Petition concerning speeding fines for motorcyclists

[SoulKiss]

As someone who just got a NIP, my objection is the lack of objectivity/context with Gatso's.

I was doing 50 in a 40 on the A40 - because I was trying to get in front of a muppet that had already proven he could not drive (he had all but come to a standstill at the end of the slip-road joining the road, I joined directly behind him and then when safe to do so accelerated to overtake him.

I happened to be slowing down to normal speeds when I went through the trap and saw the flashes of doom.

A competent traffic cop would maybe have pulled me over, allowed me to have my say and perhaps left it at that - he would probably even have seen the muppet, worked out what I was doing, and then just left me alone.

Instead I am being judged by a snapshot of a couple of seconds.

This is not right.

Less Gatso's, more traffic cops please.

David

[21QUEST]

Originally Posted by SoulKiss

As someone who just got a NIP, my objection is the lack of objectivity/context with Gatso's.

I was doing 50 in a 40 on the A40 - because I was trying to get in front of a muppet that had already proven he could not drive (he had all but come to a standstill at the end of the slip-road joining the road, I joined directly behind him and then when safe to do so accelerated to overtake him.

I happened to be slowing down to normal speeds when I went through the trap and saw the flashes of doom.

A competent traffic cop would maybe have pulled me over, allowed me to have my say and perhaps left it at that - he would probably even have seen the muppet, worked out what I was doing, and then just left me alone.

Instead I am being judged by a snapshot of a couple of seconds.

This is not right.

Less Gatso's, more traffic cops please.

David

You are understandably annoyed but be careful what you wish for IMO .

Re highlights. It's still a not a given that you may have been let off. There is probably an argument that a traffic copper may even decided that you were being impatient.

Yes the driver from your description was driving like a muppet and you were goaled perhaps into an error of judgement. We have all done that.

I get similar drivers almost everyday on a slip road joining the motorway and to be honest at least three times a week I have to do a manoeuvre which may be perceived by a copper as not totally on. The problem is sticking behind them would almost mean putting myself at greater risk but I'll bet a crisp English pound most coppers probably won't see it that way. At times like the above I'm better off not having a copper around.

Not having a go at the well balanced coppers around just saying it's not as clear cut as we would like to think IMO especially if you ever go faster than the speed limit.

Hate mobile cameras, those that check your average speed, hand held ones or in general hidden ones. Fixed ones I love. More fixed Gatsos in plain sight I say



Cheers
Ben

I say just go fassssstttter baby....................................

As someone who set off a camera last week (in the car) on a dual carriageway my view is to regard it as a speed tax and it showed I should have been more observant cos it was a fixed camera and I just wasn't paying sufficient attention. Was the speed dangerous? No - the road was relatively empty and conditions were good but that's irrelevant from the government's point of view especially in respect of (b) below

There is clearly a correlation between accidents when someone is driving too fast for the conditions and hits someone/a vehicle and the severity of the damage/injuries. On that basis you can see why there are speed limits but they are very arbitrary and are really there (a) to try to show government is doing basis about road safety and (b) most importantly cos they're cost effective.

A petition will make absolutely no difference because there aren't anywhere enough votes in bikers who, we all know, speed whenever they can anyway

Originally Posted by AlanSv

l.

Funnily enough I was having a conversation about speed limits with a friend of mine, who road has just been fitted with road bumps (apparently now called Cushions, or Speed Calmers - lol). Anyway, he's all for these things in his street, but can't see the point in putting them on other 30mph limits. Which sums up the UK drivers prospective to speeding... "not outside my house, but elsewhere is ok" Yes I'm having one of those days

Try having one outside your front door with empty lorries going over it at 6 am, He wouldn't be for them then .

chris

hang on, hang on... When you get flashed by a speed camera its takes 2 photos of you matched against those white lines painted on the road. So correct me if im wrong but if you don't think you were braking the speed limit, the photos will prove this...

The police cant just say you were breaking the speed limit and not show proof...or am i missing something?

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by poisonidea

hang on, hang on... When you get flashed by a speed camera its takes 2 photos of you matched against those white lines painted on the road. So correct me if im wrong but if you don't think you were braking the speed limit, the photos will prove this...

The police cant just say you were breaking the speed limit and not show proof...or am i missing something?

Yes

This petition relates to the use of hand held devices that use laser detection - not based on time taken to travel between white lines

ah ok, sorry, ill get back in my box

Originally Posted by Kate

Lol, haven't people got all het up?

If you have never ever gone over a speed limit then you can sit there all smug as you want, but the speed camera's haven't actually been tested against bikes so you could still get a speeding ticket. Will you be happy to take it on the chin then? somehow I doubt it.

If you have never gone over a speed limit, I would suggest you (not you Kate, the people your post was aimed at ) are a dangerously bad driver, or more likely, a liar (or perhaps just dangerously inattentive to your speedo). Similarly, it suggests you lack the confidence to make judgements regarding safe speed. Perhaps you take all blind hairpins on NSL lanes at 60mph, because it's legal to do so? You are also dangerously inexperienced; there are plenty of situations where momentarily breaking the speed limit is vastly safer than throwing on the anchors or swerving. Do you really want the first time you experience 85mph to be when you throttle on because a car veers into your lane and you can't brake hard as someone is tailgating you? Perhaps you'd rather get rear-ended and snugly know from your wheelchair that at least you didn't speed?

People are also missing the point re: speeding in this thread. This isn't about people saying, "don't complain if you get caught speeding". That's a different (and highly debatable) issue. The main problem/thing we're discussing is: These little black boxes are trusted as gospel in court and you cannot argue against them. If that's the case they should be completely infallible. They clearly aren't and their innaccuracy is not just MCN scaremongering. Yes, a lot of the people trying to get convictions quashed on the back of this are guilty and were speeding. Some of them, however, are not. Given the inaccuracy of these speed guns, there's no way of telling who falls into which group. For this reason, all cases where these devices were the main evidence should be slung out. "It's better for the guilty to be free than the innocent to be punished" is my attitude and I would hope, that of most right-thinking people in this country.

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

"It's better for the guilty to be free than the innocent to be punished" is my attitude and I would hope, that of most right-thinking people in this country.

It is the basis of law in this country - apart from speeding law that is