speed limits and penalties

[GrumbleDook]

Speed cameras vary in type but those commonly used today (laser tracking based) do not required per use calibration but are routinely tested to show consistancy.

 

The older type could be simply calibrated with a tuning fork that is noted in a log book.

 

The guidance from The Metropolitan Police has been (for the last 15 years) to allow +/- 10% + 2mph. The usual cases where 33, 34, 35, 36 mph are taken to penalty are when they are in areas of 'serious' concern. This may be around hospitals, schools (though these are often 20mph now), police / fire / ambulance stations, red routes (or similarily designated 'unsafe' or 'accident-prone' routes) and roadworks.

 

It is worth noting that any attempt to deface, alter or obstruct your number plate (front or back) counts as driving without due care and consideration for other road users as you are failing to allow your car to be identified in the case of an accident (an accident need not occur ... the attempt to prevent identification in the event of an accident is all that is needed) and this carries a harsher penalty than most speeding penalties (up to 6 points and £1000+ depending on circumstances, but commonly £300 is a regular fine).

[SteveT]

[quote name="

 

The problem ive always had with that theory is in order to do 30 and not 1mph over you have to be paying more attention to the speedo than the road.

 

Personally id rather see the kid stepping out and brake, missing the child completely, or atleast slowing to 10-15mph, than plough straight into him at exactly 30mph.

 

Sorry, but i think this is a load of bollards!!! A speed limit of 30mph doesn't mean that you have to drive at exactly 30mph but that you are not to drive over that speed! If you cannot drive at under 30mph without constantly watching your speedometer then you shouldn't be driving IMHO.

 

If a driver hit one of my kids at 35mph and killed them and came out with that excuse I would want the book thrown at them. The research on the effects of speed on impact with pedestrians is very clear! As far as I'm concerned being "just over the speed limit by 10%" is the same as being "just over" the drink/drive limit!

[witch]

The whole point of the little bit of leeway ( and 10% +2mph is quite a lot of leeway, actually) is to compensate for both the odometer innacuracy and also the fact that you cannot look down every second. I agree with SteveT - not much of an excuse when you kill a child, is it?

I was caught at 11.30pm returning from sitting in Casualty with one of my sons with a suspected broken arm. As I said, I was doing 37. I was grateful to be offered the driver awareness course, which was quite useful, instead of the points, and the police said that they are trying to offer the course to people like me who were not far off the limit.

I do think that some cameras are in very odd places and should be removed, but I also think that the speed limit outside schools should be 20mph and that there should be a camera there as well. Cameras should be at all blackspots.

 

I am not upset about being caught (other than at my own stupidity). The law is the law and I broke it, didn't I?

I like to drive fast too - but there is a time and a place for that sort of thing

 

Speed cameras are now painted yellow so that you DO see them and remember what the speed limit is, and slow down without being caught.

Seems pretty reasonable to me

[Geoff]

Generally the way car makers adjust for the inaccuracy of car speedos is to set them so they report speeds rather optimistically. This is especially the case with faster cars.

[TechMonkey]

Most new cars (as in the last 10 years or so) I have found have been about 10% out below. So most people if they are doing exactly 30mph are actually doing anywhere from 25 to 30. If you have Satnav you can see this happening. It is great fun when people slow right down for cameras on dual carriageways and you can over take them easily by actually doing 30. Even more fun as 70mph works out to be just about 80 on the speedo.

 

But as GD said 10% + 2 is the standard working out. Also there are some of those sprays that do work but they also show up on the Vid cameras fitted to most police cars and if you get caught you get thourghly busted & everything thrown at you as it is purposefully trying to obscure the number plate. No excuse and no defence.

[mrcrazy04]

Having spoken to friends of mine who are police officers, they say that the best policy is to remove your number plate and claim it fell off, as it's only £30 for that, rather than the penalties for using one of the sprays.

And there is a device which shoots a laser beam into the speed camera, which isn't illegal, but a guy was caught using one in Swansea and was done for perverting the course of justice.

However, the best option is not to speed!

[Guest metalmonkey]

I do wonder why cars are physically allowed to drive above 70mph when there is no where in the uk that allows a faster speed.

 

And for those who want to drive in Europe or on the AutoBahn (or what ever its called) cap the cars at 90 or 100. Why on earth would you buy a car that does 100mph or above.

 

I'd like to buy a car that is capped at 70 and see my insurance price drop or better still... my tax.

 

It's like selling guns and bullets to teenagers and telling them not to put the bullets in the gun.

 

No offence to teenagers of course. They are just idiots with suped up, lowered suspension, blacked out windows, 'thumping' speakers on wheels.

[webman]

Imagine you're on a road that permits speeds of 70MPH... If you car was capped at 70MPH I'd like to see you speed away from a dangerous situation to prevent injury or death.

 

Having speed caps is just as stupid and dangerous as having vehicles automatically slow down when coming up to a road with a lower speed limit

[bishopsgarthstockton]

Imagine you're on a road that permits speeds of 70MPH... If you car was capped at 70MPH I'd like to see you speed away from a dangerous situation to prevent injury or death.

 

Hey when your times up; your times up capiche?

[webman]

Kev, you've been watching too much Final Destination

[dave.81]

They are just idiots with suped up, lowered suspension, blacked out windows, 'thumping' speakers on wheels.

 

I've been putting off replying to this post and there has been many posts that seem to have been written by 10 year old kids but this one just makes me laugh.

 

Narrow minded load of crap is all i have to say about it.

 

Dont speed you wont get caught then, simple as really. The limits are there for a reason, although 70 is a little low for modern cars but 30mph is there for a dam good reason.

[mrcrazy04]

They are just idiots with suped up, lowered suspension, blacked out windows, 'thumping' speakers on wheels.

 

I've been putting off replying to this post and there has been many posts that seem to have been written by 10 year old kids but this one just makes me laugh.

 

Narrow minded load of crap is all i have to say about it.

 

You want to see how many cars VOSA took off the road for too dark windows or dodgy suspension when they last visited the school

[Guest metalmonkey]

Having speed caps is just as stupid and dangerous...

 

Why?

 

Give me just one... just one example where you're driving at 70 and need to accelerate to avoid a dangerous situation. Given that breaking is far quicker than accelerating.

 

 

Narrow minded load of crap is all i have to say about it.

 

No guessing what kind of car you drive.

[TechMonkey]

Having speed caps is just as stupid and dangerous...

 

Why?

 

Give me just one... just one example where you're driving at 70 and need to accelerate to avoid a dangerous situation. Given that breaking is far quicker than accelerating.

 

 

Narrow minded load of crap is all i have to say about it.

 

No guessing what kind of car you drive.

 

Well we have been in a few dangerous situations in our new minibus that is capped. Ok that is capped at 62 or something silly, but there are times when a bit of ommph is needed, but I do agree that cars going up to over a ton on standard roads seems pointless. But that is to me, my car would be lucky to get over 60 on a good day

[GrumbleDook]

Times when it is sensible to accelerate to pass a dangerous hazard safely include falling debris, failure of braking mechanism and extreme, induced psychological stress (car ramming, etc)

 

Other reasons may include passing through traffic to get in to a safe lane to allow for the passage of emergency services.

 

The Advanced Driving Course is a very good one and teaches so many things that are missed out of the 'let us learn who to pass a test rather than drive safely' thing that happens nowadays.

[CESIL]

The policy in hampshire is to prosecute for speeds in excess by 10% +2mph ie 35 in a 30 limit.

 

The cameras measure your actual speed so bearing in mind that most speedos read 10% over the true speed (it is illegal for them to read under so they are built to avoid this by making them deliberately optimistic), if you are snapped at 35 your speedo will probably be reading nearly 40.

 

With regard to capping, I personally don't like it as limits vary by country but I have to agree with metalmonkey, going faster generally just gets you into trouble quicker.

[CESIL]

I forgot to add that cameras only catch people speeding...so slow down and stop worrying about them

[Joedetic]

I like how teenagers have been generalised a little there.

 

I personally would much rather have a discovery than any crappy lowered suspension boy racer jobby.

 

I'm only a teen until next July so it's allowed i suppose.

[Lee_K_81]

I dont think speed cameras are the solution. Changing drivers attitudes is what needs to be done.

 

How often do people do 40 in a 30 zone, slow down for a camera then speed up to 50 to make up for the lost time. Not saying its right, but it's what happens.

[nicholab]

I don't mind speed camera it just stupid speed limit they enforce. I mean a dual carriageways is limited 40mph and a single lane road is also 40mph. What gets me is when you think ok this must be a certain speed then you see a camera sign and worry there is some silly limit.

[GrumbleDook]

Please see here for national speed limits.

 

The places that the speed limits differ are where there are hazards or it is a known route that has a lot of incidents (accidents, traffic jams, etc)

 

A 40 limit on a section of dual carriageway is often because there are junctions on it that are classed as 'short approach', namely there is not enough space for vehicles to accelerate to a safe speed before joining the major road.

 

When roads are built and classified they are assigned the relevant national speed limit and it is moved down when they are assessed for hazards.

 

This is not done lightly by any planning authority ... mainly because the planners also drive big, fast cars and they want to get from A to B in 3 1/2 seconds (ok ... a bit silly, but you get the picture!)

 

Speed limits are not always there to prevent accidents but to limit the damage that occurs when there is a collision, whether it is between car, lorry, bike, bicycle, pedestrian, horse or any combination of these.

[bishopsgarthstockton]

dudes.

 

lets some up this wee thread

 

drive to the correct speed limit and save speeding for the race track. this whole 10% thing is a nath guide line. its easy you are driving in a 30mph zone. drive to 30mph on your cars spedo, bollocks to this oooow the sat nav says diffrent. speed restrictions are set for a bloody good reason. end of!! (runs and hides a corner)

[tech_guy]

dudes.

 

lets some up this wee thread

 

drive to the correct speed limit and save speeding for the race track. this whole 10% thing is a nath guide line. its easy you are driving in a 30mph zone. drive to 30mph on your cars spedo, bollocks to this oooow the sat nav says diffrent. speed restrictions are set for a bloody good reason. end of!! (runs and hides a corner)

 

I agree (also runs and hides in a corner) :-)

[TechMonkey]

dudes.

 

lets some up this wee thread

 

drive to the correct speed limit and save speeding for the race track. this whole 10% thing is a nath guide line. its easy you are driving in a 30mph zone. drive to 30mph on your cars spedo, bollocks to this oooow the sat nav says diffrent. speed restrictions are set for a bloody good reason. end of!! (runs and hides a corner)

 

I agree (also runs and hides in a corner) :-)

 

What if I'm using my GPS as my speedo?

[mrforgetful]

GPS is a very innacurate method of measuring speed anyway as it only takes a reading every metre or so, unless you are driving amazingly steady it's guestimating all the time.

 

As for speed limits, I'd say about 80% of the time my speedo is higher than the posted limit, but if I'm in a residential area I'll be under it a fair bit, going past a school? Then I'll be going slow and annoying pretty much everybody.

 

The trouble with most drivers is they can't judge the situation. I don't see any safety issue with me driving home and 120mph when there's only me on the motorway, if I have a blowout and die then my fault. If however it's 5pm and there's cars all over the place I'll be going the same speed as everyone else wether it be 60 or 80mph, doing that is a lot safer than the muppets who drive spot on 70 but never move out of the middle lane - forcing everyone into the fast lane and to bunch up very close.

 

As for faster cars, I've been driving nearly 10 years, I've only just managed to be able to afford a quick car. Even though this is the fastest car I've ever had I believe driving it is safer than some of my earlier ones. They had no ABS, struggled round corners and at motorway speeds but because I was still within the limits it seemed fine. Now my new car copes easily with all the things I did before.

 

What make me laugh is that the motorway speed is the same now as it was 30 years ago, but I really would be scared going 70 in a 1970s car, whereas I can hit a ton now and not even realise.

 

Time and place.

 

Should be 20mph past schools with strict cameras by all of them.

Adjustable on the motorway like the M25 depending on traffic and raise to 100 at night or low usage times.

 

If you think speeding is the most dangerous thing a car can do, come to Bradford and see the state of the driving here, most people drive at 30 but that's the only road law they seem to take any notice of, and that is more dangerous than 35.