mobile speed cams

carus9000

hi all,

just got a speeding fine through from dorset police, of intended prosecution. I was driving on the a35 bypass near bridport and noticed a cam van and looked down at my speedo and was doing exactly 60 miles per hr. I was driving a hire van and looking up the speed limits for a bypass the max speed for a van is 60 miles per hr. the speed I was clocked at was 61 miles per hr.

now I don't go around speeding and try to abide by the limits at all times. but for the sake of 1 mile per hr I think it is disgusting they are taking this further. my argument is that

1, is the calibration of their machines correct and accurate
and
2, is there a fault on my speedo.

I know most will say why drive right on the speed limit but I wasn't aware I was so close to the limit but having driven for nearly 30 yrs you get to know if your way over the limit and before I looked at my speedo I felt I wasn't speeding. I also feel that looking at your speedo is an distraction to looking at the road ahead.

my question is do you think it is worth me contesting this as me personally think this is so close to right and wrong, I feel hard done by. and also shows how desperate the police are to punish drivers.

I also cant get over that you can drive a car at 70 on a bypass and nowadays vans are as stable at that speed as a car, and if that's the case why is the speed for a van the same for a car on the motorways. the law just seems to contradict its self all the time.

any advice will be great

thx all

Stooby2

This doesn't sound right to me. The police don't usually prosecute at such speeds, they use the ACPO guidelines of 10% + 2 mph, so 69mph and above for a national sped, limit.

Are you sure of the speed limit? Just because it's a bypass doesn't mean it's automatically national speed limit - 60mph. What does the NIP say?

carus9000

yes apart from looking it up on the ticket it states

exceeding speed limit for class of vehicle 60mph and 70mph

1865ST

Is it a single carriageway? I could be wrong here but I'm sure vans are now restricted to 50mph on single carriageways? if its duel then just ignore me

DigForVictory

+1 for that sounding odd.
I'd heard they allow +/- 5% for speedo variation, so my first thought would be to presume the road speed had been changed.
No idea if you've a case, but there are certainly questions.

carus9000

it was duel carriageway section as some parts are single some are duel. and the van was in a layby on the duel carriageway

facade

The A35 is single carriageway AFAIK, so the limit is 50 for a van, if it were dual carriageway it would be 60, and 61 is still speeding, unless your van is on the list of "car derived vans", when the same limit applies as for a normal car.

EDIT: you posteed whilst I was typing. Ask for a photograph "To help identify the driver". If it shows a central reservation then the limit is 60, but they can still prosecute at 61, however they can ping you 1000m away, so you could have been on the single carriageway part when they clocked your speed.

carus9000

I am sure it was duel if im wrong then as the saying maybe its a fair cop

spacey2012

Many Ignore the guidelines, speeding is speeding now.
If they can prove you are over the actual limit, they go for it.

However, the CPS do, so if it was a dual carriageway, ask to go to court.

Iceweasel

I would need more info before being able to comment.

What type of van was this and what was the plated gross permissible weight of it?

You talk about the speed limit for a 'by-pass' - but there is no such category of road.

So was it single or dual carriageway? Be careful regards what really counts as dual carriageway- two lane is each direction is not enough on it's own - there needs to be a physical separating central reservation.

Edit: there's only a 2 mile section of dual carriageway at Bridport.

carus9000

it has a central reservation and I entered that stretch of the road off a roundabout. as I entered the roundabout I stopped so I didn't just go through the roundabout with excess speed. and had just levelled out to what I thought was the ideal speed