Will I get a speeding ticket?

OddballJamie

I'm surprised you had to speed to overtake a sweeping road sweeper, they're not the quickest of vehicles nor the largest.

Using it as an excuse and blaming a following car's speed will not help.

Quetin is correct about denial.

27col

If you do get a driver awareness course. Don't go in there with a chip on your shoulder. If they think that you are not absorbing the course content, they are liable to chuck you off the course and to let the law take it's course.

mrs_sparrow

OddballJamie wrote: »

I'm surprised you had to speed to overtake a sweeping road sweeper, they're not the quickest of vehicles nor the largest.

Using it as an excuse and blaming a following car's speed will not help.

Quetin is correct about denial.

You're surprised that I wanted to get my vehicle out of the way of another vehicle that was about to hit mine when I was only going 5 mph faster than it, on a residential street where, on checking, it was safe to overtake and he had made no indication that he was about to move. Okay then. Are you saying a low speed crash with either vehicle was an acceptable outcome?

No, they are not the fastest which is why I was only doing 25 when I overtook it!!! There was no need to be going faster than normal. And that is why I put my foot on the accelerator to get out of the way and went from 25 mph to 37 mph in 2-3 seconds covering 150 yards. I might have been doing more than 30 mph for 1 second. If that anyway. The officer was standing 50 yards from a roundabout so I could not have maintained that speed for any longer either.

I have no idea how these cameras work, I might have been out of range, I might have been in its range doing 30. What do I know, that is why I asked.

Again, nothing constructive to add in answering the questions asked about how the camera works and how appeals work. Thanks for that insightful amount of information on what I SHOULD have done when I had a split second to think about it. Helpful. :cool:

mrs_sparrow

27col wrote: »

If you do get a driver awareness course. Don't go in there with a chip on yuor shoulder. If they think that you are not absorbing the course content, they are liable to chuck you off the course and to let the law take it's course.

27col wrote: »

If you do get a driver awareness course. Don't go in there with a chip on yuor shoulder. If they think that you are not absorbing the course content, they are liable to chuck you off the course and to let the law take it's course.

I am not going to sit through that course. I will either just pay the fine or appeal it. But I know nothing about appealing, I have asked but all I got was questions and several accusations of 'denial'.

I asked whether the guns took photos but no-one answered that either. If they did they would see the indication, the car behind and the place the sweeper had decided to turn into. Maybe. But I've no chance if there are no pictures to prove it, are there?

And there is no way they'll believe me over the police without some fancy lawyer anyway so I might as well accept it and just pay the fine and get the points. It's not as if I make a habit of doing it and I have to worry about getting more next week.

I am not going to sit here and be accused of denial though when I am not as I have admitted doing it briefly, but there was a reason, if I did not get out of the way the sweeper would have hit me or I would have hit the car behind. Apparently, that is denial and I now have a chip on my shoulder. Greeeeat!!!!

warehouse

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

You might well get away with it, your car speedo will be over reading anyway so you probably weren't going as quick as you think.

On thing though, you should perhaps think back to the incident and try to understand why you were in a position where a vehicle you were overtaking to the right indicated right with the intention to turn towards you. Was there a right turn which the driver might have wanted to take, or a car park, driveway, etc?

If there was, it might be worth you thinking about how you can avoid putting yourself in those sorts of situations in the future - you should really be looking ahead and anticipating potential moves like that and overtaking in those circumstances isn't very sensible.

After all, even if you'd been stuck behind the sweeper for an unlikely 5 miles, that'd take you 15 minutes. If it'd been doing 30, you'd have been there for 10 minutes. Since you were on the school run presumably you had your child(ren) in the car, and is getting there a few minutes earlier really work risking an accident for?

Could you be any more patronising?

BeenThroughItAll

mrs_sparrow wrote: »

I am not going to sit through that course. I will either just pay the fine or appeal it. But I know nothing about appealing, I have asked but all I got was questions and several accusations of 'denial'.

I asked whether the guns took photos but no-one answered that either. If they did they would see the indication, the car behind and the place the sweeper had decided to turn into. Maybe. But I've no chance if there are no pictures to prove it, are there?

And there is no way they'll believe me over the police without some fancy lawyer anyway so I might as well accept it and just pay the fine and get the points. It's not as if I make a habit of doing it and I have to worry about getting more next week.

I am not going to sit here and be accused of denial though when I am not as I have admitted doing it briefly, but there was a reason, if I did not get out of the way the sweeper would have hit me or I would have hit the car behind. Apparently, that is denial and I now have a chip on my shoulder. Greeeeat!!!!

You know, macman did actually answer about the photo question.


Bearing in mind your complete lack of acceptance that you were in any way to blame for the potential outcome here, I'm afraid I now hope you do get a fine.

BeenThroughItAll

warehouse wrote: »

Could you be any more patronising?

Yes. Easily, I could have tried to be patronising. I think you must have misread the tone of my post.

macman

You can't 'appeal' it yet, since you've not been convicted of anything. You will, if they take this forward, be sent a notice which will either ask you to admit the offence or deny it. If you admit it you will be offered a fixed penalty and points on your licence, or possibly a speed awareness course and no points. The cost is approx the same. If you decline the SAC you must accept the points, and the consequent implications for your insurance premium.
If you deny the offence, you will have to go to court and give your defence.
It's irrelevant for how long you were above the speed limit, your only defence is that you were taking unavoidable evasive action to avoid a collision.

Car_54

OK, I will try to answer some of your questions.

The device would have been a handheld speedmeter. It's not a camera, and doesn't take photos.

It would have a range of 1km, and would read your speed almost instantaneously.

If you were spotted, then nothing you have said is any defence to a charge of speeding. You will probably be offered the options of a course, or a fixed penalty (3 points and £100).

There is no appeal - the fixed penalty is simply designed to give you a chance to settle the matter without a court appearance. If you don't accept that offer, you will be summonsed.

If found guilty at court, the fine will be income-based, and almost certainly more than the fixed penalty. You will also have to pay costs (£600+) and a victim surcharge (10% of the fine, minimum £20), and be given 3 points. If you plead guilty, there is a 33% reduction in the fine, and the costs will be less.

Those are the facts. Returning to comments on the incident, did you consider using your horn when the driver started to signal? Or, better still, before beginning the overtake?

Car_54

macman wrote: »

You can't 'appeal' it yet, since you've not been convicted of anything. You will, if they take this forward, be sent a notice which will either ask you to admit the offence or deny it. If you admit it you will be offered a fixed penalty and points on your licence, or possibly a speed awareness course and no points. The cost is approx the same. If you decline the SAC you must accept the points, and the consequent implications for your insurance premium.
If you deny the offence, you will have to go to court and give your defence.
It's irrelevant for how long you were above the speed limit, your only defence is that you were taking unavoidable evasive action to avoid a collision.

That is not a defence. It might be mitigation, if believed.