Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Stopped for speeding, advice please.

[Iconic944ss]

I had always wondered how I'd react to being stopped for speeding and today I found out but, I didn’t think it would be in my car.

Circumstances:
Urban dual carriageway, sign posted at 40 mph. I know this stretch of road very well as I use it to get to work most days. After stopping at a set of traffic lights, I checked my speed before cresting the top of a railway bridge that has a fairly steep incline on the other side - I was travelling at just over 40mph.

Interestingly enough a youngish driver in an A4 2.5L Audi had overtaken me (I was in the nearside at all times) and was pulling away from me until we came to the next stop - in two roundabouts time.

After both slowing down for the next roundabout - we continued along the next section of dual carriageway, again with the Audi driver accelerating away from me.

I'll have to be honest and say that I was accelerating but didn’t look to check my speed as the road was not very busy at that time, 11:00 in the morning.

Sat on the on side of the next roundabout was a traffic patrol car, backed into a disused section of road with the side of car facing into main direction of traffic - I thought it was so usual that I started to look for signs of an accident.

At the entrance to the roundabout the road splits in three lanes - I chose the middle lane, to drive onto a slip road, while the Audi driver turned right and into a minor road.

The Police officer followed me and quickly turned his flashing lights on, after the shock and thinking 'does he want ME' type thoughts I pulled over to be asked if I knew what the speed limit was on the road.

I replied that it was 40mph. At which point the officer stated he had just recorded me at 55mph and wanted to talk to me in his car.

I was quite stunned by this...I only drive a knackered old Peugeot 2valve 405, OK its a 2.0L SRI but its still dog slow.

The officer was very fair - he showed me the gun he used which I think is a Radar type but didn’t have any video recorder on it. I said again that I didn’t think I was going that fast possibly between 45 and 50 but no faster. Sadly, I didn’t have the presence of mind to mention the Audi driver. The officer did to his credit mention that the camera ‘might’ be affected by the very high winds today but, that he personally felt it unlikely.

I accepted the fixed penalty points at the time but am starting to feel that I should dispute this for the following reason, in priority:

1) I think the officer has in some way recorded the Audi that was in front of me in the outside lane.

2) The high winds have affected the accuracy of the equipment / operation.
(He apparently recorded my speed at 375 meters away from his car)


3) Even though the dual carriage way was not busy, there was a reasonable volume of traffic at the roundabout that might have an effect.

I had kind of talked myself into contesting anyway BUT, after reading some of the threads on here (thanks everyone for the details and info) now, I’m not so sure.
I can’t afford any legal representation and certainly can’t afford legal costs in the event of losing a case. I guess this is the position many people find themselves in so they just pay the £60 and accept the penalty points.

How do insurance companies view 3 points on a licence by the way?

As an aside this is the first time in 21 years of driving and riding that I’ve been given a fine. I’ve only been stopped twice, for a blown tail bulb and spot check!

Finally, I have no axe to grind with the poor copper – he sounded genuinely sorry but did explain a little of how the gun worked to me. Its obvious to me now that if you are speeding and see a police car at virtually any distance and they have a gun or unit of almost any kind then its too late….they have already ‘done’ you……something I certainly was not aware of…….it could just be worth it as a £60 lesson of life.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Comments welcomed please – Regards – Frank.

[Rattler]

.........seems you were a bit unlucky with this one.

I think that with so many speeding convictions that insurance companies see it as a lesser offence than previously, but they'll still up the premium if they have the chance.

It may be a case of biting the bullet on this one though!

Good luck
Tim

[ScottyB]

Iconic,

You are going to have great difficulty in turning this one around.

If you had your license with you and produced it you have automatically made an admission of guilt which at a later date would be hard to overturn.

As for the radar gun, if you can prove it was not calibrated that morning then your conviction can be squashed. Sadly again to stand any chance with this you need to ask at the time for proof it was checked. This is the case with vehicles fitted with VASCAR also.....often the coppers will forget or not have the time....

They are becoming wise to this one though and will no doubt find something else to give you points for I.E. baldy tyre etc etc.

On this occasion i would suggest that you bite the bullet and take the 60 quid.

Like you have pointed out the legal expenses can be high....Pity you never mentioned the Audi driver at the time, by the sounds of things the copper was fairly friendly and helpful and may have let you away with a warning.

Regards

ScottyB

[chicken]

Frank,
you should check with a couple of insurance companies anyway (just ring around for quotes) as my experience has been that they usually disregard one speeding offence.

I used to have a TS10 (going through a red light - long story which I won't go into here), which got me 3 points and a £40 fine.

Come the insurance call around, the conversations went something like this:

xx: Do you have any points or convictions?
me: erm....3 points....
xx: For speeding? Don't worry, they'll disregard that.
me:erm....no, it's a TS10...
xx: Oh....that'll be an extra £300 pounds please. I'll wait while you punch yourself in the stomach.

Take it further because you think you are in the right, but don't worry about future financial penalties.

Chi
ps Will try to catch you on my next trip 'oop north'

[Iconic944ss]

I didnt have any documents with me - after having a car broken into a few years ago and just to make things worse my car passed it MOT just a month previously.

Gotta say I've changed my mind and will probably take the hit, does not feel right, laying down and letting 'the system' win but sometimes I guess its personally the right thing to do.

Thanks for the replies

Frank

[Rob B]

Frank,

My advice, be big and drop it. No matter what you have thought about, afer the fact, you have made the basic mistake of making an admission of guilt, "between 45 & 50" that's enough to convict you without a gun. Even if he was picking up a response from the otehr car, you admited speeding too. 50 in a 40 limit, effectively.

It's a bugger, I got flashed this week too. Risk of using the UK roads these days I am afraid.

Regards,

Rob

[pguenet]

Check this link Frank you have most of the information you need on this.

www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk

I guess this is really a question of bitting the bullet for that one.

You could try and contest saying that he measured the speed at quite a distance and because of the proximity of the Audi that was just overtaking you there could be some misreading. But you would have to contest on the spot and not accept guilt.

Also the laser equipment they use is very accurate and at that distance in a car you don't stand much chance. It would be a bit different on the bike because of the reduced size of the bike's front end and the difficulty for their equipment to get a reading on something that is all curved at the front end, they generally catch you at a closer distance with a bike (like 150m). That gives a little bit more of a chance to spot them.

But on the other hand, if you had been on the bike the Audi driver wouldn't have stood a chance hey, and you would have been done much faster!

[Iconic944ss]

Very True on the previous two post guys, I've found various good links by searching for 'speeding' here on the site.

Two big stumbing blocks - I didnt mention the other car and I didnt ask about the calibration record.

Seems you need to be a superhuman robot with good acting abilities on the spot to get round some things.

Interestingly I just read Cleveland county are only going to issue warnings up to posted speed limit + 10% + 2 mph

which for 40mph sadly only = 46 mph.

Nope, time to swallow pride and pay up.

The sad things that yes, I could of easily been doing MUCH faster on my old, old Duke (and have done early in on a morning it that exact spot) - apparently if I'd of been zapped at 65 and not 55 mph I'd be looking at an instant 6 month ban !!!

Frank

[Iconic944ss]

Interesting story. Iconic

Quote:
How do insurance companies view 3 points on a licence by the way?


Judging from other messages here, they don't take any notice at all. So many are getting fined nowadays that it's almost like death and taxes -- inevitable. If yours proposes to add anything to your premium I'd suggest strongly you look around for another insurance company.

Posted: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 08:37:23 +0000 Post subject:

iconic944ss said:
Quote:
I said again that I didn’t think I was going that fast possibly between 45 and 50

Wrong thing to say. Between 45 and 50 is exceeding the posted limit and the officer after mentioned his device could have been affected by high winds but he had already had a confession so the device didn't matter. He relied solely on what you said.

As ker-ching said 3 points has little or no affect with most policies, maybe about £15-£20. But if you get another 3 it will.

Frank

[FiscusFish]

As the others have suggested, take the points and run. At a recorded 15 mph over the limit you could have ended up with a summons not a fixed penalty and then you'd probably be talking lots of money (You're not famous after all...).

A fixed penalty 3 points speeding conviction has never made any difference to my insurance and I've had a few (Only ever one at a time though) so I'd hope you'd be OK.