Speeding When You Didn't See The Signs?
Discussion
I have been putting off posting this, but "a friend of mine" was caught a few weeks ago exceeding a temporary speed limit through road works on the northbound stretch of the M18 (near Rotherham). He had travelled up from down south, through numerous reduced speed limits all of which he managed to stay within.
He didn't realise, until he reached a NSL sign and a SPECS camera that he had been driving (for an unknown length of time) through a reduced limit. It was dark, there were no people working in the roadworks, no lanes closed and no apparent repeaters. He didn't see the 50 limit sign at the start of the section and had the cruise control set at 68mph.
Is there any point contesting this? I don't know if he will get the chance to do a speed-awareness course. He's been driving for 10 years and has never even had a warning for speeding before. He needs to drive for his job and, as far as I'm concerned, doesn't deserve the extra cost that will be associated with receiving points on his licence.
There's a good chance that the speed limit sign wasn't there or wasn't visible, but I guess that there's no way of him proving this. He's an exceptionally aware driver, but the sign(s) might have been hidden by another car/bus/lorry at the time.
Upon seeing the NSL sign, he decided that the safest thing to do was continue at his current speed. In hindsight, it might have been better for him to stop on the motorway for a couple of minutes before driving through the final SPECS camera.
He didn't realise, until he reached a NSL sign and a SPECS camera that he had been driving (for an unknown length of time) through a reduced limit. It was dark, there were no people working in the roadworks, no lanes closed and no apparent repeaters. He didn't see the 50 limit sign at the start of the section and had the cruise control set at 68mph.
Is there any point contesting this? I don't know if he will get the chance to do a speed-awareness course. He's been driving for 10 years and has never even had a warning for speeding before. He needs to drive for his job and, as far as I'm concerned, doesn't deserve the extra cost that will be associated with receiving points on his licence.
There's a good chance that the speed limit sign wasn't there or wasn't visible, but I guess that there's no way of him proving this. He's an exceptionally aware driver, but the sign(s) might have been hidden by another car/bus/lorry at the time.
Upon seeing the NSL sign, he decided that the safest thing to do was continue at his current speed. In hindsight, it might have been better for him to stop on the motorway for a couple of minutes before driving through the final SPECS camera.
Snowboy said:
If you can prove the speed limit signs weren't visible you might have some defence.
Have you actually received a ticket yet?
It's possible there were no signs because the road was in the process of being altered, the cameras may have been switched off and the nsl sign just left by mistake.
I have received the NIP. I went down there last week and I think that they've now removed the temporary speed limit, which means that there's no way of me proving whether or not there was sufficient signage at the time.Have you actually received a ticket yet?
It's possible there were no signs because the road was in the process of being altered, the cameras may have been switched off and the nsl sign just left by mistake.
One of my hopes after passing the NSL sign was that the cameras weren't switched on, but sadly they were.
Busted!Snappy89 said:
If it helps, I use the M18 all the time and upon approaching those particular roadworks (Junction with A1(M)), there were two seperate 50mph signs plus "average speed camera" signs. On the bridge there was at least one 50mph sign, and of course the NSL sign after the bridge. Using it every week for a while now, I'd say there was ample notice of speed. But the road has been returned to normal running so I think you'll have trouble with this one.
If that's the case, and they were in place when I drove through, I don't know how the hell I could possibly have missed them! It's not like I was tired or in a hurry, I didn't see anything to make me think that there was a reduced limit.The NIP says Junction 2 of the M18, which seems to be where you are describing.
Oh well, anyone know if I'll be able to do a Speed Awareness Course rather than have points for 68 in a 50?
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