Safe Speed Forums

which you put forward as fact, and then went on to criticise a whole system.

You are still drawing conclusions about a whole system based on "rough memory" of may well have been wrong in the first place. Whenever I have been in court I make a point of looking in the local paper to see the reporting on the days cases. Just a few weeks ago the local press and radio reported on a violent offender who walked free from court after pleading guilty to ABH. The media stated that he should have gone to jail and called for JPs to impose long jail sentences on such people and made it clear we had got it wrong. The truth is that, after deciding that our maximum sentence of 6 months wouldn't be long enough we committed him to the crown court for sentence as the judge over there has 5 years at his disposal for ABH. I have no doubt that people who think that courts are too soft on offences of violence will be quoting those reports for many years to come.

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I am not a lawyer and can't give legal advice. I do have experience of the day to day working of courts and use that knowledge to help where possible. I do not represent any official body and post as an individual.

Random question to help ease my paranoia.

If you accidently ran a red light and there was no red light camera( the one that looks like a gatso) and no police about would you be ok?

I havent ran a red light, but earlier today they chanegd to amber about 0.5 seconds before I went over the line, so was too close to stop and I dont drive that fast so not sure how quickly I got my back wheels over the line, Im pretty sure I was fine though, but again, paranoia.

Do the cameras come into effect the second it turns red of is there a delay to allow for that kind of thing?

Relax and stop worrying,,,;-) You didn't run a red light.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Yes, they are the only things which can allow the theft for technical discompliance.
Well, Gatso, Peek and RedSpeed make 'red light cameras'. They all look fairly obvious/similar though. I'm pretty sure the police don't care about "accidentally" though.


There is a delay, it is variable but I'm told it is always at least 1 second.

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Andrew.

A mate of mine got done for running a red light in Shrewsbury, late seventies I would guess. Apparently as he went through the red light a taxi (not sure if it was behind him or where) pipped his horn and a police car in the same area pulled my mate and summonsed him. The copper at the time said something along the lines of " I wouldn't have pulled you if the other guy hadn't blown his horn."

Just goes to show that they can be flexible....machines aren't!

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Ok rather than make new threads its easier I just update this one with questions to ease my panics.

Yesterday I made a trip up to Norfolk to see a friend, and as usual a few circumstances arose that would not bother most but tend to make me wonder.

Turning onto the M11 from stanstead to go north I was concentrating hard on the road markings and noticed fairly late that the speed limit was changing down to 50 for the junction. I broke quite hard as I was doing about 65, and I believe I was well under 50 by the time I passed the sign.

My question is though is, would a mobile camera take your speed the very instant you enter the 50 zone or would you have a few metres grace to get down further?

Also in suffolk there was a temporary roadworks light down a small residential road, for some inane reason I missed the 'wait here' sign and stopped past it ( still well behind the light) can you be done for this?

On a side note, turning onto the m11 from the a120 i if you have never done it before is the most confusing thing ive ever done driving, so Im panicking now I made a mistake someqwhere or went through a light, I did drive round it slowly though.

Anyone know much about that junction?

-Thanks

Or more specifically "they want to go faster than an unjust law allows and reckon they'll generally get away with it".

You forgot the important bit - and then complain how unfair it is if they do get caught.

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I am not a lawyer and can't give legal advice. I do have experience of the day to day working of courts and use that knowledge to help where possible. I do not represent any official body and post as an individual.

Yeah, technically the sign is the stop line (assuming they have designed it correctly...). It won't happen though, not unless you're seen by the police and they really want to stop you or get at your wallet.


It was unfair before the getting caught part...

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Andrew.

The unfair bit is the law, not the getting caught.

That is perverse.

IMO, this is about the way the law is used (in principle that law is a good one).

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

I too have been driving for around a year, and feel exactly the same way as the author of this thread. I am in my mid to late twenties, so by many peoples standards started driving later in life. I drive a reasonably 'hot' hatch, but am not a boy racer ( a little old for that I fear! ).. the opposite in fact!

I too am paranoid about getting 6 points in the first 2 years and can identify with what the author has said. In Northern Ireland we also have to put up with the 'R' Plate restriction which means for the first 12 months of driving you can't exceed 45mph on any road and must display 'R' plates. The 45mph limit also means you have yet another limit that going over will earn you points and a prize

The 45 mph restriction causes most problems on single lane national speed limit roads, other drivers understandably frustrated attempt dangerous overtaking maneuvers, or tailgate. On motor-ways other drivers can overtake, but the artificially low speed of 45 mph makes concentration more difficult. Joining 70 mph roads from slip-roads at 45 mph is also dangerous. Novice drivers are capable of adjusting their speed for the conditions and if they don't feel confident without having an artificially slow speed limit imposed. I have also found the 'R' plate to do the exact opposite of what it is supposed to do. It seems to be the equivalent of holding a red-flag up to a bull. I have found other drivers to be more aggressive and less patient that if the car has no 'R' plate irrespective of if a restricted driver or an experienced driver is driving the car. In my opinion the restricted speed limit and having to display R plates creates a more dangerous environment for the novice driver than having no restriction. Perhaps if as much effort was put into re-educating 'experienced' drivers who bully other drivers as is put into enforcing restricted driver rules the roads would be safer.

The funnest thing is if someone from Northern Ireland passed their driving test in say England, they would be exempt from the restriction if they returned to Northern Ireland as soon as they passed. So it seems Northern Ireland views drivers who have just passed THEIR OWN driving test to be the most dangerous/stupid/whatever.. and therefore need to be restricted!!

I must admit that I still remember the day that I passed my test even though it was 1974. The first thing that I did was get in my car ( I was "fortunate that I had a car but it was only because my father had passed away the year before and we downgraded the family car for me because my mother couldn't drive)

I went for a drive in the country (although where I lived, all roads were in the "country" then.) I found speeds of 40 MPH on my own to be scarily fast but within a year after driving approx 200 miles a week, I guess I would have found it to be quite "boring". The main thing is though, I don't believe that you would really improve your driving skills much if you were limited to 45MPH EVERYWHERE for a whole year, you are more likely to feel embarrasment for holding up other motorists un neccessarily.

I really can't see how the people who make these stupid laws can justify them and wonder exactly how much real driving they actually do.

Does restricting people to 45MPH for a whole year actually save any lives?

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Care to elaborate?

Yes I too get the impression they are talking about something they know nothing about.. the 'ivory tower' syndrome.



I have tried to find some statistics to shed light on this myself without success.

The theory is that drivers get some experience at a restricted speed for a year, and that others drivers will give them a bit more space as they are displaying an R plate (yeah right)

So its a good enough theory, however in practice does not work.. mainly punishing law abiding drivers as the idiots who drive they that are Gods gift will do so regardless of any restriction.

My sister passed her driving test, then did not drive again for over two years.. upon returning to driving (with no more experience than a newly qualified driver) was free from the 45mph restriction and the 'new drivers act.. 6 point max scheme'

I passed my test, in an 1100cc ford escort, a few years before you but didn't have access to a car at the time. The very next day I went off to play rugby,travelling as a passenger in a jaguar saloon. The driver broke his leg and was taken to hospital so I drove his car home. My first solo drive, strange car, much more powerful and on the M1.

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I am not a lawyer and can't give legal advice. I do have experience of the day to day working of courts and use that knowledge to help where possible. I do not represent any official body and post as an individual.

Ten days after passing my test I drove an RS200 which I stalled eight times.

Ok so today I was driving home, and after coming off a dual carridgeway I came into my hometown.
I was doing about 28, and then slipped my guard a bit and did 32 and my sat nav bonged for 31. I immeaditaely slowed down. I was doing that for approx 4 seconds.

Question is.

Is that too low to worry about and also, do mobile cameras have to catch you within a distance or time length, as I often read about people recieving NIP's with ' recorded over a distance of so many miles' on them.

Thanks

-Rob

Hi Rob, as far as I know, a police car has to follow you for quite some distance to record your speed for a ticket but a speed camera only has to clock you at a given point and in the case of the Gatsos, they flash you twice as you go over the lines in the road, to give you a measure of the speed travelled in that time

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.