Safe Speed Forums

Hi all,

My name is Darren and I am new to this forum. I have come here tonight to post a question as I am worried about it and thought best to seek advice. I have been driving now for about 7 years and I am a 26 year old guy who values my driving license a great deal. I have never been issued with any speeding tickets and I am a firm believer in safe driving.

I was driving along a stretch of carrigeway earlier on. The speed limit is 60 on this particular piece of road and I must have driven this literally thousands of times before. The road has a speed camera that I have managed to successfully negotiate without ever being flashed...until tonight...

I was driving along the road and noticed blue flashing lights in my rear view mirror. It was an ambulence and was obviously going a lot faster than the 60mph speed limit...I happened to be just entering the speed camera indication lines on the road and was smack bang in the middle when the ambulence rushed past me in the overtaking lane...the camera then proceeded to flash twice and WHILST I was still going through the lines...

Now I am worried that I will receieve a speeding ticket and blemish my so far clean driving record. I would like to mention that at the time of negotiating the speed camera, I was doing exactly 60mph. I am pretty sure that they (the police) will work out that it was the ambulence who triggered the camera and will not send me a ticket, but I keep worrying about it and was hoping some knowledgeable - and kind - person or persons on here could reassure me that I should be ok...has this happened to anyone reading this? Do you know of any other situations like this that have happened? Any advice or input you can provide will be greatly appreciated to help me to stop worrying for the next 2-3 weeks whilst I play 'the waiting game' and checking my post with baited breath each morning!

Many Thanks,

Darren

The photo taken should show the ambulance and the lines on the road from which you can work out your actual speed by calculatiing the distance that you travelled between the two flashes. Don't worry.

_________________
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.

I am led to believe that emergency vehicles have to "call in" any speed camera triggerings that they cause (In Gear may be able to confirm this), so there ought to be a record of the event from the ambulance's side too.

First - your speedo indicated exactly 60 - worst case -you were doing 60 . Best case speed = 54 . In both cases you've passed camera at LESS than the ACPO guidelines ( and these are only GUIDELINES) OF speed +10%+2mph( which =68mph) .So IF you get a Notice of intended prosecution ,then it's off to peppipoo ,but I'd doubt it . Would suspect that Ambulance set camera off and you'll be in clear -but beware -the cameras are not as advertised ALL ABOUT SAFETY - they do like their cash from gullible drivers . The flash timing must be at set intervilles , so that the distance you've travelled can be calculated and your speed calculated .( speed = distance/time).So if your not happy to get a ticket ,(and I'd be looking to challenge it with that set of circumstances) -find out more .

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Daz333

The lines on the road equate to 5mph so they will see you were not the faster vehicle by your account.
Each NIP were you to get one, which sounds unlikely, needs to arrive in 14 days.

_________________
Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

Hey all

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply to me - you have helped to put my mind at rest and I haven't worried about it too much. What you all wrote makes perfect sense e.g. the lines each equating to a set distance and that they can tell how fast you were going by calculating the time etc. I think that I should be ok,

Thanks again all,

Darre

unfortunately have been cases where the check lines were not used.
Given the reluctance for scp to divulge the pictures taken (much reluctance) you should NOTE the time/date/place for reference.
14 days should not be taken as an absolute either, there have been cases (personal knowledge) where the police have claimed that the present registered keeper was not shown on dvla data so as to avoid the 14 day regulation.
NOTE THE TIME/DATE/LOCATION.
DO NOT ADMIT ANYTHING TO ANYONE, TAKE GREAT CARE IF REPLYING TO ANY MISSIVE ABOUT THE EVENT.
Neither the police OR scp can be trusted.

_________________
The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

If it were a company vehicle and they eventually locate the driver then they have the full 6 months to complete the NIP delivery.

_________________
Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

ACPO procedures state that when more than 1 vehicle is visible in the field of view, the photo has to be disregarded for evidence purposes. Also the 14 day rule is absolute! The police must send out the NIP within the 14 days. And ACPO state that recorded delivery must be used, which means next day delivery. So they can't allow extra days for it to arrive!

ACPO issue guidance which does not have force of law.

To the person and address on file at DVLA as registered keeper. After that they can take up to 6 months to find who was driving the vehicle at the relevant time.

Guidance only, the law makes no such stipulation.

_________________
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.

When the photograph is taken on a Gatso image the vehicle is out of the view of the radar as it passed it some moments before the photograph was taken. If there are 2 vehicles in the images the secondary speed of both can be measured; if both were the same or similar speeds then they should be rejected; if they show only one matching the speed indicated by the radar then there is no need to disregard the reading.

My question is for the magistrate. I am aware that once they get the NIP out within 14 days they do have 6 months to contact the driver. Also you say ACPO guidelines or procedures have no force in Law, or are not a statement of Law. In that case, do courts often dismiss ACPO procedures or rules? What is the point of them then? The Law says it is illegal to break a speed limit. But the methods used to detect and prosecute these offences are down to the Police. They have to set out the procedures, and those procedures are a vital link in the chain of evidence aren't they?? For example, ACPO state a mobile speed camera has to be calibration checked before and after use, and this has to be noted by the Officer. If this note hasn't been made the speeding allegation is null. Would you convict if the calibration check had not been noted?

Acpo is a code of practice, not law (not guidelines either).

However some parts of acpo are conditions that became part of the type approval for speed cameras. The home office scientific department assessed speed cameras when they were being used in accordance with the acpo code of practice. As a result of this assesment they granted type approval. When slip errors have been produced with LTI laser cameras they have allways screamed "you were not using it in accordance with the acpo code of practice" (they often try to blur the case by swapping "guidelines " with "code of practice". In court they will try to use the word guidelines around 30 times to mislead the judge.

_________________
Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

Zulu, as you are new here I should perhaps point out that I have never expressed a view about cameras as a means of speed enforcement. I keep out of the technical discussions and don't comment on individual cases other than in a general way that hopefully will be educational.

In court I got fed up seeing a procession of defendants who had been seriously misled by internet mythology about the justice system. I see people with a good defence plead guilty because they have been told that courts would be angered by them challenging a police officer and would heavily increase the penalty if they did so. That is not true. I see people pursue hopeless technical defences that have never worked because they are based on a complete misunderstanding of the way the law works. I try to debunk those to avoid other people being fooled into wasting their time.

_________________
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.

it should be obvious that it was the ambulance, in the unlikely even you got a notice relating to this explain what you have done here.

Daz - if you get a NIP -ask for a photo ,then head over to Peppipoo - GS might ( for once ) be helpful , but other SCP are looking to cashin any/all chances of getting cash .
Mods - this reply from GS ,might we worth being classed as note worthy .

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on