53 in a 30! Ooops

ops:

Got caught speeding last night!  
Hurrying to my sisters to fix her mk2!
Apparently i have to go to court instead a fixed penelty  :dontknow:
Anyone been in a simular situation?
The road used to be national speed limit a few years ago but is now a 30mph limit. Surrey police seem to take great pleasure in hiding in bushes all around the area!

Also, my sisters mk2 1.6cl auto has a cold start problem… coughs and sputters for a little while til the auto choke kicks in. Any ideas on that too?

Many thanks,

Liam

Hi Liam, Had a similar problem 4 years ago, got caught doing
100 mph in a 60 (not good I know, but it was a fast straight road
in the middle of the countryside), went to court facing a ban, but
argued my case, and came away with 6pts and a big big fine.
I think the best bet is be honest, and basically appologise!, I know
they are a lot hotter than they used to be, but you should be ok
but it depends on the Magistrate on the day really.

All the best mate  :wink:

Dibbler.

i got caught doing 96mph in a 60 went to court facing a ban i said how i needed my car at 5.30am when no buses were around and got of with a ?150 fine and 6 points

Hi,i suggest you lot buy a mk1 golf 1.6D,speeding fines will not effect you  
Bert

Why not turn up late for your court hearing stinking of alcohol, spout out things like "You're all the same you lot….Flipping hypocrits!" or words to that effect. Tut, wheese and roll your eyes at everything the judge says!…..Then if you don't get a ban, you will come away feeling lucky instead of badly done too!  

Why not just tell him that you'd been in the pub all day and were way over the limit and were trying to get to your sisters as fast as possible so you wouldn't be a risk to other road users for long.

walt said

Why not turn up late for your court hearing stinking of alcohol, spout out things like "You're all the same you lot….Flipping hypocrits!" or words to that effect. Tut, wheese and roll your eyes at everything the judge says!…..Then if you don't get a ban, you will come away feeling lucky instead of badly done too!  

Something you have experience in Walt? Want to share it with us :wink:

Is the road you were caught on non-residential, or have there been more than 3 or 4 serious accidents (i.e. fatalities) along there in the past few years?

If not then you can argue that the limit is unrealistic, or it was illegal for the camera to be there, and get off that way. You will need a good lawyer though, which will probably prove expensive… However if you win, then the police will have to foot your legal bill.

Failing that you could claim that your sister urgently needed your help with something (like she'd injured herself) and you had to hurry. If you do, don't mention that it was her car that you were hurrying for! Judges can be sympathetic, especially if you have no previous history of speeding.

Failing all of that, you could claim that you were "testing the performance of your car". It worked for that copper who was caught doing 90 in a 30, and he got off scott free.

The bottom line is that policemen are an absolute bunch of you-know-whats and openly flout driving laws while hounding the motorist, and fail to tackle serious crimes like burglary and rape etc, which cause real problems in the community.

Grrrrrr…. rant over… for now  

mcscrew said

The bottom line is that policemen are an absolute bunch of you-know-whats and openly flout driving laws while hounding the motorist, and fail to tackle serious crimes like burglary and rape etc, which cause real problems in the community.

I know quite a few coppers and they take their job very seriously. At the end of the day speeding is speeding. End of. Drivers speed more often then they get caught but only moan when they do BUT what happens if their kid/mother/dog etc get injured or killed they would be the first ones to start ranting about speeders wouldn't they.

Over the past few years Road Policing has taken a definate step backwards in favour of other departments. 'Best value' crimes such as burglary, robbery, violent crime, race hate crime, sexual crimes and drugs are all very much higher than speeders.

There is only 1 person to blame if you get caught speeding and thats the driver!

If you are going to tar all coppers with the same brush, just pause and think "Who would I call if my mums house was broken into?" A PLUMBER???

Dano.

Dano said

If you are going to tar all coppers with the same brush, just pause and think "Who would I call if my mums house was broken into?" A PLUMBER???

Dano.

That's true - I shouldn't have tarred them all. I will revise my opinion to "most coppers are a bunch of you-know-whats". The only times I have ever had to deal with them have been when I've been caught speeding, and they have always been patronising and deeply unpleasant.

They have never offered me a warning, or taken any circumstances surrounding the offence into consideration, leaving me with the impression that they're only interested in my money. This may not be the case, but I'm not alone in my opinion I'm sure.

The other issue I have, (along with the majority of motorists I think), is whether speeding is such a serious crime when compared to others, and whether it really warrants zero-tolerance from officers, when more serious crimes like the ones you mention above don't seem to.

If you are caught speeding you are almost always prosecuted, whereas if you burgle someones house you are likely never even to be arrested, let alone convicted. I know this as friends of mine were broken into at uni, and the police categorically stated that there was nothing they could do.

I'm not having a go at you btw - this is just my opinion, and not being a policeman (obviously!) I don't know their side of the story. But this is how the situation appears to me, as a motorist.

Rich

My local policemen are pretty useless to be honest

got pulled over for my foglights on (headlight was out and was actually on my way to replace it) and was trying to make me take my car to a garage to replace the entire headlight  

when my car got broken into at royal berks hospital, I went looking for any traces of my stereo, policeman drove past, I almost jumped out in front of the car waving them down shouting stop.. they just looked at me and drove past at about 20mph

the only police enforcement I've seen around berkshire is to catch drivers going 34mph in a 30! I mean come on! the driver could have sneezed and his foot went down a little on the pedal

how many police officers are about the towns on a friday and saturday where they're needed? a handful maybe, and yet drive to the supermarket and you'll see more than that sitting illegally parked trying to catch speeders

think I'll move to your area dano  :wink: sounds better round your way

I have a friend who's a traffic cop, he wishes he had a ?1 for eveytime someone said to him go get the real criminal, the burglarier, shoplifter and so on. Traffic police deal with motoring offences , accidents, speeding, motorist without insurance driving lincence or tax and the criminal who uses his car to get around.

I must add, the few times I have been caught speeding I've been let off ( many years ago I even drifted my old MR2 round a corner sideways infront of two coopers and just got off with a telling off further down the road)
I've only had one bad experiance and that was when I had my impreza, I used to run around with a small number plate on the front and had been asked to replace it once before. On this occasion the officer involved almost rammed me of the road and when I asked him what he was doing he replied "I didn't think you were going to stop" 8O needless to say I made a complaint about him and got an apology from the Norfolk Police.
I think you have to look at it from a broader view, I enjoy a sprited drive like every one else. Its when it goes wrong and someone gets hurt its the problem. The post with the 350z on the railings is a good example, just imagine if he spun the otherway up onto the path knocking over a little girl. Unfortunalty the general driving standard means we have to have a speed limit for safety.

jacob said

I have a friend who's a traffic cop, he wishes he had a ?1 for eveytime someone said to him go get the real criminal, the burglarier, shoplifter and so on. Traffic police deal with motoring offences , accidents, speeding, motorist without insurance driving lincence or tax and the criminal who uses his car to get around.

Instead he gets ?60!

And the real criminals, who are real criminals, get away with it. Ok the traffic police deal with traffic only, but the rest of them don't catch these burglars / shoplifters with anything like as much regularity.

This is what cheeses me right off!

I was let off in my Mazda over christmas. was a bit of an idiot and got impatient waiting for a gap in traffic coming out of a petrol station. Saw a small gap and hooned it out right in front of a police car. They followed me for 2 miles and pulled me over. Gave me a bit of a telling off but was generally ok. Didn't even breathalise which was strange as it was christmas. I have to say the police round where I live are generally ok. I'm lucky enough never to have been caught speeding although I suspect I may have been caught by a mobile camera two weeks ago. Much as it would sicken me and I would probably bad mouth the police and everyone else I think if you do the crime then you do the time.

BBC website says 2million caught in 2004 (not sure why it?s taken 15 months to release figs)

I was one! 60mph on a dual carriage way, not near any housing in perfect driving conditions by a van behind a bush (with two men in it).

My mothers recently had some stone flags stolen from her backyard. Victim support have called and asked if she needs any help. She told them she just wants her flags back thank you very much?. Perhaps the men in the van could look for them? Oh no they can?t cause therr?re sat in van all day.

PS I think 53 in a 30 is pushing your luck a bit much

Few years back now, but was caught by an unmarked police car - apparently was following me for a few miles.

Was on a motorway - he clocked me at 92mph - but then lost me as I sped off around a few other cars! it was great watching the video in his car though - we were chatting for about 30 mins!

got off with 3points and ?60 fine - which i thought was quite good considering the video, as could have lost my license for that one :angel:

lesson learnt - use my rear view mirrow more for driving :mrgreen:

Just to put it in perspective…

I hyave 'participated' in the road safety campaign on 2 occasions!!!

I felt aggrieved too and bitched about it but you can hardly MISS the cop cars….they're the ones with big yellow an blue chequered sides to them!!  :wink:

As far as arresting 'real' criminals…it all depends on evidence… so they tell me…. so if there isn't any how are the cops going to prosecute anyone? Let alone get a conviction at court with the Magistrates we have!! The cops I have talked to would love nothing more than to deal with burglars all day long, recover stolen property and bang the crims up.

Just as an aside, your normal 'panda' doesn't have a calibrated speedo to do you, so if you see one more then likely your luck will be in as the plod inside will be going to some unsolvable crime or other anyway!!!

PS, I'm not a Plod either!!!

Cheers Dan.

Hi, Cheers for the responces!
Some useful ones and some funny ones!

The road is non residential and not aware of any fatal accidents on that road or anywhere near the area. The volvo estate was well hidden behind the hedge as were the policemen. They stepped out where I was approx 100m away. The lazer gun he showed me said it caught me 297m away!
I've got nothing agaist coppers in general, but hiding in bushes with no warning signs of any sort on a road that used to be 60mph seems a bit low to me!

The reason I post this in the first place really was to see whats gonna happen to me in court. Seems 6 points is likely.

Not happy as just put in for a new job where the limit is 3 i think?

I'm a bus driver at the moment so probably won't help there either!

May have to volunteer for driver safety scheme and say more than 3 points will aftect my job?

Bye bye clean licence!

Are you sure there weren't any speed camera signs? If so then it is definitely illegal for the police to use speed traps there.

Sounds like you may have a case (obviously do your research before you hire a lawyer) but the police do have to go by the book. Innocent until proven guilty and all that…

Check it out - it may be worth your while…

HTH

Rich