Speeding ....again

Also if you are a Taxi you are legally obliged to stop without indicating in the middle of the road or preferably indicate at a turn but actually just stop your Taxi at least everyday. And that putting on your hazard warning lights allows you to park anywhere for 10 minutes.

 

I have always detested Gatsos and some e.g. W.Yorks constabulary Chief Constables' obsession with them. Whilst there is evidence that they DO reduce accidents where they are placed in areas with bad accident rates there are times when they are located to raise money rather than reduce accidents. e.g. on the northbound dual carriageway of the A1 some distance from the roundabout near Honeypot lane no turnings or junctions on a straight section with no dips or rises and pretty much in the middle of nowhere is a Gatso forward facing. Quite a few years ago I got caught out at 3am on the way back from the airport, no traffic in sight, 82 mph in a well maintained car, clear dry summer night. Fair cop I should not have been speeding ..BUT, my point is this.....
If it had been foggy, icy snowing, or I was texting or using a hand-held phone but doing 69mph (all of which are far more dangerous than than my late night speeding ) the camera would not have picked that up. ALL speed is potentially dangerous but inappropriate speed is what matters. I would far rather see more police presence, particularly unmarked RT police, who use common sense and discretion and target people who speed inappropriately or use mobile phones, tailgate other cars, drive erratically etc
Like I said, I broke the law by speeding so fair cop but it rankles that far more dangerous activities mentioned above are epidemic but perpetrators are unlikely to be caught as all the money is spent on ' safety' cameras.

 

Sorry but the bloke is an absolute berk.

If you prosecute at 1mph above the limit, then all that happens is folk are frightened to death and stare at their speedos - and some would constantly drive at 10mph under the limit everywhere just in case. Driving unreasonably below the limit causes hazards too.

Perhaps the West Mercia chief constable could apply a zero tolerance approach to other things. Like violent crimes, robbery, burglary. Online bullying and hate crime. Yeah didn’t think so.

If I got caught doing 80+ on a motorway I expect to be prosecuted. I actually got done for doing 47 in a 40. Camera van was ‘strategically’ positioned less than 50 yards after the speed limit went down from fifty and the van wasn’t obvious until I was on top of it, and i only lifted off and didn’t brake. My own daft fault, inadvertent, I was slowing to the limit but not in time for the limit change and so fair enough. I accept that.

Now this pleb wants to criminalise such as an older person driving to the shop or library who might touch 31 or 32 whilst he/she concentrates on the road. Or doing 73 on a motorway when attempting to overtake properly and safely.

It will end up with folk in driving jobs out of work. It won’t improve safety, in fact might make it worse as bad driving/drivers cause accidents and death. Not concentrating properly leads to collisions. Not speed on its own.

If he wants to adopt a zero tolerance on the roads I suggest he starts with planks sitting in the middle lane without any cause. The threats they made about policing that have had exactly no effect whatsoever. See also being in the right hand lane of a dual carriageway - because you want to turn right in about a mile and a half.

 

That law doesn't apply if I'm in the taxi and it's piling it down. In that case there's a legally binding 150m exclusion zone around my destination.

 

GPS isn't always that accurate. Mine occasionally has me driving down the middle of a field or on a complete different road. Sometimes it also picks up the wrong speed limit (30MPH on Wombwell bypass). Imagine the fun when you are doing 70 down the M1 and pass under a 30MPH road and cars automatically slam the brakes on....

 

We have one of those signs that tells you your speed near where I live. It and my speedometer do not agree, I have to drive at 33mph on my speedo to get it to signal 30mph on the sign. Which one is right?

He's talking out of his arse if he thinks he can prosecute at 1mph over the limit, anyone taking him to court would win their case because you cannot be sure of the calibration of speedo or radar/gps devices.

 

It also says that if you drive a van or anything bigger you can actually park anywhere you like any road, provided you put the hazard lights on.

 

My first ever speeding fine came a few years ago while driving private hire Mercs, Jags and BMWs from Princes Risborough. I was taking a woman to Gatwick at 3AM and got caught just outside High Wycombe doing 35 mph instead of 30. It was a straight road with literally NOBODY about. I was only caught because the woman was fretting about what she may have forgotten to pack for her six week holiday somewhere exotic and I lost concentration while trying to be polite.

That was the first of three over the next year and a bit where I was caught just over the limit in 30mph zones. Each time it was quiet and there was no danger to anyone, including me. That kind of thing makes me angry, especially having witnessed morons driving dangerously almost every time I went out on the road while doing that job.

 

You mean parking lights surely?

Headlights are also useful. They can be used to say "thank you", "get out of my way", "what a w***er", "f*** off", "after you" or "ffs get a move on".

 

To bring about a prosecution, its got to be in the public interest. How is it in the public interest (which includes ensuring the prosecution is a proportionate response) to prosecute someone driving 71mph on an empty motorway in clear conditions? Because that's what he's proposing doing.

 

The accuracy of your speedo reading will have some dependence on the tyres you have fitted and the tyre pressure - the car speedo will record how many revolutions per minute and calculate the speedo reading as a function of that, but a 1mm change in tyre diameter will be a 3.14mm difference in forward momentum every revolution.

Given that pressure can increase with temperature, tyre diameter could change between midday and night.

I wouldn't expect it to be much, but any difference would have an effect over a journey.

 

Ah! but the fines go into the public coffers and also keeps quangos employing those nice university types running the 'speed awareness' courses in jobs.

When it comes to targetting motorists you even get the odd person stopped and fined for taking a swig of water from a bottle/bite out of an apple whilst driving where I can prove demonstrably that I can do so without taking my eyes off the road or be distracted (albeit in most cases my wife hands me the bottle and takes it off me) Similarly during conversations with a passenger I often stop talking mid sentence when approaching a hazard like a busy junction or roundabout and continue after I have cleared the hazard. The idea that you must keep both hands on the wheel 100% of the time is also nonsense as is the idea you must never take your eyes off the road. Although experienced drivers can use engine sound and pitch to judge speed it is not accurate to the point of judging if you are 1 or 2 miles an hour under/ over the limit. You would be constantly looking at your speedometer particularly in hilly areas where constant adjustment of the accelerator is required (even cruise control can vary a couple of mph either side of the set speed)
Makes me wonder how such a numpty managed to rise to the level he has in the police force if he thinks that is the way forward and a priority in modern policing.

 

I use Verdestein sno-trac winter tyres ( WTs are required by law where we live) on winter alloy wheels from mid November to mid April. The wheel circumference is different (lower) since the winter wheels are 1 in smaller diameter than the wheels that came with the car. This was to allow some very expensive snow chains from my previous car to fit and also partly compensate between the standard fit ultra low profile summer tyres and the winter tyres with normal profile The difference in speedometer readings when compared to the Sat Nav readings (a top of the range Tom Tom device) is significant on both sets of tyres/wheels. That said the normal summer tyre speedometer reading on my particular car is 7-8% higher than the Sat Nav reading (which is more accurate using marker posts and timings over a known distance). So, my speedometer generally reads higher than my actual speed. I suspect therefore the odometer reads higher mileage than my car has actually done too.

 

Its fine, give it a few more years and you wont even be allowed to drive, the car will drive itself. And don't even start me on "SMART" motorways. Nothing like wasting a few billion to make roads more dangerous and chaotic.

 

how will it make people stare at the speedo more? Do they not bother checking their speed ? Or do they know that there is 10% leeway and stare at the speedo when it reaches 77mph ? i am genuinely baffled as to why people will suddenly become addicted to speedo watchiong?

 

Err... the point is there would be NO 10% leeway and so 31 in a 30 zone = fine and 3 points hence paranoid staring at speedometer every few seconds in built up areas