20 mph prosecutions...or not.
20 mph prosecutions...or not.
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Drawweight

Original Poster:

3,596 posts

145 months

Friday 13th September 2019
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Our town (in Scotland) has recently had a near 100% 20 mph limit installed.

I’ve just read in the local rag that the police had a crackdown in speeding motorists.

The stats are interesting. 80 vehicles were checked, 25 were stopped and warned and only 2 were reported for speeding at 35 and 38 mph respectively.

Is there any reason why the other 25 weren’t prosecuted as well as presumably at least some of them would be pretty near the 30 mph mark?

Were the police simply being lenient or is there a problem getting a prosecution under 30 mph?

grudas

1,407 posts

197 months

Friday 13th September 2019
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it's a stupid limit and everyone knows it.

hence the police only going after the ones that would've got fined in 30 zone too.

untakenname

5,352 posts

221 months

Friday 13th September 2019
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In London the Police generally will give quite a bit of leeway (especially at night) and treat a 20mph the same as a 30mph road, the Councils want to take over enforcing the 20mph limits and if they do then expect to be ticketed at 22mph 24/7.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-coun...

can't remember

1,170 posts

157 months

Friday 13th September 2019
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I'm reasonably sure they have announced that they given up on enforcement in Greater Manchester but the cost of removing the signs has meant that the 20 signs are still in place.

Initforthemoney

743 posts

173 months

Friday 13th September 2019
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I would say that the two that were done, failed the attitude test.

Sheepshanks

41,028 posts

148 months

Friday 13th September 2019
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This guy was panicking about getting a ban: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

xjay1337

15,966 posts

147 months

Friday 13th September 2019
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Drawweight said:
Our town (in Scotland) has recently had a near 100% 20 mph limit installed.

I’ve just read in the local rag that the police had a crackdown in speeding motorists.

The stats are interesting. 80 vehicles were checked, 25 were stopped and warned and only 2 were reported for speeding at 35 and 38 mph respectively.

Is there any reason why the other 25 weren’t prosecuted as well as presumably at least some of them would be pretty near the 30 mph mark?

Were the police simply being lenient or is there a problem getting a prosecution under 30 mph?
Jesus - What a depressing site.

I guess there should be prosecutions but at a reasonable speed limit. 20 is not reasonable , natural or required.

vitesse2000

369 posts

192 months

Friday 13th September 2019
quotequote all
I live on a 20 limit road on the edge of Mayor Kahn’s caliphate - it was imposed after a consultation that was ignored. The road runs parallel to the A22, and is used by everyone as a way to avoid the frequent roadworks. Not seen anyone do 20, seldom under 40 and even the buses crack on at at least 35 - not seen or heard of a single enforcement so just a load of dosh for the contractor putting up the signs - a monumental waste of cash that could have spent fixing the bloody potholes instead

MKnight702

3,430 posts

243 months

Friday 13th September 2019
quotequote all
vitesse2000 said:
I live on a 20 limit road on the edge of Mayor Kahn’s caliphate - it was imposed after a consultation that was ignored. The road runs parallel to the A22, and is used by everyone as a way to avoid the frequent roadworks. Not seen anyone do 20, seldom under 40 and even the buses crack on at at least 35 - not seen or heard of a single enforcement so just a load of dosh for the contractor putting up the signs - a monumental waste of cash that could have spent fixing the bloody potholes instead
But they a relying on the pot holes to help enforce the 20 limit, once the road looks like the surface of the moon in a particularly bad patch, the council can sit back and relax, safe in the knowledge that none of the motorists evildoers will be able to exceed a brisk walking pace on what they laughingly call roads.

NGee

2,952 posts

193 months

Friday 13th September 2019
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MKnight702 said:
But they a relying on the pot holes to help enforce the 20 limit, once the road looks like the surface of the moon in a particularly bad patch, the council can sit back and relax, safe in the knowledge that none of the motorists evildoers will be able to exceed a brisk walking pace on what they laughingly call roads.
.

They are not pot holes - they are inverted speed humps!

GPSHead

657 posts

270 months

Saturday 14th September 2019
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Haven't been on this forum for years following the Invasion of the Sanctimonious Totalitarians. Pleasantly surprised not to see any of their predictable self-righteous drivel on this thread. Have they gone off in a huff, or do they just not deign to post in relatively short threads?

Dave Hedgehog

16,332 posts

233 months

Saturday 14th September 2019
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untakenname said:
In London the Police generally will give quite a bit of leeway (especially at night) and treat a 20mph the same as a 30mph road, the Councils want to take over enforcing the 20mph limits and if they do then expect to be ticketed at 22mph 24/7.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-coun...
Every police car I have followed in SE London in the extensive 20 zones for many years drives at 30, had loads follow me at 30, not a peep out of them

Pica-Pica

16,589 posts

113 months

Saturday 14th September 2019
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As usual, I will point out that vehicle speedometers do not have to be accurately calibrated below 40 kph (approx 24 mph), so I cannot imagine a successful prosecution below 25 mph.
UN-ECE regulation 39

Psycho Warren

3,087 posts

142 months

Saturday 14th September 2019
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that london link claims they want to eliminate road deaths by 2041. lol. i guess they are hoping to ban all vehicles from london to achieve that?

Wooda80

1,743 posts

104 months

Sunday 15th September 2019
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Pica-Pica said:
As usual, I will point out that vehicle speedometers do not have to be accurately calibrated below 40 kph (approx 24 mph), so I cannot imagine a successful prosecution below 25 mph.
UN-ECE regulation 39
I can see that getting you past the roadside attitude test with flying colours. If you did take it to court then is " I don't have a speedometer / my speedometer doesn't work (at those speeds)" a valid defence?

Speeding enforcement is actually quite lenient though.

Most of the traffic on urban roads travels above the posted speed limit and it's rare to hear of anyone getting a ticket going a just few miles an hour over.

That means that on some urban roads with a 30mph limit much traffic is travelling around 35-38mph with apparent impunity.

Where I live in Manchester, in places where those speeds are regarded as unacceptable, the authorities have put in 20 limits with calming measures where appropriate. This results in the traffic generally travelling at 25-30mph - below the previously ignored 30mph limit.

Surely that's a better method of controlling speeds than putting cameras everywhere?

Pica-Pica

16,589 posts

113 months

Sunday 15th September 2019
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Wooda80 said:
Pica-Pica said:
As usual, I will point out that vehicle speedometers do not have to be accurately calibrated below 40 kph (approx 24 mph), so I cannot imagine a successful prosecution below 25 mph.
UN-ECE regulation 39
I can see that getting you past the roadside attitude test with flying colours. If you did take it to court then is " I don't have a speedometer / my speedometer doesn't work (at those speeds)" a valid defence?

Speeding enforcement is actually quite lenient though.

Most of the traffic on urban roads travels above the posted speed limit and it's rare to hear of anyone getting a ticket going a just few miles an hour over.

That means that on some urban roads with a 30mph limit much traffic is travelling around 35-38mph with apparent impunity.

Where I live in Manchester, in places where those speeds are regarded as unacceptable, the authorities have put in 20 limits with calming measures where appropriate. This results in the traffic generally travelling at 25-30mph - below the previously ignored 30mph limit.

Surely that's a better method of controlling speeds than putting cameras everywhere?
Well, my roadside attitude is fine. (It got me off a ticket once when stopped on a 70 limit.
20 limits and 30 limits are pretty sacrosanct to me. I love holding back traffic at 32mph in a 30, even set limiter to 30 sometimes, you know they are going to be left behind when it opens up to 60.
Read these posts long enough, and plenty of people will have been on a SAC for 35-36mph in a 30 limit. I know, my wife was! She came back ‘be careful, there is a speed camera through xxx village’. A week later she got the NIP for 36mph.

Dave Hedgehog

16,332 posts

233 months

Sunday 15th September 2019
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Psycho Warren said:
that london link claims they want to eliminate road deaths by 2041. lol. i guess they are hoping to ban all vehicles from london to achieve that?
cyclists would have to be banned as well as they occasionally kill pedestrians

would they count people stabbed to death in the roads in their figures?

4rephill

5,168 posts

207 months

Sunday 15th September 2019
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GPSHead said:
Haven't been on this forum for years following the Invasion of the Sanctimonious Totalitarians. Pleasantly surprised not to see any of their predictable self-righteous drivel on this thread. Have they gone off in a huff, or do they just not deign to post in relatively short threads?
You obviously haven't been back on this forum very long either - Stick around, the BRAKE brigade will be along before you know it! wink

xjay1337

15,966 posts

147 months

Sunday 15th September 2019
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I forgot to say . They do fine you for exceeding. Certainly fixed cameras... the guy who owned my house had a fine come through. 27 in a 20.