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[Dormy]

Does anyone have experience of speed warning devices, like the head-up display gadgets on eBay? Not for me you understand. No, really not for me! Potential Christmas present. 

Satnavs have a warning setting. Our TomTom will beep and flash an alert if we go 4mph above the speed limit we are in. It can also warn of fixed speed camera locations and the laybys etc used by mobile camera vans.

HTH
Dormy

[gcc130]

When I went on my awareness course the instructors told us we didn’t have to tell anyone, insurance, employer etc.
On renewing my policy with the NFU I did tell them but they said it made no difference 

[richardhula]

Oh, is the speed aware malarkey just a limited  time gimmick then, not a general ongoing thing..

Keep up at the back, they have been going as an alternative to points for nearly 24 years

[Porkscratching]

Having never been done for speeding I've no experience with the various bits of bs involved, interesting stuff tho..
The only time i ever flashed one of those yellow camera things was many years ago  in some tunnel / underpass thing, and I luckily never heard anything back from them... so either it wasn't working or maybe i was so marginally over the limit that they let me off..

[Daisythelandy]

When I went on my awareness course the instructors told us we didn’t have to tell anyone, insurance, employer etc.
On renewing my policy with the NFU I did tell them but they said it made no difference 

I'll second that and also say the instructor told us that the insurance companies have been told not to ask about speed awareness courses because it's not a conviction and if they do ask go somewhere else for insurance and this was 2 months ago in Carlisle.

Dave.

[crumbly65]

I think you can only be offered a speed awareness course if you only a few miles over the limit.  I forget the margin, but it's something like 34mph in a 30 mph limit.  35 mph and over and it's points and a fine - no option.

Having gone on one several years back (doing 34mph in a borrowed Lexus in an unfamiliar area) I have to say that I found it it quite useful and far from bs.

It's almost a "mini refresher" course to bring you up to date with the latest legislation, speeding facts & figures, and did send me away somewhat more contrite and careful than when I went in.

However, I don't believe the lessons and effects from the course last much longer than a few months maximum.  In the case of persistent speeders, the courses are probably pretty useless.....

But as we all know if we're out & about driving daily, anything at all that could improve general  road manners can't be a totally bad thing. 

[w3526602]

Hi,

Ahem!  Come and rub up against Barbara at the Xmas Bash. It might be contagious.

Some time ago, she was stopped on the M4, when returning from London. She wound her window down a couple of inches.

Plod demanded that she got out of her car.

Barbara asked for proof of identity.

Plod pointed at himself ... "Uniform!", the pointed at his car ... "Police car!" He didn't show his warrant card, or whatever they have nowadays, so Barbara stayed in her car. Words were exchanged. After quite a few minutes , Plod said .......

" I clocked you at 104mph. Don't let me catch you again!".

He then just disappeared ... she never saw him again.   

Three assumptions.

1. He was following her without lights, before he stopped her.

2. He remained parked on the hard shoulder, also without lights.

3. He reversed back to the last slip road ... again without lights.

Or he was a bogus copper.

My last speeding ticket (1964) was on the A1, 1963, before the blanket 70 limit. I was not aware of the police car until he pulled alongside , and then switched all his lights on. Plod said he'd clocked me for one mile. My minimum speed was 72mph, my maximum speed was 80mph. I was driving a 1959 850cc Minivan containing 5 RAF bods, and their luggage. I went to court, pleaded NOT GUILTY (for reasons to numerous to explain here). Fined £2, and the Beaks apologised for the endorsement, said they had no option.

My first ticket was for doing 70 during Barbara Castle's "blanker" 50 limit ... an energy saving ploy. Fined £4 and endorsed.  Yes, I should have seen him.

602

PS ... in those days, commercial vehicles (including car-based vans) were limited to 40mph.  I once hitched a lift in a JENSEN lorry (Google). He was clocking 70mph through London ... and that was in 1958.

[richardhula]

These are the speed limit breaches in each of the limits where, if eligible, you will be offered a speed awareness course.

30 mph up to and including 42 mph
40 mph up to and including 53 mph
50 mph up to and including 64 mph
60 mph up to and including 75 mph
70 mph up to and including 86 mph

Usually (but not always) you are given a 10% +1 mph leeway though so the upper range would be 79 - 86 mph inclusive. Don't ask how I know this 😳

[w3526602]

Hi Richard,

You are allowed to have a speedometer that reads 10% fast. Some are out by a lot more than that. Apparently my Peugeot estate would cruise comfortably, at 120mph, in a 30 zone

Your speedometer MAY NOT read any amount of slow.

I wonder if the 10% concession is due to magistrates getting fed up with minor infringements?

Does the 10% cover ALL the various speed limits .... can you do 77 in the National Speed Limit zones?

602

[Rob_W]

I've fitted a GPS speedo to the 88". Doesn't give a limit warning but does give a more stable reading and is in the corner of the driver's screen so less looking down. I do like the idea of the audible warning given the random 30-40-20 zones but without some guarantee of accuracy (the systems can't keep up with the council) so wonder if they're a bad idea overall.

[Wittsend]

I believe the 43 police forces apply their own spin on the degree of "tolerance" they give...

I too have a GPS speedo 


 

Mind how you go ... 

[Old Hywel]

I believe the 43 police forces apply their own spin on the degree of "tolerance" they give..

Quite, don’t be fooled by the ‘threshold ‘ shown earlier. My wife was fined for 36 in a 30, and many will remember the North Wales zero-tolerance campaign a few years ago.

[oilstain]

O/T sorry
but I would like to see a law that insists all speed camera warning signs and backs of speed cameras display the speed limit
I hate seeing the sign or a camera and thinking "whats the limit" 

[Wittsend]

I’ll give you one guess as to why they don’t 

[lowoil]

You're already meant to know the limit, they also have lots of tips for working it out if you missed it for any reason.