Speeding

[anxiousatnight]

I think I was caught by a speed camera today doing 34/35 in a 30. I was in the wrong and expect to pay any fines, go on courses or take points.

I thought it was a 40, but I had just gone into a 30. It is signed but I paid attention to the speed showing on my SatNav which on further monitoring doesn't update very quickly when going into a new speed limit. My fault, I've learnt that lesson now.

The trouble is, I've been through that road three times this week. I can't recall what speed I was doing, but this was during a usually busy daytime so I was going at roughly the same speed as others on the road. However I'm worried because I thought I was within the speed limit today.

Does anyone have any experience of being caught speeding more than once by the same camera in a short space of time?

I have never had any points on my license before, if that's relevant.

On the plus side, the course is online and very good!

I’ve recently done a SA course for doing 34 in a 30 and one of the other participants was doing 31mph when he got caught. Each area differs the Course Leader said and you don’t always get the leeway.

But was it 31 in a 20 or 31 in a 30? Did you see their letter or photo which stated they were going 31 in a 30? Unless I saw something official I wouldn’t believe them.

I've recently done a "speed awareness" course.
The 10% speedo error was mentioned, & the instructor said that it was always discretionary, & was not normally allowed in the area in which I was caught.

Get the course asap, before any follow-up notices of prosecution.

Try not to worry too much until it is actually an issue. I speak as someone who has 6 points on their licence and constantly thinks they've got 3 more and nothing ever comes of it.

But was it 31 in a 20 or 31 in a 30? Did you see their letter or photo which stated they were going 31 in a 30? Unless I saw something official I wouldn’t believe them*

+1

I’ve seen people claim this and get publicly called out with an offer of a very decent charity donation in their name. Funnily enough, no-one’s ever provided the proof.

I say this in the nicest possible way as someone who spent many years working in traffic prosecutions if you constantly think you’re getting 3 more points, just slow down, what’s the rush? Because if you don’t something will come of it and 6 will become 9 or even 12.

This happened to me twice in the same week! It's basically a road that goes 30, 60, 30, 40. All in less than a mile. I took the course for first one and fine/points on second. I was very lucky they let me

I honestly wouldn't stress it! At most as it's your first offense you'll be offered a speed awareness course.you can also request the last time the speed camera was calibrated if it was over a certain time length ( Google the time frame) they'll cancel your ticket x

I totally get your point and I wasn't clear. I drive past an active speed camera in a 20mph zone on my way to work every day and its early so the road is often empty. Unless I am watching my speedometer, then I'm always concerned I've gone over 20mph becsuse it's easy to creep to 22mph without noticing but I obviously never have as I haven't triggered the camera.

Weirdly, privacy is taken very seriously at these courses. If some fruitloop started demanding to see other attendees letters to prove their statements, they might find themselves in serious trouble.

He said it was a 30 which is why he was surprised to get caught. The instructor said ‘Well, 31 is over 30 so what did you expect?’

You are likely to be offered a speed awareness for the first one which will avoid you losing points. So worst case scenario you would lose 6 points on the other two (ie 3 each) so you would have six points left. But try not to worry too much - it doesn't always happen.

Fruitloop? Not really necessary but that aside, I have attended both the courses, speed awareness and what’s driving us for due care and attention offences as part of my role when I worked in traffic prosecutions from 2005-2020 so I wouldn’t demand anything but having 15 years experience I’ve seen most things but not anyone being summonsed or offered a course for going 1mph over the limit. The cameras are calibrated but the threshold for error albeit small remains.

@SerendipityJane try living in Wales where 20mph is about to become the new 30mph 😫

So instead of answering the OPs question you give her a patronising lecture. Must be great to be as perfect as you 🙄

Someone recently lost their license for getting 5 tickets in a week in a temporary 50mph zone. So it might happen 😬

You might be able to avoid the points for the first one if they offer you a speed awareness course, but then you’d likely have pay and take the points for any further infractions.

My apologies. To answer the op question, no I do not have experience with having multiple speeding tickets in the same location. I don't have a single speeding ticket.
I thought that was implied in my judgmental lecture.

Your car dash and your actual speed are different. If you use a GPS navigation app on your phone it gives you the actual speed you are travelling at. I think this is why speed cameras have an element of error (usually 10%).

Always trust road markings for speed limits and sat nav for speed of vehicle.

I understand you are anxious by this. But realistically there is nothing now you can do other than drive carefully in future.

The worst it will be is a driving awareness course or points on your license.

Forget it now, it's not worth the what ifs and worry does unhealthy things to your body.

You'll know the outcome soon enough. And whatever the outcome is, it will be ok.

I think you're right the issue is more your anxiety.

This is one of this moments that can happen to anyone, despite the perfect drivers on here.

Try to rationalise out what could happen and look up the time scales for offences. That way you will have a rough end date where you can stop waiting for a letter through the door.

I do hope one day my driving is as perfect as yours. Until then I’ll continue to drive at 20mph over the limit and slam on my breaks when my sat nav tells me a camera is coming up 😬

Generally covered as above.
Manufacturers are not permitted to fit speedometers that under report your speed, so to allow for any tolerance error, tyre variation etc they traditionally over report your speed
This is not always the case and a manufacturer might have less of a tolerance than in the past

Ideally you can get a passenger to look at the difference between the cars speedometer and a sat Navs reported speed to see what any variation is

34/35 on the speedometer could therefore have been 31/32 or perhaps 30

If the local policy is giving the optional discretion percentage then the combination ought to mean that you don’t get tickets

……

It serves as a reminder to not rely on a satnavs indicated speed limit, as that relys on that systems mapping and data systems. It could be missing a change or just wrong, and also may not cover temporary limits

……. the references to speed limiters above can be car specific in the cruise settings, but some sat navs also have a speed warning option which can ping when you exceed a certain speed or exceed the speed limit (or what it thinks the limit is - so don’t be reliant on it)

Our local area is 10% + 2mph add in the over read (Mini is 2mph at 30 compared with the GPS) you would have to be doing 37 by the car at least reality add in the uncertainty of the camera and it's closer to 40.

We have a 50mph average speed 24/7 for night working roadworks everyone goes through it at around 55-60mph (I get over taken a lot) and haven't had a ticket yet. Family member hit 65mph through a section by accident months ago no fine received.

Waze app is quite good 😉

My husband got caught in a 50 which is normally a 70 I think he was doing 58 but the sat nav still says 70 on that road

I never said that I am a perfect driver and I also never said that I don't speed. The difference is that I know if and when I am speeding and I have made that choice to speed. I am 100% focused on the road and driving, not being distracted by looking down at a satnav for long enough to not see signs on the road, which was the point of my original post.