Is this driving ban too harsh?

No it means the sentence is suspended pending any further offences. If he winds up in court again for any reason the judge can recind the suspension and force him to serve the original sentence.
 
Yea, well, not knowing exactly what else was factored into this decision, so assuming nothing, then it's way over the top. The man was driving a Porsche like it was designed to be driven by the sound of it, apparently there wasn't much in the way of other traffic around anyway. I know the law is the law and all, but I don't agree with the main-road/motorway speed limits in this country anyway, that's another story though. I'm guessing he got most of that thrown at him more for trying to outrun the police car rather than the speed he was actually going though, which was a really stupid thing to do, if he'd just pulled over, held his hands up and said, yea I was driving my Porsche fast, sorry about that officer (wanna spin :p ) he would probably have gotten off far more lightly.
 
Moeks said:
I'm guessing he got most of that thrown at him more for trying to outrun the police car rather than the speed he was actually going though, which was a really stupid thing to do really.
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Exactly, he could have been driving a Ford Fiesta, topped out at 100 and would have got much the same sentence.
 
Muncher said:
How so Gilly?
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It just seems to me that we've been seeing for a long time people getting lenient sentences. This one, on the face of it, seems harsh until you break it all down, but if other sentences aren't brought in line with this then it is still harsh.

I agree with the other posters that say sentencing should be harsher for the worst motoring offences and that in light of this then the one in the OP isn't all that harsh. Others do need to be brought in line though.
 
doofer said:
What's more dangerous, driving at 150MPH with no traffic, or driving at 70MPH in heavy traffic with a 10ft gap between you and the guy in front?
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IMHO - speed is ok in the right time at the right place.

sadly, common sence doesnt prevail when there is money to be made out of drivers :rolleyes:
 
Driving at that kind of speed he should be sent down, forget the driving ban, he'll be back on the roads once his suspended sentence is up.

147mph, regardless of the car you're driving, is stupid. Simply stupid.
 
dilated said:
IMHO - speed is ok in the right time at the right place.

sadly, common sence doesnt prevail when there is money to be made out of drivers :rolleyes:
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personally i see no right time on a british road to do 147mph (gps or speedo).
even in the middle of the night on a motorway, the distance you travel in a few seconds is shocking, you might be ok at that speed, but the people infront of you wouldnt even know you were 2 miles behind them as they go to overtake someone.
 
Mickey_D said:
Kind of a sweeping generalisation there, isn't it? What about the loonies doing 200mph on the autobahn then? ;)
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the autobahns have a similar number of RTA's as we in the UK do, however due to the fact that the speeds involved in those RTA's are higher than they are here the degree of severity of the German accidents is much higher than our own.

IIRC wasn't the japanese guy that camcordered himself at 200MPH in his F40 jailed for it?
 
dilated said:
IMHO - speed is ok in the right time at the right place
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i agree, in principle.
however the basic fact of the matter is that the person who decides how fast he/she is going (ie the driver), is, in well over 95% of all cases, completely unqualified/uneducated and inexperienced enough to accurately decide.
 
You could be doing 147mph in a brand new Porsche or in an old battered Jaguar, what does it matter? The car can only aide the driver so much and if the driver has no idea of how to control the car at those speeds, he is inevitably going to cause some damage, either to themselves and/or other people. Most production tyres are not designed to do those kind of speeds, even if they're on a car that is more than capable of doing them. Apart from that, on the motorway where you are going to get debris etc, you need a serious amount of downforce to control the car at that speed if you need to swerve for any reason.

It's just simply idiotic no matter what car you're in. The autobahn is de-restricted in certain points because it is designed to handle cars doing fast speeds, our motorways aren't. The lanes are thin, they are bendy and in a lot of areas, poorly lit.

My opinion of the matter anyway, he deserves everything he gets and is very lucky he didn't cause further harm.
 
The_Dark_Side said:
i agree, in principle.
however the basic fact of the matter is that the person who decides how fast he/she is going (ie the driver), is, in well over 95% of all cases, completely unqualified/uneducated and inexperienced enough to accurately decide.
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Very true though that could be said for some of the police drivers I have seen as well who 'should' have these qualifications. Think the worst was when i was down in Cornwall on the A30 heading towards lands end. Fortunately I am pretty good at using my mirrors and on one of the big striaght sections I noticed a white car a long way back travelling fast. I said to g/f hold on as this car is gonna shake us a little. I was doing 80indicated, reckon he came past at 140mph (Was one of there nifty Volvo traffic cars and I am pretty good at recognising speeds). Thing is he shot past me then a car that was about 100yards in front then proceded to barge into a queue of cars in front of that car to pull off the A30. Now if this had been in an emergency situation no problem. Fact was he had NO lights on, NO siren and once he had finished having his little 'Speed Hit' and barged in he just sat with us in the queue on the rest of the road. IMO this police driver showed none of the above stated. As I said I noticed him in my mirrors so was ready for him to fly by and was ready for the wobble it would cause my car (its only two lane on this stretch), wonder what the drivers in front thought.

I'm not sure what the poster above means about production tyres not being made for that speed? As far as I was aware tyres come with different speed ratings and as long as the correct one is fitted it is perfectly capable of handling those speeds.

IF the guy had just been stopped for doing 147mph on a clear stretch of m-way then yes I'd say the punishment was WAY to harsh. However as others have said I think there is a lot more going on here on top of the fact he tried to out run the police and tried to give false information was just plain idiotic.

A lot of peoples views vary greatly on this topic. I am one that doesnt see a big problem with a little speed run when the road is clear ahead, though I must say personally I hate speeding at night as I just dont feel I can see far enough ahead even at the speed limits that apply to the particular road, thus i save the times i may creep the speed up a little to the daylight hours.
 
Gixer said:
I'm not sure what the poster above means about production tyres not being made for that speed? As far as I was aware tyres come with different speed ratings and as long as the correct one is fitted it is perfectly capable of handling those speeds.
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Stock tyres on a brand new car - maybe..... fact is a lot of people cut corners with their tyres and buy cheap road-going ones with reasonable grip, not ones designed to be pushed at 147mph for long periods on rough tarmac being hit with constant debris.
 
That is an interesting point. Is it not illegal for a tyre shop to sell tyres that are of the incorrect specification for the particular vehicle? and I would assume that the car should fail its MOT if it has the incorrect tyres fitted, if tyre rating is something that is checkd on an MOT?

I don't know the answer to those questions but I know personally myself I always buy a tyre with the correct rating and one that is known to be a good performer. It's something i never skimp on, on either my motor bike or my car.
 
I'm guessing some of you don't know the A47 very well, it's nowhere near a motorway it's a mostly single carriageway A road through rural East Anglia. There is no right time to travel at 147mph on a road like that, farmers have a strange habit at doing things at odd times, 24hr harvesting happens often.

I wonder if the next time some of you travel to the airport at 3 am think to yourself that it was the right time for the car that has just T boned me to be doing at least 77mph over the speed limit.

Those speeds are for the track, anyone justifying them really needs to wake up and grow up.
 
I know the A47 well and 147mph on it is just plain stupid. However I think the sentance is extremely harsh considering no damage was done and no one was hurt.

I dislike the concept of having a sentance based on "potential danger". What next? Serving time for a potential murder?
 
Rhyzz said:
It's just simply idiotic no matter what car you're in. The autobahn is de-restricted in certain points because it is designed to handle cars doing fast speeds, our motorways aren't. The lanes are thin, they are bendy and in a lot of areas, poorly lit.
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Thats also a good description for parts of the autobahn from what I hear.

147 with no central divider ? does sound pretty bad
 
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