dangerous dave

Whilst speeding in your cars,even by 2-3mph do you consider yourself as a criminal?


And if you don't get caught speeding do you think you have cheated the law,or just lucky you don't have to pay a fine?

richie rich

speeding or not were allways considerd criminal,

ajm

No I don't consider myself a criminal when speeding, and when I don't get caught I feel glad that resources haven't been wasted enforcing a frivolous law.

dangerous dave

Do you think that speed limits are being enforced for road safety or to make revenue from already over taxed drivers?

hedgehog

I think it is quite clear that road safety is merely a means to take our eye off the ball. Since the cameras were introduced the downward trend in deaths on our roads has changed to become an upward trend.

It is also the case that the DfT are looking at reviewing the 85th percentile means by which (some) speed limits are generally set.

Research has shown that the 85th percentile speed is the speed at which there are the least number of accidents. Motorists travelling at above, and below, this speed for a given road are more likely to have an accident. Once the setting of speed limits is entirely divorced from the 85th percentile speed, as is about to be the case, then no aspect of safety will be taken into account in the setting of speed limits. Limits set below the 85th percentile will result in an increase in accidents and deaths, but probably a considerable boost to income of camera vans.

So, when asking if someone feels like a criminal for breaking a bad law you must also ask if those who fought against the slave trade felt like criminals, or those who fought for the vote for women felt like criminals. Safety is not an issue because our roads are now being engineered to make them less safe so that more bad laws can be enforced and so the administration can call for higher levels of enforcement. In truth the average motorist has a much clearer idea of what constitutes safety than the people who are now trying to force us off the roads by telling us it is too unsafe to go out there.

CHowie

I have just followed a police car on the M1 for twenty miles who was doing 90mph. He seemed to think it was safe, I followed his example.

Once on the dual carriageway he slowed to just over 80 and probably went up past 100 trying to catch some motor bikes that were doing a tad over the limit. (as in 75/80mph).

So I vote its revenue in most cases.

Abdabz

Yes - when I speed I am well aware that Im breaking the law and I am fortunate that I dont get caught. When I do speed its always a termites ******** over the limit anyway so I know Im only ever going to get a warning or 3 points anyway.
The speed limit is a law - and therefore you break them both when you go over that determined speed.
You are not in a position to question the validity of the law or wine about how it is imposed upon you when you choose to break it. The increase in road deaths that hedgehog refers to are on a tangent to the thread purpose. Whatever has happened to road death figures over the last so many years could be down to inumerous contributory factors (more cars, more people, more people carriers carrying more people, increased use of walkmans by pedestrians, people driving faster coz they think they're cars are 5* Euro tested safety cells and many more) and absolutely nothing to do with the long standing speed limits in this country being more tightly enforced. This sounds more like one persons mission to complain about law enforcement on the roads...
And all this talk of the fines and the revenue being stealth cameras is utter bollox - these people break the law - knowingly in most cases (we all know when we're speeding - there's a dial thing just in front of you under the windscreen - there, thats it...) - then go moaning about getting caught and encouraged by the advocaats of criminality to protest and fight their case on forums like this pointing every numpty with a NIP towards pepipoo etc...
Only in exceptional circumstances should anyone ever ben in a position to contest a speeding ticket - eg herds of flying wilderbeast obstructing speed signs etc...
The limits shouldn't be called into question either - just because everyone who posts on SN can handle their cars in all conditions at any speed with their eyes closed doesnt mean other folk can and so an average has to be found that covers all...
If I get caught tomorrow I'll pay up and shut up - 12 years since my last points - because I dont break the law as blatantly as many and I have been that bit more fortunate...

richs2891

I feel like a criminal every time I get into the car and drive - Oh hang on that what the current administration wants me to think !

Richard

MattW

A valid point, until I point out that KSI stats in like for like European countrys are on their way down.

warrenm2

BRUMSTROM IN ABOUT TURN!!!!! check this out from the Sunday Mirror

ChrisB

Strewth. I wonder if he's been sniffing the sherry at lunch time?

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

soon we are all going to grind to a halt anyway with the ever increasing traffic on our roads, then theres the thousands of legal/illegal immigrants, gipsy sites and the chav explosion

time to move abroad, who wants to come with me?

i dont speed

hi dave

Clarebabes

I don't believe the Richard Brunstrom article. The bloke is a w4nker, there's no way he'd actully listen to the motorist. The ABD have been asking for signs rather than cameras for ages. He'd never listen to reasoned argument!

dangerous dave

evening Squaresy....................i'll come abroad with yer

Abdabz

LOL - And if you think that speed limits were introduced in this country for any other reason than road safety, you are an inbred genetically challenged mutant with incredibly small genetalia...
And when you ingnore that 'tin plate' you are not concentrating on driving because as your instructor would have told you when you learnt to drive observe the speed limit - oh and did you ignore the signs on your test too? How in gods name did you get your license and more to the point how in gods name with an attitude like that do you keep it? Plodding along in a your Im alright jack bubble where you can make up laws to suit yourself... Back in a bit - off to torch an old folks home, but might need to bathe the whiff of petrol off me first... Its ok though because hey the law doesnt matter to me...

dangerous dave

ffs settle down,you'll give yourself an ulcer

Bubba po

Felix.

This is getting a bit deep - comparing going 35 in a 30 to the slave trade..!!!

Breaking the speed limit is not a cime, it doesn't get crimed as there is no victim and so you cannot be classed as a criminal.

As Abdabz pointed out - you were able to stick to the speed limits and watch out for signs in you driving test - so why do you find it so difficult to do it know?

It cannot be classed as a definite revenue as we do not know how much money we will make - but if there are people daft enough to speed on roads where there are cameras we will gladly take your money (A fool and his money are easily parted).

If you want to speed - which 99% of people do, accept the fact that you take a chance - sometimes you win, sometimes you don't.

micared

Fines for speeding on motorways/cameras etc are just a form of stealth tax, nothing to with ' safety '...if you can't understand that, hand your licence in and sell your car...you're clearly too ******* stupid to be allowed behind the wheel. Coming on to a performance car forum and moaning at people who break the national speed limit is possibly one of the most pathetic pastimes you could adopt...if you feel that way about it, buy an Allegro and start your own forum. Speeding is a side effect of an antiquated, out of date set of rules that were only invented as a supposed temporary measure...that was more than 35 years ago. If you don't believe technology has moved on significantly enough to justify a revision after all this time, you're living in the past. Wake up. In the meantime the rest of us will treat it for what it is, a joke.

Bubba po

Like driving at 70 in a thirty, past my house.

micared

Yeah, that's not funny! No suggestion that 30 or 40 limits are wrong. 70 on the motorway though, ffs?

Bubba po

Ok, Micared... I'm just harking back to an old thread....

I would prefer to call them speed advice signs. Anyone who doesn't think about the speed they're doing in relation to the inherent hazards of the road they're on is either improperly trained as a driver, has a reckless disregard for other lives, or just doesn't take the potential harm they can cause seriously enough.

I like to drive fast (which, in my case, isn't that fast). I go quite a bit faster than 70 on the motorway in the right conditions, also.

micared

Absolutely agree with everything you've just said. I often feel that the posted limit in some 30 and 40 areas is too high, and drive beneath it. My irritation's based on the attitude of those who think that speed is inherently dangerous wherever it's deployed and choose to react in a manner that suggests brainwashing may be on the increase!

Bubba po

It's an example of a situation where people with no self-control who speed outrageously are used as a stick with which to beat drivers who do speed slightly, but exercise their judgement as to whether they're doing it safely.

I'd always trust an experienced, observant driver who moderates their speed in places that have many potential hazards, over a younger driver that may have quicker reactions, because the mature anticipation of danger is worth ten seconds over youthful reaction time.

suprabeast

Bubba is a CRIMINAL ! Its official!

suprabeast

oh yeah i drive fast too... speeds limits are a useful guide but wouldnt treat em us gospel. If i get caught then so be it... i know the risks, i'll accept the consequences