Just claim it wasn't you so your car must of been cloned.

must admit if i was caught like this,with 9 points on my licence i would give it a go

must admit if i was caught like this,with 9 points on my licence i would give it a go

So long as your car is standard I don't see why not.

So long as your car is standard I don't see why not.

ahh well thats mine buggered then

ahh well thats mine buggered then

You'll just have to resort to plan B, an old tyre and some petrol.

firstly to all who have said i must have been going more than 30 why would i come on here lying about my speed? if i was speeding in the wet towards the said scamming lights it would be a pointless thread to start from my point of view

also yes the stopping distance is an issue, as is the ABS. which ****es me off as much as the possibility that i will be getting a £60 fine and 3 points

ive since been back to see roughly where i braked and where i stopped and in total it looks more like 40/45 yards or so which to me from 30mph is still far to say i braked quite sharply

since the incident the car is braking nowhere near how it usually does

Ello! I have had a simular experiance once, when it had just stoped raining. my rear tyres were .5 or a raduis bigger in the rear than the front which had f'ed up my abs!

I had seen the lights change red, and braked down hill, but my car didnt stop!

the abs had kicked in super early. and I skidded through a red light ending up in the middle of a junction, I was lucky it was quiet. the camera didnt flash though. and that was after it turned red!

I went back to my tyre fitter to explain the incedent and he just said.... Oh yeah I forgot all about that, after I had asked if it would effect the car in anyway!:eek:

so you might be safe:)

cheers for that little bit of hope!

car goes in today for stereo so gonna ask them to have a look at the brakes, im sure there will be something wrong

If the car isnt braking as it should be either

Your discs and pads are wearing

Brake fluid perhaps

The brakes on my Felly felt a lot better after the discs and pads were changed. then the master cyl and fluid a year later.

Never had any problem stopping in wet/damp and only really locked once despite having no ABS.

It would not be worth apealing, if you do then you could get charged with a more serious offence because you are supposed drive at a speed which means should something happen (eg. lights change) you should be able to react and stop in time. If the lights were amber you should be ok though, its only on red that the camera is activated.

A lot of people go to court and say I didn't know I was speeding or My speedo was out. Oddly enough judges don't like people using silly excuses and other more serious offences are then often handed out from what I'm told.

Also from what I'm told, the cameras are configured to start capturing a certain time period after the light has gone red. If this is the case then going through on amber wouldn't have set the camera off and the lines are approximately in line with the camera base or the line and just after it. Therefore if you were well past it you will IMHO be fine.

they dont normally start snapping till 2 seconds after turning red. best bet is have a look on the ACPO website (think its Association of Chief Police Officers) and download their guidelines and have a jolly good read.

From memory think I have seen 2 secs of red quoted - although don't forget that the above are only GUIDELINES( not rules )-so they don't have to adhere to them (just as being visible is a guideline for vans )

no point in appealing against it,a friend of mine in his class 1 hgv was turning right at such a set of lights,as he was waiting they went red,as he was 75% trough the lights he set off when the oncoming traffic also stopped,a week later the notice came through so he said he was driving and added a letter to explain,anyway he ended up going to court,found guilty and fined £300 plus costs with 3 points,i wouldn't bother appealing if it got you,there appears to be very little point.

If his cab had crossed the line on green, he shouldn't have been charged. Just goes to prove that scameras are there to make money, rather than improve road safety.

If the lights were still amber when you crossed the line, you should be OK.

But if you hit the brakes when you were and then stopped that means you took 50-60 yards to stop. Something is very wrong there.

Either you were driving much faster than 30mph, or your brakes/tyres are shot. In either case as the driver you are responsible, and you cannot blame the rain since you are supposed to take account of the conditions at all times.

Imagine if someone had jumped the lights the other way, or a pedestrian saw the lights changing and started to cross. You could have been in real trouble.

I reckon you have been very lucky.

Sorry if this sounds unfriendly, but that's the way I see it.

I totally agree. If there was torrential rain as you claim then you shouldn't have been doing anywhere near 40 to start off with, and you should be adjusting your speed according to the conditions. As far as slippery road surface is concerned, did anyone else skid across the junction whilst you were there? (this could add credibility to your story)

And if your brakes failed, then it's your fault for not maintaining your car properly.

Personally, having seen hundreds of accidents and heard all the excuses under the sun, I think you ought to count yourself lucky you didn't hit anyone/get hit by anyone and just take the fine and the points like a man.

They aren't there as revenue collectors - they are there to promote and improve road safety.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but probably 80% of all the RTIs I go to caused at least in part by excess speed or failing to read the road...

Red light cameras are generally not money makers IMHO, but if you're vehicle is over the line I remember an instructor on here (Sharky) saying you should continue as you have entered the junction.

I totally agree. If there was torrential rain as you claim then you shouldn't have been doing anywhere near 40 to start off with, and you should be adjusting your speed according to the conditions. As far as slippery road surface is concerned, did anyone else skid across the junction whilst you were there? (this could add credibility to your story)

And if your brakes failed, then it's your fault for not maintaining your car properly.

Personally, having seen hundreds of accidents and heard all the excuses under the sun, I think you ought to count yourself lucky you didn't hit anyone/get hit by anyone and just take the fine and the points like a man.

They aren't there as revenue collectors - they are there to promote and improve road safety.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but probably 80% of all the RTIs I go to caused at least in part by excess speed or failing to read the road...

well i was doing 30 in a 40 zone, even if it was raining any less than 30 and the whole country would come to a stand still, as to the maintaining my car, its regulary serviced, tyres changed and passed an MOT just the week or so before so in terms of maintenance i feel i do keep it up to scratch, what more could i do barring taking a mechanics course?

there was no other traffic around me either so no sign of anyone else doing it

it amazes me though how everyone has been quick to jump to conclusions that i was driving like a ****** and dont maintain my car. why would i even bother to post the subject to start with if this was the case? also ive had the car over 2 years now and i would know it well enough to how it should have handled it

also ive had the car over 2 years now and i would know it well enough to how it should have handled it

Well you obviously didn't know how your car would handle it, did you? (or you wouldnt have skidded half way across the junction)

nor would i have the car if it took 40 yards to stop in the wet and the ABS worked as and when it felt like it like the problem is seeming to be

From memory think I have seen 2 secs of red quoted - although don't forget that the above are only GUIDELINES( not rules )-so they don't have to adhere to them (just as being visible is a guideline for vans )

but the point being when they are set up, they are set up giving enough time to either proceed if braking is likely to cause danger to those around (i.e. back shunt)or to come to a halt. they are carefully worked out on the timing how long it will take to stop from the lights changing to amber (which actually means stop as well)to when it hits red. this is why they give you up to 2 seconds ( 2 seconds being the guideline) to stop before the line.

I personally cannot see how anyone can actually get done by a red light camera, traffic lights should be viewed as a set of lights that will change to red and the longer they are on green the more likely they will change to red.

McG and Jonny CB: personally, the only things I can see that would cause an Octy to behave like McG describes are either a road that is literally flooded to the point of causing aquaplaning (at 30mph that means an inch or more of standng water, so I'd hope McG noticed it), ice (but it's August), or a diesel spill (which IMO is genuinely unpredictable and might well not be noticed until you tried to brake or turn on it).

ive since been back to see roughly where i braked and where i stopped and in total it looks more like 40/45 yards or so

That makes a difference of course, but you must understand that people were working on the figures that you gave in your original post.

since the incident the car is braking nowhere near how it usually does

If the skid was a result of faulty brakes then the car is a danger to you and other road users. You shouldn't be driving it again until they have been sorted.

Derv is really not as common as most people make out, especially now all new vehicles have vent systems of some description.

What tyres are on the car. Are they ditchfinder specials because these sort of things would potentially not stop you on a greasy road with a small amount of water. Ditto for new tyres.

At the end of the day all you can do is wait your 28 days.

I'm not claiming they're common (particularly on straight roads); just that they're one source of ice slippery road that you get utterly no warning of unless the wind's in the right direction.

.... or if it's damp a nice big rainbow patch all over the road.

You'd still have to have the right angle of view to spot the rainbow patch. I honestly didn't and couldn't have seen mine. I smelt it as the drift stopped though.

At the end of the day all you can do is wait your 28 days.

14 days...

14 days...

My bad, it is that they have to serve you the NIP within 14 days, although that doesn't mean you have to have received it within 14 days. Probably where I got the 28 from.

Anyway to the OP, more info here:

PePiPoo: Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) - UK Motoring Law

and here:

Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP)