To be terrified I'll lose my license

You’ll get the option to take a speed awareness course. And instead of a Fine pay for the cost of the course.

They have to submit the penalty notice within 14 days, by post. I got caught doing 66 on the motorway, under a variable 60mph gantry sign. Not proud of myself, should have noticed and slowed down. Opted to do the “motorway speed awareness” course. 3.5 hours of my life I won’t get back but it’s a reality check, it’s crazy what a few extra mph can do if in an accident.

80-85mph is way too fast, so if you get away with it, suggest you start using cruise control on motorways, set to the max speed limit.

I would happily do so. If OP was too distracted to drive then she shouldn’t have been driving full stop. There is no excuse to putting other people’s lives in danger, especially when she actively knew she was speeding.

The results of accidents on an empty motorway can be catastrophic. I live very close to one. During lockdown a driver was speeding with his daughter and clipped a crash cushion that he was going too fast to see. They both died in horrific circumstances. The young man sat in that rig will be affected for life by what he witnessed. Please don't think because the motorway is empty its safer. Animals can still run in front of you. The faster you are going the easier it is to lose control. Barriers are to protect other drivers. Ploughing into one at speed is fatal.

@bord

Well in England at 77/78 in a 70 she won't event get an S172/NIP to start things rolling, let alone a ban.

@1offnamechange

Zzzzzzzzz

I've said the same thing to family members who have been caught speeding. There's no excuse.

I have had a speeding ticket from a smart motorway (M25). I was doing 68 in a 60 (my defense if you'll accept it, is that the speed limit was becoming 60 on the gantry ahead of me, and rather than braking when I spotted it, I just took my foot off the accelerator and was therefore still over the limit as I went under the gantry, which had a camera on). I was able to take a speed awareness course for that.

If your speedo was showing 85, you were probably doing a real world ~ 77/78 so wouldn't be in the realms of a ban on one offense (just my guess). I suspect triggering three in a row, you'd however also not be offered the speed awareness (as you are only offered that if you have no other offenses - you will have two other offenses on the system), and would have just three "offenses" - so 9 points total.

TBH all you can do now is wait 2-3 weeks and see what comes through. I would be working bloody hard now to not trigger ANY other speed camera or similar though. Whatever points you get will be on your license for 3 years. Plus you will have an insurance hike too most likely.

@goldenretrievermum5 gosh, just re-read that back to yourself and think about whether you'd say that with such vitriol in person in real life.

Take a break and go outside to have a sniff of some fresh air and calm down!

We need to make our own judgement about what's safe, not rely on an arbitrary number while driving like a zombie.

Does this only apply to speed limits or driving generally?

"We need to make our own judgement about how much is safe to drink before driving, not rely on an arbitrary amount when alcohol affects different people differently..."

"We need to make our own judgement about what age is safe to drive, after all some 12 year olds are taller and more responsible than 17 year olds"

Indeed if we are using germany as a comparative for what we should be allowed to do on roads, how about countries where its legal to drive from 14?

Actually fuck it lets just expand it to all laws. "We need to make our own judgement about what age children are mature enough to consent to sex rather than an arbitrary age of 16."

Can't see any way that could go wrong at all.

You might think some of them are inappropriate or outdated but laws are in place for a reason and "I don't agree with them" or "they do it differently in another country" isn't a valid defence.

Why should anyone have sympathy for someone who knowingly speeds? It’s not as if OP acknowledged her mistake and slowed down.. The bashing is self inflicted + deserved

Worst case scenario you'll get 3 points per flash, best case is you'll get offered a speed awareness course for one flash and 3 points each for the others

You can have up your 12 before you lose your licence. Let's hope you haven't missed a flash to get during the trip.

@PepsiMaxx0 gosh you're getting an awful bashing here! Try not to fret or let it consume you. You won't be banned!

Sorry to hear about your bad news. Don't be too hard on yourself.

Xx

Are people really relying on camera flashes to judge whether or not they might be done for speeding?
There's quite a few motorways around the NW now that have cameras that don't flash when they catch you. And they are certainly in use, as the pages of my local town Facebook groups will attest to!

There's one stretch with 3 cameras near me and when people have been caught it's been counted as 3 separate incidents as others have said - so if a clean licence, one speed awareness course and two sets of points/fines. And you have to pay for the course itself so its 3 lots of money iyswim

85mph is excessively fast.

Go on then, I'll bite.

Darwin Award for which?

God this thread is full of pearl clutchers. You were not going very fast, yes over the limit but not excessively so, motorway was empty. Just say your name is KP as per other currently active thread and you'll get off with a slap on the wrist.

Honestly, most people speed on an empty motorway - 70mph is far lower than other European countries at 112kph. If you had been going 95-100 then that is serious speeding but not what you were doing. You've never had points in 40 years so pretty good record imo.

Have to agree with this.

Driving at night, after a flight, when tired, and having had bad or upsetting news is a serious set of conditions to deal with. Add significant speeding on top, well you are lucky if a fine / points/ mags court is all you have to worry about.

Cool story but no road bike that can do 150mph had cable brakes - what a laugh. Even if it did, there's no heat transfer to brake cables that could melt one - it's just nonsense.

Like many others I sometimes go over the limit on motorways if I consider it safe to do so....

yh many people also lose liscenses & gain fines for the same mentality....

And the Darwin Award goes to....

As long as you don't take some poor innocent soul with you.

This. You’ve got to suck up the punishment. Why you didn’t slow down after the first flash baffles me though.

Surely you acknowledge there's a difference between accidentally hitting 2/3 mph over the limit, and intentionally driving at 80/85, while tired, and distracted, in an attempt to rush home? OP has admitted they weren't in a good frame of mind, wanting to get home faster and was well aware they were speeding.

As with all things, it depends entirely on circumstances - if OP hits a pedestrian on the motorway, anything over 20 mph will likely have a higher likelihood of fatality for the pedestrian, but the difference in outcome between 40 and 80 isn't likely to be much.
Of course, the time OP and others have to react is reduced with increasing speed, and the kinetic energy released is higher with higher speeds - but speeds need to be judged in context, otherwise we'd have a blanket 20mph limit on all roads including motorways (which I get the impression some posters would favour).

This is not the place to come if you want a rational discussion about speeding, or driving in general.

Most posters appear to be intensely law-fearing, nervous drivers who drive tiny little electric hatchbacks and think anyone in anything bigger is a killer, and anyone who hits the speed limit, let alone creeps over it, is a murderer.