Third speeding ticket in six months!!

[stek]

I've only ever had one from a handheld lasergun and that was on a road that was 50mph but I didnt know it had changed to 40mph as they hadnt finished putting up the signs. I could have fought it in court as it was a little unfair, but that would waste more than the £60.

You can get gizmos that detect radar and laser but they are questionable if caught using one and on laserguns, sometimes dont let you know early enough ....


The best way to avoid tickets is to be an alert driver and know your environment. If I am driving in an alien place, I wont let my speed go above the limit at all and if in doubt, go a little slower.

So in my area, I know the 14 spots that they rotate the mobile camera and handheld traps on. Bam, down the road, I know they park in a parallel road after the gatso near the hill brim. Further towards the supermarkets, I know they hide in the layby just before the stationary camera pointing down the road hiding under a tree.

On the motorway, I know their undercover vehicles, so I dont blast past the white 2002 volvo with no aerial on top at all, the midnight blue 2006 suuped up astra or the black range rover. I know the pedestrian bridges they like to hide on, the police patrol laybys and the areas they hide in under looped junctions, so my speed is adjusted before they even see me. I know as well the cameras on the side hidden in the bushes and what each one is looking for, so much so that if I wanted to steal a car, I could get out of the area undetected as I know all the local monitoring posts.

Look at all these things when you're driving around. When you're on the motorway and see an undercover pig, make a mental note of it. Make a mental note of the areas the police like to frequent in your area. They dont just pick a random road, they often have roads and spots which they know brings in a lot of revenue. You arent the only person to speed in a random spot, they pick that spot as everyone creeps a little over the limit as the hill is steeper than they thought.

Motorway is easy for me, set the cruise for 70-75 and I'm happy, I've no urge to go faster. It;s the 30's that do you, 30-35 is hard to judge on the speedo, and with an auto on the hill, mine does drop a gear and speeds up for second, till u react and feather off, it;s too much of a fine line.

I can spot the unmarkeds, two or more mirrors, two people in hi-vis, extra aerials, lump in back for pop-up POLICE STOP sign, no marking on reg plate apart from reg number, extra lights on bumpers...

It's a game!

[wim121]

Go below 30 mph and you'll soon have an idiot on your arse and a tailback behind him and generally become a menace, a few miles an hour more and you risk getting done, which is easily done when in unfamiliar territory when looking out for signs and whatnot. It's a fine line we tread.

Technically in that situation, you can argue your case in court and should win if done so effectively.

Although speeding is illegal, it is a minor infraction compared to the potentially dangerous driving infraction where one must 'keep up with the flow of traffic and not hold others up'. So if you speed a little, pull over or move lane and let them past and drop back down to the limit, they cannot do you or should not at all. You need to be aware of your rights and politely state that you have to legally keep up with the flow and cannot impede others progress.

Most cops are fine so long as you're polite about it. If you're an arse, you're getting a ticket, beating or worse. I have stood there and politely corrected the police on the definition of an amber light (he knew that it didnt mean 'stop' but wanted to see if I knew 'stop unless it is unsafe to do so' and let me go once I convinced him that my judgement thought it was unsafe to others to stop) and a few officers who have failed to read their highway code after they tried to lecture me on the use of headlights on a 30mph road, to which I corrected them on how wrong they were and how one shouldnt use headlights on a 30mph road at all. One police woman at a roadblock/diversion one time, couldnt accept she was wrong, so I told her to read her highway code before lecturing others.

At some point when I have time to waste, I need to print out plenty of copies of rules people always break. One that bugs me is on single lane passing place country roads, nitwits that ignore the hill rule. One time this aggressive alpha male refused to back up, so I switched my engine off and went for a smoke until he moved.

[wim121]

Motorway is easy for me, set the cruise for 70-75 and I'm happy, I've no urge to go faster.

That's good, but did you know that technically cruise control is illegal and if you get an arsy officer, you can be charged with dangerous driving.

It's the 30's that do you, 30-35 is hard to judge on the speedo, and with an auto on the hill, mine does drop a gear and speeds up for second, till u react and feather off, it;s too much of a fine line.

It is rather unfair and really bad if you dont know the area geography, suddenly a brim gives way to a far steeper hill and even in a manual it is a pain to control your speed before the awaiting gatso.

I know what you mean on autos as well, owned one before.

I can spot the unmarkeds, two or more mirrors, two people in hi-vis, extra aerials, lump in back for pop-up POLICE STOP sign, no marking on reg plate apart from reg number, extra lights on bumpers...

It's a game!

Hehehe yea it can be fun. What is funny is cruising past them at 75mph steady and surely, then seeing all the people you flashed your hazards at out of sight, who didnt heed your warning, bomb past at 95mph and *wee-woooo-weeee-woooo*.

[NotAllThere]

... one shouldnt use headlights on a 30mph road at all....

On a lit road, you can choose to have only your sidelights on.

113

You MUST use headlights at night, except on a road which has lit street lighting. These roads are generally restricted to a speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) unless otherwise specified.

Maybe you should read up on your highway code before lecturing others.

The basic problem with the highway code and traffic law in general, it that is aimed at idiots. There's no allowance for intelligent safe driving outside of the highway code, because most drivers are idiots. Most of the time, if the idiots follow the highway code, then there won't be any problems.

A colleague of mine overtook a bus on a 50mph stretch in his Porsche, touching briefly 80mph. Unfortunately he got caught by a radar trap. The police actually wrote on the report that the maneouver was in no way dangerous, and as a result he got the minimum possible fine. Thankfully, in this country, there's some discretion allowed. (And you can get "just over" tickets as many times as you like!)

[NickFitz]

It's interesting that people who claim it's not possible to keep to a steady 30mph unless you constantly watch the speedometer always end up going faster than 30 rather than slower.

[escapeUK]

Punish the state by not working, not giving them any money to waste and having a lovely relaxed life.

[MarillionFan]

Getting worried now....

Just got the NIP, this is madness, I'm scared of even going out in the car to the station now. Some points...

1. All NIPs from mobile cameras...

2. All just over the limit, ie not taking the piss.

3. From 1985 until my first NIP last Sept I never had anything, not even a parking ticket.

I took speed awareness for one, this takes me to six point's now, who knows what else in the post, I could have more to come. I'm not a boy racer, honest!

I'm seriously considering dumping the car and putting all the taxi's/trains/chauffeur even on the Ltd, (I believe you can get driving ban insurance!)!

OK, I sped, I'll take the fine, but the points thing makes things stupid from a work POV, I could end up banned in a day with all these mobile cameras, and then who knows re: getting about the country necessary in this game.

Rant over!

All mine just cleared. Got 9 points in 6 weeks(3 instances) a few years back, all after moving to a new area & all 34/35 in a 30 and a 46 in a 40. All cleared now.

[stek]

All mine just cleared. Got 9 points in 6 weeks(3 instances) a few years back, all after moving to a new area & all 34/35 in a 30 and a 46 in a 40. All cleared now.

No speed awareness course offered?

All mine coincided with new car, number plate on boot lid easy to photo, previous two vehicles number plate low slung on bumper, often dirty....

[Diver]

If it was just a fine and no points, a lot more of us would be speeding. The points are there to help prevent this.

I've had a clean license for over 20 years now.

Not because I don't speed, it's because I'm careful about it when I do.

Oh! and lucky

[Paddy]

I got two in three weeks last year. I took the speed awareness course for the first then had no choice but to take the points for the second.

The annoying thing was, the whole course banged on about how they concentrate on 30/40mph areas and the whole "If you hit me at thirty mantra, but I was caught by mobile cameras on a dual carriageway.

To be honest, if you're getting caught, you're a speeder. They allow 10% of the limit +2mph before issuing the NIP.

Not in my case 31 in a 30 on a duel carriageway that has no pedestrians. Cost me £350 in court because I argued