Think my clean license has gone

Mad old tory

Mad old tory

Mad old tory

Soldato
Joined
25 May 2003
Posts
9,361
Location
Limehouse
Was driving back from Cheltenham to uni at Egham (Folks have gone on holiday so borrowed Mum's car :p) and pretty sure I've been done by a camera van in a layby on the A417 towards Cirencester :(.

Was doing about 80 or so either just under or just over, depending on where he picked me up from. Obviously i eased off a bit once I spotted the van but iirc by the time you spot it, it's already too late. Perhaps I'll get lucky and my indicated speed of ~80 translates into a true speed of 75 etc and I won't get done.

Little bit naffed off, great visibility, perfect weather and very few cars on the road, so in safety terms I was perfectly within my rights to be doing that speed. Still, I was over the limit so can have no complaints legally even if the law is an ass :(:p.

We'll see in a couple of weeks though. Sorry for the rant/moan just a shame my clean license of 4yrs looks to be on its way to Swansea for some points.
 
The 417 is a mare, ive had some scares on that road:(

Im still surprised ive got a clean licence, i got done last in 02, since then ive had way quicker cars:eek:
 
I have a little faith when it's not a gatso, I don't think you'll get done. Could always be wrong though :p

I'm surprised I've got a clean licence tbh.
 
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cyclopopcicle said:
how does this one work?
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Hmm let's see. 70mph limit introduced forty years ago when cars like ford anglias were common. I was driving a megane with abs, disc brakes etc so stopping distances are far shorter than the anglia. Couple that with fine driving conditions and I'd say I was probably a lot safer at 80mph than doing 70mph in an anglia. I'm not disputing the fact that I may have been caught driving over the limit and thus they are within rights to fine me etc. I still think I was perfectly safe driving at 80 though.
 
I dont believe there's a person on this forum (read: in existence, given the demographics here) that hasn't driven over the speed limit. Everyone does it. Just makes it hard to moan about afterwards :P
 
Bomag said:
It may have been safe but it ain't legal.
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But it is safe. Personally I'm firmly of the belief that Laws should provide a distinct safety improvement or a dramatic increase in risk when broken. Not surprisingly, the speeding laws and their current enforcement fail this test completely.

But then, some people are happy not to worry about road safety in favour of blind obidence of the law.
 
Mad old tory said:
Hmm let's see. 70mph limit introduced forty years ago when cars like ford anglias were common. I was driving a megane with abs, disc brakes etc so stopping distances are far shorter than the anglia. Couple that with fine driving conditions and I'd say I was probably a lot safer at 80mph than doing 70mph in an anglia. I'm not disputing the fact that I may have been caught driving over the limit and thus they are within rights to fine me etc. I still think I was perfectly safe driving at 80 though.
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the law isnt always about safety, its about giving a blanket rule for everyone, and its not our choice to say that if i drive a better car i can do more than the blanket rule. also remember that the older cars are still around, so the blanket speed rule will be with us for some time, not to mention yes you may have a modern car but are all your brake systems working perfectly? maybe they are if you maintain it well, but do others do the same? look at the state of cars of the same age as your car.

Dolph said:
But it is safe. Personally I'm firmly of the belief that Laws should provide a distinct safety improvement or a dramatic increase in risk when broken. Not surprisingly, the speeding laws and their current enforcement fail this test completely.

But then, some people are happy not to worry about road safety in favour of blind obidence of the law.
Click to expand...

but it is safe?, one of the problems is that yes you may be driving safe but what about someone else near by maybe as you pass them they dont see you and change direction into your path, what then? ok 70 is still gona hurt, but not as much as at 80

what do you mean by your last sentance?
 
Dolph said:
But then, some people are happy not to worry about road safety in favour of blind obidence of the law.
Click to expand...

It's not really blind obidience though is it? If i get done twice i've got to redo everything from scratch, unlearn all the bad habits i've picked up etc. On that basis if i don't know the area i drive to the speed limit then i can't get caught :)

The plod are getting sneakier and sneakier. Just outside Aldridge they were hiding in a hedge with a laser gun zapping people. This is in a 40 zone that quite recently was NSL and really should still be NSL as there are no houses or driveways to speak of apart from the golf club.
 
cyclopopcicle said:
the law isnt always about safety, its about giving a blanket rule for everyone, and its not our choice to say that if i drive a better car i can do more than the blanket rule. also remember that the older cars are still around, so the blanket speed rule will be with us for some time, not to mention yes you may have a modern car but are all your brake systems working perfectly? maybe they are if you maintain it well, but do others do the same? look at the state of cars of the same age as your car.
Click to expand...

The law should always be about safety. As such it's effect should be tangible and verifiable. If it's not, it's legislation for legislation's sake, and that's bad.

but it is safe?, one of the problems is that yes you may be driving safe but what about someone else near by maybe as you pass them they dont see you and change direction into your path, what then? ok 70 is still gona hurt, but not as much as at 80

what do you mean by your last sentance?
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The government's own figures show that excessive speed (which doesn't just include exceeding the posted limit) is only a factor in about 5% of accidents. In your own example, the speed has nothing to do with the cause of the accident. It's caused by bad driving, not speed, and as such speeding legislation does nothing to address the cause of the accident, or indeed do much to change the outcome. Furthermore, differences in car ability are going to play a far greater factor in whether the accident can be avoided than simple speed.

By my last sentance, I mean that the government with their speed kills campaign of lies have managed to make everyone concerned with a factor that doesn't cause accidents, to the detriment of general driving standards and awareness, in spite of the evidence from their own research that demonstrates this. The reduction in police numbers and the creation of a 'enforcement by numbers' campaign is the worst road safety problem of the last twenty years, and this is shown the the fact that, since cameras were introduced, improvements in road safety have levelled off (when they were previously falling year on year).
 
your right in what you say about "the law should always be about safety. As such it's effect should be tangible and verifiable", but the thing is there are so many variables out there as in the state of some cars, and there owners, they are trying to account for all not just some better cars or people, sometimes this works and sometimes it doesnt, and yes i agree speed doesnt cause accidents, the driver does, and here again is the problem there are a lot of people that think that they are ok to go over the limit as they think they are great drivers, but in reality are they? some are, but most are not.
so who decides who can drive safely over the limit or not?
i am sure most people on these forums think are great drivers, but how many really are?
hence the reason for blanket limits for all, and as you point out sometimes its excesive speed not speeding that is a large factor in accidents not going at a speed that suits the conditions, some people see a 30 sign and will do 30 even tho 15-20 is more suitable. but then again there are people that see a 30 and will happily do 40 as they are a great driver?
 
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