Speed limit tolerance

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hobbit
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Post by hobbit »

<i>"meanwhile the rest of us will continue to get caught and pay our fines like the good little boys and girls we are"</i>
The "good little boys and girls" among us have not, and will not get caught and pay fines as we obey the speed limit.
When I started driving responsibly and keeping to the limit it was very difficult especially in a 30 zone. However now that my perception of my speed has adjusted itself 30 just seems natural. To all the tailgaters tapping there hands on the steering wheel or leaning on the door looking bored I say, relax and back off!
Incidentally I have found that driving at 30 means that I have much more time to spot potential hazards and I have more time to take the appropriate defensive actions.
And yes I have been caught speeding, I was 20 (a LONG time ago) and caught by a man with a speed gun.
philhoward

Post by philhoward »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Stevie Callaghan</i>

According to the ACPO the tolerance for speeding is 10% plus 2mph. I.E you CANNOT get nicked for doing 35mph in a 30mph zone, you'll have to be doing at least 36mph, 47mph, 58mph, 69mph and 80mph. This is FACT and if you have been nicked for anything less then you should get a lawyer to sort it.
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I was under the impression that these were the figures used by Speed (Safety!!) Cameras. I do know of people who have been caught doing 34mph in a 30mph zone and it's stood up in court.
The 10% is due to the Construction And Use regulations for motor vehicles requiring that a Speedometer is only accurate to 10% at 30mph AND SPECIFIES NO OTHER SPEED. Now that may be one to try in court!! (says he who was caught and convicted doing 99.51mph on a motorway at an indicated 74mph - my Speedo got stuck at that point) - I didn't bother as I was a student at Uni and had my finals the date of the court case.
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Post by Homer »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by philhoward</i>

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Stevie Callaghan</i>

I was under the impression that these were the figures used by Speed (Safety!!) Cameras.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
The same tolerance is used by officers on patrol, they can use their discretion and ticket someone travelling below those speeds or turn a blind eye to those travelling above if they do not think there is a danger.
[quote]The 10% is due to the Construction And Use regulations for motor vehicles requiring that a Speedometer is only accurate to 10% at 30mph AND SPECIFIES NO OTHER SPEED<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Speedometers have to be accurate to between -10% and +0% (i.e. they are not allowed to over read). In any case, ignorance is no defence.
philhoward

Post by philhoward »

I know, Homer...my 6 points proved that!
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Post by TomH »

road safety depends more on the conditions and your own common sense/judgement anyway. Crazy drivers doing speeds way way over the limit may get away with it, while a normal careful driver gets caught out once doing a little over the limit... do it a couple more times and you're banned!
You can't stop manufacturers making fast cars or people buying them, yet soon driving will becomse so much of a chore!
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Post by reblack68 »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Homer</i>

Something I found out yesterday. If you are prosecuted for drunk driving and you can prove you had no alternative but to drive at the time then the courts can find you not guilty.
If you are charged with speeding you can not offer any kind of defence, even if you are being chased by armed gangsters intent on taking your life, that is no excuse (in the eyes of the law) for breaking the limit.
And if S172 is upheld then you don't even have a right to silence.
Surely that can't be right.
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I don't think it is. It would be very difficult to prove you had no alternative . David Beckham got away with a speeding offence because he was being pursued by people intent on taking his photo. He doesn't need to drive because he can afford to pay a chauffeur, he was in a car designed for speeding and he'd been done before more than once but he got away with it.[:(!]
How many of you have been behind somebody doing 45mph out of town who continues to do that speed when they come to a 30 limit?
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Post by VisaGTi16v »

god yes thats the most annoying thing! My friend had one of these recently. Person he was following was doing 45 in a open 60 limit then 45 in a 40 limit then 45 in a 30 limit. My friend said he nearly crashed laughing when the speed camera went off and got the car! lol
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Post by lhm_leak »

Just to put in my penny's worth, on the subject of tolerances...
There is some confusion over the actual speed at which you will be prosecuted. Leaving aside the questions on ACPO guidelines, speedometer calibration etc. it is a fact that "speeding" is an absolute, technical offence and 30.001mph in a 30 limit can therefore, in theory, be prosecuted.
It won't be though. And if any police force is silly enough to actually try it they'll be slapped down hard. Why? It's our old friend "tolerance" again.
You see, the speed measurement equipment used by the police also has a specified tolerance. I work for a company that makes this kit (although I'm not directly involved with enforcement products) and ours (in common with the rest of the industry) are specified to be accurate, when correctly calibrated, to within +/- 1mph across the range. If some ninny tries to prosecute you for 31mph in a 30 limit you can use this as a (valid) defence. You may even get away with 32mph, as there would be "reasonable doubt" due to the specified 2mph tolerance on the measuring equipment.
However, at 33mph and above, if they decide to do you - you're toast.
Stu.
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Post by Kered »

I came across this thread as I searched for "GPS".
I've recently bought a PDA and Tomtom navigator package which uses the GPS satellites. It's an absolutely wonderful toy. One of the clever things it can do is to give the car's speed. As this is computed from satellite data it is dead accurate. I've been grumbling about my HDi Xantia being undriveable at 30 mph in 4th. It turns out that my 30 is actually 26! Driving at just under 35 gives a true 30 and the engine runs smooth then.
A comment on speed limits:- I live on a 40 mph road, which is dead straight. During the day traffic runs at around 40. At night would you believe anything up to 70 - maybe more! There is no safety issue at cars going through at those high speeds. However what these drivers don't understand is the noise they make. The engines run faster so have a higher frequency and are also louder due to working harder. The tyre noise is much greater and there is wind noise too. Due to the speed this great noise appears suddenly. The people who live on this road have had enough - it's affecting our health due to sleep disturbance. The police have received a complaint from 30 households and have agreed to a night time shift with the laser gun.
May I suggest that some consideration is given to others. Speeding is not <u>just</u> a safety issue.
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Post by uhn113x »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">May I suggest that some consideration is given to others<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Sadly, Derek, that seems to be regarded in England as an ancient custom, which is rapidly becoming extinct. [:(]
There is also the indisputable issue of someone doing 70 in a 40 limit, on a clear road, no traffic, usual justifications, then something comes the other way, and collides head-on - blowout, whatever. Injuries <b>will</b> be worse at 70.
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Post by DoubleChevron »

Hi Guys,
you have nothing to complain about... Try here in Australia where I live we have a 3km/h margin on all speed cameras. The cameras are NOT marked, infact the government has gone to great lengths to prevent the detection of these. They are extremely well hidden and you simply cannot pick them out short of stopping, and going over and looking through the windscreen of the car/truck/4wd/etc they have the camera mounted in.
They are all parked on downhill grades hoping poeple will coast the 1.6mph over the limit so they'll get booked. Yes that's right, even in 70mph zones you have 1.6mph before you'll get booked. If anyone thinks they can control there speed exactly within 1.6mph when there doing 70mph there bloody crazy !!
seeya,
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reblack68
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Post by reblack68 »

Mobile speed cameras caught 200 drivers speeding in Fife over the weekend, many exceeding 100mph. I think a lot of them might have been attempting to recover the time lost in the Forth Bridge roadworks.
One of them was clocked at 150mph and holding a mobile phone.[:0] The last person to be caught at that speed (156mph actually) spent 5 months in jail. I hope this one gets a life ban as well because there is no way you will educate somebody with the capacity for such stupidity.
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Post by philhoward »

Probably find they're either a JP or a Chief COnstable, so will get off (M6 Toll, Greater Manchester, Head of Traffic Police....)
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reblack68
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Post by reblack68 »

Don't get the idea that we're ALL speed demons up here though.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3694201.stm
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Post by James.UK »

I just got a "notice of intended prosecution" (speed camera) arrived today!! [:0] for doing 65 mph on the A46 Swainswick bypass just north of Bath. Its a sort of mini motorway bypass with two lanes each way with central crash barriers, I was so pleased at the chance to overtake the 3 large lorries I had been stuck beind for the last 20 mins or so that I forgot it was a 50 mph limit! dohh. [:I] [:(]
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