Speeding Ticket

Diamond Geezer

Diamond Geezer

Gone But Not Forgotten
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May 2, 2003
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This morning I received notification of a speeding offence from Thames Valley Police at a place I have never heard of but through I must have passed on New Year's Eve, Apparently I was doing 36mph in a built up area. It seems that even if I did not see speed limit signs, the law states that in built up areas with street lights there is automatically a 30mph speed limit.

I have to return a form whereupon I will receive a £60 fixed penalty plus three penalty points on my licence, the first time I have ever committed any offence in my life let alone a traffic one.

Should I just pay up and forget it or should I opt to go to court. The letter states they have photographic evidence. I have been told if I opt to challenge it in court I have a good chance of avoiding the fine etc because of the hastle involved for the authorities although I would be liable for any costs if they proceed and I am found guilty in court, which let's face it is the probable outcome.

Is it worth the gamble ?
 
DG, I had the exact same problem about 6 months ago, and took the pay up and 3 points option. I asked them for the photo, and it was clearly me, although the speed trap was a mobile one which showed I was doing 76mph on the motorway. I could have easily contested it but knowing that I regularly do 80mph (on the motorway)I suppose I knew it may happen one day.

It is really personal choice. I preferred to pay the money and take the points as the sooner it goes on the licence the sooner it comes off. I think it takes 3 years and it doesn't affect your insurance, well it didn't mine anyway!
 
Have you looked up the place, DG? It may help you identify whether or not you will have driven through it. If it's easier, PM me (or post on here) the name of the place & where you were driving from - I may be able to pinpoint it straight off as the TV is my area.
 
I've been well warned about how militant they've become about speeding in 30 zones especially . I would just take it on the chin . It's zero tolerance over here now with speeding and drink driving . I have a friend whos going to lose her license over 2 glases of wine . She's been driving for 7 yrs without incident and was only a fraction over but I wouldn't risk it at all .
 
Originally posted by Shadow Leader@Jan 7 2006, 06:34 PM
Have you looked up the place, DG? It may help you identify whether or not you will have driven through it. If it's easier, PM me (or post on here) the name of the place & where you were driving from - I may be able to pinpoint it straight off as the TV is my area.
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I've done that Dom, it was a place just off Junction 8 of the M40 called Tiddington.
Still no wiser other than I was going from Oxford to Aylesbury and would have been on that road at the time.

Will bite the bullet I guess, wonder if they caught any real criminals that day.
 
I doubt whether any murderers, rapists or drug-dealers remained at large because you were photographed by a remotely controlled camera.

My advice is the same as others have given, pay the fine and take the points. Unless there is anything wrong with the photograph it'll cost you more to go to court, you'll still be found guilty and be hit with the points.
 
If, as Kathy suggests, its possible to get the photo then I'd at least want to have a look at it before making a decision.
 
Frankly, I get well pissed off with motorists zipping up and down our very crowded and busy seafront well past the VERY clearly-marked 30mph limit, which I never exceed (yes, I do speed on m'ways if the traffic's well spaced, and am always aware of my distances). There have been cars whacking along past me at 40 and probably 50 and the damn camera never seems to catch them. I don't support anyone going over 30 through residential or built-up areas because you don't have time to react if someone doesn't look where they're going, whether it's another frazzled motorist, or a dim-witted pedestrian.

I'd rather pay up, and remember that at 30 I've less chance of seriously blatting someone or myself. A friend's lovely, 22 y.o. son killed himself doing 'just' over the limit in his sports car on the sea front, introducing the car to one of its very solid steel Victorian lamp-posts. He got out, said he wasn't hurt, and died of a compression injury to his heart. A ridiculous waste of a super, great-looking and intelligent young guy, just because he couldn't stand 'dawdling' at 30.
 
You ought to try the 30km/h speed limits in Gib - they're fecking ridiculous. Apart from anything else, speed limits at less than 30mph are highly dangerous as people don't pay any attention to the road as they're bored shitless with crawling along - they're also anxious to get out of the 20mph/30kmh zone so don't pay attention. I think they're more dangerous than higher limits.
 
Originally posted by krizon@Jan 7 2006, 08:01 PM
if someone doesn't look where they're going, whether it's another frazzled motorist, or a dim-witted pedestrian.
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so who's fault then, really I mean?
 
DG, I found mine after a big hunt and realised I had the wrong address on it, which is also an offence. I had to send it back to the DVLA to change it and then send it off to have the points put on. Don't panic too much. If you really can't find it after a long hunt, you can always write to them and explain and get a new one from the DVLA. Don't panic. They are more than happy to wait for the £60 but a courtesy letter explaining the delay may be worth while.
 
You wasted a whole lotta time there Kathy - when I was done for speeding a few years back I still had my licence registered to the address I had left a few years before (yes, it's still registered there - it's the address of Edgy's yard!!!!) but they said not to worry about it at the policde station; they just filled in the new address on the back of the licence in a ballpoint pen!
 
Betsmate, if you've mashed a pedestrian at 40 in a 30 zone, you're toast, regardless of how stupid they were. They may have been careless, but you've broken the law (i.e. exceeded the known or posted limit).

Same if you shunt another car - if you were over the speed stated, you can be held fully or mostly responsible. So if you're speeding beyond the limit, you carry the can for your action. It'll be useless to say 'I didn't realize I was speeding' because as a car driver you're supposed to be driving RESPONSIBLY, and always aware of all of the conditions around you - just as a train driver who crashes his train and kills his passengers would be guilty, if he failed to slow down for a bend, etc.

I can't believe how many floral tributes adorn our urban roads around here, denoting where people have been killed in what are supposed to be not only 30mph zones, but even 20mph zones. Clearly, many vehicles are driven by the brain-dead.
 
Originally posted by krizon@Jan 7 2006, 11:20 PM
Betsmate, if you've mashed a pedestrian at 40 in a 30 zone, you're toast, regardless of how stupid they were. They may have been careless, but you've broken the law (i.e. exceeded the known or posted limit).
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Of course you are right, in law the driver has no chance. However being prosecuted for someone else’s wrong decision is unfortunately typical of our litigious society.
 
I think if you WERE doing just the limit, though, and some child dashed out in front of you and you killed it, you would not be prosecuted for manslaughter. It would have to be seen as an accident, however endlessly dreadful you'd feel about it. Just as train drivers can't stop in time to stop 'jumpers' killing themselves at tube stations, or throwing themselves in front of the 4.30 from Paddington, there's a limit to what's reasonable to expect any driver to be able to do against the totally unexpected. And judging by the amount of animals and birds I see squashed every day on our roads, there's an awful lot of the unexpected about! :o
 
Originally posted by Shadow Leader@Jan 7 2006, 10:15 PM
You wasted a whole lotta time there Kathy
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SL, it was something I had meant to do for ages. I am frequently asked for my driving licence as a form of identitification so to be honest, I was glad I did it. It took only 2 mins and was returned to me within 5 working days. It was just one of those jobs I continued I put off... and put off.
 
I f*ckin hate turning on the radio news in this country on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Here is todays edition from RTE. I have no evidence to suggest drink and speed were involved, but.......

-------------------------------------------
Three men killed in Meath car accident

08 January 2006 08:56
Gardaí say three men, all pedestrians, were killed in a car accident early this morning near Navan.

The three were killed when a car struck a group of pedestrians on the N3 in Co Meath at around 4.30am.

The driver and another occupant of the car were seriously injured in the crash, which occurred at Kilcarn on the Dublin side of Navan.

Several ambulances, gardaí and fire units attended the scene.

All five people were taken to Our Lady's Hospital in Navan, where post mortem examinations will be carried out on the deceased.

The N3 remains closed to traffic in both directions on the Dublin side of Navan near the Ardboyne Hotel.

Gardaí say diversions are in place through Johnstown until further notice.
 
Yes an capall,

the number of deaths on the roads in Ireland, as a percentage of the whole population is shocking. I used to hate phoning home to hear my mum say "do you know that lad you were at school with......"
 
wonder if they caught any real criminals that day.
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DG, you are a real criminal, you broke the law

Sorry if that sounds harsh but it is the law. Some people like driving fast, some people like stealing things, both are just as illegal, there are no degrees
 
Wrong ovverbruv . Speeding is a regulatory offence and often excluded when criminal offences have to be declared for other reasons .

To say there are no degrees is abject nonsense.
 
The point I was making Ardross is that speeding is illegal, there is no point DG complaining about "Real criminals" when by definition he is one
 
Originally posted by ovverbruv@Jan 8 2006, 01:18 PM
The point I was making Ardross is that speeding is illegal, there is no point DG complaining about "Real criminals" when by definition he is one
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