Who puts these people in charge?

[Lance]

I think it's quite difficult to maintain a constant speed limit, to 1 mph, without checking your dial. When I'm eating and chatting away on my mobile not sure how you can expect me to monitor my speed as well??

Regardless, speed cameras are crap. The people that do the same route each day know it and just slow down for the camera then speed up. So you catch the unexpected driver, who slams on their brakes when they see the camera.

I imagine we will be seeing more and more average speed cameras over time though.

We most certainly will.

It's not that hard to stay in the speed limit though. I had 12 points on my license for about 2 years. I stuck to the speed limit. It's quite easy when you have an incentive.
I choose to break the speed limit and that is the only time I do.

Making an argument saying it's not easy simply makes speed limiters the solution. Personally I prefer the freedom to choose, and accept that it may cost me 3 points every few years if I'm not careful.

Anyway. In 10 years it'll mostly be self-driving cars, and those that aren't will be fitted with equipment to grass you up automatically if you break the speed limit.

[stek]

Don't think I've seen one speed camera in Dublin, traffic never gets fast enough anyway.

[Paddy]

some years ago a Police Chief said publicly that they don't prosecute anyone unless they're 10% over. That may be a pragmatic view and enforceable practically but it has one major issue.

The law says the speed limit is 70mph and it's not for the police to say it's 77mph


How can you possibly suggest that parliament should set a limit and it is then basically ignored?

Bollox, I went to court to contest 31 mph in a 30 zone. I lost the case and had to pay a £400 fine. The original ticket was for 36 mph but I proved that the camera had not been installed correctly as the distance between the sensor cables were too close. The speed recorded did not match the distance travelled. The court accepted that the camera was wrong and therefore I was doing 31 mph, but they still fined me.

BTW: There were two so-called police experts at court, both of them as thick as sh**. The camera was setup for metres per second and they though it was mph! The wires in the road were not parallel and were measured in inches with a four inch deviation.

[NotAllThere]

Bollox, I went to court to contest 31 mph in a 30 zone.

So you were accused of doing 31, and felt that you were within the limit, so you contested the ticked

The original ticket was for 36 mph

Ah - so you were accused of doing 36, and you felt you were within the limit. Got you.

The court accepted that the camera was wrong and therefore I was doing 31 mph, but they still fined me.

So the court established that you were, in fact, doing 31 and, therefore, still over the posted limit. Ok, seems fair. Cool story. Thanks.

Just one thing, with your superior mind, why didn't you prove that with all those dimensions you were actually doing 30mph with perhaps an error of +/- 1 mph, and get off scot free?

My wife got a fine, but police report had the wrong date written on it. When we asked our solicitor if we could use that to get out of the whole thing, he said - you could try, but if you fail, then you'll face a bigger fine for being a smart arse.

[clearedforlanding]

All this rubbish about how awful speed cameras are. It's not the cameras... it's the limits. Give me a stretch of unrestricted autobahn any time!

It's O to O - winter tire time which is curbing the fun for some.



hmm. Image does not work.

[SeededLoaf]

No need to worry. In a few years cars will read the speed limits and automatically limit the max speed.

[Hobosapien]

I speed every time I drive, even if only by 1 or 2 mph.

Only places I do take extra care about not going over the limit is when in a 20 zone or where kids or pets are likely to be knocking about, or if being tailed by a rozzer.

I'm amazed it's coming up to my 20th anniversary this year of my one and only speeding offence so far, on a motorway late at night so couldn't tell it was a battenburg following me a fair way behind as I did almost a ton. Still, not a bad average overall. I guess concentrating on the road (so spot speedtraps early as a bonus) and not the speedo is better than worrying about going over by a 'bit'.

I look at it as a rare tax on being allowed to decide for myself what limits I judge to be safe for the conditions.

Better make most of that freedom, it'll all be self driving cars soon that won't go over the limit and if they do then Google or whoever is in charge of them will be getting the fine. Enjoy the last of the petrol cars (you can't enjoy a diesel ) before they get replaced with leccy cars and taxed off the roads for not being green enough.

[clearedforlanding]

No need to worry. In a few years cars will read the speed limits and automatically limit the max speed.

My MB already does (as did my Tesla). Combined with Distronic Plus it takes a lot of the stress out of driving, as unlike the Tesla the system is pretty reliable.

[CoolCat]

abd.org.uk is correct

handing fines and points out (by automated camera) for pulling through a red light to let an ambulance on blue lights through WHEN IT IS COMPLETELY SAFE TO DO SO is madness, yet this is now going on regularly, this for me is the ultimate in idiots in charge

and by the way most road deaths are caused by poor road design, yet the people responsible for the newly installed blackspots over the last few decades continue to move on and design more blackspots THEY ARE NEVER IN COURT FOR THE OBVIOUS DEATH CAUSING NEGLIGENCE of their poor road design

the system sinks

[CoolCat]

I speed every time I drive, even if only by 1 or 2 mph.

Only places I do take extra care about not going over the limit is when in a 20 zone or where kids or pets are likely to be knocking about, or if being tailed by a rozzer.

I'm amazed it's coming up to my 20th anniversary this year of my one and only speeding offence so far, on a motorway late at night so couldn't tell it was a battenburg following me a fair way behind as I did almost a ton. Still, not a bad average overall. I guess concentrating on the road (so spot speedtraps early as a bonus) and not the speedo is better than worrying about going over by a 'bit'.

I look at it as a rare tax on being allowed to decide for myself what limits I judge to be safe for the conditions.

Better make most of that freedom, it'll all be self driving cars soon that won't go over the limit and if they do then Google or whoever is in charge of them will be getting the fine. Enjoy the last of the petrol cars (you can't enjoy a diesel ) before they get replaced with leccy cars and taxed off the roads for not being green enough.

You cannot have respect for 20 mph limits when they are used far too frequently, like in Bristol, so much so that all of the police cars, public transport, taxi's etc disregard them. To have any impact they need to be restricted to special places like outside schools (and then only apply when kids are likely to be about, so not at 3 am on a Sunday morning)