Speeding

[PompeyVillan]

I'd have put money on Snowy popping in and saying keep to the speed limit.

He's right though.

"1984/Big Brother" it may be (note to Wiggy: that's a reference to George Orwell [1903-1950], British novelist and essayist) :winkold:, revenue-generating it may be, but you always get caught, so you may as well stick to the limits.

And in the long run, that will be no bad thing.

I actually do travel within speed limits 99% of the time, I've taken the decision to just relax more when I drive (no easy thing to do on the UK) But it still frustrates the shit out of me when limits are set in such a way as to make it easy to accidentally or unintentionally break them, i.e constantly and inexplicable changing limits, poorly signposted changes, or just down right strange limits, usually these are accompanied by a proliferation of speed cameras. I've been driving 26 years and it's only during the last few years that I've ever found myself traveling on a road and having no real idea what the actual speed limit is, this is due to many of the previously mentioned problems. It also annoys me that along with these measures there seems a concerted effort to paint speeding as the most dangerous of driving activities, Drivng down the M1 as I do regularly, the most dangerous experiences I've had have had usually had nothing to do with people speeding. But I guess that speeding is just easier to monitor and detect than most other driving offences, and it can be a nice little earner as well.

Having been on a speed awareness course, I would tend to disagree. According to what I was told on the course (iirc), if someone is hit by a car at 20 mph they are 10% likely to be killed. If someone is hit by a car at 30 mph they are 50% likely to be killed. If someone is hit by a car at 40 mph they are 90% likely to be killed.

Speeding is mostly quite dangerously should something go wrong. Especially in rural areas.

Speeding on a variable speed limit motorway probably doesn't significantly increase risk of death or serious injury though in fairness. It just seems that the police rarely actually pay attention to the places where accidents happen (even though they claim that accidents are one of the criteria that determines where they put the cameras).

[DTheVillan]

I got pulled over on The Bristol Road going into town, 43mph in a 40 zone. When PC Efficient was doing the ticket he put "in the vicinity of Speedwell Rd". In trying to lighten my mood I quipped that I thought that was an instruction followed by a bastard of a telling off over the consequences of speeding. No sense of humour & no discretion

[mockingbird_franklin]

I'd have put money on Snowy popping in and saying keep to the speed limit.

He's right though.

"1984/Big Brother" it may be (note to Wiggy: that's a reference to George Orwell [1903-1950], British novelist and essayist) :winkold:, revenue-generating it may be, but you always get caught, so you may as well stick to the limits.

And in the long run, that will be no bad thing.

I actually do travel within speed limits 99% of the time, I've taken the decision to just relax more when I drive (no easy thing to do on the UK) But it still frustrates the shit out of me when limits are set in such a way as to make it easy to accidentally or unintentionally break them, i.e constantly and inexplicable changing limits, poorly signposted changes, or just down right strange limits, usually these are accompanied by a proliferation of speed cameras. I've been driving 26 years and it's only during the last few years that I've ever found myself traveling on a road and having no real idea what the actual speed limit is, this is due to many of the previously mentioned problems. It also annoys me that along with these measures there seems a concerted effort to paint speeding as the most dangerous of driving activities, Drivng down the M1 as I do regularly, the most dangerous experiences I've had have had usually had nothing to do with people speeding. But I guess that speeding is just easier to monitor and detect than most other driving offences, and it can be a nice little earner as well.

Having been on a speed awareness course, I would tend to disagree. According to what I was told on the course (iirc), if someone is hit by a car at 20 mph they are 10% likely to be killed. If someone is hit by a car at 30 mph they are 50% likely to be killed. If someone is hit by a car at 40 mph they are 90% likely to be killed.

Speeding is mostly quite dangerously should something go wrong. Especially in rural areas.

Speeding on a variable speed limit motorway probably doesn't significantly increase risk of death or serious injury though in fairness. It just seems that the police rarely actually pay attention to the places where accidents happen (even though they claim that accidents are one of the criteria that determines where they put the cameras).

I suspect, unlike Mr Mooney, you have totally missed the point of my post.

[PompeyVillan]

It seems I did...and still do...

[kidlewis]

So what's more dangerous going 90 or tailgating at 60?

People talk about spending like its the ultimate sun when driving. Plenty of other more dangerous driving habits.

Tailgating

Mobile phone

Make up whilst driving

Unsave vehicle like worn tyres worn brakes

Weaving in and out of traffic on motorways

Would be interesting to see what the penalties are like for the above

[bickster]

I got pulled over on The Bristol Road going into town, 43mph in a 40 zone. When PC Efficient was doing the ticket he put "in the vicinity of Speedwell Rd". In trying to lighten my mood I quipped that I thought that was an instruction followed by a bastard of a telling off over the consequences of speeding. No sense of humour & no discretion

You shouldn't get done for 43mph in a 40 mph zone. ACPO guidelines are as far as I'm aware, 10% of speed limit plus 2 mph. The 10% is the amount your speedometer is legally allowed to be out without requiring recalibration and the 2mph is to allow for parallax error in reading the speedo. So in a 40mph zone 45mph is a telling off/ignore and 46mph is a ticket.

Quite informative website on speeding in uk

[MrDuck]

I got pulled over on The Bristol Road going into town, 43mph in a 40 zone. When PC Efficient was doing the ticket he put "in the vicinity of Speedwell Rd". In trying to lighten my mood I quipped that I thought that was an instruction followed by a bastard of a telling off over the consequences of speeding. No sense of humour & no discretion

You shouldn't get done for 43mph in a 40 mph zone. ACPO guidelines are as far as I'm aware, 10% of speed limit plus 2 mph. The 10% is the amount your speedometer is legally allowed to be out without requiring recalibration and the 2mph is to allow for parallax error in reading the speedo. So in a 40mph zone 45mph is a telling off/ignore and 46mph is a ticket.

Quite informative website on speeding in uk

You still got the 10% law in blighty? Lucky buggers.

I recently went to court over a speeding fine I refused to pay. I was clocked at 64 in a 60 by a hand-held speed gun... now I saw the pig on the side of the road, noted that I was doing 60 and thought nothing of it. Then got the fine in the post ($150).

Cars made before 2006 in Australia are by Australian law considered roadworthy of the speedo is accurate to within 10%. However... Victorian state law stipulates that they will only allow a 2-3% discrepancy with the radar guns/cameras. So even though my car is within the nation's legal requirements for safety, the **** can still do me for speeding if I'm going as little as 63km/h. It's no coincidence that revenues from speeding in Victoria are way above the rest of the country.

In court the judge acknowledged that the system was flawed.. but his job was to enforce the law, not question it, so the fine stuck. words removed.

:evil: :evil:

[bickster]

The law technically is the speed limit but ACPO (Association of chief police officers) guidelines are as above. But yes we still have the 10% law on speedometers

[tonyh29]

if someone is hit by a car at 20 mph they are 10% likely to be killed. If someone is hit by a car at 30 mph they are 50% likely to be killed. If someone is hit by a car at 40 mph they are 90% likely to be killed.

i still maintain that at 40 mph the item you would have hit at 20 mph will be a couple of secs behind you and therefore you wouldn't have hit it

tbf on my speed awareness course they were quite good , i was expecting them to ram Speed kills down your throat the whole time and they didn't ... rural driving is actually the most fatal and not speed

[brommy]

i still maintain that at 40 mph the item you would have hit at 20 mph will be a couple of secs behind you and therefore you wouldn't have hit it

Great advice! I'm going to pass every school at 70mph so I can make it certain I've passed the kids before I would have hit them. 8)

[tonyh29]

i still maintain that at 40 mph the item you would have hit at 20 mph will be a couple of secs behind you and therefore you wouldn't have hit it

Great advice! I'm going to pass every school at 70mph so I can make it certain I've passed the kids before I would have hit them. 8)

make it 88 mph and you can avoid missing their parents and invent rock and roll whilst you are at it ....

[brommy]

i still maintain that at 40 mph the item you would have hit at 20 mph will be a couple of secs behind you and therefore you wouldn't have hit it

Great advice! I'm going to pass every school at 70mph so I can make it certain I've passed the kids before I would have hit them. 8)

make it 88 mph and you can avoid missing their parents and invent rock and roll whilst you are at it ....

8)

Just waiting for Duracell's next AA's to produce 1.21 GigaWatts!

Incidently, three of my favourite films from my teenage years (just 2 then 1, then a gap to 3). I read MJF's autobiography on holiday last year.

[Stevo985]

The law technically is the speed limit but ACPO (Association of chief police officers) guidelines are as above. But yes we still have the 10% law on speedometers

One of my best mates from work got done speeding 2 weeks ago on the way to Grimsby. He was within the 10% so asked them and the police officers told him that was a myth.

not saying they weren't lying, but that's what they told him.

[chrisp65]

the 10% appears to be discretionary / random.

A Director in our company was done at 53mph at the overhead sign a mile or two away from the Severn Bridge. 53, in a 50 zone on a motorway.

A few months back I was stuck on the M4 outside Bath for a few hours. When the traffic was eventually released the police had clearly kept us all waiting so they could get their nice plain cars in place. Over the course of the next few miles it was like a game of tag with about a dozen cars pulled over for speeding. Nice to know there is so much police resource available for emergencies.

[mockingbird_franklin]

So what's more dangerous going 90 or tailgating at 60?

People talk about spending like its the ultimate sun when driving. Plenty of other more dangerous driving habits.

Tailgating

Mobile phone

Make up whilst driving

Unsave vehicle like worn tyres worn brakes

Weaving in and out of traffic on motorways

Would be interesting to see what the penalties are like for the above

but non of these are easily detected with the simple installation of a few cameras, so it's easier to paint speeding as chief demon, bad driving is whats dangerous and yes speeding is bad driving, but sometimes acts of speeding take place more due to the way speed limits are inexplicably set and poorly displayed.

[snowychap]

i still maintain that at 40 mph the item you would have hit at 20 mph will be a couple of secs behind you and therefore you wouldn't have hit it

You appear to have omitted a :winkold:.

[tonyh29]

i still maintain that at 40 mph the item you would have hit at 20 mph will be a couple of secs behind you and therefore you wouldn't have hit it

You appear to have omitted a :winkold:.

or did I ......

:winkold:

(for some reason I typed that with Homer Simpsons voice in my head , actually works well if you read it back like that )

[Jon]

the 10% appears to be discretionary / random.

A Director in our company was done at 53mph at the overhead sign a mile or two away from the Severn Bridge. 53, in a 50 zone on a motorway.

A few months back I was stuck on the M4 outside Bath for a few hours. When the traffic was eventually released the police had clearly kept us all waiting so they could get their nice plain cars in place. Over the course of the next few miles it was like a game of tag with about a dozen cars pulled over for speeding. Nice to know there is so much police resource available for emergencies.

One of my best mates from work got done speeding 2 weeks ago on the way to Grimsby. He was within the 10% so asked them and the police officers told him that was a myth.

I have noticed a shedload more police cars on the prowl/hiding to catch speeding motorists in the past few weeks/months.

Wonder if there's a big push to get more fines in (hence the desire to fine someone for being 3 mph over the limit and not using their discretion), what with the tight squeeze on the public coffers ....

jobsworth C-nuts at times. :evil:

[Stevo985]

They have quotas for that sort of thing, i think.

I was watching one of these cop shows (a british one) a couple of months ago.

They were following two female officers and it explicitly said they needed to make some stops to meet their quota. So they were literally stopping people for any excuse they can find.

"Was that guy wearing a hoody?"

"Yep! That's worth a stop"

Now, obviously they weren't writing anyone up unless they were actually doing something wrong, so it's fair game.

But it shows that they do clamp down at times, for no other reason than to get the stats up.

"You juke the stats, and majors become colonels"

[chomer]

They have quotas for that sort of thing, i think.

I was watching one of these cop shows (a british one) a couple of months ago.

They were following two female officers and it explicitly said they needed to make some stops to meet their quota. So they were literally stopping people for any excuse they can find.

"Was that guy wearing a hoody?"

"Yep! That's worth a stop"

Now, obviously they weren't writing anyone up unless they were actually doing something wrong, so it's fair game.

But it shows that they do clamp down at times, for no other reason than to get the stats up.

"You juke the stats, and majors become colonels"

Very true although they're called "Targets" not quotas. If I didn't issue a specific number of fixed penalty notices or obtain a number of "detections" each month, questions were asked and future promotion would never happen. It just resulted in most energy spent on the easier detections...a school fight, shoplifting...anything where people were caught in the act. Anything else that meant trying to track done the criminal...well forget it...marked as "no further action".

I'm sure I read the new chief of the Met has stated he now wants 20% of all stop and searchs to result in an arrest...just means whereas before an officer might just give a verbal warning for something trivial, they'd now have little option to arrest and alienate even more of the general public.