Safe Speed Forums

Hello all

I knew it would come. Slightly suprised at the location. 36 in a 30, A27 Portchester. I am kicking myself as I nearly took the M27 . I am probably not able to defend this but I am bloody annoyed that I have to give a cash prize to the scammers . What annoys me more is my insurance premium. This is my first points since 1999 and God knows how many miles. If I really was that dangerous how come I have been accident free since I passed my test in Oct 94.

I should have seen the van sooner. I normally do but this time I didn't. One hit in nearly 6 years, I'll take it, just like the scammers want .

Sorry if this seems a bit of a pointless post but I think everyone else in the office is getting bored of my ranting.

Cheers

Dom

Don't get mad, get even!

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CSCP Latin for beginners...
Ticketo ergo sum : I scam therefore I am!

There's a fair chance it won't make any difference. So many safe drivers have got points for speeding now that many insurers aren't too fussed over it. Chatting to mine over the phone when renewing last year I was told that they were more interested in the offence codes than the number of points. 3 and maybe even 6 points for speeding won't affect my premium with them. But 3 points for jumping red lights, or serious vehicle defects, bad eyesight... things like that they'd wallop the premium up some. It's pretty clear what sort of offences they feel make the driver a bad risk, and the occasional speeding ticket isn't among them.

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

On the anger, frustration and pointlessness evidenced in the original post on the thread, last week I was resourced to intercept a small red car the occupant of which had been seen to drive very slowly from Ambleside towards Kendal on A591 - driver possibly drunk.

I stopped said car at Jn36 of M6 having witnessed his driving for about two miles - slow but not weaving or dangerous.

I spoke to the driver who said that he had been driving below the speed limit, because he now had 9 (camera) points on his licence and had another year to wait for a bit of breathing space. He told me he had not previously been an overcautious driver, but needed to drive in this way to retain his licence. He said his speedo was showing about 18mph in the 20 through Ambleside, and 28 in the 30s up to Langdale Chase (a proportion of the 20 and all of the 30 used to be NSL), and this caused a bit of a queue, hence the complaint. he asked me what he should do.

I told him to have a look at the safespeed site

Bobbysmate, you have most people's sympathies on this site.

What you will learn from here, if you haven't already is the value of C.O.A.S.T. to enhance your driving experience.

That is where real safety is found.

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Fixed ideas are like cramp, for instance in the foot, yet the best remedy is to step on them.

Ian

I don't know whether to or , but Ian definitely deserves a

Everyone in some way responsible for the one-track-mind "speed kills" approach to road safety should read his post, consider that this merely represents a single snapshot from the experience from a single trafpol, and that across the entire country this sort of thing is going on all the time without being recorded, and then if they're unable to figure out for themselves that emphasis on numerical speeds alone isn't the answer, they should never again be allowed to in any way influence or determine road safety policies...

Sure, the driver in question didn't kill anyone that day, but they still ended up being pulled over for a chat, and if one effect of scameras is to trick a trained and experienced trafpol into thinking a driver might be drunk when they were merely trying to avoid being scammed again, how effective will they be at spotting genuine drunk/drugged drivers if more and more people end up adopting an ultra-paranoid style of driving?

I drive like the guy in Ian's post as well a lot of the time. I don't have any points on my licence but I am hard up for cash and trying to find £60 would be a problem for me.

When I'm driving through 20 limts an 19mph I feel like I should put my hazard lights on or something, and perhaps explain to pedestrians that I'm not actually kerb crawling but this really is what 19mph looks like.

I do find the idea that I might get pulled over for driving too slow, while at the same time being only 1 or 2 mph below the speed limit a bit perverse. But then it's a reflection on the morons who ask for 20 limits and the people who set them.

I do indeed use COAST however on this occasion my Observation was concentrated on those around me (several cars in both lanes) and I did not see the van until to late. Admittedly I was not on top form but everyday is not a good day.

What really bites my balls is I have done 3500 miles in the last month, many of it on the motorway and experienced some truely hideous manoeuvres and behaviours go unpunished. Viscous tailgating being the most common. But one truly outstanding manoeuvre that scared me. Coming off the M4 at the 419 exit (Swindon I think) the exit slip lane was backed up, but not past the chevrons. A guy behind me decided he didn't want to be there and cut across the chevrons back onto the motorway

I am an avid reader of this site and forums. Though I have been penalised before I thought now I am a bit more mature I would be able to avoid more points, but it is only a matter of time.......

Thats right, it is only a matter of time.
I've been ranting on about my first ping to anyone and everyone, invluding my project manager, who was getting rather fed up with my whining. Guess what? Shes just picked up her first ping, and I thought I got pissed off!
This is about making us all criminals, and making the thieving fuckers shite loads of cash. I wouldnt give a shit if REAL criminals starting beating the crap out of the bastards at the road side.

Well that was me in the red car. As I had had another speeding ticket the prior month (38 in a 30) with before that a 77 in a 50 on a motorway I was driving extremely carefully through any areas I am not completely familiar with.

In Ambleside the limit was down to 20mph and then 30mph on the side of Lake Windermere. I was aware that the 30mph was a reduction from 60mph and knowing that these are prime locations for speed cameras I drove at just below the 20 and 30 limits.

Of course I got a large number of cars behind me but I was driving perfectly correctly. Nevertheless when I reached the end of the dual carriageway from the lakes I saw a police car at the roundabout. Thought nothing of it but when it started to flash me to pullover assumed a mistake had been made.

The officer (Ianh) told me he had a report to intercept me on a report from someone in the queue behind suspecting me of being a drink or drug driver as I was going so slow. I of course had not been drinking and to be fair Ian treated me with great fairness as I explained what had happened.

But from this
1. Ian's time was wasted when he could have been attending other matters
2. My time was also wasted though thankfully I spoke to a decent copper.

It is clear that speed cameras are making it impossible to distinguish between a normal driver going slowly to stick to speed limits and a truly dangerous driver with high levels of alcohol/drugs.

On a further note I keep seeing on the forums people who insist they NEVER speed. These people are never on the roads when Im on the roads esepecially in the 30 limits. It was clear to me that at least 70% of the drivers behind me wanted to speed and therefore by SCP logic are dangerous drivers who should be off the roads.

This is clearly ridiculous.
70% of people do not burgle
70% of people do not drink drive (at least to excess ie 4/5 pints before driving)

If you are to have in effect zero tolerance enforcement of a law that law has to be obeyed by the majority otherwise prosecution becomes a lottery and the law falls into disrepute.

Mark

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Mark

9 points Mark? Ouch. Still, welcome to the forum.

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

This must be about the first time someone stopped by a copper has come face to face with the same copper on this or pretty much any other forum

But well done for following Ian's advice, and good to know (although wholly expected, from his postings) that he treated you reasonably.

I hope you find this forum stimulating and constructive.

Although I completely understand your feeling that you need to be over-cautious in unfamiliar areas, bear in mind that, so long as you're confident about the applicable limit, because of speedo error and prosecutable tolerances, doing an indicated 10% over the limit is not going to get you prosecuted in virtually any circumstances.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Yeah. Excellent. Although to be fair this is no coincidence - IanH invited Mark101 along.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

As I said, "well done for following Ian's advice".

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Yeah, I knew that you knew, but I didn't think it was clear to anyone skim reading recent posts - and there are many such readers.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

This is the absurdity of the whole issue though isn't it? Having sat on a giddy 10 points myself once I know how Mark feels, although I'll admit there weren't the plethora speed cameras around then that there are now.
As an individual you are extremely loathe to take any chances; what if my speedo is wrong, what if I missed a sign, what if I gather speed without noticing etc etc?
Its all very well for those behind Mark, and others in his situation, to get a pissy-on because he's preventing them from nudging the 'limit plus 10%' but you can't blame him can you?

Welcome to the forum, Mark101. And ouch! too.

The majority of us (including the BiB) are reasonable people who only want a fair deal. Some of us (like me ) sometimes resort to 4 lettered stuff to tell it just how it is rather than beating around the bush (but I am friendly, really, I promise)... Just be aware that a few pious posters who seem to get a sexual kick out of preaching non-speeding and that you deserve everything you get. When they get to you just ask them how many pens they've nicked recently (it's an in thing for those who say speeding is more serious than stealing) when you get too much of them.

Yeah, its good to say it like you feel sometimes...



You really are a fuckwit aren't you?

Aaargh, I really didn't expect you to post, Mark!

I am glad you took the time to make comment, and I hope there wasn't too much artistic licence in my description of the incident.

Trafpol who try to think about what they are doing, and its effect on road safety really have quite a job making some of our superiors, and those in positions of power to realise the folly of the one dimensional attack on speed, when it's patently obvious that this over zealous enforcement strategy is making people alter their previously safe driving practices.

In any case, I'm glad to know you got home safely. Please don't let your experience put you off further visits to the heart of the Lakes, although once the mountains get into your soul, it'd take more than the consequences of comment from a concerned motorist to put you off returning.

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Fixed ideas are like cramp, for instance in the foot, yet the best remedy is to step on them.

Ian

I will definitely be coming back to the lakes Ian.

For one thing cumbria is not as bad for speed cameras as Lancs (At least not yet!!)

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Mark

It's all Steve Callaghan's Talivans lurking in the bushes that you need to be careful of, though

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed