[Travel] Potential Speeding Ban

[Sid and the Sharknados]

I’m not sure I’d offer sleep deprived in mitigation if I was you.

A few years ago (long enough that the points are long gone) when I got a ticket through they included a list of excuses/mitigation that wouldn't be accepted.

Pretty sure being tired was on there. So was both "I was familiar with the road" and "I was not familiar with the road".

I considered writing "I thought I'd get away with it" but decided they probably wouldn't see the funny side.

 

[Bedsex]

Sorry but up to 3 years ago I did 50000 miles a year for a number of years. Been driving since 17 now 57, never been caught, never been stopped. Got a parking ticket is Wisbech that is it!!

I hope you’ve learned from your mistake….



…and never been to Wisbech again

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Fully appreciate we should all keep to speed limits but if you drtvr a lot it is very hard and easy to get caught. and many sped cameras are there to raise revenue.
Most average speed areas are put in because of road maintenance When I travel up north I leave at 3-30/4am and they are a pain when no traffic about and should be turned of until workers arrive.
Last ticket I got was on my way to Dover at 5am on a speed restriction to 50 because of maintenance Madness.

Rubbish. Whilst I only drove for a couple of years it was absolute piss easy to keep to the speed limit. What’s hard about it?

 

[LamieRobertson]

Drive a ten year old fiat DOBLO van (as I do)…hard to do the limit let alone break it

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Pretty much the same as everyone, then, but you've been lucky.
Not really sure of the point you're making, other than you break the Law all the time and have avoided a fine/points/prosecution.

The saying "the more I practice, the luckier I get" is often attributed to legendary golfer Gary Player

 

[birthofanorange]

Rubbish. Whilst I only drove for a couple of years it was absolute piss easy to keep to the speed limit. What’s hard about it?

Do you concede that road conditions/hazards have deteriorated massively over the past 10/20/30/40 years?
To try and deal with the incredible increase in cars, bikes, careless pedestrians, delivery e-bikes, etc...etc.. yet concentrate on being a mere 5 mph over a 20 mph limit is nigh on impossible.....unless you ignore the hazards above.
It really WAS easy to stay within the (then) 30 mph limit, given the huge lack of all traffic, years ago. Now...no, it isn't, as drivers have far more to deal with and a speed limit that you can break simply by having a big fart.
No-one is advocating doing 50 in a 30....nor 40 in a 20....even 30 in a 20 zone is pushing it, but to try to keep both concentration ahead and around you and still stay within 5 mph of 20 is stretching the bounds of safety, yet you are still breaking the Law by doing so.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Do you concede that road conditions/hazards have deteriorated massively over the past 10/20/30/40 years?
To try and deal with the incredible increase in cars, bikes, careless pedestrians, delivery e-bikes, etc...etc.. yet concentrate on being a mere 5 mph over a 20 mph limit is nigh on impossible.....unless you ignore the hazards above.
It really WAS easy to stay within the (then) 30 mph limit, given the huge lack of all traffic, years ago. Now...no, it isn't, as drivers have far more to deal with and a speed limit that you can break simply by having a big fart.
No-one is advocating doing 50 in a 30....nor 40 in a 20....even 30 in a 20 zone is pushing it, but to try to keep both concentration ahead and around you and still stay within 5 mph of 20 is stretching the bounds of safety, yet you are still breaking the Law by doing so.

Can I suggest you walk.

 

[birthofanorange]

Can I suggest you walk.

Yes, yes you can.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Do you concede that road conditions/hazards have deteriorated massively over the past 10/20/30/40 years?
To try and deal with the incredible increase in cars, bikes, careless pedestrians, delivery e-bikes, etc...etc.. yet concentrate on being a mere 5 mph over a 20 mph limit is nigh on impossible.....unless you ignore the hazards above.
It really WAS easy to stay within the (then) 30 mph limit, given the huge lack of all traffic, years ago. Now...no, it isn't, as drivers have far more to deal with and a speed limit that you can break simply by having a big fart.
No-one is advocating doing 50 in a 30....nor 40 in a 20....even 30 in a 20 zone is pushing it, but to try to keep both concentration ahead and around you and still stay within 5 mph of 20 is stretching the bounds of safety, yet you are still breaking the Law by doing so.

Shouldn’t you always be looking out for “cars, bikes, careless pedestrians, delivery e-bikes, etc.” regardless of whether there’s more of them?

 

[birthofanorange]

Shouldn’t you always be looking out for “cars, bikes, careless pedestrians, delivery e-bikes, etc.” regardless of whether there’s more of them?

Indeed, far more so than staring at a speedo to make sure I don't add walking pace to the permitted 20 mph.
Which would you consider the safest option, considering one only has one pair of eyes?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Indeed, far more so than staring at a speedo to make sure I don't add walking pace to the permitted 20 mph.
Which would you consider the safest option, considering one only has one pair of eyes?

Not really understanding this. Why would you stare at the speedo, don’t you just glance at it? Whilst I don’t like driving, I never had any issues with it.

 

[birthofanorange]

Not really understanding this. Why would you stare at the speedo, don’t you just glance at it? Whilst I don’t like driving, I never had any issues with it.

Simply because exceeding a limit of 20 mph by a mere 5 mph is so easily done. You're hardly having to press the pedal to the metal by doing so.
Did you drive veteran cars by any chance, during your 2 years of driving?

 

[1066familyman]

Do you concede that road conditions/hazards have deteriorated massively over the past 10/20/30/40 years?
To try and deal with the incredible increase in cars, bikes, careless pedestrians, delivery e-bikes, etc...etc.. yet concentrate on being a mere 5 mph over a 20 mph limit is nigh on impossible.....unless you ignore the hazards above.
It really WAS easy to stay within the (then) 30 mph limit, given the huge lack of all traffic, years ago. Now...no, it isn't, as drivers have far more to deal with and a speed limit that you can break simply by having a big fart.
No-one is advocating doing 50 in a 30....nor 40 in a 20....even 30 in a 20 zone is pushing it, but to try to keep both concentration ahead and around you and still stay within 5 mph of 20 is stretching the bounds of safety, yet you are still breaking the Law by doing so.

Ok, I'll bite.

I recently had to sign my first speeding warning paper at work for doing 26mph in a 20mph zone (all our vans are constantly tracked). My defence was I was going downhill and hadn't reset the limiter from 30mph in time. In hindsight, I also thought it was a school time only limit, and the time recorded was outside of that time. Turns out it's not a school time limit ( some zig zag line parking outside schools does only come into force at certain times, but I digress). I was bang to rights.

My point is that there was no one else on the road at the time and that likely contributed to my speed creeping up as well ( not an excuse btw).
Had it been school time and/or there had been lots of 'cars, bikes, careless pedestrians, delivery e-bikes, etc...etc..' then I would have been less likely to go over 20mph, not more likely.

I don't quite follow your argument.

 

[happypig]

Yeah…think I might be in a bit of trouble.

Stupidly turned down a course last time as I swore I only had 3 points prior - really should’ve checked before responding.

I do wonder if I can plead mitigating circumstances and somehow go on a course instead, as it would really make things incredibly difficult for us as a family, and near impossible for my job - I’m constantly out seeing clients face to face, many of whom are unable/unwilling to do remote meetings.

Any and all (helpful, constructive…) advice massively welcomed! There are solicitors etc online suggesting they can help me out (I’m guessing no win no fee etc), but I don’t know if worth exploring?

To clarify - I have 9 points and this would tip me over to 12. I turned down the course as I thought I had zero points still in licence or 3 at most, not 6.

I was a magistrate for 10 years and sat on dozens and dozens of cases where the defendant was liable for a "totting" disqualification (12 points in 3 years gets you a six month disqualification if it's your first time. More info here).
To avoid a disqualification you can plead Exceptional Hardship, for which you would have to provide supporting evidence. To put this into context, it is expected that a disqualification can cause hardship to the offender and their family; loss of a job is often NOT considered exceptional but a resultant loss of a home MAY be; every case is different and considered on its merits.
I have sat on cases where Exceptional Hardship has been accepted (sole carer for a disabled child) and where it has been refused (defendant on call and needs car to visit locations in town, sometimes at night when no public transport).
Best advice I can give is speak to a local solicitor and ask them if you've a chance.

 

[happypig]

Simply because exceeding a limit of 20 mph by a mere 5 mph is so easily done. You're hardly having to press the pedal to the metal by doing so.
Did you drive veteran cars by any chance, during your 2 years of driving?

No disrespect intended but if you're struggling to keep your vehicle to the posted speed limit, perhaps you should consider getting some training.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Simply because exceeding a limit of 20 mph by a mere 5 mph is so easily done. You're hardly having to press the pedal to the metal by doing so.
Did you drive veteran cars by any chance, during your 2 years of driving?

First time driving in Brighton city centre in a while yesterday for a trip to the Sea Life centre. Didn’t realise how much had been dropped to 20mph, which based on pure habit of 25+ years driving is not a natural speed to drive

 

[birthofanorange]

Ok, I'll bite.

I recently had to sign my first speeding warning paper at work for doing 26mph in a 20mph zone (all our vans are constantly tracked). My defence was I was going downhill and hadn't reset the limiter from 30mph in time. In hindsight, I also thought it was a school time only limit, and the time recorded was outside of that time. Turns out it's not a school time limit ( some zig zag line parking outside schools does only come into force at certain times, but I digress). I was bang to rights.

My point is that there was no one else on the road at the time and that likely contributed to my speed creeping up as well ( not an excuse btw).
Had it been school time and/or there had been lots of 'cars, bikes, careless pedestrians, delivery e-bikes, etc...etc..' then I would have been less likely to go over 20mph, not more likely.

I don't quite follow your argument.

No limiter in my vehicle at all, so it relies on a completely steady foot pressure to remain at 20. To exceed that by only 5 mph is so easily done, so much so that unless you concentrate on the speedo, you wouldn't even be aware of the increase.
I guess my point is, I would rather focus my attention on the other road users/pedestrians than spend it on a potential 5 mph increase in my speed.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Simply because exceeding a limit of 20 mph by a mere 5 mph is so easily done. You're hardly having to press the pedal to the metal by doing so.
Did you drive veteran cars by any chance, during your 2 years of driving?

I owned a new car and also drove a variety of new hire cars. None of these vehicles were difficult to keep within the speed limit.

 

[birthofanorange]

I owned a new car and also drove a variety of new hire cars. None of these vehicles were difficult to keep within the speed limit.

On a quiet road with no other distractions, I can believe that, but to never exceed 20 mph without constantly checking your speed (thus taking your attention away from the immediate potential hazards), is pretty impossible. In fact, I'd go as far to say that without looking at the speedo, you'd be hard pushed to know the difference between 20 and 25 - the margin is that fine.

 

[1066familyman]

No limiter in my vehicle at all, so it relies on a completely steady foot pressure to remain at 20. To exceed that by only 5 mph is so easily done, so much so that unless you concentrate on the speedo, you wouldn't even be aware of the increase.
I guess my point is, I would rather focus my attention on the other road users/pedestrians than spend it on a potential 5 mph increase in my speed.

Ok, fair enough, I can see that, but I think you highlight another problem then. Modern vehicles.

My own car is an old 1litre thingy. It's basically a motorbike in layout on the dashboard and it gets noisy inside the faster you go, lol. I've driven modern vehicles before where they're so quiet that it can be easy for your speed to creep up if you're not paying attention (again, not an excuse). Couple that with modern cars having crash protection built in for all the occupants which is off the charts (fvck anyone else), makes a lot of speeding normalised. That's never a good thing.

Speeding is my number one pet hate because I see it on a daily basis. Yes, some of it is possibly just speed creeping up for the reasons outlined, but a LOT of it is just selfish and impatient behaviour by drivers, many of which just aren't safe on the road.