Reply to: Speed Awareness Course

[alreadypacked]

What's that about?

Tease

[Old Greg]

It is for me

What's that about?

[alreadypacked]

Is Friday thread domination day?

It is for me

[Old Greg]

We have not had any thread domination for a while


It’s FRIDAY

Is Friday thread domination day?

[alreadypacked]

We have not had any thread domination for a while


It’s FRIDAY

[Platypus]

The one I did was very good - I was pleasantly surprised. No belittlement, and lots of good driving tips. Instructor was excellent - I actually thanked her at the end and meant it. Was expensive though - more than the fine IIRC.

That was my experience, highly recommended, and much better than points.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Haven't seen the NIP yet, but about 10 days back I had a Gatso go off behind me.

Odd, I thought. I was closing on the usual centre-lane road hog (why are they always in Renault Scenics?) when the Tom Tom beeped at me to say there was a camera coming up. I glanced at it to see it reading 65 in a 70. So I ignored it and did the two lane switch to get around the guy in the middle of the road, checking mirrors as I went (as you do). After the flash I noticed a repeater for a 50 mph limit. so the speed limit change was somewhere in the previous 200 yards.

So given the road was the same three-laner and there was absolutely zero change in conditions, (a) I must have missed the start of the new limit between watching the other guy and glancing at the Tom Tom - inexcusable, of course, but it happens - and (b) the camera must be near as dammit on the back of the sign. Money generator? No, clearly not...

Irritating or what...

I have on-board CCTV these days - not much use after the fact but I was able to verify my speed and exact location last time I saw a camera van in a layby. Is it worth retracing location to double check.?

[malvolio]

Depends on the equipment, and the ability of the camera operator, to aim the laser at your windscreen (which is the 'best' target). IMHO they have to manage this with one hand.

Apparently they can also clock your speed by aiming at the side of the car, but this can give a false reading because of something called 'slippage'.

If you were so close that they couldn't get you for speeding then you could still get done for careless driving (tailgating).

I've heard of one guy who was under the speed limit but got done for abusive behaviour after giving the camera van the bird as he drove past.

Mind how you go....

Haven't seen the NIP yet, but about 10 days back I had a Gatso go off behind me.

Odd, I thought. I was closing on the usual centre-lane road hog (why are they always in Renault Scenics?) when the Tom Tom beeped at me to say there was a camera coming up. I glanced at it to see it reading 65 in a 70. So I ignored it and did the two lane switch to get around the guy in the middle of the road, checking mirrors as I went (as you do). After the flash I noticed a repeater for a 50 mph limit. so the speed limit change was somewhere in the previous 200 yards.

So given the road was the same three-laner and there was absolutely zero change in conditions, (a) I must have missed the start of the new limit between watching the other guy and glancing at the Tom Tom - inexcusable, of course, but it happens - and (b) the camera must be near as dammit on the back of the sign. Money generator? No, clearly not...

Irritating or what...

[bless 'em all]

also am expecting something through the post as I think I got clocked doing about 90 - although there was a car (quite close) in front of me doing the same - do we both get done or can they only clock one car at a time???

Depends on the equipment, and the ability of the camera operator, to aim the laser at your windscreen (which is the 'best' target). IMHO they have to manage this with one hand.

Apparently they can also clock your speed by aiming at the side of the car, but this can give a false reading because of something called 'slippage'.

If you were so close that they couldn't get you for speeding then you could still get done for careless driving (tailgating).

I've heard of one guy who was under the speed limit but got done for abusive behaviour after giving the camera van the bird as he drove past.

Mind how you go....

[original PM]

Hang on right from my house to a place of work in Glasgow is 230 miles

pretty much 98% of it is motorway so say 210 motorway miles

If I average 70 miles per hour the motorway portion takes 3 hour

If I average 90 miles per hour the motorway portion takes 2 h 20

thus saving me 40 minutes (assuming non motorway sections are the same)

and that 40 minutes could be the difference between making last orders and not

so you do get there quicker and 40 minutes is a long time!

also am expecting something through the post as I think I got clocked doing about 90 - although there was a car (quite close) in front of me doing the same - do we both get done or can they only clock one car at a time???

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Did one last year, wasn't bad, coffee was nice, and learnt a few things.

Though since then I have had 2 NIP's and so backup to 6 points, as can't take the course again for X years.

It's always silly stuff though (37 in a 30 @ 6am on Sunday morning)

Anyone got a speed camera detector? Do they work?

No totally reliable way of detecting the mobile vans and cops with guns etc but the database/gps systems work pretty well for the fixed ones. Or you could just slow down a bit.

[Churchill]

Did one last year, wasn't bad, coffee was nice, and learnt a few things.

Though since then I have had 2 NIP's and so backup to 6 points, as can't take the course again for X years.

It's always silly stuff though (37 in a 30 @ 9am on Sunday morning)

Anyone got a speed camera detector? Do they work?

You didn't get done for speeding, you got done for being stupid.

[portseven]

Did one last year, wasn't bad, coffee was nice, and learnt a few things.

Though since then I have had 2 NIP's and so backup to 6 points, as can't take the course again for X years.

It's always silly stuff though (37 in a 30 @ 6am on Sunday morning)

Anyone got a speed camera detector? Do they work?

[Paddy]

Really? I thought there was a tolerance of Speed Limit + 10% + 2mph.

It cost me aroud £350 in court to contest it. They would not take The judge refused to take the +/- 10% into account. Also the law states that they must have two burdens of proof for example the police opinion and the reading on the gun. Or in my case the camera photograph and the camera read-out. The photograph proved I was not speeding. The lines on the road were noteven painted at the correct distance (had they been my speed would read 30mph), the camera was not calibrated. The Police Offices and the Safety Camera representative could not decipher the figures, I had to explain it to them.

[Sockpuppet]

Attended one last year. It went slowly to cover the typical numpty who needs things explaining 200 times. I did however learn a couple of things like what a dual carriageway actual is* and avoided the 3 points, the slightly large fine and the consequentially larger insurance premium.

* its the barriers in the middle. If the barriers are broken the maximum speed is would be 60 rather than 70 regardless of the number of lanes.

Well that just proves either you didn't listen or they're talking tulipe.

The definition of a dual carriage way is a "central reservation". Central reservation != barrier. A grass area between the roads will classify the road as a dual carriageway a crash barrier is not needed.