I was Invited to sit in his Volvo....................

[Auric Goldfinger]

........while the very nice Officer relived me of £60 and gave me three lovely Points

Got stopped yesterday, M62 west bound, Junction 7, for making very good progress whilst driving the wife to visit her father in Broadgreen Hospital, Liverpool

Thing is, I asked the officer where he copped me and he replied he was parked up the slip road at Junction 7 ( westbound ) and got me with his Radar Gun. He showed me the speed on the gun and it read 9* mph " ( I was driving away from him ) how do I know that was me and not the racing pigeon flying along side. The screen, I believe only, showed the speed, nothing else (don't think so anyway ).

Just to add **I'm not complaining about it as I've already paid my fine and handed my License in **........but I'm just curious.

Any traffic Officers on here like to comment...........???? Thanks

[Babs]

Did you ask for a calibration certificate?

[MoggyTech]

Fixed penalty for 9xMPH is a good deal. If you tried to fight it, you could get a ban and massive fine.

To answer your question though, as has been pointed out, the equipment in use must be approved and calibrated, and the officer has to have had the required training to use the device properly.

The other question has to be, do you think you were doing the speed the officer clocked you at?

[Brimma]

I'd personally like to congratulate you gracefully accepting the ticket, paying your dues, without overburdening the legal system with potential 'get outs'.

You presumably would have disputed the reading with the officer if you were travelling at the legal limit, as you'd have known the difference between 70 and 9x.

If only more people could be as gracious as you.

BTW - I do genuinely mean the above comments - I'm not taking the p*ss.

[DJM123]

As above if I was genuiney doing 9*? I would be pretty happy with a ticket and not a trip to local Mags.

Besides unless you've already got loadsa points it probably wont make too much differenc to ins premium? Think mine went up 10%

[trundlenut]

Being caught doing 97mph got a former work colleague of mine a trip to court, 9 points and £400 fine. He may well have lost his licence but for a lot of grovelling and very nice letter from his boss saying he couldn't do his job without a car.

[KenONeill]

Having a clean licence I'd settle for an FP for 90 mph too.

If I thought I wasn't moving that fast I'd be after checking it was a radar, used correctly, calibration cert in date... though.

[Brimma]

Being caught doing 97mph got a former work colleague of mine a trip to court, 9 points and £400 fine. He may well have lost his licence but for a lot of grovelling and very nice letter from his boss saying he couldn't do his job without a car.

:eek: Speeding only carries between 3 and 6 points

[trundlenut]

:eek: Speeding only carries between 3 and 6 points

He probably already had three to start with then. I just remember him saying that any more points and he would loose his licence.

[Dr Zoidberg]

Did you ask for a calibration certificate?

Why should he , if he knows he was speeding and is being given a light punishment by way of FPN?

[Babs]

Has your signature shrunk yet?

Because it's always best not to pay if you don't have to. Calibration certificate = proof that the gun is reading right = proof that the OP was driving other than in accordance with the posted speed limit.

Without it, it's innocent until proven guilty.

[Babs]

Here, have a pot of wooden spoons!

Thank you!

I will treasure them, always!

[Auric Goldfinger]

The other question has to be, do you think you were doing the speed the officer clocked you at?

:rubchin:

[Auric Goldfinger]

Has your signature shrunk yet?

Because it's always best not to pay if you don't have to. Calibration certificate = proof that the gun is reading right = proof that the OP was driving other than in accordance with the posted speed limit.

Without it, it's innocent until proven guilty.

Guilty.............

[Dr Zoidberg]

Has your signature shrunk yet?

Because it's always best not to pay if you don't have to. Calibration certificate = proof that the gun is reading right = proof that the OP was driving other than in accordance with the posted speed limit.

Without it, it's innocent until proven guilty.

Talking rubbish as usual , eh?

You think that if you are breaking the law by speeding , and are aware that you are doing so , that it's morally acceptable to try and get away with this on a technicality , despite being treated fairly by the officers involved?

Yes or no?

Now apply this to other driving offences? Any difference?

Now apply this to other non-driving offences? Any difference?

[KenONeill]

Talking rubbish as usual , eh?

You think that if you are breaking the law by speeding , and are aware that you are doing so , that it's morally acceptable to try and get away with this on a technicality , despite being treated fairly by the officers involved?

Yes or no?

Now apply this to other driving offences? Any difference?

Now apply this to other non-driving offences? Any difference?

So which other "offences" do you know which, of themselves harm no-one, and for which the standard of legal proof should be "We know he's a wrong 'um yeronner"?

[Dr Zoidberg]

So which other "offences" do you know which, of themselves harm no-one, and for which the standard of legal proof should be "We know he's a wrong 'um yeronner"?

There's no end of motoring offences that don't always harm people, and who's saying there was no evidence? AG knew he was speeding and there was a reading taken of this. He's done the right thing and that's the end of the matter.

If you want examples of other offences it's quite possible to be convicted of driving without due care or dangerous driving based on what a police officer saw you do , with no independent evidence and nobody being harmed.

A large majority of traffic laws are there to minimise risk to the general population and don't need the worst to happen before the police get involved. If you believe this is wrong then it's time to start campaining about it....

[Babs]

I think Ken's point was that doing 90mph has harmed who exactly?

[Dr Zoidberg]

........while the very nice Officer relived me of £60 and gave me three lovely Points

Got stopped yesterday, M62 west bound, Junction 7, for making very good progress whilst driving the wife to visit her father in Broadgreen Hospital, Liverpool

Thing is, I asked the officer where he copped me and he replied he was parked up the slip road at Junction 7 ( westbound ) and got me with his Radar Gun. He showed me the speed on the gun and it read 9* mph " ( I was driving away from him ) how do I know that was me and not the racing pigeon flying along side. The screen, I believe only, showed the speed, nothing else (don't think so anyway ).

Just to add **I'm not complaining about it as I've already paid my fine and handed my License in **........but I'm just curious.

Any traffic Officers on here like to comment...........???? Thanks

The answer is , you don't with absolute certainty and it does in part come down to the honesty of the officer concerned.

More modern speed detection devices of the sort typically fitted in mobile vans record a picture of the vehicle showing the crosshairs and the speed but older handheld or tripod mounted devices don't.

On the ones that I've used (yes , on a real , live road while wearing a uniform) they have a good telescopic sight on the top that clearly shows the speed superimposed on the display when the trigger is pulled in. When you release the trigger it stops the display at the last recorded speed so the police can track you and if your are still accellerating they can pick their moment to record the speed.

Of course , it would be possible for them to track one vehicle and then stop an entirely different one , but there would be no point in doing that. Despite what some people on here believe , the vast majority of police officers are honest and won't try and stitch up innocent motorists.

Traffic departments also tend to be staffed by experienced and knowledgeable officers (not always the case with general response plod) and they tend to know the law and loopholes better than most internet experts. As a result their calibration and training records will normally be correct. Obviously this isn't always going to be the case every single time and if you feel lucky you can try your luck at a court appearance where you might get the result you are after though that's just as likely to be because the CPS didn't notify the officer of the hearing date rather than because they have genuinely done something wrong.

As I've said before , if you know you were in the wrong then taking the FPN is usually the best option (and just think yourself lucky you weren't caught all the other times) but if the recorded speed bears no resemblance to what you were actually doing then it's worth taking things further.

[Dr Zoidberg]

I think Ken's point was that doing 90mph has harmed who exactly?

Who says it has?

They may be incorrectly set at times but speed limits are there for a reason , to keep the risks of motoring to what is seen as an acceptable level. If you drive through a red light but don't hit anyone does that make it acceptable?

The situation is the same - it's exposing other people to a greater risk than the law allows.

[Mr Grumpy]

Who says it has?

They may be incorrectly set at times but speed limits are there for a reason , to keep the risks of motoring to what is seen as an acceptable level. If you drive through a red light but don't hit anyone does that make it acceptable?

The situation is the same - it's exposing other people to a greater risk than the law allows.

I agree, however much we may think the law is an ***, it's the law.

Andy has done the right thing, and held his hands up.

I would do exactly the same, after all I break the speed limit nearly every day, if it be by only 2-3 mph, as do most drivers.......

[Keith Lard]

I'd have to agree. Although I dont agree with many of the speed limits on certain section of our roads, at the end of the day the law is the law wether we like it or not!

I aren't anti-speeding at all, in fact I am honest enough to admit I do exceed the some limits most days I am on the road, and have 9 bonus points to prove it! Having 9 does make me drive like Miss Daisy now though.

[ednmra]

Well, there's speeding and then there's speeding. A while back I got a letter for doing 36 in my home street (30 limit), and on Wednesday did one of these Safer Roads courses rather than get 3 points on a clean licence - cost £45 more than the fine would have been. Course was pious rubbish (except for about 10% that made sense but was already glaringly obvious.) But better than points I guess.

Did you know (for example) if you keep in 3rd gear you won't exceed 30 mph? (ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...........)

[Auric Goldfinger]

Well, there's speeding and then there's speeding. A while back I got a letter for doing 36 in my home street (30 limit), and on Wednesday did one of these Safer Roads courses rather than get 3 points on a clean licence - cost £45 more than the fine would have been. Course was pious rubbish (except for about 10% that made sense but was already glaringly obvious.) But better than points I guess.

Did you know (for example) if you keep in 3rd gear you won't exceed 30 mph? (ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...........)

I wasn't offered the " safer road course ". Is that an option for all???? :confused:

[Dr Zoidberg]

I wasn't offered the " safer road course ". Is that an option for all???? :confused:

Nope. It varies from force to force and is usually offered as an alternative for "minor" offences.