'Tis the season to be stupid!

[Grimlish]

AP - can I strongly suggest you take a speed awareness course? (I had to, after being caught on camera in very similar circumstances. It was a disquieting experience, and you know, I learnt some stuff!) We all like to pillory the H&S lobby (or our assumptions about it), but for all you say about 'just' doing 2mph over the limit, at 36 mph you were 20% over and getting close to the point on the speed/danger curve where the risks become very significantly raised (they literally escalate exponentially). As they say - its 30 for a reason.

[Rizzo]

I always thought/assumed that all of Aylestone Road was a 30mph limit, and also that there were light-up signs showing that speed cameras are in operation.

[DickyP]

What most poster here are forgetting is that:

1. Except on motorways, roads marked with double red lines, and other roads where specific signs are posted pedestrians have an equal right to be on the highway to cars (might make them stupid but not illegal).

2. Just because a pedestrian is on the road doesn't give the driver the right to mow him down!

In fact I probably am in less danger from cars on Welford Rd after a Tigers match than I am from cyclists on the pavement!

[tb1]

In this case the road was clear of cars so I was looking out for pedestrians (usually dressed in black ) and cyclists ( no lights ) - at about 8pm Sunday night, raining. I made the mistake of concentrating looking atthe road ahead instead of my speedo.
The only reason I mentined the 35 mph was that it is the cut off point where they do not even bother to send you a notification ie cut off point is speed limit (30) plus 10% (+3) plus 2 mph = 35 mph Apparantly at the precise momt the speed camera got me I was recorded at 36 mph - 1 metre either side of the 'flashpoint I was probably doing 30 - 32 mph . Unfortunately the speed limits were introduced when cars had cable operated skinny drum brakes, My car has the the latest dual circuit disc brakes, with ABS. Also being a motorcyclist and ex racing person and proto type car tester I have developed fast reaction times - you have to to survive on a motorbike. OK I admit I was apparantly doing 1 mph above the cut off point
but was I dangerous, did anybody get injured, did a road traffic crash occur (I don't call them accidents as that implies they could not be avoided) NO to all but apparantly I was unsafe.
I still have a clean license after 40 years of driving. But now faced with a £100 pound fine and attending a speeed awareness course. Bit of joke really when I have safely driven at 198 mph in a Bugatti veyron and regularly at 155 mph in single seat race cars. All with out incident. But of course we can't have one rule for idiots texting, smoking or drinking coffee whilst driving and another for professional drivers who once in 40 years stray one mph over the deemed safe speed of 35mph.
Speed cameras are money generating machines for the industry they have spawned - they are not road safety related. The majority of times on the Aylestone road after a match you crawl along at 5 mph and 10 mph would be dangerous ! This time it ewas a long time after the game and the road was devoid of traffic.
I shall ask for photographic evidence and also a copy of the calibration certificate, I might aswell get something for my 100 quid !

NEXT SEASON BECAUSE OF PARKING AND TRAFFIC DIFFULTIES IN LEICESTER I AM CONTEMPLATING NOT RENEWING MY SEASON TICKET BUT STAYING AT HOME 45 MILES AWAY AND WATCHING HE GAMES ON TV a great pity.

If you were such a good driver it would be trivially easy for you to not to be 6mph over the speed limit.

Wind your neck in.

[loretta]

If you don't want to get a ticket for speeding, don't go over the limit. Simple.

Any calculations of what you can/should get away with, or arguments about the intended purpose or efficiency of speed cameras for that matter, are just a distraction from this easy-to-remember rule.

[WhitecapTiger]

To the best of my knowledge 'cut off points' are nothing more than a way for the local authority to ensure a conviction...they are seen to be being 'fair', such cutoffs are not law. It's not a case of you being 'apparently unsafe', it's a case of 'you broke the law' (alleged until convicted of course), even after allowances were applied to give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe your powers are waning as you missed the camera. To use your own failing to moan about season tickets is pretty sad.

I too am a motorcyclist. I have driven/ridden at high speeds. I recently completed a speed awareness course having been caught doing less than you whilst decelerating into a 30mph zone, i didn't slow down quickly enough. I thought it a little unfair but blamed nobody but myself. If you do go on a speed awareness course i would offer the advice that the staff presenting the course do not give a fig about protestations of innocence or mitigating factors or skill levels or previous clean driving, intense objectikns on the course could result in them referring an individual back to the police for prosecution of the original offence....part of the terms of being offered a speed awareness course i believe.

[Tigerbeat]

. If you do go on a speed awareness course i would offer the advice that the staff presenting the course do not give a fig about protestations of innocence or mitigating factors or skill levels or previous clean driving, intense objectikns on the course could result in them referring an individual back to the police for prosecution of the original offence....part of the terms of being offered a speed awareness course i believe.

I was told by one of the Pcs who deliver the awareness course, if it is not taken seriously by the person the points will be given and may also be referred back to the courts. Speeding is an offence and the easiest way to avoid points and fines us to keep within the limits.

[DickyP]

To the best of my knowledge 'cut off points' are nothing more than a way for the local authority to ensure a conviction...they are seen to be being 'fair', such cutoffs are not law. It's not a case of you being 'apparently unsafe', it's a case of 'you broke the law' (alleged until convicted of course), even after allowances were applied to give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe your powers are waning as you missed the camera. To use your own failing to moan about season tickets is pretty sad.

It is actually down to the ISO standard to which speedometers are deemed to comply. The 'cut of points' are just beyond the variation allowed for in the standard.

Always a good trick if you are caught is to ask to see the maintenance and calibration records for the camera involved. Most forces maintain them correctly I am told, but not all.