Cat7 - Speeding + totting up + ban
Discussion
Cat7
This is for you. Sorry, I retired long time ago and cpmpletely out of date. Following should do the trick, though. Simple Google search as per heading (-Cat7!)
Basic facts about speeding offences
www.motorcyclenews.com
Nobody ever realises just what a precious commodity a licence is - until somebody takes it away. And with more traffic, more speed cameras and more speed restrictions than ever before, the danger of losing it is greater than ever.
But what are you likely to lose it for? TT99 is a popular one. TT99 is the code under which an accumulation of penalty points leads to what is commonly known as a 'totting up' ban. Every time you get fixed penalty SP30 (exceeding statutory speed limit on a public road) or an SP50 (exceeding speed limit on a motorway), or even an SP60 (undefined speed limit offence) you will be fined and penalty points added to your licence.
With an SP30, it's typically 3 points and a £60 fine. The fine hurts, but it's the points that do the real damage.
If you manage to score 12 points within three years - it's game over. Each offence stays alive for three years, but actually remains on your licence for four. You don't have to declare them to, say, an insurance company after the three years are up, but if they ask to see your licence the offences will still be stamped loud and proud on that precious scrap of pink and green paper.
Courts are duty bound to ban you if you tot up 12 points and the ban has to be a 6-month minimum - they can, of course, ban you for longer if they fancy it. If you get done for 100mph or more on a motorway or something idiotic like 70mph in a 30mph limit - you are looking at a ban and quite possibly a criminal record for careless driving. If you're very unlucky the words 'custodial sentence' might get bandied about, which is always a sobering thought. Anything under the CD (careless driving), DD (dangerous driving) or DR (drink and drugs) is almost certainly going to end in a temporary non-licence fashion.
So here's how to avoid, wriggle out of and quash any attempts to deprive you of your hard-earned licence - unless of course you're the sort of berk who pulls third gear wheelies past schools to impress no one but yourself - in which case you deserve to lose it.
1) Don't speed. Boring but very effective.
2) Speed, but be careful when and where. Always look out for cops up motorway slip-roads, on bridges, in motorway speed-restricted areas, like roadworks where there's a 50mph limit. Look out for unmarked cars with subtly disguised blue lights in the front grille, or video camera lenses. They might even have coppers hats and yellow bibs on the rear parcel shelf. Be vigilant.
3) Be polite to whoever nicks you. It's not a natural reaction, but if you're going to get away with it, now is the best time to be contrite. Unfortunately you can't be polite to a speed camera.
4) If it's a patrol car that nicked you ask to see a evidence of the VASCAR system’s calibration - although it doesn’t have to be to be calibrated every day. There is only a requirement for it to be checked daily over a measured mile or half mileto ensure that it is working correctly. The units are re-calibrated over a measured mile or half mile on a weekly basis or whenever there has been work on the vehicle's transmission, the unit itself or any other major disturbance of the installation. Because of this there is no calibration certificate as such, an entry in the vehicle's log book and the officer's note book is sufficient. (The more up to date video/VASCARs have an internal clock which disables the system if it is more than a week since it was last calibrated. It then has to be re-calibrated before it can be used.)
If you get tugged by a small panda-car type vehicle, or if you're really unlucky, a van, they're very unlikely to have speed measuring gear, which means it'll be your word against theirs if it goes to court (which can be good or bad, depending on the court).
5) The police must inform you verbally or by Notice of Intended Prosecution that they're going to do you within 14 days of an alleged offence - if they don't, they can't convict you.
6) If there are any inaccuracies on the NIP or Fixed Penalty Notice like registration number, time or date of the offence or anything, get a lawyer to return the form to the cops with a stiff letter simply stating that because it is late under the terms of the Road Traffic Act 1988 you are not required to complete the form. At this point the authorities will either accept this legal argument or threaten to continue the prosecution right up to the doors of the Court, then let the Crown Prosecution Service decide.
7) Get a lawyer if things look serious.
8) Wear a suit that fits.
This is for you. Sorry, I retired long time ago and cpmpletely out of date. Following should do the trick, though. Simple Google search as per heading (-Cat7!)
Basic facts about speeding offences
www.motorcyclenews.com
Nobody ever realises just what a precious commodity a licence is - until somebody takes it away. And with more traffic, more speed cameras and more speed restrictions than ever before, the danger of losing it is greater than ever.
But what are you likely to lose it for? TT99 is a popular one. TT99 is the code under which an accumulation of penalty points leads to what is commonly known as a 'totting up' ban. Every time you get fixed penalty SP30 (exceeding statutory speed limit on a public road) or an SP50 (exceeding speed limit on a motorway), or even an SP60 (undefined speed limit offence) you will be fined and penalty points added to your licence.
With an SP30, it's typically 3 points and a £60 fine. The fine hurts, but it's the points that do the real damage.
If you manage to score 12 points within three years - it's game over. Each offence stays alive for three years, but actually remains on your licence for four. You don't have to declare them to, say, an insurance company after the three years are up, but if they ask to see your licence the offences will still be stamped loud and proud on that precious scrap of pink and green paper.
Courts are duty bound to ban you if you tot up 12 points and the ban has to be a 6-month minimum - they can, of course, ban you for longer if they fancy it. If you get done for 100mph or more on a motorway or something idiotic like 70mph in a 30mph limit - you are looking at a ban and quite possibly a criminal record for careless driving. If you're very unlucky the words 'custodial sentence' might get bandied about, which is always a sobering thought. Anything under the CD (careless driving), DD (dangerous driving) or DR (drink and drugs) is almost certainly going to end in a temporary non-licence fashion.
So here's how to avoid, wriggle out of and quash any attempts to deprive you of your hard-earned licence - unless of course you're the sort of berk who pulls third gear wheelies past schools to impress no one but yourself - in which case you deserve to lose it.
1) Don't speed. Boring but very effective.
2) Speed, but be careful when and where. Always look out for cops up motorway slip-roads, on bridges, in motorway speed-restricted areas, like roadworks where there's a 50mph limit. Look out for unmarked cars with subtly disguised blue lights in the front grille, or video camera lenses. They might even have coppers hats and yellow bibs on the rear parcel shelf. Be vigilant.
3) Be polite to whoever nicks you. It's not a natural reaction, but if you're going to get away with it, now is the best time to be contrite. Unfortunately you can't be polite to a speed camera.
4) If it's a patrol car that nicked you ask to see a evidence of the VASCAR system’s calibration - although it doesn’t have to be to be calibrated every day. There is only a requirement for it to be checked daily over a measured mile or half mileto ensure that it is working correctly. The units are re-calibrated over a measured mile or half mile on a weekly basis or whenever there has been work on the vehicle's transmission, the unit itself or any other major disturbance of the installation. Because of this there is no calibration certificate as such, an entry in the vehicle's log book and the officer's note book is sufficient. (The more up to date video/VASCARs have an internal clock which disables the system if it is more than a week since it was last calibrated. It then has to be re-calibrated before it can be used.)
If you get tugged by a small panda-car type vehicle, or if you're really unlucky, a van, they're very unlikely to have speed measuring gear, which means it'll be your word against theirs if it goes to court (which can be good or bad, depending on the court).
5) The police must inform you verbally or by Notice of Intended Prosecution that they're going to do you within 14 days of an alleged offence - if they don't, they can't convict you.
6) If there are any inaccuracies on the NIP or Fixed Penalty Notice like registration number, time or date of the offence or anything, get a lawyer to return the form to the cops with a stiff letter simply stating that because it is late under the terms of the Road Traffic Act 1988 you are not required to complete the form. At this point the authorities will either accept this legal argument or threaten to continue the prosecution right up to the doors of the Court, then let the Crown Prosecution Service decide.
7) Get a lawyer if things look serious.
8) Wear a suit that fits.
Yeah but most of these things are only valid if you are actually pulled over (fat f
king chance these days) and not just done by a spineless coward in a scamera van who was probably beaten up at school with a large basting applience and feels he needs to vent his (or her) rage on society for getting somone done for 33 in a 30.
I feel sorry for the civvis that voluteer for the scamera van job. Ok, so its not my fault that they have a tiny p£nis and are bad in bed but why take it out on the rest of us under the name of road safety.
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king chance these days) and not just done by a spineless coward in a scamera van who was probably beaten up at school with a large basting applience and feels he needs to vent his (or her) rage on society for getting somone done for 33 in a 30. I feel sorry for the civvis that voluteer for the scamera van job. Ok, so its not my fault that they have a tiny p£nis and are bad in bed but why take it out on the rest of us under the name of road safety.
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