32 in a 30!!!!!
Discussion
tuscan_v8 said:This has always only ever been a guideline or rule of thumb. The best you could say in the past is that in general, you would be unlikely to be prosecuted for anything under 10% + 2.
I think you are allowed 10% + 2mph over the speed limit
Legally, you could be prosecuted for 30.1mph, unfortunately.
Having said that, I agree that being prosecuted for 32mph in a 30mph limit is patently ridiculous.
cdp said:As far as I am aware a car's speedo is allowed to be optimistic (ie. it is acceptable for it to indicate that you are doing 30mph when, in fact, you are actually only doing 27mph) but it is NOT allowed to be pessimistic (ie. indicate that you are doing 30mph when you are, in fact, doing 32mph).
Also is there an error margin in the speedo?
You could therefore have your speedo checked at a true 30mph and if it is over-reading you could approach the manufacturer, but I don't think it is a strong line of defence.
Far better to contact the papers and turn it into an embarrassment for the authorities. I can see the front page of The Sun already.
>> Edited by JonRB on Tuesday 3rd August 12:45
JonRB said:
Also is there an error margin in the speedo?
As far as I am aware a car's speedo is allowed to be optimistic (ie. it is acceptable for it to indicate that you are doing 30mph when, in fact, you are actually only doing 27mph) but it is NOT allowed to be pessimistic (ie. indicate that you are doing 30mph when you are, in fact, doing 32mph).
You could therefore have your speedo checked at a true 30mph and if it is over-reading you could approach the manufacturer, but I don't think it is a strong line of defence.
Far better to contact the papers and turn it into an embarrassment for the authorities. I can see the front page of The Sun already.
>> Edited by JonRB on Tuesday 3rd August 12:45
I was also wondering about the accuracy of the camera, 6% is a fairly small margin if they are measuring off a picture and radar has a poor reputation.
IIRC a standard speedo is more likely to read lower at slower speeds (ie your actully going quicker) and faster at higher speeds (ie your going slower).
The only reason I remeber this was a chap was following some police officer might have been our fav friend (brunstrum) he was of course pax being ferried and the chaps (press) had a GPS speedo and clocked there car at just over the 40 limit they where in, and made a fuss about it in the papers. The person concerened then said no we wasnt speeding, a speedo can be x out at low speeds and likely to be more accurate at higher speeds. This was a few years back but the principle must be the same.
As cars speedos are generally not calibrated after the cars on the road (Bib excluded) is the whole reason for the 10% for the inaccuracys of such devices.
Personally id play stink contact the local papers, see if you can get hold of the nationals and tell the scam partnership to stick it
The only reason I remeber this was a chap was following some police officer might have been our fav friend (brunstrum) he was of course pax being ferried and the chaps (press) had a GPS speedo and clocked there car at just over the 40 limit they where in, and made a fuss about it in the papers. The person concerened then said no we wasnt speeding, a speedo can be x out at low speeds and likely to be more accurate at higher speeds. This was a few years back but the principle must be the same.
As cars speedos are generally not calibrated after the cars on the road (Bib excluded) is the whole reason for the 10% for the inaccuracys of such devices.
Personally id play stink contact the local papers, see if you can get hold of the nationals and tell the scam partnership to stick it
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