"Speeders put lives at risk on lockdown's empty roads"

Supersonos

According to Sky News, during lockdown there have been incidents of people hitting 163mph on the motorway, 110mph in a 30 zone and 72mph in a 20 zone.  And there's the widely publicised video of a guy filming his speedo hitting 200mph.  Police said they'd "investigate".  Not surprisingly, nothing more has been heard.

But I blame the authorities - there isn't enough enforcement and the punishments are pathetic.  The speed awareness course is a joke (can you imagine crime awareness courses for theives and vandals?), motorists are given every opportunity to avoid being caught speeding (brightly painted cameras, signs warning of speed cameras) and even the speed limit isn't really the limit.  You can do more without any chance of repercussions - 80mph seems to be the accepted limit on the motorway.

And why do we need cars to do such speeds anyway?  Why do the government say the limit on UK roads is 70mph but allow all car makers to sell cars in the UK capable of doing almost three times that?  The technology has existed for decades to limit a vehicle's speed, so all cars sold in the UK should have to have an 80mph limiter.  

It' socially acceptable to speed and the huge majority of drivers do so regularly and never get caught.

452

Commit theft or damage twice and get caught they don't even bother to send you on a course they tell you not to do it again. Can you imagine them doing that for motorists?

I blame the drivers authorities didn't make them commit crime.

neilmcl

Supersonos said:

According to Sky News, during lockdown there have been incidents of people hitting 163mph on the motorway, 110mph in a 30 zone and 72mph in a 20 zone.  And there's the widely publicised video of a guy filming his speedo hitting 200mph.  Police said they'd "investigate".  Not surprisingly, nothing more has been heard.

But I blame the authorities - there isn't enough enforcement and the punishments are pathetic.  The speed awareness course is a joke (can you imagine crime awareness courses for theives and vandals?), motorists are given every opportunity to avoid being caught speeding (brightly painted cameras, signs warning of speed cameras) and even the speed limit isn't really the limit.  You can do more without any chance of repercussions - 80mph seems to be the accepted limit on the motorway.

And why do we need cars to do such speeds anyway?  Why do the government say the limit on UK roads is 70mph but allow all car makers to sell cars in the UK capable of doing almost three times that?  The technology has existed for decades to limit a vehicle's speed, so all cars sold in the UK should have to have an 80mph limiter.  

It' socially acceptable to speed and the huge majority of drivers do so regularly and never get caught.

I think this needs moving to Money Saving Arms, or the Praise, Vent, Warnings forum.

AdrianC

Supersonos said:

According to Sky News, during lockdown there have been incidents of people hitting 163mph on the motorway, 110mph in a 30 zone and 72mph in a 20 zone.  And there's the widely publicised video of a guy filming his speedo hitting 200mph.  Police said they'd "investigate".  Not surprisingly, nothing more has been heard.

What in those videos proves beyond reasonable doubt who was driving, or even who the RK of the vehicle is? Even if you proved who the RK was, the maximum penalty for failing to say who the driver was is 6pts and a Band C fine. If it's registered in a company name, just the fine.

And why do we need cars to do such speeds anyway?  Why do the government say the limit on UK roads is 70mph but allow all car makers to sell cars in the UK capable of doing almost three times that? The technology has existed for decades to limit a vehicle's speed, so all cars sold in the UK should have to have an 80mph limiter.

Clue: Cars sold in the UK aren't always used on UK roads. It's perfectly legal to drive on-road far in excess of 70mph within an easy day's drive of the UK.

All new Volvos are now limited to 180kph (112mph). https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/tech/volvo-112mph-speed-limit/
The "202mph" video Audi was restricted by the manufacturer to 155mph. It's been modified to remove the limiter.

It' socially acceptable to speed and the huge majority of drivers do so regularly and never get caught.

Don't get "exceeding the speed limit" confused with "careless driving" or "dangerous driving".

It's perfectly possible to drive carelessly or dangerously within the limit - and it's perfectly possible to drive carefully and safely in excess of it.

If "exceeding the speed limit" is the single most appropriate offence to charge somebody with, rather than merely the most convenient because of lack of evidence for anything else, then by definition it is simply a trivially minor paperwork offence - one number is bigger than the other.

unforeseen

It's perfectly legal to drive on-road far in excess of 70mph within an easy day's drive of the UK.

Don't even need to go abroad. 3 hour ferry crossing to IOM and there you go. 


(yes, I know IOM isn't part of the UK) 

Herzlos

Supersonos said:

According to Sky News, during lockdown there have been incidents of people hitting 163mph on the motorway, 110mph in a 30 zone and 72mph in a 20 zone.  And there's the widely publicised video of a guy filming his speedo hitting 200mph.  Police said they'd "investigate".  Not surprisingly, nothing more has been heard.

But I blame the authorities - there isn't enough enforcement and the punishments are pathetic.  The speed awareness course is a joke

The people that attend the  speed awareness courses with an open mind generally find them really useful, and they go a lot further to get people to understand why speed is important than slapping them with 3 points and a fine.

All of the speeds you mention are court appearance and driving ban territory anyway.

It's also hardly surprising they aren't being caught; we've got a lot less police officers than 10 years ago and they are busy splitting up groups in parks and sending people home because people can't follow rules.

AdrianC

Herzlos said:

All of the speeds you mention are court appearance and driving ban territory anyway. 

They're very likely not to just be charged with exceeding the speed limit, either. In Scotland, especially, those kinds of numbers are routinely charged as "dangerous driving" without any other evidence - which increases the possible penalties into "jail time" territory.

 The move to speed cameras away from real live stripy volvos was what hit the number of traffic police - and the very arguments the OP uses were used to justify them. Yes, speeding penalties and convictions rose. But safety did not improve. Because a photo in the post doesn't stop somebody before they crash. It does nothing about drunk drivers. It does nothing about fake plates on stolen cars.

Scrapit

unforeseen said:

It's perfectly legal to drive on-road far in excess of 70mph within an easy day's drive of the UK.

Don't even need to go abroad. 3 hour ferry crossing to IOM and there you go. 


(yes, I know IOM isn't part of the UK) 

They currently have a speed limit, recently revised up but still a limit.

unforeseen

Scrapit said:

unforeseen said:

It's perfectly legal to drive on-road far in excess of 70mph within an easy day's drive of the UK.

Don't even need to go abroad. 3 hour ferry crossing to IOM and there you go. 


(yes, I know IOM isn't part of the UK) 

They currently have a speed limit, recently revised up but still a limit.

I'm not even sure the ferries are running ATM to get your car there. 

AdrianC

IoM is an interesting but mostly theoretical option. I was thinking a bit more mainstream.


And let's not forget that motorways in the UK are the safest roads of all - by a wide margin. Even on the least safe, 30 mph urban, the vast majority of deaths and injuries happen because of inattention, not because of speed above the limit. Excess speed for the situation, but within the limit, kills and injures more.

unforeseen

So the only one really is Germany