Safe Speed Forums

I have just got my first speeding ticket 89mph on a single carriagway where the speed limit is 60mph. Guilty as charged. However I have recieved a letter asking who was driving, weather the car was mine etc. So I have returned it stating that I was driving. Does this mean that I am likly to recieve a summons for a court appearance ?? If you ask me its got 6 points written all over this one ......
Two questions,
1/ Is there much to gain by attending court in person (I was caught some way from where I live) and apologsing.

2/ When can I get to see the photograhic eveidence - someone has told me that if there was no photo then it would not go to court, can this happen if the camara has run out of film although I would assume that its all digital anyway ...

If the camera's run out of film, they won't know it was you speeding. Sounds like you were caught by a gatso or a truvelo so, no, it's not all digital. As for what you should do, I'm afraid I don't know.. But someone will be here who does.

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-mike[F]
Caught in the rush of the crowd, lost in a wall of sound..

I think this depends on how you got caught and what the letter says. Does it make a conditional offer of 3 points and a £60 fine? If so I don't imagine you'll gain anything by going to court unless you can prove that you weren't speeding. I've been clocked at 27mph over and only got pinged for 40 quid and 3 point, but that was some years ago now and it's not like plod has got more tolerant in the meantime. I'd go have a look at www.pepipoo.com for more info.

Police usually work on +30mph over speed limit is straight to court. If you've already returned your form stating it was you driving then you'd get slaughtered in court if you try to contest. Suggest you take your £60 and 3 points and count yourself lucky you were 1mph shy of the court trigger...

Kev's right but try "pepipoo" for whole load of advice and information.

Chap at wife's firm got done for 93 in a 70! in BRUNSTROMIA!

She thought he'd be looking at his P45 when he told her about it!

Even more -- he got £60 + 3 points!

Well - it was before Xmas - so maybe he got lucky!

Hi Mr Nice. You weren't in Warwickshire were you? I got done for the same; 89 in a 60. It went to court (no fixed penalty offer was made), and I plead guilty by post. "Only" 4 points, but £400 fine

If you didnt get a conditional offer, then it goes to court. Normally when close to 30 over, its more than 3 points and a bigger fine. For me and people I know, it has been 4 points and 160 -200 pound fine plus costs, but that depends on the magistrates. Costs are less if you plead guilty by post. Over to you. Can I recomend a Road Angel or similar, saved me already, and highlights the blackspots, which its worth taking note of, especially if you driving on unfamiliar teritory.

good luck

[quote="strangely"]Hi Mr Nice. You weren't in Warwickshire were you? I got done for the same; 89 in a 60. It went to court (no fixed penalty offer was made), and I plead guilty by post. "Only" 4 points, but £400 fine [/quote]

This says it all. I challenge anyone to continue saying that speed cameras are for safety and not cash........

The points are comparitively lower than the fines because the police and politicians both know that there would be no drivers left on the roads by this time next year!

Get the fines down to a fiver (or nothing) and give out 6 points by default, and possibly more for greater speed. Then let the police spend their own money tracking the speeders down and we could all see the detection rate dropping like a stone. After all, this is what has happened to the detection rate of every other type of criminal.

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Why does no-one whine about muggers, rapists and murderers any more? Because drivers are the REAL criminals.......

89 in a 60 though is excessive isn't it.

I would be sympathetic if you'd been caught doing 70 (just over 10% + 2 over).

Depends what sort of 60 it is... 89 on a deserted, perfectly straight, wide road is safer than 70 on a narrow windy road, but they will both have 60 limits on...

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-mike[F]
Caught in the rush of the crowd, lost in a wall of sound..

[quote="mike[F]"]Depends what sort of 60 it is... 89 on a deserted, perfectly straight, wide road is safer than 70 on a narrow windy road, but they will both have 60 limits on...[/quote]

Exactly......
It also doesn't affect the argument that the cash is more important than the safety, and it always will be.

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Why does no-one whine about muggers, rapists and murderers any more? Because drivers are the REAL criminals.......

Did you know?
At what speeds you get a 'fixed penalty' and at what speeds you get a 'court summons'? If you didn't here it is.

Limit-------Fixed------Summons
20 mph ---25 mph--- 35 mph
30 mph ---35 mph--- 50 mph
40 mph--- 46 mph--- 66 mph
50 mph--- 57 mph--- 76 mph
60 mph--- 68 mph--- 86 mph
70 mph--- 79 mph--- 96 mph

So I reckon if you were clocked at 89 in a 60 you'd better dig your best suit out!

Last year prior to being 'observed' by a police rider I asked about speed limits. The reply was "Ride as you normally would but I would have trouble justifying anything over 100MPH." Sadly i'm not allowed to quote him!

Max

P.S. If any of the above is factually incorrect i'd be interested to hear it, as i'm sure we all would.

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Tailgaters - Please Pass
You have an Accident to go to!

Earl Purple

I notice you say his speed was excessive and that you'd have more sympathy if it was only 10% over. Over what? the arbitary limit set back in the seventies and applied blanket accross the country regardless of the prevailing conditions; Road design, traffic level, weather, vehicle type etc. As it says on the tin "Safe Speed." There is a road near me that runs past Rutland water towards Oakham. On a clear day with little or no traffic it 'could' be considered safe to do well in excess of 100MPH. There is great visibility, no junctions, excellent road surface. But the Van is there every couple of weeks looking for the 'dangerous speeders'

Max

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Tailgaters - Please Pass
You have an Accident to go to!

I don't know the road in question.

But if you're unable to spot and slow down for a camera then you would probably be unable to do the same for another hazard that might come your way.

Unless he was "got" by talivan - hidden off-road somewhere. That is why our chap likes my driveway so much! (And all the tourist car parks! )

And Max - LanCASH£££re ignore the guidelines at the lower speeds because of the "Speed Course" - know too many who have attended for "speeding" at 34mph. Another colleague in Lancs received one this weekend - 34mph again. He is not going to go for the course (first "offence") - he has decided to go before the beak and hope it won't go "pear-shaped".

Carl - he is thinking of going public on this as he is really cross - so they may reproduce. Alternatively - come to LanCASH£££re and drive past one of their scams at 34mph, see it ping and you will get your wish - the sight of NIP at 34mph!

I would love a scan of any police paperwork detailing a speeding offence under the ACPO prosecution guidelines.

A 34mph NIP would qualify.

Hell, if there's such a thing in the world, I NEED a scan. Pretty please.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Shall ask doctor in question to send this on to you - or give me photostat of his NIP! He's in theatre at mo. His alleged offence was A6 - one of the cluster on approach to Chorley Hospital and he was answering a call back so he plans "mitigating circumstances" as he had dying patient to save - Easter Saturday afternoon! Definitely gave speed at 34mph. He is speechless with rage!

He has been in touch with AA/RAC (useless party line and no mention of this being against guidelines) and the ABD's legal helpline already - and is going to consult his own solicitors for advice as well.

He was, ironically, always on at me for being "petrolhead" and moaning on and boring him to death about speed cams - now he's seen the light! Funny how they do when they get NIPped!

There's a big difference between 89mph on a 60mph road (you know you're speeding) and 34mph on a 30mph road (you don't know unless you look at your speedo constantly, in which case you'll be distracted from looking at the road).

Umm... Paul, any idea what happened to mine and Gatsobait's posts from this thread?

EDIT - Ignore me, I'm going mad, I was thinking of a different post.

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Carl Prescott

Scameras by Rutland water.... so the limit isn't 150 any more?