Speed Warning Device

Sooler

pauljoanss wrote: »

I am not very good at concentrating on the speed limit and am very worried that there is a real risk of me getting more offences and possible disqualification.

Try concentrating on the consequences and risks to other people rather yourself. Give it go.

forgotmyname

pauljoanss wrote: »

This is my whole point, I do feel at risk and therefore I do not want to speed ever, but I find it difficult. A road near us changes from 50 to 30 to 40 to 30 all within 1 mile.

If you find it difficult not to speed you need to slow down.

There is a road near me thats worse than that. Exit a village with a 40mph limit to a 50mph limit, Opens to a dual carriageway then drops to 40mph whilst on that dual carriageway, then about 100 yards after that ends the limit drops to 30mph.

So a single lane is 50, But the dual carriageway drops to 40. Its wide and very good visibility. the entire length. Utterly pointless. But ive seen cars pulled for not slowing so dont bother accelerating to 50mph. Stickto 40, until the 30mph sign.

You know the speed limit changes so whats the issue with keeping to the limit?

Sooler

pauljoanss wrote: »

A road near us changes from 50 to 30 to 40 to 30 all within 1 mile.

Stick to 30 for the whole mile.

pauljoanss

Ok, I have to submit to weight of opinion here that I am not a good driver, but do not understand the opposition to me using an aid, if one existed.
A couple of final final points, I have been on some speed awareness courses and come out with full knowledge of speed limits, however after a couple of weeks this knowledge has slipped away. I consider my self of at least average IQ, as a graduate engineer from the 1970s.
The 50-30-40-30 stretch of road is all about signs and not national standards.
From conversations with other family members I do not think my struggle with speed limits is exceptional, question your wife next time while she is driving (sorry ladies)

magpiecottage

Not very hepful posts on here are they, OP.

Cruise control is quite good but if you get an app called Navigator (free) for your mobile, it has an option to set it to beep when going at the speed limit or 5% or 10% over.

However, the map needs to be accurate. You can choose TomTom (paid for) or Open Source Mapping (free).

I use OSM but it is only as accurate as the contributions. It tried to send me the wrong way round a one way system last summer! (I went online when I got home and corrected it).

It will also not cope with variable speed limits on motorways - that is really more cruise control.

Still, if you have a smartphone (or at least an Android one) it is free.

Herzlos

pauljoanss wrote: »

Additionally I do not think it is immoral to drive over the limit but within the prosecution speeds eg 33 in a 30 limit. But would you know the prosecution limit for every speed limit in every police area. I would hope a competent speed warning device would know the difference and could be set to actual limit or prosecution limits.

You really need to forget about the prosecution limit and focus on the speed limit, the reason they are different is to give you some reasonable margin for error. You took out that margin for error, erred further and got caught.

Just ensure the number on the dial in front of you is less than or equal to the last red circle you passed and you will be fine. Don't worry about the overreading or the prosecution limit. If you'd done that you wouldn't have got those 6 points.

If you're not confortable tracking the speed limits, you can use any old satnav, which should beep or flash if you exceed the limit, but I fear that may be more of a distraction as it's yet another source of distration.

pauljoanss wrote: »

Ok, I have to submit to weight of opinion here that I am not a good driver, but do not understand the opposition to me using an aid, if one existed.

The reason people are suggesting additional driver training is because it's the only real solution and is good advice for everyone.

Devices like you want exist, but the technology isn't mature enough yet - the after-market devices rely on GPS and a database, and it can easily become out of date or pick the incorrect road (if you are at a junction or there are 2 roads running near each other), so there are going to be so many false positives you'd need to determine the speed limit anyway.
Some new cars come with a vision system which will read the signs, but it relies on the conditions being write and the sign being machine readable. It's more reliable than the GPS system as it can't get confused about location or become out of date, but it relies on the signs being in good condition.


Realistically there are only 5 speed limits to worry about: 30,40,50,60,70.
70 is only for motorways and some dual carriageways, 30 is for about town, 60 is for national speed limit roads and 40/50 only apply where signposted. If you can't keep track of them changing a couple of times a mile (rarely more often than every 20 seconds) then how is your observation and hazard perception in general?

Same with the mobile cameras - they are usually pretty visible, and if you're looking at your speedo occasionally you shouldn't have anything to worry about, unless you're already pushing it by driving on the prosecution limit.

Joe_Horner

Agreed that some of the posts haven't been helpfully put, but they do have (at least) a large element of truth in them.

Most people don't have a problem with knowing speed limits so not many companies (in fact, it seems, none at the moment) will go to the expense of producing a device to help with what's essentially a non-problem for most people.

That's an area where smartphones and apps can help. Lots of people develop apps for the fun of it, never expecting to make their fortune, and the hardware platforms are more than capable of the sort of thing you'd like.

One problem that any device (dedicated or smartphone) is going to have is that many speed traps are set at, or close to, a change of limit. That means that, even if the mapping is good and the GPS is positioning you accurately, any warning is likely to be too late to do anything about.

Despite what others have said here it is true that repeaters aren't always as reliable or frequent as they maybe should be. The law doesn't specify minimum frequency for them (they must be "regular" with no indication of what regular means) and, espcially in rural areas, they're quite often overgrown or otherwise hidden. While that might provide an effective defence to a ticket, I assume that the OP would rather not be getting the ticket in the first place!

One thing you (OP) should stop to think about, though:

In one post you say that you don't believe most tickets are for "deliberate" speeding but, in the same post, you say you'd like to be warned of the prosecution limit rather than the posted speed limit.

You need to accept that deliberately driving at the speed you won't "get caught" at is deliberate speeding if that speed is above the posted limit. The whole reason for not prosecuting at the posted limit is to allow for the fact that people make errors and can't watch their speedo all the time.

It's a bit like this week's announcement of bringing in a grace period on parking tickets - people will start thinking that the grace period is something they're entitled to use, and will start complaining that they were "only 1 minute outside what they were allowed" when, in fact, they were 11 minutes over what they were supposed to be.

Similarly, your points weren't acquired for being "1 mph over the prosecution limit", they were acquired for being at least 5 mph (depending on the limit) over the posted speed. If they give you an inch and you take a mile, you can expect to be punished.

skivenov

Tomtom and garmin satnavs both do this. Also try sitting in a lower gear in 30 limits, it means you have to make a more conscious movement to chance your speed.

bartelbe

The reason you have been caught is you have been doing what most British drivers do which is ignore the speed limit.

In some ways I can understand that, many limits are stupidly low, but don't complain about how unfair it is when you get caught. Keep below the posted limit and not some made up proscecution limit.

If you really are incapable of reading road signs and speedo. Then you're not competent to drive.

Iceweasel

I think that several people have missed that the OP said in post #1 he didn't want an app.

OP - what Joe Horner says is very relevant - your speeding tickets and points were for exceeding the prosecution limit guidlines.

So that means usually 10% plus 2mph.

So 30 becomes 35
40 becomes 46
50 becomes 57

I think that your approach to the problem you have, may be wrong.

Try sticking to below the speed limit - not below the prosecution level.

If you can't just your speed more accurately without a gizmo, your observational and sensory skills are below par.

You've been on more that one speed awareness course you say too.

Rather than trying to avoid more points think along the lines of protecting the public from your addiction to speed.

You come across like may people who have reduced control of their actions.

Good for you that you are asking for help, but you need to have a long and serious look at what needs to change.

Some piece of kit that goes beep isn't the solution.