A certain type of person..

[Streetcop]

We hear people on here all the time with lots of penalty points and potential disqualifications...

Now Im not saying I'm right, but could it be that these people are in fact speeding in the wrong places...

The reason that I ask this is that I, together with lots of friends and aquaintances have been known to exceed the speed limit occasionally....(conditions/locations permitting and all that)...

Now considering I have a 1100cc/164bph motorcycle that does 80mph in first gear, I've never been flashed by a camera, let alone been prosecuted...Coincidence? Luck?

Street

[towman]

Streetcop said:

We hear people on here all the time with lots of penalty points and potential disqualifications... Now Im not saying I'm right, but could it be that these people are in fact speeding in the wrong places... The reason that I ask this is that I, together with lots of friends and aquaintances have been known to exceed the speed limit occasionally....(conditions/locations permitting and all that)... Now considering I have a 1100cc/164bph motorcycle that does 80mph in first gear, I've never been flashed by a camera, let alone been prosecuted...Coincidence? Luck? Street

Local knowledge obviously helps, as does reading the road for potential sites. An interesting survey would be to find out how many NiPs are issued for sites within 10 miles from home and how many in "faraway lands"!

Steve

[yi8tvr]

Streetcop said:

We hear people on here all the time with lots of penalty points and potential disqualifications... Now Im not saying I'm right, but could it be that these people are in fact speeding in the wrong places... The reason that I ask this is that I, together with lots of friends and aquaintances have been known to exceed the speed limit occasionally....(conditions/locations permitting and all that)... Now considering I have a 1100cc/164bph motorcycle that does 80mph in first gear, I've never been flashed by a camera, let alone been prosecuted...Coincidence? Luck? Street

Fair comment, i have been out with ride drive and was told that in 30 limits do 30 and so on but when you see the NSL sign thats your green light. All sounds ok but do bib sit on NSL roads with lazer. My journey home covers all the above but in the back of my mind im always conscience of the fact that one day you will not play fair and then bingo another 3 points. Can you be trusted. Are you told where to sit and just do it like lemmings or do you have some freedom and use your loaf.

[fish]

I understand in Derbyshire they are having a crack down on fast B roads this month....

[Don]

Streetcop said:

but could it be that these people are in fact speeding in the wrong places...

I believe there is a grain of truth in that view.

I regularly go out and hit three figure speeds...largely, it has to be said, for the hell of it rather than any great need to get somewhere quickly.

Where exactly I do this is "way out there" on roads I know and go to specifically for the purpose.

Around my hometown and also in areas I do not know intimately I drive at the speed limit...or lower as conditions permit.

I'll now add that when travelling on business if the free travelling speed on the motorway allows progress which would attract points but not a ban I enjoy shortening the journey time by that margin.

I've never been flashed by a GATSO...despite passing lots of them.

I have been nicked by a mobile unit for doing 70 in a 60 where I mistakenly believed the limit to be 70: thanks North Wales Police...

So - so far in my driving career I have believed that if I speed sensibly I am vanishingly unlikely to be prosecuted for it...and so far I would say that this has been true.

I'm afraid that I also now believe that this is changing and that even following the careful practices I do I will be caught for a technical offences or genuine mistakes and get three pointers...occaisionally.

Since I drive a lot I feel I run the risk of being banned under totting up...if the current speed enforcement climate does not change...

[Don]

fish said:

I understand in Derbyshire they are having a crack down on fast B roads this month....

This is the sort of enforcement I fear...

Clearly there are B roads with villages and so on or dangerous sections where drivers and riders have been killed.

But actually the enforcement has to be somewhere on the same B road where its possible to point the laser at a car some distance away in safety and, if necessary, flag down the offender, pull them in and proffer them the paperwork.

By definition this will be a straight, safe piece of road - the very location (during B road blasts) that drivers look at and press the pedal on the right.


Here's an idea.

Mobile speed enforcement vans should have to put warning signs 100m prior to the checking zone. If you're stupid enough to miss the sign "POLICE SPEED CHECKS HERE TODAY" then you probably deserve the points...

[andykent]

Streetcop said:

let alone been prosecuted...Coincidence? Luck?

Could it have anything to do with being pulled over and then flashing the bib membership card, and suddenly everything is forgotten

Seriously though, not suggesting that you have or would do this, but in certain sections of the force this must happen ?

[JonRB]

Don said:

Mobile speed enforcement vans should have to put warning signs 100m prior to the checking zone. If you're stupid enough to miss the sign "POLICE SPEED CHECKS HERE TODAY" then you probably deserve the points...

But Don, think of the profit. Think of the bottom line, man! Revenue would tumble! Is that any way to run a business?

[rsvnigel]

Streetcop said:

could it be that these people are in fact speeding in the wrong places...

True, I mostly behave in town and whilst passing through the villages, and have been 'lucky' so far

Streetcop said:

I've never been flashed by a camera, let alone been prosecuted...Coincidence? Luck?

Could it be when your out playing on home turf you know if there is going to be a crackdown on speeding in a certain area?

Oop north they're starting to target the roads you'd normally consider safe, with unmarked cars and bikes and now fing helicopters

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3531000.stm

I guess when your in 'foreign parts', it's probably just a matter of time before you get caught on an unfamiliar stretch of road, a bit like:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/442811.stm

[blademan]

Hi Streetcop.
I have been riding the same journey on the A5 for 3 years and have not been Gatso'd or scammed. However, as you know there have been 2 near misses. I think the poster who said about being scammed on a known journey vs unknown has a point. ie If I hadn't been on my stretch of A5 before and I was speeding, chances are I would get nicked, simply because I would'nt have known the whereabouts and habits of scam vans. Now I know where they are "likely" to be I am cautious. On the area's they dont patrol then I wind it up ( still 2 figures though............by and large

If I rode say in Yorkshire/Lancs/Wales then knowing their reputation I would in all honesty ride within limits.
So yes I agree with you.
There probably IS a "certain type of person" who blindly speeds everywhere, hence they get caught !!
Simple innit

[pdV6]

I dunno - my driving style hadn't changed for 15 years, i.e. speed appropriate to conditions.

Then last year I got NIPped twice in 2 weeks; once on an open country A road with no traffic in sight (70 in a 60) and again on an empty dual carriageway that had recently had its 70 limit reduced to 50 (why???) - 70 in a 50.

So, in my case "No" - I don't believe I'm speeding in the wrong places; its the scam partnerships that are deliberately targetting us to make a few £££. I honestly believe that a copper would have at most given me a talking to for both "offences", if they had even bothered to pull me.

[axj]

I think there is an element of luck here (which tends to run out eventually).

I got mugged by a camera for the first time a few months ago - 43 on a three lane carriageway where the speed was recently reduced to 30 and a speed camera installed at the bottom of the hill.

A couple of weeks after this, I nearly got mugged by a scamera van on a bridge on a desolate Sunday morning
on 3 lane stretch of the A40. Speed was previously 70 on this stretch now reduced to a ridiculous 50 which 90% of drivers never keep to. Only avoided a NIP because I was slowing down to turn off. If not, would have got another 3 points as because of the layout of that stretch of road I would not have seen the scamera van until it was too late.

[pdV6]

Don said:

Here's an idea. Mobile speed enforcement vans should have to put warning signs 100m prior to the checking zone. If you're stupid enough to miss the sign "POLICE SPEED CHECKS HERE TODAY" then you probably deserve the points...

Saw one last night on the Downs in Bristol.

They'd actually bothered to put up a temporary camera sign (can't have been more than about 8 inches square!) on a lamp post.

Helpfully the black tape they'd used to secure it went all the way around the sign in a diagonal, so it looked like the sign was saying "No cameras here"

Even better was the fact that the scam van was parked maybe 15-20 yds beyond the sign, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they were targetting cars 100-200 yds away.

And they still say its not about the money...

[TripleS]

Streetcop said:

We hear people on here all the time with lots of penalty points and potential disqualifications... Now Im not saying I'm right, but could it be that these people are in fact speeding in the wrong places... The reason that I ask this is that I, together with lots of friends and aquaintances have been known to exceed the speed limit occasionally....(conditions/locations permitting and all that)... Now considering I have a 1100cc/164bph motorcycle that does 80mph in first gear, I've never been flashed by a camera, let alone been prosecuted...Coincidence? Luck? Street

Well we all benefit from a bit of good luck at times, but I guess you're probably good at choosing the right situations in which to, as it were, slip over the limit a bit. In my case I think I've been very luck not to get 'done' as I must have exceeded speed limits many thousands of times over the years, though until recently I have not travelled much in areas infested with speed cameras. Now that I travel more widely I am having to become more observant regarding the infernal devices.

Obviously from what has been said, some PH members break the NSL as often as possible, and by the maximum possible margin (subject to preserving safety) as a deliberate act of defiance. Well I am not going to criticise them for that, because I detest the NSL as much as anyone, but that's not my reason for speeding.

On the open road I merely drive at speeds based on:
a) What I feel is appropriate at that particular time.
b) Ensuring that safety is properly maintained.
c) Avoiding causing concern to other road users.
d) Minimising the risk of being caught and penalised.

That's what governs it for me.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[Le TVR]

Streetcop said:

Now considering I have a 1100cc/164bph motorcycle that does 80mph in first gear, I've never been flashed by a camera, let alone been prosecuted...Coincidence? Luck? Street

Neither I think.

Having covered significant mileage either side of the channel I would offer the following:

There seem to exist a large number of road users who do the same journey every day and they appear to go into an 'auto-pilot' mode behind the wheel. I dont think they are blind, but they drive like they are.
They dont think they are dangerous because they are doing the same as yesterday and the day before. They observe but they do not 'see'. You sometimes see whole groups of cars being flashed - surely after 1 flash those following would react... but no.

Maybe all those years with an FZR1000R taught me 110% real observation. I guess in your case its the same?

[ftasb]

I agree to a very large extent with street on this point.

Theses Scameras etc., are another hazard to driving and the less hazard aware and clueless amongst us will inevitably be collared more often, some of us will just be plain unlucky, but if it is at a junction or near a school etc. shouldn't you be driving with increased awareness and be prepared for hazards, whether that is a child running out, a numpty pulling out, or a speed camera???
I also accept that the devious little muggers hide their vans in the most lucrative and non-safety enhancing of places and change speed limits which are also very badly notified etc., but vigourously enforced.
On long straight roads, no junctions etc. I think they are just a cash machine on wheels and serve no purpose as regards safety and this use of them should be banned.

[TripleS]

blademan said:

Hi Streetcop. If I rode say in Yorkshire/Lancs/Wales then knowing their reputation I would in all honesty ride within limits. So yes I agree with you. There probably IS a "certain type of person" who blindly speeds everywhere, hence they get caught !! Simple innit

So far as I know at the moment North Yorkshire is still OK, i.e. civilised - no fixed cameras etc., though I have heard some worrying references to the occasional use of mobile ones.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[deeen]

ftasb said:

Theses Scameras etc., are another hazard to driving and the less hazard aware and clueless amongst us will inevitably be collared more often, some of us will just be plain unlucky, but if it is at a junction or near a school etc. shouldn't you be driving with increased awareness and be prepared for hazards, whether that is a child running out, a numpty pulling out, or a speed camera???

Well I have never seen scamera van near a school!

Ususally see them on long clear straight sections of dual carrigeways, maybe hidden behind a bridge support or, in one case, behind an unmarked police car.

So I have come to the conclusion that to preserve my license i should hover around the NSL on these types of road, and restrict any forays into 3 figures to blind junctions, narrow twisties etc.

Obviously MUCH safer.

[pdV6]

deeen said:

So I have come to the conclusion that to preserve my license i should hover around the NSL on these types of road, and restrict any forays into 3 figures to blind junctions, narrow twisties etc. Obviously MUCH safer.

Sounds about right! 90mph past some schools, anybody? Nil chance of getting caught, it would seem...

Stupid system.

[nonegreen]

rsvnigel said:

Streetcop said: could it be that these people are in fact speeding in the wrong places... True, I mostly behave in town and whilst passing through the villages, and have been 'lucky' so far Streetcop said: I've never been flashed by a camera, let alone been prosecuted...Coincidence? Luck? Could it be when your out playing on home turf you know if there is going to be a crackdown on speeding in a certain area? Oop north they're starting to target the roads you'd normally consider safe, with unmarked cars and bikes and now fing helicopters http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3531000.stm I guess when your in 'foreign parts', it's probably just a matter of time before you get caught on an unfamiliar stretch of road, a bit like: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/442811.stm

As a consequence the Porker is away having surface to air missiles fitted Those helicopters are a bugger to outrun.