bucski

Some coppers told me there was a lenience of 10% +2mph above the speed limit, so you could get away with in a 70 limit with 70+7+2=79mph.
My query is, are they talking about real speed ( i.e. that which my road angel shows me) or indicated speed, as we all know speedos read faster than you are actually going.

So if i'm in a 70 limit can I get away with 79 as indicated on the road angel or do I have to read this from my speedo to be safe.

cheers

also, does 12 points automatically mean a 6 month ban, or could it be say 3 or 1?

fastfit

in my expiriance any ban you get depends on the length of any previous bans and the magistrates mood (& or sex life!)

scoob_babe

or if you're in North Wales, you're strung up with rapists and murderers straight away.
We got pulled for 33 in a 30 zone in Nth Wales. Got away with it after being polite to policeman, which is over your 10% + 2. I think it depends on your attitude to them (which you have control over), your speed (again which you have control over) or on how bad a day they're having (of which you have absolutely no control over!).
If you're sailing that close to the wind, I wouldn't chance 75mph let alone 79. A mate tried that on, doing 76 mph in a 70mph zone on 9 points (all speeding). Result = banned + lost job

Mitchy260

Ive often wondered this myself as ive passed a traffic cop at 85mph speedo indicated as he had his laser pointing out into the road. Never followed!!!!

85mph on my speedo is probably 80mph true.

A traffic copper once told me as i was receiving my fine for doing 97mph that anything below 85 mph they will not bother with on the motorway!!

Speeding in built up areas/towns i doubt they'll be so lenient but ive never heard of anyone being pulled for driving at 80 mph or less on a motorway.

Dracoro

1stly the 10% + 2mph is a GUIDELINE, NOT a rule/law etc. If they want to do you for 31mph and can prove it then they can if they want to. Most won't, mainly because they're humans and aren't too concerned about a few mph here or there and also it can be hard to prove (i.e. their method of determining your speed only has to be a tiny bit out and it could be thrown out of court). However, as speed detecting devices become more reliable and accurate, I'd expect more lower speed convictions to occur.

Basically, in answer to your initial question, you can only be fully safe from being caught if you are doing 70 or less. simple. And that's actual speed, your speedo reading is legally irrelevant. So if you believe your speed indication device (speedo, gps thingy etc.) to be accurate then stay at 70 or less. If you know it to be out by, say 5% then 73.5mph on your device would be a real speed of 70mph.

Because car speedos should never underread, the manufacturers always build in a tolerance zone (tyre wear could affect readings, only by a tiny amount tho). The better ones are more accurate and closer to the actual speed but some are poor but usually overread by a lot. Lets, for the sake of the argument, assume 7.5% for a typical car, so anyone being done at 79mph would have had a speedo reading of 85mph so they would clearly know that they were speeding.

bucski

cheers for all that, it's all a bit of a bummer really isn't it? Gonna have to get my kicks elsewhere I guess, now where did I put that book on stamp collecting ;-)

+Doc+

Standard car speedos read 10% less then the ACTUAL speed.

craigdmcd

iTrader: (2)

Cars with speedo cables speed less approx 8-10%, with digital speedos (transponder induced) less approx 4-5%.
Checked both styles with my Road Angel, but this assumes that the angel is correct!
Craig

supertouring

Surely you mean "read more than actual speed"?

My speedo is reads 75ish when doing 70, according to GPS.

pbee

The 10% +2MPH is a apco guideline which is upto the areas chief constable to go with or not. So its a gamble if you use that as a basis to speed a little above the limit. In Cambridgeshire they publish on their website they adhere to the apco guidelines but will choose to caution anybody going over the limit.

I know in south wales they do not see the apco guidelines as appropriate and offer no leniance whatsoever.

Getting down to this level of accuracy you could run into problems, yes car speedo's are inaccurate my wrx is about 8% out and my Audi is about 12%. So the road angel is more accurate but wo is saying the laser gun is 100% either !!!. That is why most forces give you the 10% +2 so either way with inaccuracy you have a little to play with.

Please remeber that if someone is doing 70mph on their speedo they are doing circa 65mph if you are doing 79mph on the RA you will be doing 85mph + this will look a lot faster and are likely to get pulled for a caution anyway as you are travelling a lot faster than the traffic around you.

TDT

Speedos can legally read +10%.

Speeding is whats called an "absolute offence", so the 10% + 2mph is a guideline. You can legally be stuck on for +1mph

Very much depends on the style of driving etc etc

billythekid

Thats correct, you cant stand up in court and say I was doing 77mph because its 10% over and within ACPO guidelines.

For info my scoob speedo (03wrx) shows 70mph and my GPS says 65mph.

At 80mph on my speedo the GPS is 74 and for me to be doing 80mph ture speed my speedo is 88mph.

GPS is very accurate BTW.

carl

My TVR's speedo over-reads by about 4mph at around the 70-80 figure according to my GPS. My Merc 190 seems to overread by about 5mph.

Leslie

The lesson from all the accurate info for you on this post is that if you are stopped, dont ever say that your speedo was indicating more that the speed limit or you will be booked. GPS will not count in court I bet even if it is very accurate.

Les

OllyK

GPS is can be very acurate when stationary, the faster you go, the less acurate it becomes - have a look at the tolerances in the manual for your Road Angel etc which will include a metre/second in the tolerance.

Also have a look here which also explains that the testing done by companies to provide tolerance figures is done over quite a short time period. End result, your GPS reading could be very acurate today, and badly out tomorrow over the same route, something to consider!

In short - don't take the GPS as an absolute!

urban

iTrader: (1)

Not if you live in Northern Ireland

I work with a guy who's Dad was given 3 points and a fine for doing 74 on the motorway.

The cop blatantly told him that he'd got quotas to make up and he was getting booked and that was that.
He then went on to tell him that he would have to pay the fine, but if he contested the points he'd get away without them.

Shaun