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?

@CaptainFuture don't be ridiculous. Some A roads are 60, some are 70, some are 40. It depends on the road. Many A roads are dual carriageways. I drove on the A14 through Cambridgeshire and Suffolk today which is 70mph along almost all of it. I also drove on rte A12 which varied between 40mph and 70mph depending on which bit I was on.

You live and learn

Yes it was a bit silly but you can take the points and fine. Worth thinking about what you could have done differently on the day to help if a similar situation comes up again

The SAC I attended was an absolute eye opener and quite terrifying. I've adjusted my driving style since. I know what I did wrong and I use the tools within our car to ensure I'm within the speed limit everywhere nowadays.

As many other posters have stated, dual carriageways have a limit of 70 mph unless indicated otherwise.

My commute involves 13 miles along an A road. The first mile has a 30 mph limit, then 2 miles of 40mph, half a mile of 30 mph, half a mile of 20 mph, half a mile of 30 mph, half a mile of 40 mph, 7.5 miles of National Speed Limit (60 mph as there is no physical barrier between the 2 directions of traffic) then a further half mile with a 30 mph limit. Your assertion is complete nonsense.

I live in a rural hamlet. The road through it has a 30 mph limit. I do Speedwatch with some of my neighbours and we have clocked drivers doing 50+ mph on numerous occasions. IMO, this is more dangerous than the OP's case as there are walkers, children, animals etc and no pavements or central reservation and it's quite narrow. People need to stop being so judgemental about the OP.

This might be helpful op.
https://www.gov.uk/speeding-penalties

Sorry - was meant to quote as above .

That's unfortunate. I regularly do mid-80s on the motorway, never been caught. I've found Google Maps is good at warning of speed traps, but Waze is even better - just a tip for next time! Hope you don't get fined too hard and good luck.

And no doubt you have a perfect driving record.

I'm sure I read its the only road in Wales (possibly UK) that uses a 70 sign instead of a national speed black/white sign. Always tickles us when we drive past it.

People are winding you up OP. Look up the threshold for speed awareness course for that force, someone posted earlier that it's under 86 in a 70 zone.

If it's your first offense I bet they'll offer you a choice of course anyway (costs you about £100 to attend), or to take a £100 fine and points. You can do the course via Zoom and it's only 2-3 hours.

So much melodrama here.

@Speeding87stupid Don't beat yourself up too much. I’ve gotten this exact ticket (87 in a 70) though I was abroad so I’m no help on penalties. Actually I was barreling to the airport early in the morning to drop off my rental car and hop on a flight back to the UK. The roads were gorgeous and empty and the rental car was zippy so I was having a grand old time. At least until a rather terrifying-looking officer with the most impressive, jangly belt of tools pulled me over. We were both very confused as he clearly wasn’t expecting a random British woman at 4am and I wasn’t sure how to give him the paperwork he wanted for a rental car. It ended up just being £100 that I paid online.

WTF are you talking about ? You stated A roads in the UK are 60mph. I was simply pointing out that some are 70mph.

You’ll prob get 3 points and a nominal fine (too fast for speed awareness). Ignore people being unnecessarily horrid - yes, you made a mistake, you’ll learn from it. I’m more concerned about the morons doing 70/80 in single lane 60 mph zones who put my life in jeopardy daily than someone going over on a relatively empty dual carriageway… I drive 30,000 miles per year and see people do daft shit constantly …this is pretty tame by comparison.

A dual carriageway A road with national speed limit is 70mph.

You could have killed someone.

OP try not to worry, I'm sure 90% of the pearl clutchers on this thread have driven at over 80mph on the motorway at one point in their lives. The very worst that will happen will be 3 points.

I strongly suspect that most of the pearl clutchers have never driven at all.

She wasn't checking in for a flight...

And no, that wouldn't count as mitigation anyway.

Aggravating and mitigating factors are standard across all offences, and are generally more relevant for offences which have broader sentencing ranges, such as driving without due care and attention or theft from a shop. Speeding is, by and large, pretty cut and dried. 68 in a 60 will likely be three points and a Band A fine, regardless of the circumstances.

A genuine emergency, such as getting someone in urgent need to medical help might have a bearing. By and large, though, any mitigation will be read and noted, and make no difference to the penalty. An early guilty plea should see the financial penalty reduced by up to 1/3.

Oh, and the old chestnut about a speeding allowance of 10% plus 2mph is not a thing. At least, not where I live; other areas might differ, I suppose.

I'd say that's a cert, possibly 6. And a fine, of course.

You may get fewer points if you agree to do a speed awareness course, OP.

To be fair, so could anyone when out driving, regardless of speed. Being run over at 70mph is not much different from 87mph.

I know this isn’t what you want to hear OP but honestly you were driving dangerously and deserve to lose your license as that sort of behaviour kills people. Hopefully this is a wake up call. 87 goodness that is really OTT.

Nowhere did @BadgersSuitcase say they would have to attend court just that it would go to court.

I was clocked doing 37 in a 30 zone and given the option of a speed awareness course. It was one of the most educational days of my adult life.

One of the exercises included everyone having to come up with excuses for speeding, including the one they were using personally for the day they were spotted. Then we had to imagine that the person we loved the most had just been hit by a speeding car, and at the scene the person driving the car used the excuse we had come up with to explain why they were driving over the speed limit. There were people on the course literally sobbing at this point.

Imagine if your child was hit by a person driving 87 miles an hour and they then tried to explain to you that it was because they were running late to check into their holiday accommodation.

Given you were driving at 87 miles an hour in a 70 zone you will not be offered the option of a speed awareness course, but I think that is a shame. It should be mandatory, in addition to the points and fine.