Speed van got me or not?

lucifersangel87

I'll start off by saying i'm a naughty impatient boy...

Situation: long wide stretch of single carriageway road, with one lane worth of hatching in the middle and the directional carriageways either side. National Speed Limit.
Car in front suddenly slows down to 35-40mph, for unknown reason. I have a peek around and can't see anything ahead, so I proceed to overtake on the hatching. Whilst overtaking, I notch 65/66mph before I get just level enough with said slow-bo to see that they actually slowed down for a speed van sitting in a lay-by.

In the "gotcha" zone of the speed van, I imagine they would see me doing a little bit over the limit on the hatching. I did slow down quickly as soon as i noticed so not sure if it could have registered as 63/64.

Anywho, am I right in thinking there is a "10% + 2mph" leeway for mobile speed vans?

Squeeky bum time....

brat

lucifersangel87 wrote: »

I'll start off by saying i'm a naughty impatient boy...

Situation: long wide stretch of single carriageway road, with one lane worth of hatching in the middle and the directional carriageways either side. National Speed Limit.
Car in front suddenly slows down to 35-40mph, for unknown reason. I have a peek around and can't see anything ahead, so I proceed to overtake on the hatching. Whilst overtaking, I notch 65/66mph before I get just level enough with said slow-bo to see that they actually slowed down for a speed van sitting in a lay-by.

In the "gotcha" zone of the speed van, I imagine they would see me doing a little bit over the limit on the hatching. I did slow down quickly as soon as i noticed so not sure if it could have registered as 63/64.

Anywho, am I right in thinking there is a "10% + 2mph" leeway for mobile speed vans?

Squeeky bum time....

It's unlikely you'll get prosecuted, +10 is about as low as they get, 10% +2 is more normal, which would require your speedo to be reading over 70.

But a 30mph overtaking differential is a bit OTT. Was that necessary?

Richard53

From experience, if the car in front slows down 'for no reason', there's a reason.

jimjames

If you're driving across the hatching they may have that instead!

Iceweasel

You just have to wait and see - but you are correct about the 10% +2 'tolerance'.

You are unlikely to hear anything regards a speed of 63/64 -especially as almost everyones' speedos read high, so you might not even been actually doing 60mph.

To confirm the ACPO guidlines see here:

http://www.acpo.police.uk/documents/uniformed/2013/201305-uoba-joining-forces-safer-roads.pdf

As for entering the hatched area - did it have a solid line boundary or a dashed line? - that makes a big, big difference.

Strider590

VERY unlikely and tbh you've done nothing wrong either. Hatch markings are fair game as long as they're surrounded by broken lines.

Also, if your speedo was reading 65, then your probably only doing 60mph.

My Vectra speedo reads 76mph when both my OBDII scanner and the GPS are both reading exactly 70mph.... So effectively I could be doing well over 80 on the speedo before I even get close to the 10% +2.

Richard53

Iceweasel wrote: »

As for entering the hatched area - did it have a solid line boundary or a dashed line? - that makes a big, big difference.

I wish more people were aware of this.

facade

You are allowed to overtake on hatching with a dashed border, but if you hit something they will have you for driving without due care or something similar.

The hatching is to separate lines of traffic/protect vehicles turning, although now it seems to be used to discourage overtaking (as most people think you cannot go over them)

You should avoid hatching because it is where all the screws that fall out of jobbing builders lorries and other road debris collect (as no one drives on it) and you get punctures.

Round here we have mile after mile of hatching on any road straight or wide enough to overtake on, and just to make the roads "safer" "They" have put pedestrian refuges and KEEP LEFT signs on little islands of kebing right in the middle of it at random intervals. There were quite a few collisions with these islands before the locals learned where they all were.
Now "They" are starting to put short sections of double white lines randomly along the border of the hatching zones, presumably to make it impossible to use them as overtaking zones.

Richard53

Agreed, if you cross onto the hatching (with dotted lines) it is up to you to ensure the manoeuvre is safe, and you take full responsibility if anything goes wrong. The hatching is in effect a warning that there is a hazard, and 'on your head be it'.


However, I am amazed at the number of people who think that driving/riding on the hatched areas is illegal, whatever the type of line that surrounds it.

oldagetraveller

Rule 130 of the highway Code states -

"130

Areas of white diagonal stripes or chevrons painted on the road. These are to separate traffic lanes or to protect traffic turning right.

• if the area is bordered by a broken white line, you should not enter the area unless it is necessary and you can see that it is safe to do so."

Overtaking, as in the op's case, wasn't really necessary. So the area (if broken lines) should not have been entered whether it was safe to do so or not.

brat

oldagetraveller wrote: »

Rule 130 of the highway Code states -

"130

Areas of white diagonal stripes or chevrons painted on the road. These are to separate traffic lanes or to protect traffic turning right.

• if the area is bordered by a broken white line, you should not enter the area unless it is necessary and you can see that it is safe to do so."

Overtaking, as in the op's case, wasn't really necessary. So the area (if broken lines) should not have been entered whether it was safe to do so or not.

Point to note. I's not a contravention of a S36 RTA sign to enter the hatch markings unnecessarily, in other words there is no standalone offence of entering hatch markings unnecessarily; but it could be used to support a case of careless driving.