Can anybody advise on speeding fines?

Posted by: TomK on 06 December 2003

For the second time in 6 months my wife has been caught by speed cameras. Exactly the same place and speed (41 in a 30 limit). She was fined £60 last time. Does anybody have any idea what she should expect this time? She argues with a perfectly straight face that she can't be expected to drive and watch for speed limit signs at the same time! Needless to say things are a bit tense in the house at the moment.
Posted on: 06 December 2003 by Tony Lockhart
It should be roughly the same fine etc. as last time, assuming that the conditions were similar.
Funny how people come up with lame excuses for speeding. I was a driving instructor many moons ago, and brand new drivers had no trouble coping with all their new skills, picking up new ones AND driving at or near the speed limit!
I think £60 is the standard fixed penalty and it will only be more if it goes to court....unlikely if it didn't first time round.
Tony
Posted on: 06 December 2003 by andy c
Hi tom,
does she only have the 3 points on her licence imposed for the origial speeding offence?
If so she can be dealt with as before but now you may find its going to impact on your car insurance.
Also, has she held a full licence for at least two years. If so you are ok, but if not she will face having her licence revoked back to a provisional - therefore needing to retake her test.
If you contest the issue you may end up with more points/more fine but that is down to the court - I don't know how they work in Scotland.
Hope this helps a little.
Posted on: 06 December 2003 by Mick P
Chaps

If you are caught on camera it is a £60.00 fine plus 3 points. If you argue in court and loose, expect to pay £150.00 plus costs plus points.

If you are stopped by a police car, it is a £60,00 fine plus 3 points. However, if you pay within 14 days, you get let off with £30.00.

In this instance, the Lady will pay £60.00 plus 3 point. Her insurance premium will probably be loaded by £60.00 for 3 years.

Regards

Mick
Posted on: 06 December 2003 by monkfish
Hi
I think you'll find that the penalty is a £60 fine and 3 penalty points with no reduction for paying earlier than the 28 days allowed.
Regards
jim
Posted on: 06 December 2003 by Mick P
A fixed penalty issued by a policeman may be changed at the discretion of the chief constable of any region.

Therefore prompt payment discounts may be given.

A camera is a fixed penaly full stop. No discretion allowed except by a magistrate.

Mick
Posted on: 06 December 2003 by TomK
Thanks folks. She is an experienced driver with maximum no claims etc (25+ years, and for the past 10 years or so about 30000 miles per year) and if it wasn't coming out of the family pocket I'd say a large fine might teach her a bloody lesson. She's not a "girl racer" by any means, in fact on the motorway she tends to drive extremely cautiously. It's extremely difficult to describe her driving without sounding like an MCP so I'll leave it at that. Roll Eyes
Posted on: 06 December 2003 by Steve Toy
A camera is not a fixed penalty full-stop. You can still receive a court summons. All fixed penalties are given at the discretion of the police.

You could theoretically receive a court summons for doing just 35 in a 30 whether caught by camera, by police officer with radar/laser gun, or by police in a patrol car.

If a clampdown or purge is announced in the local press (bugger you if you just happen to be travelling through an area where you don't live and don't have access to the local papers) then magistrates can virtually name their price/number of points put on your licence.

We don't have a fixed penal code in this country unfortunately. One is at the mercy of capricious magistrates.

quote:
Funny how people come up with lame excuses for speeding. I was a driving instructor many moons ago, and brand new drivers had no trouble coping with all their new skills, picking up new ones AND driving at or near the speed limit!



It does get more difficult as you get older and more experienced though. Our sense of judgement and responsibility tends to make us adjust our speed in accordance with the conditions rather than just obeying the figures in the red discs.

Also, speed limits (often revised downwards in recent years) can change frequently and it's easy to forget what the figure was in the last red disc you saw. Many new lowered limits are now rather arbitrary in comparison with a few years ago when it was easier to follow a pattern that actually made sense.

In Cannock they've revised a limit down from 40 to 30 along the Avon Road to Wolverhampton, removed all the 40 signs and put up signs all along the revised speed section that say:

REVISED SPEED LIMIT AHEAD

Shouldn't the word "ahead" be removed from the sign, or is this ploy to raise revenue? Yes there are cameras along this road...

I know that in a 30 zone by law there don't need to be any reminder 30 signs, and that in a revised 30 limit that follows a pre-existing one just removing the 40 signs is perfectly legal.

Is it fair though?

Regards,

Steve.

[This message was edited by Steven Toy on SUNDAY 07 December 2003 at 04:27.]
Posted on: 06 December 2003 by Steve Toy
Tom,

If you shop around some insurance companies may not load the premium at all. Speeding fines and penalty points are becoming so commonplace these days that some insurers are wising up to the fact that someone who has popped a couple of cameras isn't necessarily a higher risk driver where potential claims are concerned.

If anything, having six ponts on her licence is more likely to make her drive with increased care and attention.



Regards,

Steve.
Posted on: 06 December 2003 by Jez Quigley
There's a knack to it, people get it eventually, but basically it involves a little less pressure on the right hand pedal and occaisional use of the middle one.

"Let your life proceed by it's own design. Let the words be yours, I have done with mine"
Posted on: 06 December 2003 by monkfish
Hi Mick
you are obviously better informed than me, but can you tell me does the same apply in Scotland as in south of the border (down sassenach way).
Regards
Jim
Posted on: 07 December 2003 by Mick P
I have to be honest and say that I am not sure about Scotland.

Regards

Mick
Posted on: 07 December 2003 by monkfish
Hi Patrick
I'm in Scotland and I'm not either.
Regards
Jim
Posted on: 07 December 2003 by Steve G
"She's not a "girl racer" by any means, in fact on the motorway she tends to drive extremely cautiously."

41mph in a 30mph limit is equivalent to nearly 96mph in a 70mph limit (and probably considerably more dangerous) so if your wife gets off with a £60 fixed penalty then she's pretty lucky.

BTW I had a house in Linlithgow for many years - it's a nice town. I'd probably still be living there now if the rebuilding of the Newbridge roundabout 7 or 8 years go didn't cause so much chaos with the traffic into Edinburgh.

Regards
Steve
Posted on: 07 December 2003 by andy c
quote by Ultra Violet:
quote:
If it wasn't for the difficulty of enforcing, most (reasonable) police officers would much prefer to prosecute only for inapropriate speed rather than simply excess speed.

Agreed!!!
And i will think you'll find most do that - unless greeted by the person with ABA.... Wink
(A Bad Attitude...)
Posted on: 07 December 2003 by Steve G
"I honestly don't think you can say that without knowing the stretch of road etc.

I don't speed in built up areas - you would assume a 30 zone to be a built up area .... however there are more and more stretches now of open wide road, no houses etc - yet a 30 zone! "

I'm not aware of any such stretch of road with a speed camera on it in central Scotland.

BTW I'm no angel and I've been done for speeding several times in the past, however people who speed in built up areas because they aren't concentrating enough to be aware that they are 11mph (and perhaps indicating 15mph) over the limit IMHO deserve to get booked.

Regards
Steve
Posted on: 07 December 2003 by John Channing
I recommend a Bel Euro 550 or similar traffic safety device. Wink
John
Posted on: 07 December 2003 by Don Atkinson
I recommend a Bel Euro 550 or similar traffic safety device

how does this piece of kit work?

......is it fitted to the front grill to 'read' conventional speed signs then limit your top speed accordingly through the judicious use of the engine/brake management system (BTW that used to be one the roles of the driver when I passed my test)

......or does it 'read' the road conditions ahead eg rain, snow, ice, children, bends, parked cars or any combination of these and other situations and again limit your speed.....(BTW that also used to be another one of the roles of the driver when I passed my test).

....seems like this Bel Euro 550 is pretty cool......

......does it control the steering as well.....

Cheers

Don
Posted on: 07 December 2003 by John Channing
how does this piece of kit work?

Well the very considerate police have placed radar emitting speed cameras at many accident black spots and devices such as the Bel Euro 550 are able to detect these signals and give the driver an audible warning. They are endorsed by many motoring organisations such as the AA and statistics prove that drivers who use these devices have fewer accidents since they are more conscience of the speed at which they are travelling.
John
Posted on: 07 December 2003 by Don Atkinson
Thanks John,

so these devices only work where the police (very considerately) have placed radar speed cameras.......

Looks like we shall have to ask the police to consider extendinding this useful service to all accident black spots.... and potential black spots.......

....and if they are endorsed by the AA, well, the sooner Ford, BMW etc fit Bel Euro as standard kit to all their vehicles, the better all round.....win/win as people seem to say these days....

....almost too good to be true....

cheers

Don
Posted on: 08 December 2003 by TomK
quote:
I honestly don't think you can say that without knowing the stretch of road etc.

I don't speed in built up areas - you would assume a 30 zone to be a built up area .... however there are more and more stretches now of open wide road, no houses etc - yet a 30 zone! "

I'm not aware of any such stretch of road with a speed camera on it in central Scotland.



She wasn't done in a built up area. It was on a dual carriageway on the main road several miles north of Glasgow. No pedestrians, schools etc within half a mile. I would agree that if she had been doing 40+ in a genuine built up area there would be no defence.
Posted on: 08 December 2003 by Steve G
I saw one of the type of drivers I hate most on the way to work this morning. 40mph in a 60 limit, 40 in a 30 limit, 40 in a 20 limit past a primary school with lots of kids about (I'm guessing these last two from how quickly she was catching me after I'd passed her in the 60), one tail light out, one headlamp out. At least all the windows had been cleared but I bet that driver (a women in her 40's) probably regards herself as a safe driver and me as a tearaway (going by the dirty look she gave me) because I passed her (despite me not breaking the speed limit to do it).

Regards
Steve
Posted on: 08 December 2003 by Steve Toy
Steve,

Staffordshire is full of such drivers. They pull out in front of you from a side road and crawl infront of you. Some actually obey the thirty limit which is not a bad thing, but there is nearly always a tail light or brake light out. You reach the national speed limit sign and after about half a mile the speed gradually starts to creep up to 45.



Regards,

Steve.
Posted on: 08 December 2003 by Steve G
Steve,

You'd have liked one I encountered on the way home tonight. 20-25mph in the NSL (slowing for the corners) and then sped up to 30mph in the 30 limit once they were under the street lights!

F*cking Micra of course...

Regards
Steve