Pulled for speeding, but I wasn't speeding. What can I do?

Link to the law please, or even just the HC rule?

Police cars and fit women get top priority, and I have never been stopped by either, just a “thank you” wave as they pull away.

I always thought that a speed limit was the MAXIMUM that you should drive a motorised vehicle on a section of road?

Must be just me then.

Its not legal though- so why would you do it?

It’s like murder and drug dealing; it’s the scourge of the modern day.

I think there is a Crimewatch special on it coming up. Lots of people in traffic thinking they are being pleasant and letting people out; but they are contributing to anarchy on the roads.

I’ll have a dig around. On another level- if you have cars behind you travelling behind you (not crawling in a jam)- do you think its ok to hold everyone up to let a random act to a stranger out?

I think there is a Crimewatch special on it coming up. Lots of people in traffic thinking they are being pleasant and letting people out; but they are contributing to anarchy on the roads

Thats ok, a fair few STW’ers seem to think taking illegal drugs is normal yet bike theft is criminal.

Is gently slowing to a crawl to allow some one to pull out holding you up, really .

If every one thought like you you would be held up as at most junctions at certain times of the day you would not get a look in.

And there would have to be traffic lights installed to compensate for the lack of good will.

hora – Member

I’ll have a dig around. On another level- if you have cars behind you travelling behind you (not crawling in a jam)- do you think its ok to hold everyone up to let a random act to a stranger out?

Yep. Don’t usually have to slow right down or stop and there’s always a queue round the corner. I’m never in that much of a rush.

Thats ok, a fair few STW’ers seem to think taking illegal drugs is normal yet bike theft is criminal.

There’s no contradiction between the two. (Think about the meaning of the words “normal” and “criminal”).

So you don’t actually know that it’s illegal? 🙄

Not read all the posts but you have admitted to speeding here –

My speedo needle was below the 35mph mark

Unlucky.

I had some one in front of me do the drive slowly flash everyone out routine as a punishment for me sounding my horn when he forced his way into a non gap in front of me. Quite frankly I could have cared less about another car in the cue in front of me , what pissed me off was that he nearly hit a cyclist that he never saw when he focussed on the gap . His seconded flashing out resulted in someone else shooting in front of the same cyclist in a bus lane forcing her to break all on in front of a bus.
My last off was when a car was flashed out and drove into me at speed at 90 degrees.
I am all in favour of slowing down to force tailgaters and speeders to become aware of traffic and control their actions and also in favour of courtesy to cars in side streets but be very aware of other traffic both behind and to your nearside if you are going to play games on the highway.

crankboy – Member
Quite frankly I could have cared less about another car in the cue in front of me

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I could not have cared less or couldn’t have cared less, please.

We are not Americans (unless you are of course american, in which case as you were).

I checked my last car (Astra) to see how accurate the speedo was – at a steady 50mph on the GPS it was indicating 51mph on the speedo. I think speedos are a lot more accurate these days so going at 35mph thinking your actually doing 31.7 so you won’t get a ticket may well be the wrong move.

As the OP has now demonstrated. 🙂

After watching videos of what happens to humans when they get hit at 35mph versus 30mph and the massively increased chances of killing someone at the higher speed because of those differences you ain’t ever going to see me go above 30mph. I do seem to attract long lines of Audi drivers driving 5cm off my bumper for making that decision though. I love watching their increasing levels of rage as I dare to keep within the law…..

Northwind – Member
tinybits – Member
To get more flow of traffic through the same stretch of road actually needs everyone to speed up.

Actually not. You need to increase the average speed but that can be achieved with better flow management. Sometimes reducing the speed limit gets the traffic flowing and moving better. (I know very little about this- just enough to know it’s interesting and a bit counterintuitive)

You know I was taking the piss right? The setting of the speed limit to 210mph should have given it away!

Apparently I can’t read 😳

I do love a good “I can justify speeding” rant on the internet.

The limit is the limit, you can’t justify going over it… I don’t even know how manufacturers can sell a car/bike that’s not limited to 70!

I don’t even know how manufacturers can sell a car/bike that’s not limited to 70!

Come on, I’m sure you can do better than that! 1/10

If someones driving slow- overtake them. Or is that a dirty word?

It’s called “making progress”. 😆

Tbh we should stick to the limits. How are we to know better? Do we have special training to know the limit on any given road is wrong?

I still remember cresting the hill towards the speed camera van on Snake Pass and the berk in the powerful Merc estate behind me belting past me at a crazy speed. He hit the brake lights just infront of the van. I wonder how long is ban was. Most people can’t cope with speed- it takes up all their focus and they lose sight of hazards/potential and developing IMO.

I was the same*- no one is born to speed and survive. Stay in the limits. Leave speeding to 17yr olds, men who work at McDonalds and the Police.

*A few years ago I read a forum topic by a bloke who did time inside after he went out for a morning drive and it ended up with a motorcyclist in a serious accident. His prison diary and experience leading upto that lead me to slow right down. I can’t remember a car I’d had before that that I hadn’t had sideways. A fact I’m not proud of. I even shared the topic with a couple of friends who I thought would benefit from reading it.

I do love a good “I can justify speeding” rant on the internet.

I love a good “I haven’t actually read any of the thread but I’m going to be judgemental anyway” rant on the Internet.

The OP has been charged with driving at 35mph. He asserts that his speedometer was reading under this value. Assuming that the OP isn’t mistaken and that he doesn’t have an illegal speedo, the the charge is false. This is the crux of the OP.

Without knowing the accuracy of his speedo (and his eyes / brain), whether he was actually still breaking the limit or not is pure speculation.

No luck then?

I N R A T S but was a definitive answer found on whether the Rozzers’ evidence would be sufficient to get the OP?

Was the OP looking at the road or the speedo?

Sounds like a pretty fair cop to me (or was she a redhead?)

ton – Member

yes
they need evidence. their word is not good enough.

Total bollocks.
Generally, two pieces of evidence are needed to prosecute for speeding (though I believe one officer’s opinion is sufficient on motorways), such as a laser gun, following at a constant distance with a calibrated speedo or simply the opinion of an officer.

In the OP’s case the two officers can provide the evidence needed to prosecute without any other corroboration. They could have been on foot and their testimony would still hold as much weight.

pk13 – Member

My sister has 3 points for 32

Pics of the ticket or it didn’t happen. Your sister has fed you porkies.

nealglover – Member

What “knowledge” is that ?

You can get a speeding ticket for 33 in a 30. It’s over the limit.
What makes you think you can’t ?

You are correct that speeding is an absolute offence so 31 in a 30 could technically get you done, but you are neglecting the reality that no one has ever been done for 31 in a 30. Or 32. Possibly not 33 either, though I think I have seen tickets at 34.

andyfla – Member

I am one of those annoying people who love driving at just under the limit to annoy people

I’m assuming you’re just illustrating a point, and that you wouldn’t really deliberately try and antagonise people who are partaking in a potentially dangerous activity, as that would mark you out as a monumental bell end, which I’m sure you’re not.

mattsccm – Member

It is obvious that you were speeding as you have said so. You do not know how fast you were doing. You think you know. You have said that.

So he doesn’t know how fast he was driving but you know he was speeding? 😆
At 30mph, your speedo can legally read 39.25mph, so there is every chance the OP was not speeding.
This is unlikely, of course. I’ve had cars with undersize tyres that still didn’t read that far out.

BoardinBob – Member

It’s a limit, not a requirement

You’d fail your test with that attitude.

*sbob does not condone speeding, has a clean licence and has never broken a law in his life.
Especially motoring laws.

Hopefully that will stoke things up for a bit. 😀

So he doesn’t know how fast he was driving but you know he was speeding?

If they’d wrote me a ticket saying 33 or 32 in a 30, well that seems pretty harsh but at least it was true.

Al,

The opinion of two* police officers, or one police officer and a calibrated speedometer (or other measurement device) is sufficient evidence that the limit was exceeded. As you will recall from your legal training, sufficiency is not the same as quality. So this will meet the “case to answer” criteria but won’t necessarily** prove beyond reasonable doubt. Police officers usually present as credible and reliable witnesses with their livelihood and liberty at stake for lying in court.

There is no requirement for the Police to provide any evidence or witness statements before the case calls in court and you officially lodge a not-guilty plea. English courts award costs (typically £600 ish even without an expert witness) to the CPS if you loose, so it is therefore a very big gamble.

(*one on a motorway)
(**although in the absence of defence evidence or an very good cross examination that introduces doubt it probably will)

*A few years ago I read a forum topic by a bloke who did time inside after he went out for a morning drive and it ended up with a motorcyclist in a serious accident. His prison diary and experience leading upto that lead me to slow right down. I can’t remember a car I’d had before that that I hadn’t had sideways. A fact I’m not proud of. I even shared the topic with a couple of friends who I thought would benefit from reading it.

10pence’s account starts on page 3

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=210&t=442266&mid=0&i=40&nmt=Prison%3F&mid=0

You’d fail your test with that attitude.

Except I passed my test 1st time and in 20 years of driving I’ve amassed a grand total of 3 points, incurred 19 years ago.

10pence’s account starts on page 3

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=210&t=442266&mid=0&i=40&nmt=Prison%3F&mid=0

Cheers. I’ll re-read this. It always helps when you feel like ‘pressing on’/seeing what your car can do/you feel good and you know your a good/swift-driver bollocks.

Track day it or **** off IMO.

When I was 16 I was riding my Mum’s moped in a 30mph zone and was pulled in by a policeman who was standing in a bus stop pointing a ‘hair dryer’ at me.

The moped struggled to reach an indicated 30mph on that particular road, so although I’d spotted him from some distance away I continued to putt, putt my way towards him, happy in the knowledge that I was ‘safe’.

The policeman’s actions were extremely ambiguous, consisting of him vaguely waggling the radar gun rather than blocking the road and demanding me to ‘halt’, which I’d have expected had I been breaking the law. However, as I passed him, something about his demeanour made me suddenly decide to stop, so I pulled into the bus stop, dismounted, parked the scooter, and removed my crash helmet, expecting to be told it was all a mistake, but he said sternly, “Now then, Sir. Do you know you were speeding in a 30mph zone? You were doing 30.5mph! However, I’ll let you off seeing as you stopped, which is more than can be said for that last ******!” Whereupon he leapt in his car and sped off down the road, blue lights flashing, no doubt in hot pursuit of some hapless motorist who had incorrectly interpreted the policeman’s gestures as a friendly wave.

as that would mark you out as a monumental bell end

I have been accused of such a few times – possibly saying I refuse to to pressurised by audi driving dicks would be the other way of saying it.

My experience of dealing with our esteemed police force is that, on the whole, they are usually reasonably decent human beings. But like any cross-section of society, you do get some who are just arseholes. Which isn’t a great situation when they’re in a position of power / authority.

MrNice – Member

“I don’t even know how manufacturers can sell a car/bike that’s not limited to 70!”

Come on, I’m sure you can do better than that! 1/10

Why is that a troll?

Cheers poly, that makes sense.

To those that have checked their speed against GPS etc, do you keep checking as your tyres wear down?
Genuine question as I assumed the error of the speedo crept in as you wore your tyres down, ie driveshaft still spinning at x revolutions but you are travelling further, hence faster, on a new set than on a set at the min legal limit? or am I talking bobbins and the impact is too small to notice? 🙂

BoardinBob – Member

It’s a limit, not a requirement

“You’d fail your test with that attitude.”

Really why?

IMO the reasons for the penalty are:

1. They did not apply discretion even when the road is empty.
2. You drove off too quickly from start stop hence they noticed you.
3. You are a black taxi cab driver … they don’t like taxi driver.
4. They are lesbians and they like to act tough.
5. You pissed them off because they are lesbians with above reasons.

They could easily give you a verbal warning but they want to act tough with power … to dominate you.

Yes?

My advice is to get a proper dash cam if your livelihood depend on driving.

😯

Really why?

I got a minor on my test for doing 25 in a 30 – near a school, about 8.30, kids all over, cars parked on both sides of the road, lots of traffic – it was considered to be undue hesitation. I got another for waiting behind a cyclist rather than overtaking where I could only have left about 3 feet of space. The driving test’s priorities are a bit messed up.

Really why?

Hesitancy, or failure to make progress.

For the purposes of a test you’re expected to drive at or near the posted limit unless there’s a good reason not to, mincing around at 20mph in a 30 zone would suggest a lack of confidence / experience and almost certainly earn you a failure. Unless that’s changed since I learned to drive, anyway.