Contest speeding ticket

TooManyPoints

Let's not dress this up for what it isn't.    It is a huge money making business that makes £millions for a relatively small number of private firms who are raking it in and making hay whilst that sun shines.  The police forces get a cut of the proceeds from them.

Of course you are entirely free to decline (or simply ignore) any offer of one that you might receive.

The stretch has a path and crossing over to a child's playground which is the justification for such entrapment...

You clearly don't know what "entrapment" means.

AdrianC

Knapper said:

AdrianC said:

If you go into the course with the attitude that you are infallible and omniscient, then it will be four wasted hours. And you'll be back again soon... Oh, wait. No, you won't, because you can't do it again for three years. Next time, it'll be straight to points.

Turn up with an open mind. You may realise you don't remember everything from your driving lessons perfectly. And, if nothing else, take it as an eye-opener about your fellow road-users...

Thanks but been there and done it.

Snip long list of "Wah! I'm too good for this!"

My personal crime was driving along a desolate empty road at 6:30 in the morning, not a soul to be seen, no pedestrians or other cars on a 30mph road with a steep hill for which 4th gear is too much and 3rd gear too little. A private detector van was parked in a lay by just over the brow of the hill waiting to clock people.  The stretch has a path and crossing over to a child's playground which is the justification for such entrapment but at 6:30 in the morning there are of course no kids to be seen.  It's all about the money.

Yet, strangely, you seem to have missed the van in the layby.

Go on, what speed? Nearer 40 than 30, for sure.

And, no, it wasn't a "private detector van". There's no such thing. They're all on behalf of the police.

Would you rather have had 3pts and £100? The option was available, yet you voluntarily chose the course.

Clearly £10 and four hours is less valuable to you than 3pts, so I would have thought you'd welcome the choice.
I presume you'll turn the option down next time, and go for the FPN. You clearly have no intention of the other option - "don't do it", given your explanation of exactly why you think the ticket was "SOOOOOOOOOOOOO UNFAIR, MUM!"

I went on a course about seven years ago. Absolute fair cop - 40 in a 30, just inside the change to NSL. A very friendly man in a uniform jumped out from behind a hedge and waved a hairdryer at me - his stripy Volvo was tucked out of sight the other side of the road. And, d'you know what, I've not had another ticket since. Can't say that about any of the 3pt FPNs beforehand.

Manxman_in_exile

AdrianC said:

Knapper said:

Just take the Speed Awareness Course and pay your pound of flesh (£90-£120) depending on region.

It's a huge money making scam and we're stuck with it.   The course is 4 hours of drivel and questionable material but swallow your pride and sit through it and job done.  No points on your license and no conviction.

If you go into the course with the attitude that you are infallible and omniscient, then it will be four wasted hours. And you'll be back again soon... Oh, wait. No, you won't, because you can't do it again for three years. Next time, it'll be straight to points.

Turn up with an open mind. You may realise you don't remember everything from your driving lessons perfectly. And, if nothing else, take it as an eye-opener about your fellow road-users...

Did you perhaps have any particular poster fellow road-user in mind?

Barny1979

If only there was a way not to be "taxed" by this money racket?!

AdrianC

Manxman_in_exile said:

AdrianC said:
And, if nothing else, take it as an eye-opener about your fellow road-users...

Did you perhaps have any particular poster fellow road-user in mind?

My lawyers advise me not to answer such leading questions...

[Deleted User]

This is another reason to get a dashcam. You could review the video and check to see if there were any visible 50 signs.

TooManyPoints

Trouble is, unless the footage is constantly archived, by the time a NIP is received it will have long been overwritten.

[Deleted User]

[DELETED USER] said:

This is another reason to get a dashcam. You could review the video and check to see if there were any visible 50 signs.

Lack of signs doesn't mean a defence for speeding.
Knapper - take the bee out of your bonnet, you broke the law and your defence is that you should be allowed to because it was quiet? What nonsense. Speed limits are there for a reason, the average motorist does not have the data to know why one was set there. If you break the law and get caught, man up and own your mistake.

TooManyPoints

Lack of signs doesn't mean a defence for speeding.

That very much depends on the circumstances. The limit being broken and the reason it is in place would play a big part. 30mph limits where street lighting is present need no signs. NSLs where no street lights are present similarly need no signs. All others do, with repeaters being required in most cases. But in this instance it seems it was a variable speed limit  below the otherwise prevailing NSL. There is no way to convey that variability other than by signs.