Gatso Roadside Cameras

liam8282

LibbyR26 wrote: »

With all this talk of public sector cuts it would interesting to know how many police, court etc man hours are used up dealing with spurious claims by motorists challenging fixed penalties and prosecutions.

Probably ZERO, as is being discussed here we are talking about the likely hood of people being prosecuted / FPN for doing say upto 3mph above the speed limit.

Who is going to go to court to challenge a penalty when they have already admitted to going above the speed limit?

Unless of course you want to try and go to court and lie, thus risking the wrath of the courts and the maximum penalties.

Wee_Willy_Harris

LibbyR26 wrote: »

The point I was making was that public service efficiency is a hot topic. The internet is full of "barrack room lawyers" encouraging motorists to challange every minute detail of an allegation of speeding, regardless of whether the motorist was actually speeding. All these challenges, requests for information have to dealt with by the police, prosecutors, courts etc and I was asking whether this is a good use of public money.

Whilst I agree with the point being made, I think the money is often wasted because those responsible at the sharp end are either not properly trained or simply not competent enough to ensure that the correct checks and proceedures are followed. That is all part of due process. If the officer hasn't ensured that the machine is calibrated in line with recognised proceedures, the readings cannot be trusted and the prosecution fails. You can hardly blame the motorist facing a possible 6 month totting up ban to want to excersise his rights. If certain "celebrity" lawyers understand the proceedures, is it too much to ask highly trained police officers to be as aware of such a narrow branch of legislation?

LibbyR26 wrote: »

Incidently it is my understanding that it is a matter for local police authorities and prosecution units to decide the perameters for reporting and prosecution. Some areas may issue fixed penalties or prosecutions for lower speeds than others. So it may be that in some posters areas fixed penalties etc are issued for 31,32 and 33 mph but not in others

Yet nobody seems able to find one. 3 papers tell the story of the poor motorist unfarely persecuted by the system for just doing 40mph in a clearly marked 30mph zone, yet they can't find a single motorist caught going under 33mph in a 30.

liam8282

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

Yet nobody seems able to find one. 3 papers tell the story of the poor motorist unfarely persecuted by the system for just doing 40mph in a clearly marked 30mph zone, yet they can't find a single motorist caught going under 33mph in a 30.

Somebody already gave you this article:

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/9240

Which states;

He had a clean driving licence for 16 years until he was fined £60 for doing 33mph in a 30mph zone in Towyn, North Wales last year.

Now you have had articles for 34mph, 33mph, now you will be saying it doesn't happen because you haven't got an article for 31 & 32. :rotfl:

liam8282

This may be of interest too:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-129780/New-speeding-laws-mean-ban-just-32mph.html

Wee_Willy_Harris

liam8282 wrote: »

Somebody already gave you this article:

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/9240

Which states;

He had a clean driving licence for 16 years until he was fined £60 for doing 33mph in a 30mph zone in Towyn, North Wales last year.

Now you have had articles for 34mph, 33mph, now you will be saying it doesn't happen because you haven't got an article for 31 & 32. :rotfl:

This point has already been raised. The driver in question SAYS that there were no speed limit signs when there were, SAYS that he recieved a fine when he didn't, SAYS that he had a clean license UNTIL then yet didn't get any points. If you believe what he SAYS, then you are a bigger fool than he is.

Strider590

I love self righteous motorists who slate other for exceeding the speed limit by only a few MPH, they always fall hardest when they finally get caught speeding

Either that or they end up planted into the back of a bus or mow down a group of pedestrians because their attention is soley on their speedo


Anything that takes yours eye's off the road is a danger, speed camera's cause more accidents than they help to prevent... The government and local councils simply "massage" the figures to show otherwise.

The number of times ive had to brake sharply because the guy in front thought the speed limit on a dual carriage way was 60mph instead of 70mph as he passed a speed camera (obviously never read the highway code), is just ridiculous.

liam8282

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

This point has already been raised. The driver in question SAYS that there were no speed limit signs when there were, SAYS that he recieved a fine when he didn't, SAYS that he had a clean license UNTIL then yet didn't get any points. If you believe what he SAYS, then you are a bigger fool than he is.

Maybe you are the fool for not being to read the article properly?

It is clearly two separate occasions where he was caught speeding.

The first, flashed doing 40mph in a 30mph zone where he said there were only 40mph signs, A629 Wortley Road Rotherham.

The second, caught doing 33mph in a 30mph zone, Towyn North Wales.



"Mr Thomas, who runs a window cleaning business, fell foul of the speed camera on the A629 Wortley Road in Rotherham, South Yorks.

He had a clean driving licence for 16 years until he was fined £60 for doing 33mph in a 30mph zone in Towyn, North Wales last year. "

liam8282

Strider590 wrote: »

I love self righteous motorists who slate other for exceeding the speed limit by only a few MPH, they always fall hardest when they finally get caught speeding

I don't think anybody is getting at that here, just a debate on whether people actually get prosecuted for it.

BTW, I have a totally clean licence, never caught speeding. :rotfl:

Wee_Willy_Harris

liam8282 wrote: »

Maybe you are the fool for not being to read the article properly?

It is clearly two separate occasions where he was caught speeding.

The first, flashed doing 40mph in a 30mph zone where he said there were only 40mph signs, A629 Wortley Road Rotherham.

The second, caught doing 33mph in a 30mph zone, Towyn North Wales.



"Mr Thomas, who runs a window cleaning business, fell foul of the speed camera on the A629 Wortley Road in Rotherham, South Yorks.

He had a clean driving licence for 16 years until he was fined £60 for doing 33mph in a 30mph zone in Towyn, North Wales last year. "

Maybe not as foolish as you think.

The 30mph road (A629 Wortley Rd) is known to me, well posted for speed, narrow, winding urban road which passes a school. The kind of road any motorist should KNOW is a 30mph, but they put the speed signs op anyway.

The alledged "33mph" incurred a speed awareness course, no fine, no points.

Mr Thomas clearly has a very selective recall of even the most recent events. Your choice to believe his rather inconsistant recollection of past events may be viewed as unwise.

liam8282

According to this site:

http://www.radardetectors.co.uk/camera_locations_south_yorkshire.htm

The A629 has differing speed limits being 30mph & 40mph.

How can you distinguish which part of this road he was on, going from the information given?

He said the only signs he saw were 40mph signs, the only indication of a change of speed limit was supposed to be the spacing of lamp posts, which suggests to me that it wasn't in a residential area. Just looking at google maps it also appears that there are non residential sections of the road, so perfectly plausible that a mistake was made, and nothing to suggest that he is lying or should not be believed.


Even if he only went on a speed awareness course, this is in lieu of the FPN, so still comes under "being done, prosecution, FPN", whatever you want to call it.

You said drivers don't "get done" for doing 33mph and wanted proof, somebody has given it to you.

Furthermore, a fee has to be paid to attend the course, being the same amount you would have paid in a fine. So perfectly understandable if Mr Thomas in the article has become confused over the two separate speeding offences and punishments. He won't have received points first time around, but will still have had to pay the "fine / fee" to attend the course, and then on the second offence he will have had to pay the fine and receive points.

Can you now accept that according to ACPO guidelines it can happen, and from the proof you have been given, it does happen?