Christer

I have just had a camera speeding advice in the mail. 52mph in a temporary 40mph limit on the M25. As these cameras are easily spotted and indicated by signs, I can only think that I was following other traffic and therefore oblivious to the 'danger'. I think they got a load of us together in other words.

My aim in posting this is not to try to get out of it (here in the UK I don't think we have the same options as the US) however, the letter is only an advice - it does not tell me what my penalty will be. Has anyone else had a similar incident and of so what happened? The letter states that the consequences could be 3-6 points and up to £2500 fine.....or a 'fixed penaly' which I take to be the usual fine...

Any ideas. And feel free to gloat obviously - especially Dave K who I havebeen talking to for months now about getting a camera detector/gps thingy!

BTW, I think my car looks really cool in the photo - should I tell the police that?

robmug

Christer - bad luck.

There'sbeen loads of discussions recently re not signing the form. There has been a significant case apparently. www.pistonheads.com has been following it I think.

John Boggiano

Bad luck, Christer.

Might be able to enter the pic in the photo comp. 'though!

What Rob said.

dove

Any chance of seeing the photo Christer?
Paul
C2 cab (new rear reflector,lights & 911 badge,boy my cars looking cool )

DaveK

For 52 in a 40, it will almost certainly be a fixed penalty - 3 points and I believe it's about a £60 fine these days. They won't bother asking for any more than that (although they are a bit funny about the temporary ones because of the people working on the road). From memory I think you can refuse the fixed penalty and go to court, but I wouldn't recommend that. The only time you have to go to court is if they are likely to ban you (115mph in a 70 limit for example...... but that was a long time ago!) and they won't for that speed.

Actually - although I would usually gloat - I got a bit worried myself today. I was on the M25 and went under one of the variable limit signs at about 100mph - and only realised that as I saw the markings on the road for the cameras. I had the detector on, but it has always seemed to think that they don't all have cameras attached and it didn't warn me for this one even though there were markings on the road. Was looking at them when I came back and half of them don't have cameras even though the road is marked. Phew!

DaveK

By the way - the "my car looked cool in it" seems to be an effect of owning a Porsche. A girl at work has a boxster and got caught in the summer. She commented that she looked really cool - the top was down, she had her shades on and she was well impressed with the photo!

colorwood

For what it's worth....got zapped myself recently doing 40 on a 30 mph dual carriageway....30! for heaven's sake on a dual carriageway! Anyway.....£60 and three points was the good news. I do believe it can be worse if you actually receive one from an officer at the scene....the "ability to pay" multiplier seems to be in use....and they assume nice car = wealth!



Be lucky

mike

TMH

What was the purpose of the "temporary" 40mph limit? Was it a construction zone? Was construction actually occurring at the time of the speeding event?

I know that in many places in the U.S. traffic fines DOUBLE in a construction zone. If it was such a zone, but no construction was currently underway (no lanes or shoulders closed, no workmen or equipment about, etc.) then maybe you could use this as a justification that the temporary reduced speed limit was inappropriate at that time?

Good luck,
Tom

DaveK

Don't think you could claim that - I went through some roadworks on the M25 yesterday - and because they had opened the lanes and only blocked the hard shoulder - and because there were no workman - they had covered all the cameras (although the 40 limit signs were still there). So chances are - if they thought you were allowed to go faster, the camera would have been covered.

JoeW

Wouldn't work here! Friday night at 6:30 (several years ago) I went through a construction zone (quiet for the weekend of course) at 65mph. Got a ticket for 20mph over. It cost me $100 then, and a surcharge on the stupid insurance of nearly a hundred/year for the next five years. Me and my assumptions .... J

Adrian WC

We don'd have a points system over here. One of the advantages of living in Africa. What has become a worrying trend is the corruption of our traffic police. When stopped for speeding the payment of the fine to the officer there and then, reduces the amount drastically !! And with no paper work.
No wonder we have carnage on our roads.

Andy Roe

Christer,

Have you already got points? If not, you'll get 3 points(SP50) & a £60 fine . Take it on the chin as the chances of getting away with it are slim! Most insurance companies don't acknowledge the first 3 points either and your premium probably won't change - perhaps they see it as a lesson!

Andy
- caught doing 87 on a motorway!

Christer

well the last points I had were 3 from an SP30 on 13 Dec 1998. I guess I won't have a problem...

DaveK

Ah, you're an ameteur. I once got up to 9 (3 speeding within 3 years).

Christer

Pah! Amateur?

In 1990 I got 9 points in one incident. Not proud of that, but I am not going to be called an amateur!