Caporegime
- Joined
- 11 Mar 2005
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- 32,247
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- Leafy Cheshire
And he would be right, it wasn't luck he managed the risk.
The most points you have had on your license at any time
- Thread starter Sparky
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 10 Sep 2008
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- 11,973
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- Bangor, Northern Ireland
None so far in 6 years of driving, have been pulled over a good few times though. Must have an innocent face 
Although i did get a £30 fine for driving with my rear foglight on when i was 17, the officer didnt beleive that my knee hit the button 
Although i did get a £30 fine for driving with my rear foglight on when i was 17, the officer didnt beleive that my knee hit the button 
Indeed, I have never said otherwise, however with risk minimisation (would this be a point to mention all this was taught to me by a police pursuit driving instructor?) you can dramatically lengthen the odds on each occasion, which makes the odds shorten at a much more acceptable rate than if you went out and followed the 'average' speeders behaviour.
Luck is not part of it, it is not luck that prevents you being the 1 in x, but the fact that you have extended the odds to a 1 in yx where the chance of getting caught on that occasion is dramatically reduced to near zero. There are points where you cannot extend the odds to an acceptable level, and those are the points where you don't speed at all. There is a reason why I spend most of my time on the A38 with the cruise set to the speed limit, for example, between Plymouth and Exeter.
Where gambling and odds are concerned, luck is always a factor in beating odds. You cannot have gambling, odds and not have luck somewhere in the equation. You speed, you gamble on not being caught. I suspect we agree on this whole issue except to the point of luck, where you deny it plays ANY part WHATSOEVER which I'm afraid is not correct.
You said that to not get caught speeding you have to be lucky, I disagreed, you can mitigiate the risks to the point where you have to be really unlucky to get caught, and you can further extend that to where you are highly unlikely to get caught even through the unlucky factor, at which point luck does not play a meaningful part in any calculation. Furthermore, to say that luck defines life is to abdicate responsibilities for your choices.
To not get caught EVER involves SOME luck.
Is it luck that I don't step out of my front door and get hit by a toilet seat from a space station?
I'll say, blood hurts I tell you!
Soldato
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
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Dolph/DD - you're both right to an extent, but the toilet seat analogy doesn't really fit though - if you speed, you can mitigate the risk of getting caught. The 2nd set of points I got were for 81 mph on a stretch of fairly quiet motorway, keeping up with traffic. Scamera van on the hard shoulder would've done a roaring trade that day.
Luck is, however, a small part of it. It is the day you're in a rush but have to slow down for some reason, only to go past plod who has a new hiding place. It's the day you're not caught because the copper decides that 81mph on his gun isn't worth chasing you for. Sure, you can reduce the risk, and more importantly, make your own luck, but you will get lucky, same as we all get unlucky from time to time. You can be a perfectly good driver and still be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Luck is, however, a small part of it. It is the day you're in a rush but have to slow down for some reason, only to go past plod who has a new hiding place. It's the day you're not caught because the copper decides that 81mph on his gun isn't worth chasing you for. Sure, you can reduce the risk, and more importantly, make your own luck, but you will get lucky, same as we all get unlucky from time to time. You can be a perfectly good driver and still be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Most points I've had on my license at any one time: 9
Total number of points so far: 15
Number of speed awareness courses attended: 1
This was all a long time ago now, and I'll be the first to admit I've been really lucky in keeping my licence all these years.
Speeding its not big etc etc.
Total number of points so far: 15
Number of speed awareness courses attended: 1
This was all a long time ago now, and I'll be the first to admit I've been really lucky in keeping my licence all these years.
Speeding its not big etc etc.
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 17 Nov 2003
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- Southampton, UK
Three for speeding, which are due to come off next year.
5 points, one offence.
Bizarrely, after getting that, I had no problem staying to the speed limits until my 2 years had expired, you'd think I would have crashed at least a dozen times from all the time spent looking at the speedometer in order to know my speed, or accidentally sneezing and ending up 15mph over the limit .
Bizarrely, after getting that, I had no problem staying to the speed limits until my 2 years had expired, you'd think I would have crashed at least a dozen times from all the time spent looking at the speedometer in order to know my speed, or accidentally sneezing and ending up 15mph over the limit .
13 points.
3 for dangerous condition of vehicle - Rust on the front wing which was too sharp apparently
3 for defective brakes - they found a small brake fluid leak on my mk1 Escort which had a Rover P6 servo, Capri vented discs and 4 pot calipers instead of the original brake drums which it had when I got the car.
3 points - Speeding on M3 around Farnham way, 95mph
4 points - exactly the same as above, except as it was taking me over the 12 points I had to go to court and got 4 points rather than a fixed penalty. The annoying thing was that 3 of my points were coming off the very night that I got caught speeding. So if I'd been caught 12 hours later I wouldn't have lost my license. They gave me a 6 month ban though, the toughest penalty for totting up points at the time.
3 for dangerous condition of vehicle - Rust on the front wing which was too sharp apparently
3 for defective brakes - they found a small brake fluid leak on my mk1 Escort which had a Rover P6 servo, Capri vented discs and 4 pot calipers instead of the original brake drums which it had when I got the car.
3 points - Speeding on M3 around Farnham way, 95mph
4 points - exactly the same as above, except as it was taking me over the 12 points I had to go to court and got 4 points rather than a fixed penalty. The annoying thing was that 3 of my points were coming off the very night that I got caught speeding. So if I'd been caught 12 hours later I wouldn't have lost my license. They gave me a 6 month ban though, the toughest penalty for totting up points at the time.
