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I've had quite a few fines over the years, and it all depends where you drive. North Wales is particularly bad for speeding tickets and our local traffic police tend to go on speed fine binges at regular intervals aswell. So it's always wise to stay within the speed limit. It costs you more on your car insurance if you don't and even for just minor infractions you get could a driving ban - I know of people who nearly did, but it wasn't for major speeding - just an accumulation of minor infractions. I think it all reached some kind of fever pitch under the Labour government (ps I'm not a Tory either)
Cougar - Member[i]I don't mean the flashing orange signs, [/i]
You won't get done on those, they're advisory not mandatory.
If they are in a red ring they are mandatory.
EDIT:
261
You MUST NOT exceed 70 mph (112 km/h), or the maximum speed limit permitted for your vehicle (see Rule 124). If a lower speed limit is in force, either permanently or temporarily, at road works for example, you MUST NOT exceed the lower limit. On some motorways, mandatory motorway signals (which display the speed within a red ring) are used to vary the maximum speed limit to improve traffic flow. You MUST NOT exceed this speed limit.
I think that speedo law thing is just urban myth. Speedos do tend to over-read (in part a margin for error involved in tyre wear etc), and it does seem to be around 5%, but I've never seen a law to actually quantify it legally.I set my cruise control to 53mph according to the sat nav, so I'm probably going 8mph faster than you.
Check out the IVA rules (for building your own car from scratch) - it states (in accordance with the rules for OE manufacturers, but put into lay-persons terms)....
1.
The vehicle must be fitted with an acceptable type of Speedometer (see note 1)
2.
A speedometer must be capable of indicating the vehicle speed in miles per hour (mph) at uniform intervals not exceeding 20mph for all speeds up to the maximum design speed of the vehicle. (see note 2)
3.
The speedometer must be capable of being read at all times of the day or night
4.
The speedometer must not indicate a speed less than the true speed.
5.
The speedometer must not indicate a speed that is in excess of the true speed plus the permitted tolerance in the chart below. (see note 3)
Indicated Speed (mph) Min True Speed (mph)
35 26
40 30
45 35
50 39
55 44
60 48
65 53
70 57
6. The in use “rest” position for the needle must be between the Zero position and the first marked increment
Note 3 says permitted tolerance is ((true speed)/10) +6.25.
HTH
In the old days they had to be accurate to plus or minus 10% somewhere in their range, later altered to plus or minus 10% at 30 mph.
I'm a bit surprised to find that the tolerance is now much greater (33% at 30) and makes it rather unfair on the motorist who does not apparently have access to a speed measuring device supplied by the car manufacturer that he can be sure comes near the accuracy of the authority's measuring devices with increasingly smaller tolerances before fining etc.
I've always wondered if you can avoid them by tailgating a lorry at one end of the section?
5. Motorbikes. No front mumberplates, see...... Therefore immune IME
I once drove round Kirkby Lonsdale (I think, I may be misremembering) and passed a front-facing mobile speed camera van. Cue lots of clever bikers playing the "how fast can we pass a camera that can't catch us" game.
Carried on around the corner and down the hill, to find a second police van accompanied by a clutch of dejected looking sports bike riders.
The moral here is, you're usually immune, but occasionally the police are crafty buggers so don't let it go to your head.