I just got pulled over for doing 32 in a 30

OP, from your posts.

AIBU or is this total overkill? It’s a dry sunny day, the roads are relatively quiet and I wasn’t driving erratically.

Where does it say you are OK to drive above the limit on dry sunny quiet days (the French, sensibly, reduce their speed limits in wet weather, they don’t increase them for dry, sunny, quiet days).

Yes, you shaking is overkill. You should be suitably contrite and appreciative you haven’t been prosecuted.

Because it’s a slight downhill?

I’ve already said – this isn’t going to wash with the Magistrates.

Nope. The speedo showed me at 32.

If you knew your speedo told you 32, which was over the limit, why didn’t you bring your speed down immediately instead of continuing to break the law?

oh give over. If I was doing 35 I’d understand but a couple of MPH on a clear road with a slight downhill isn’t speeding.

Yes it is.

I just think it’s a bit silly. About two miles away there’s a town full of drug addicts and drunks who make part of the town a no go area. But they’d rather pull over innocent people!

Does that mean you don’t want any traffic offences dealt with because the Police should be dealing with other potential offenders ? Are you aware many other offenders are caught by being stopped for traffic offences ?What part of exceeding the speed limit makes you ‘innocent’?

Because he was very intimidating, I’m a woman on my own and he was treating me like a criminal

If he acted inappropriately you need to report him, although I wonder why you think you should be treated differently to a man on his own. However, he was treating you like a person who had broken the law…..

But I was. (in response to ‘you weren’t innocent’)

You were – you were guilty of breaking the speed limit.

This is exactly it. He’s a man on his own, seen a lone woman doing 32 and decided to exercise a power trip.

As I said above, if he acted inappropriately then report him and prove he was on a power trip. He was doing his job.

You’re not going to the magistrates for 32 in a 30 😂

Trust me, you might.

This is how I feel. My town has a huge crime problem. But instead of spending time on that, they’re doing this.

Also, if his Speedo said 32, he must have been doing it too. So he was also just as in the wrong!

I don’t think Traffic cops investigate the other crimes mentioned. As I said previously, higher level criminal are often caught through traffic offences. Also, if we didn’t have Traffic cops we could all drive however we decided was OK. Are you Ok with drug dealers screeching round at 70 outside your children’s schools ?

Oh, please, don’t bring out the ‘if I was over the limit, so was he’ argument. How do you think the Police catch people if they don’t chase them? Burglars, drug dealers, murderers all get away if they put their foot down if the Police can't drive over the limit.

I tend to pay attention to the road ahead of me, which is what you’re taught to do.

Errrr, what do your think that mirror in the middle of the windscreen is for. apart from doing your make up in? Not just for Mirror, signal, manoeuvre but as you travel.

Genuine question. What would stop you from breaking the law in future?
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Oh, and congratulations for posting a thread which has ticked off about 10 boxes on my MN Bingo card for 2026

I take your point ,I didn't think it was law,my daughter was told by the police that speed camera "guidelines" for prosecution was 10% plus 2 and this police officer followed those guidelines, but it was discretionary and that its illegal to exceed the speed limit and you could be prosecuted 1mp over the limit.

I think there's a difference between doing your job and being a jobsworth! 🤔😁

In dry conditions:

Stopping distance at 30mph - 23 metres
Stopping distance at 32mph - 26 metres
Stopping distance at 35mph - 29.5 metres

Risk of death: 30mph - 20%
Risk of death: 32mph - 25%
Risk of death: 35mph - 33%

A crash at 32mph has roughly 14% more kinetic energy than a crash at 30mph.

All of you getting on your high horses, yeah it’s all fun and games until it’s you who has to bury your child thanks to a speeding driver, go on, ask me how I know? In my case, a single fucking metre was the difference between life and death so yeah, a 3 metres stopping difference between 30mph and 32mph is not “nothing”. But yeah, poor you OP, shaking because the big bad policeman gave you a telling off for something you actually did.

Also, it’s a speed LIMIT not a speed target, if 2mph is “nothing” why the fuck not just go at 28mph? No difference right?

Also OP, maybe you should take refresher lessons if you don’t know how to mitigate your speed when going downhill and think that’s some sort of excuse.

Driving is so normal that it’s easy to become complacent and forget that the rules are there for a reason and actually one lapse in judgement can be the difference between life and death.

You should also be regularly checking your mirrors to see what's happening behind and to the sides!

Go straight to pedants corner.

We all come across rules we don’t like or maybe disagree with. If there is a consequence to it being broken then we have to live with it. My MIL got a ticket, she was about 5 miles over the limit on a dual carriageway. Because she always thinks she is above mere mortals she wrote a letter, they still fined her and she had to do a course.

You aren't innocent. You drove without due care as didn't notice you had gone over the limit. Shaking over it is meant to get you sympathy but you just sound ridiculous.

Crimes caused by common oicks in oicksville should be pursued but crimes committed by naice ladies walking their dogs should not?

You were speeding and failed to notice the police car behind you (so not paying attention). Most of us have been there, suck it up and watch your speed more carefully. I use the cruise controls to ensure I don’t go over the 20/30 limits because its so easy to do, especially if distracted by children or animals in the car. If he was on a power trip he would have given you the ticket.

Most of the injuries caused by speeding drivers are caused by urban drivers going over the 20/30 limits, not drug dealers speeding on motorways.

“I'd be walking everywhere if the police round here started doing their jobs” 😂

It is annoying when here they seem to ignore the prats doing seventy in residential streets regularly.

Anyone doing their job should be in another job? How does that work then?

OP is lucky she wasn't fined or given points/a course.

Imagine using the phrase "Have the police got nothing better to do?" and then accusing someone else of being immature.

Yep, really. The 10% rule is just guidance that some forces choose to follow.

DH was on a speed awareness course a couple of years ago and there were people there who were going the same speed as OP. She's lucky she didn't get a fine!

He stopped her for a difference of 2mph.
That's bs.
I wonder how many men he stopped for exceeding the speed limit by 2mph.
My guess is none.
It's a power play by a dickhead.
Anyone nitpicking like this should be in another job.

Of course you can. Especially if you were parked up first and she drove past you.

If you can't keep your car at a given speed then you are not in control of it, despite any bullshit excuses about cars "not being designed to drive at 20mph".

This is just a fact. Nothing sanctimonious about that at all.

How about you have a think about what horrific scenes traffic officers see when dealing with a crash, often due to excessive speeding. Or when children have been hit by cars in 30 MPH zones.

now use that mental image to consider that they approach their job with the idea that if they can make more people aware of their driving and even their speed when going above the speed limit (even if not excessive) then they may just make that person more aware overall and would have less horrific car crash scenes to attend.

My grandmother got a speeding fine for doing 31 in a 30!

Tbf we all creep a mile or 2 over the limit, I don’t believe anyone who says they never do.

It's not overkill, it's optics! How many other cars went past and slowed down as a result. Overkill may have been if he'd given her a ticket, but even that would have been perfectly legal.

No sympathy whatsoever. Speed kills

If you have cruise control on your vehicle you could use it to keep to the speed limit. I agree it seems petty but limits are there for a reason. My daughter was hit by a car at 28mph and suffered a broken leg and hit her head on the road. If it had been going over 30mph she could have died or suffered a catastrophic head injury.

Can everyone honestly tell if the driver of the car in front is male or female? How would they have known until after op was pulled over?

So you didn't even notice the police car behind you? Most people will rigidly stick to the speed limit if there's a copper behind them