Making a bit too much progress (in the eyes of the law)

[Tiger-G]

Bugger.......

T'was a warm June day, 6 months ago almost to the day, and I was out for a pleasure ride. And unusually for me I was on a road I would normally avoid.....a busy major "A" road that's used by "ordinary" folk. I was trying to get from Pateley Bridge to Ingleton to get back onto the twisty "B" roads and the beautiful scenery of North Yorkshire. So I ended up on the A65 from Skipton to Ingleton and instantly regretted it. Traffic was nose to tail in big long queue's doing between 20 and 40 mph in a 60 mph limit, and no doubt the feckin' idiot at the front of the queue would have been totally oblivious to the misery they were causing behind for hundreds of drivers. There were double white lines down the centre of the single carriageway national speed limit road to prevent overtaking, and where there was a place to overtake it was almost impossible due to everyone driving nose to tail. So I overtook where I could and cracked on when I could.

Eventually, finally, I came to a roundabout and on the other side there was a nice long straight stretch of two lane 60mph single carriageway for me to finally overtake all the idiots who have no consideration for those of us wishing to make progress up to and beyond the national speed limit. It felt sooooo good after all that time !!  :icon_wink:

So with a little twist of the throttle off I went in lane two just steady away overtaking but switched off and enjoying the music in my headphones, when I saw a van parked up on the other side of the road in a layby, and it had a big black windows in the back. "Feckin' hell" I thought, and braked. Yes, t'was a speed camera van and not one person had flashed me to warn me of it. Tw@ts !! I looked down at my speedo and was down to 60mph pretty quick, but didn't really know what I was doing initially. I thought about stopping the bike before I got to the van and covering my number plate, but it was too late and I cruised past it cursing !! Hopefully, I'll have got away with it ??

Fast forward a couple of weeks and a letter arrives in the post from North Yorkshire's finest stating my bike was seen making too much progress in the eyes of the law and could I identify the rider ?? They said the rider would either be prosecuted or offered a speed awareness course. So I replied, pleading my case that I was a fire Brigade blue light driver, advanced driver and rider, ex motorcycle instructor, etc, etc, hoping that would help sway them in the direction of a speed awareness course. And I heard nothing back for months ?? So I thought the kind person who opens the reply's and processes them had seen sense and deleted it from the system as emergency services workers are "supposed" to look after each other, and I'm not going to learn a thing on a speed awareness course due to my riding and driving qualifications.

So six months down the line almost to the day I get a letter in the post today stating I am going to be prosecuted for making too much progress in the eyes of the law (I can't say the word "speeding" because it isn't. It's someone knowing how to drive and ride properly making progress). They say due to the speed involved I can't be offered a speed awareness course and it has to be heard by a magistrate. I was allegedly doing 86mph in a 60 limit and there were some lovely photographs to prove it ?? Gutted doesn't come close to describing it. I thought I'd got away with it 

So I jumped on the internet to check if there's a period of time within which the Police have to prosecute you, and although not clear, it seems six months is the maximum ?? And I also read about the accuracy of laser speed camera's on the small frontal area of a motorcycle ?? There are articles stating they can give inaccurate readings ??  I don't believe I was doing 87mph, but I don't know whether it's worth contesting it ?? What I do know is I'm going to receive more than 3 points and a hundred pound fine !!

Anyone had a similar experience, or have any info the accuracy of laser speed camera's on the front aspect of a motorcycles ??

[Lee337]

Sorry to hear this. I have nothing firm to assist you but can tell you I was prosecuted for driving an alleged 97mph on a motorway in Scotland a number of years ago. The indicated speed on the speedo was 80mph &it was on a slight curve. I decided not to defend it as it would have cost more driving back up to Glasgow from Northampton, so my took the hit.

Some months later I was back in Cumbernauld & there was an article in the local press about the accuracy of the speed cameras being used incorrectly. Should have bought a copy & followed it up but never got round to it. From memory it was something to do with slippage of the return beam when used either on a small rounded target area (such as a bike) or not being square on to the target vehicle, again affecting the return beam.

[Chris Canning]

By comparison we are on the way home middle of last May from the NW200 in NI,weather was good so no need to go across the top of Wales and down the M6 and go down the A5 8.30 at night completely deserted until Llangollen were i bump into a camera van,get the NIP within a fortnight and wait 6 months while they deliberate as 93 was too quick for a speed awareness or straight fine and it has to go to court.

Get a letter in November asking if I have anything to say.... frankly i've Had that many over the years couldn't even be bothered to humour them!!! That was a no,did I want to go to court that was also no i've For far better things to do I got £195 which I thought was an absolute bargain the kick in the bollocks was 6 points  but hey just part of the game,god knows how many i've Had over the years including two separate speeding fines on the same day

Oh blimey forgot... go to the Ponderosa as per the other posting and they still have a van out doing the same shit guess someone has to pay for the free prescriptions the Welsh get 

[tonytiger]

best just accept it mate.

[Chris Canning]

What I forgot ... get stopped at the side of the road and they have 3 years to prosecute you it's a long story!!!!

[Tiger-G]

Sorry to hear this. I have nothing firm to assist you but can tell you I was prosecuted for driving an alleged 97mph on a motorway in Scotland a number of years ago. The indicated speed on the speedo was 80mph &it was on a slight curve. I decided not to defend it as it would have cost more driving back up to Glasgow from Northampton, so my took the hit.

Some months later I was back in Fingernails &there was an article in the local press about the accuracy of the speed cameras being used incorrectly. Should have bought a copy & followed it up but never got round to it. From memory it was something to do with slippage of the return beam when used either on a small rounded target area (such as a bike) or not being square on to the target vehicle, again affecting the return beam.

Yeah, I read up on the small frontal area of a bike and how the laser can be confused it and by the rotation of the front wheel going faster than the bike, slippage, and other vehicles around it. I wish I could be @rsed to fight it but I can't. I travel at speeds well in excess of the speed limit on a daily basis, so a few points every now and again are par for the course. My last ones were 5 points and a £300 fine for 96 in a 60 in Scotland. Trust me to be up there when it was road safety week !! Copper said he wasn't too bothered about the speed, it was more the speed he had to go to catch me up 

[Geoff W]

If you are going to contest it, i would get a decent solicitor to take the case on, you have some mitigating points to put over. Could save you in the long run.
I seem to recall that there quite a lot of criminal case specialist solicitors in Hartlepool.

[Tiger-G]

If you are going to contest it, i would get a decent solicitor to take the case on, you have some mitigating points to put over. Could save you in the long run.
I seem to recall that there quite a lot of criminal case specialist solicitors in Hartlepool.

Ha.....I like the little dig about a lot of criminal case solicitors in Hartlepool   :icon_wink:

I can't be arsed to contest it and have filled the online guilty form in. Considering the speeds I travel at in the car and on the bike, a few penalty points every 10 years isn't too bad a price to pay. Hopefully my plea of being a fire brigade blue light driver used to driving a 12 tonne truck at more than double the national speed limit in urban environments, and a few advanced driving and riding qualifications thrown in too will get the number of points and fine down ?? I also mentioned that if it wasn't for the dumb f*cker's travelling at between 20 and 40mph in a 60 holding up miles and miles of traffic without pulling over to let them past, I wouldn't have to travel at those speeds to overtake them !!  .    See how well that goes down ??   

[Tiger-G]

Ouch........6 penalty points and a £300 fine 

[HockleyBoy]

Not what you need but I suspect most of us either have or have had points from time to time. Just means you are going to have to be careful as you don't want any more when you are on six.

If you are lucky your insurance co wont mind, I notified mine of points (now expired) a number of years ago and they didn't change my premium.

[Lee337]

Think they might have been making an example of you along the lines of an emergency response driver, off duty so should have known better kind of thing?

[Tiger-G]

Think they might have been making an example of you along the lines of an emergency response driver, off duty so should have known better kind of thing?

Hmmm....maybe ?? 

I think that's a high amount of points for what it was, compared to the last time I was done doing 96 in a 60 ??

[Chris Canning]

Between two of us currently run 3 cars a van and 6 bikes yea yea I know.... but the insurance are currently wanting their pound of flesh when it comes to renewal good job the money just turns up in the bank every month if I had to work for it... now that would be upsetting 

Don't get buying that twin turbo VW van Graham....we bought a 150hp version and that's bad enough