Caught doing 87 on an A road - stupid - what will happen?

[Speeding87stupid]

We were on holiday, road was empty and we were rushing to get to a check in.

Just got home and received a scary letter in the post from the police.

I know it was monumentally stupid. Will write back immediately saying yes it was me.

I’ve never had a speeding fine - can’t believe I was so stupid, I never usually speed.

What will they do - will I lose my licence?

Well you could Google it but I think it’s likely you’ll do a speed awareness course as you haven’t been caught before.

It doesn't have to have two lanes to be a dual carriageway, just a central reservation. You could have a dual carriageway that is only one lane in either direction and still be 70

Momentarily stupid is no excuse. You have obviously posted on here to get sympathy but as others have said you are selfish.
my son was killed aged 22 in a high speed crash - the effects of that are not momentarily - they destroy families lives forever, we will never recover, so maybe think about that before you worry about checking in somewhere on time - get some perspective, and no I’m not ‘being mean’.

Some proper sanctimonious people on here…
’you’re lucky you didn’t kill somebody’!

The Germans seem to be ok doing whatever speed they wish on the Autobahn. The Spanish are trialling a 93mph limit at the moment.

You won’t lose your licence for a first offence at that speed. There’s a well established points system. For most speeding offences it’s 3pts and a few hundred pound fine. You need 12 pts to get banned.

You must however tell your insurance company, and look for your premium to go up on renewal. So the cost will be more in that sense. If you don’t tell your insurance company, your insurance will likely be invalidated and that could lead to all sorts of trouble down the line.

You're worried about the penalty? You should be much more worried about the behaviour that got the ticket in the first place.

I'm really disturbed by someone doing 87 who "doesn't usually speed". You were driving nearly 25% faster than you ever normally drive and on an unfamiliar road. You seem to have picked a point where your blood pressure was likely up and your mind was under stress to discover your capabilities. You'll no doubt say that it was clear and empty of traffic, but you didn't know how that road drives - bumps, dodgy cambers, pot holes, hidden joining roads... You were putting other road users at risk.

I imagine it will only be 3 points, but it might be a few more. Hopefully, you'll get to do the speed awareness course. Regardless, you aren't going to lose your license. If you car has a limiter, you need to start using it. If it doesn't, change your car. And next time, simply pick up the phone to the hotel and let them know you may be a few minutes late. I can almost guarantee that they would have thanked you for letting them know and let you check in a little while after the usual hour. It was a ridiculous reason for testing out your skills under duress.

It's not an even comparison though. Our roads are terrible.

I was specifically responding to the PP who said that all A roads have a 60mph limit. They were suggesting that the OP should have been doing 60. Proof by counter example dual carriageways are 70. There the claim that all A roads are 60 is disproved QED.

I imagine that OPs prosecution letter would have said the speed limit was 70mph but to allow for error in the Speedometer and a little grace, prosecution only happens when doing more than 77mph ((10% * 60) + 2).

87 mph is not ridiculously fast per se. Come on!! Eg in Germany 100 mph isn't considered super fast. 110 mph perhaps, but have driven much faster in my time and most folks there do. Which is the point. You expect fast folks there but not in the UK and that's the danger.

However, we are in the UK and the speed limit on an A road - unless dual carriageway - is 60 mph. Almost 30 miles more is bad and not something folks would have to expect. Hence dangerous. If it was a dual carriage way, 87 mph is still too fast but people kind of expect that speed, so less of an issue.

Was it a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) or a fixed penalty notice?

17mph over actually. Not nearly 30!

Agree. Even my 12 year old was surprised how slow driving 100 mph felt on a German motorway. I had to drive 110, 120 mph for him to feel I was going a bit faster in the UK - because everyone was driving faster. But then Germans learn how to drive fast in their driving lessons on the Autobahn, they learn how to judge speed. UK drivers are not taught that and usually cannot handle or judge speed. If in the UK, you shouldn't have to expect that folks drive very fast.

I digress but will never forget driving past some UK folks on the Autobahn in their zoomed up car near the Nuerburgring. They were doing about 100 mph and overtaken by Germany mummies with kids in small cars.

Utter nonsense. It’s well within the band for a fixed penalty 3pts/£100.

Agreed.

I don't normally do this, but I asked DP, who is traffic in the Met, and he said exactly that- 3 points and a £100 fine. No ban, no speed awareness course.

I think over a certain speed you don’t have a speed awareness/points option you go straight to prosecution/losing licence

It isn’t

Yes, it very much is. Fixed penalty in a 70mph is normally up to and including 95mph.

And don't forget to tell your insurance company about the prosecution. Your insurance will go up massively I'm afraid.

Not if she has an otherwise clean license. A single minor speeding offence is unlikely to cause too much of an increase.

The OP is clearly decent and of good character,

How can you possibly say this based on a handful of posts?

Do you have evidence to the contrary?

Well in my opinion a prison sentence would be appropriate.
You weren't just stupid, you were reckless and all for the sake of your holiday.
Maybe sitting in a room with loved ones who have lost their beloved partner's, children, parents etc to people who use their vehicles as lethal weapons and hear how their lives have been ruined might make you think.

87 mph is not ridiculously fast per se. Come on!! Eg in Germany 100 mph isn't considered super fast. 110 mph perhaps, but have driven much faster in my time and most folks there do. Which is the point. You expect fast folks there but not in the UK and that's the danger.

But they don't have that speed limit (or lack of speed limit) on every road. I've been on rural roads in Germany which have a lower speed limit "bei nasse" - i.e.in the wet, which is quite sensible. We are just expected to drive to the current conditions, which would often involve lower driving speed, but drivers don't always seem to realise this.

If we were to remove the national speed limit on some roads, it would likely only be on major motorways,probably not on two lane dual carriageways. And there would still be lower limits on HGVs, towing vehicles and so on. (And I would like to ban vehicles that cannot go over 60mph from over taking on 2 lane roads, particularly uphill, particularly in the A34 when I'm on it...)

I don't know the A64 well; I've only driven on it a couple of times, and not recently, but from what everyone has said, it's never going to be a candidate for removing a speedlimit entirely, so what they do on German autobahns isn't terribly relevant.

As I learnt on a speed awareness course (I know 🤦🏼‍♀️), if you can roll a tennis ball from one side to the other without it hitting anything, regardless of how many lanes it’s got, it’s not a dual carriageway and it’s not a 70.

I was “ caught “ speeding on M6, where it goes from M6 to M42 ( 50mph to 70 mph)
I was doing 68 mph.
I got £100 fine and 3 points.
You'll probably get something similar
The Police letters are computer generated .

Mumsnet seems to increasingly attract more than it's fair share of hateful people rushing to inflict more pain and hate on people who are already stressed scared or struggling.. But honestly, some of the early responses on this post are vile. I had to stop reading as seeing the reality of how people speak to others has really disturbed me.
And these people are presumably bringing up the next generation..creating children in their own image. The future is scary.. more and more people will surely become poisoned by this outpouring of hate, self righteousness and maliciousness, aimed at regular people who slip up on occasion. Save your vitriol for truly hateful people who have no qualms in deliberately and seriously hurting others, mentally or physically.

Anyway.. Sorry for my outpouring Op.. 17mph over a 70 limit is infortunately not an uncommon crime. Possibly a fine and a course or possibly points and a fine.

And it sounds like there are plenty of other people on this post who would also benefit from a driving course to improve their knowledge of the speed limits on UK roads!