or anything. Take whats cheapest.
 
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