Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms 1st ticket

Its bad luck , the people further down the queue never get done because they have time to see the camera.

So just what IS the limit on UK motorways?

I have always been led to believe that the plods didn't care until you broke 90, but how are these cameras set?

And what about average speed cameras, how are they configured?

I have to confess I have done the speed awareness course for being nabbed at 38 in a 30 zone in my people carrier, and in hindsight I think that the course should be a compulsory part of driver training.

I actually drive slower in the Mog because it always feels at least 10mph faster with your arse inches from the ground and the wind in what remaining hair I possess.

Two things are apparent on the M1 gantries.
The first is that not all gantries have the cameras. Those that do have them cantilevered out from the left hand support. There isn't a camera on each lane, it's a twin box installation, and they are hard to see flash on your carriageway.

But it also seems, when I'm showing 75 on the speedo, so probably 69 in reality, those who hurry past at 80 don't seem to get flashed. So I'm guessing its the +10% +3mph rule.

But I've seen the opposite carriageway flash quite a lot. One day I saw six flashes as it nailed three nose to tail cars in lane 3. They didn't appear to be going that fast.

Regulars on the Nottingham-Sheffield stretch have soon got wise to this and it's noticeable that traffic flow is slower, which is the intention. Some drivers lift off to go under the gantries but if you were on there every day you would soon remember which gantries carried the cameras.

I've also seen flashes on the M42 around the NEC.

Those were the days... I'll never forget a situation in the 1980's in Bulgaria when I was on the highway with some 130mph and the police tried to catch me with their (tuned?)Ladas. I know that their radar system was not capable to measure more than 100mph. And their Ladas were not fast enough either...

I too got caught doing 35 in a 30 limit and, like many other TMer's, found the course well worth doing not just for the escape from points and fine but in making me more aware.
I now proceed down the road ploughing through rows of old ladies whilst staring at my speedo making sure that I don't exceed 30.

All this makes me happy that I live in Italy where the limit on the Autostrada is 130 kph and many travel at a higher speed. By and large speed limits seem to be considered as advisory. It is not that there are not radar traps but they are few and far between.

We have a ridiculous 70kph speed limit on a section of Super Strada near here. It is 4 lanes of divided road but there is the possibilty of a short section being used by bicycles and that is probably why there is such a low limit. Our entrance junction is actually in the last 100 metres of a tunnel and when you give the Plus 4 (TBs and sports exhaust) a good stamp on the accelerator the sound is wonderful. Last year I entered the Super Strada in my usual enthusiastic mode and I had observed a car approching behind me in the outside lane. I accelerated to about 90 and checked the mirrors to see where the car was, no car in sight so I turned my head and discovered that right beside me was a police car.

Italian police thought process: noisy sports car - normal, going 20 over the speed limit and still accelerating - well it is a sports car and it does sound good, oh he's backed off - well it's too much bother all that paperwork. Have a nice day.

I used to look after Italy as a region for a newspaper I worked for many years ago.... The local MD, Mauro, was a direct report and a very nice chap... we would regularly drive in his Alfa from Rome to Milan and this was always an utter nightmare.

He would drive around one inch from the bumper of the car in front - when I used to occasionally remark that we'd all be killed if something went wrong, he would say...

"But Neil, what you don't understand is that the Italian driver has faster reactions - it wouldn't happen".

Make sure you don't do it again within 3 years as no option for course. within 3 years of doing a course.

You have to inform your insurers too, no matter what others advise you as technically you invalidate your insurance by not telling them, your driver history follows you, very easy to check at the click of a button these days.

I like NZ's methods for us visitors, you'll get a fine in the post, if you ignore it the next time you visit you'll be denied entry at the point of entry to the country.

Good advice, thanks.

I am awaiting to have the actual ticket as it was only the Notice of Intended Prosecution that I had received so far.

Not quite so...unless something has changed.

I know two people who have been caught in different counties, (Dorset and Wiltshire) and have been offered speed awareness courses by both counties. In one case there was less than 3 months between courses.

Also, when I did my last bike safe course I was told by Wiltshire Police (in 2013) that if you are offered a speed awareness course and you both accept and attend then all records of the matter are deleted. No record is retained. Only if you fail to attend is a formal penalty notice sent out and put on record.