Does anyone know if they've implemented a stiffer fining system that is being posted on YouTube, or is this just scaremongering?

Yes, a new system came into force in April

April 2017 speeding guidlines Evo

I'm buying a diesel lawn mower to commute on now

I know mate, it just seems to be now,..."What can we do to next to depress the shit out of the public, better still, extort more money out of them!"

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe in driving like a complete idiot, but I was baited by an unmarked police car on the way to work one morning. The Copper was right up my backside and when I increased speed a bit to make some space, he pulled me over....that's the game they play now unfortunately!

The part I find interesting in the Evo article is the use of the words weekly earning, weekly income and weekly wage. It is possible that each of these words could have a different pound value for the same person. I assume that the government will base the fine on weekly income, but for which period? Maybe you have an irregular income etc...

Whatever the case, it all boils down to extortion. We are just an easy target for extracting cash out of. This country is getting worse by the minute

I agree. However it isn't a tax. If you don't want to pay it - don't speed - or at least don't get caught

Lol, I'll bear that in mind!

What concerns me though is the talk about doing people for being 1 or 2 mph over the limit which I think is using these changes to make money out of people who haven't necessarily speeded deliberately

They'll still have to make an allowance for the accuracy of speedo's and other uncertainties. This is around 10% +2mph, so in a 50mph limit, you can do 57 without a ticket.

Therefore on the motorway you can theoretically do 79mph... lots of people drive an indicated 80ish, so that seems to fit the rule of thumb.

Obviously, the lower the limit, the lower the allowance. So in a 20 limit, 24mph will get you a ticket.

As long as they play by those rules that shouldn't be too bad. As I stated earlier though, I've had a taste of the Police's underhanded tactics when I was baited by an unmarked on the way to work, and a colleague had the same on his motorbike.

I think it's just a case of being aware of the sneaky games that they play to lure people into traps, and to watch your speeds when approaching areas with speed changes (as this is normally where they hide camera vans).

Also, if you intentionally tear around like an F1 driver to expect that one day you're going pay the price,....a hefty price!

Speeding is a binary offence: you either are, or you aren't. The 2mph + 10% is not law, it's just the ACPO guideline - and it's possibly one of the issues: if the limit was enforced at the limit, and not some arbitrary point above it, there would be an awful lot less speeding.

Re Mark_D - extortion? No... don't want the consequences? Keep the speeding to a track. The argument about what the speed limit should be is political, that's all. But you can't complain if you exceed a limit just because you don't agree with it.

I did say it was a 'rule of thumb,' but you'd have a very good case to challenge a ticket if you were within the uncertainty allowance.

In the work I do, we allow different "uncertainty budgets" for each monitoring method. Some are as high as 20% and increase to 50% or more as you get closer to the limit of detection.

So, I would argue that whether or not you are speeding is a calculation, not binary choice. The uncertainty of the radar / lazer gun might be 3%, then you have to account for other factors, such the wildly inaccurate car speedos which usually over-read by 5mph, but not always.

I agree that if we stuck to indicated speed, life would be simpler. But enforcing law is more complicated, and regulators must be proportionate and allow some benefit of the doubt.

I shall continue to drive at 69mph.

I did a BikeSafe Course, and the Police were at pains to teach us to ride to the conditions, rather than the speed limit. If people slowed down for rain and fog and maintained proper distances on the motorway, the actual speed limit becomes less important.




Re-discovered emoticons.....

RAC article explained that the increased fines would be for particularly dangerous occurrences, repeat offenders or those who challenge or fail to respond to a NIP. Otherwise the fine is £100. Apparently the 1.5 times is an up from 1 x your weekly wage/whatever which it was under those circumstances.

A philosophical point - however, the difference between 60mph and 61mph is 1.5 percent; no problem to measure with any of the three most common methods. And speedos are allowed to read high but never low...

Yep, for most speedo's the argument is academic, since they over-read. But, my campervan reads bang on the GPS speed, so there is some variance to account for.

Would be nice to have the French motorway system of 68mph wet and 81mph dry. The unofficial UK speed limit appears to be around 80 - 85 anyway on clear motorways.

Vive la France. I really do rather like their cheese too, with a nice glass of Côtes du Rhône. I often think it's the ideal country. Hot summers. Great skiing, the Atlantic AND the Med. Lots of space. Great trains.... And "we" go and vote Brexit. I really am still so depressed.

Ultimately it's a speed limit and not a target - drive at the limit all the time and you have nowhere to go if you need to increase speed to avoid an incident. i guess it's down to the individual about how they drive - and to take the hit if caught out 👍

Four miles per hour, and a man with a red flag walking in front! Vote for me!

I think I'm just going polish my car up, make it look nice then put it in my house as a classy ornament! I think I'd avoid tickets and turn a few heads at the same time!

Got to be a win, win situation

Sorted!

(and then you get done for not making proper progress...)

Yes, think that's generally known as 'Catch 22!' Lol

The law HAS NOT changed, only the Sentencing Guidelines have. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38724301

These only apply if you end up in Court and the fact is you most probably won't, quite simply the court system could not cope with millions of people, thats why the Fixed Penalty System was introduced! And even if you do end up there, get a good brief and you should be OK.

I've had a couple of tickets in the 25 yrs I've been driving, and that is just because of my own ignorance. I got caught once where they'd placed a well hidden van smack bang next to a speed change, and the other one was when they reduced the speed on a street that I turned into, that I hadn't been down for years. A cop with a handheld was pinging people at the end of the road.

I think they tend to cash in on people who have genuinely cocked up, where as people who blatantly speed should be the Ines they focus on

Unfortunately there is no difference between speeding if you 'genuinely cock up' and blatant/deliberate speeding as it's what's called an absolute offence. In other words unless you can prove you were not speeding then in law you are guilty whether you intended to or not. So both scenarios are fair game.

I know, it's just one of those things you've got to accept. Just a choker if it happens

Yep- been there myself and paid the penalty,(38 in a 30 at 10pm with no one around) then later the next day knocked someone off for the same thing once I was on shift... he was doing 58 in a 30 at school kicking out time though.

You'll never guess what?,...ironically, I think I may have just been caught yet again! Came back from work at about 11.45. I was just following along with the flow of traffic through Hilsea in Portsmouth and I spotted a camera van. I was doing at or just under 40 (like most people around me at the time). Looks like a punch in the goolies is coming my way!

God in heaven, I can see myself having to crawl around like an O.A.P for fear of another ticket. Again, just keeping up with the traffic and finding out I'm one of the many that is probably going too fast

58 in a 30 really is taking the p though! See, I really can't condone that

Fingers crossed you will be ok with that one then...

My understanding (bourne out by experience in Scotland myself and from Stan, traffic cop, of this parish) is that there's still a "public interest" test.

When I got ticketed I had Charlie (13) in the car. He'd been away from home for a month, was wheelchair-bound from a massive recent cancer op, was feeling sick from recent chemo and needed the toilet (not many of those on the A9 in the evening). The road was clear and visibility was great. It was a 3-hour drive.

The procurator fiscal in Inverness decided that it wasn't in the public interest to pinch me. I did explain in my letter that I would do the same thing again and expected any parent would.

Not too sure of law difference in Scotland but sounds like a common sense approach too! Yes PI test can be applied later when weighing up the whole picture in circs such as you describe, and other situations eg getting injured person to hospital etc etc. These situations are the exceptions rather than the rule I think?

Yup. It's just a shame that those particular "boys in blue" omitted the information in their report of the ticket despite saying that they would...