Unsafe evidence of speeding????
Discussion
I''m looking for for opinions/advice.
Got stopped last night and given a fixed penalty notice for doing 46.82mph in a 30mph zone.
They used the ''time and distance'' equipment attached to the police car''s speedo. It said the distance was 1.5 miles. The driver told the other officer not to write the distance on the ticket and that they would write it on their copy. Sound odd? Not when you hear the whole story..
I had pulled up alongside the marked Volvo T70 at traffic lights and waited on red. The road is dual carriageway heading out of town. We pulled away and headed down the dual carriageway. Just over 3 tenths of a mile from the lights is the national speed limit sign (I gauged it with my odometer this morning). We both accelerate up to 70 mph after the sign but approx 1.1 miles later the lights come on and I''m pulled!
Of course the average over the whole distance will be more than 30mph!! I think I''ve been stitced up, don''t you??
How can I go about finding out what distance they have put on their paperwork back at the station? Am I entitled to know this before I decide to plead not guilty? If I have to plead guilty before I find out I will be doomed if they have written down 0.3 miles or less. If they have put 1.5 miles I''m going to take it all the way and hopefully get these officers suspended from duty...
Bosshog : I can't say for certain that I hadn't exceeded 30mph. I was keeping pace with the police car (who may have been excedding the limit himself!) but no way was I over 40mph. I'm not the brightest tool in the box but I'm not stupid enough to drag race a marked police car away from the lights!
Think I'll try and find a lawyer who give me half an hour of his time for free.
Hey, I didn't want to start a fight here!
I admit that I do exceed speed limits. Only liars say they don't. If I had been caught doing over a ton I would gladly have torn up my licence myself. I appreciate a fair cop and my point is that I don't think this particular case is. I've only had one speeding conviction in my life which was 10 years ago when I was 21. I got a lecture and it sunk in. I've had a clean licence since because I don't drive like a tit. I save that for track days.
My idea of fun is not to goad marked police cars into a race; which is basically what I'm being accused of here. I respect the police and the law, however stupid it might be, but expect to be dealt with justly in return.
On this occasion I feel wronged, and with some reason. I don't want to have to plead guilty and end with a fine I can't afford and more than 3 points on my licence. But I don't see why I should roll over and pay £60 for a fund raising exercise either.
I'd just like to thank you guys for your support over this. Your posts have proved helpful almost without exeption. Just over a week has passed since the event and I have (almost) calmed down. I am no longer inclined to lead a lynch mob to the local police station or petrol bomb the traffic police pound in the dead of night. I'm even prepared to accept that the officers made a genuine mistake. Not that my attitude has anything to do with keeping the points off my clean licence.
Through a network of friends I have found my way to somebody who knows the Head of Traffic Intelligence for the County Force (who was it that said the phrase 'Military Intelligence' was a contradiction in terms? Sorry, couldn't resist..). The hope is that some some subtle digging may reveal whether or not the distance on the ticket corresponds with what I saw in the car. If so, a suggestion may be made in appropriate ears that the ticket should 'just go away'. At the very least I'll know whether or not to go and see a brief.
In response to macca's question (have you got a nice car?) I suppose it is all relative. I know most of you guys have TVR's or Lotuses (Loti ?? ) and I consider that to be VERY nice. I've also noticed that in other sections of the forum many have expressed dim views on Euro blobs. It is with some trepidation that I tell you I own a Peugeot 306 GTi-6.
If by 'nice' you mean quick then it is quick enough for me. I've had it off the 140mph clock at Bruntingthorpe from a rolling start and it has been clocked with Datron equipment at 127mph at Alconbury airfield on a photo shoot. That was from a standing start and the runway is shorter than Bruntingthorpe; the test driver ran out of space before he could put it in sixth gear so there was plenty left.
And before PetrolTed asks I have NOT stuck the entire contents of a Richbrook and Ripspeed catalogue all over it nor tinted the windows nor spent Saturday night doing burnouts at Sainsbury's in front of baseball-hat wearing, spotty, Nova drivers...
Amen to that!
I paid up the fine a few weeks back now on the basis that justice was at a price I not prepared to risk. All it needed was a magistrate with indigestion and I could have got a lot more points and much bigger fine just because of a point of principle. It'll be a long time before I'll overtake a marked car again, even if it is stuck behind a milk float!
You've got to be philosophical about these things if you are going to stay sane. If I add up all those 'not quite amber' lights I've chanced, chevrons I've overtaken on, pavements I've parked on and wreckless single cariageway overtaking manoeuvres I'd say I've done fairly well to only have two fixed penalties in 15 years driving. There are good guys and bad guys in every profession and I got unlucky. It's all swings and round-a-bouts...
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