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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

do people not understand that breaking the speed limit is breaking the law

95 replies

allsquareknickersnofurcoat · 07/02/2011 00:09

Why do so many drivers (NOT ALL! :)) think that they do not have to follow the law?

If you have gotten a fine for speeding, dont say you didnt know the camera was there, its irrelevant. It wouldnt have caught you if you werent breaking the law. The law may be stupid sometimes, but that doesnt mean you can pick and choose which bits are okay to ignore and then moan when you get caught!

Plus, people parking somewhere they shouldnt and complaining when they get a ticket! Its the law, you are aware of it, and you chose to break it.

It would never be okay for a shoplifter to moan about being caught on CCTV. You cant do what you want just cause you think you'll get away with it! And if you do, you should definitely not complain about it

Rant over :)

OP posts:

scurryfunge · 07/02/2011 17:36

How many points do you have on your licence ccp?

GrimmaTheNome · 07/02/2011 17:39

Cameras are supposed to be sited at blackspots, not where some dumbass local wants one 'just in case'.

Yes, that's how it works. Which makes a bit of a nonsense of your statement: "Many of the cameras are sited inappropriately so some drooling inbred 'local' can have nice quiet local only village traffic." doesn't it?

xstitch · 07/02/2011 17:40

Not all illegal actions are punishable with prison ccp. If I get stuck behind a really slow moving vehicle I curse them as much as anyone but I will only overtake them when it is safe and legal to do so. Two wrongs do not make a right.

I will admit that I have doubts about fixed cameras effectiveness in stopping accidents. This is mainly because people speeding will slam on the brakes to avoid a ticket. Sudden changes of speed are dangerous. This however can never make speeding right. Not least because they wouldn't have felt the need to slam on their brakes if they had not been speeding in the first place. Why can't some people see that?

ccpccp · 07/02/2011 17:41

Yes there are plenty of harrowing stories out there. Leave those cameras in place as they are doing the job they were intended to do - calming traffic at accident blackspots.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 07/02/2011 17:45

Well spotted Grimma!! Explain that one, ccpccp!

And of course speeding is illegal - and I agree, most, if not all drivers will have gone over the speed limit at some point. However, they would not all be sent to prison unless they had caused death or serious injury by speeding. Those just caught by speed cameras or the police will be fined - because a fine can also be a consequence of breaking the law.

Are there really people stupid enough to think that speeding isn't illegal? Do we really need to spell it out in short words - the speed limit is set by law, and so if you break the speed limit you are breaking the law - there - was that clear enough???

ccpccp · 07/02/2011 17:51

None scurryfunge. I had 3 a while back though. 3mph over the limit in a 30 zone - I was keeping my eye on the skateboarding kids and not my speedo - didnt see the camera. Silly me.

I'm not sure what you are saying there GrimmaTheNome. The guidelines have been abused so that village idiots can fill their roads with calming measures to stop their precious little havens being used by commuters. Safety has little to do with it.

ghosteditor · 07/02/2011 18:00

ccp seriously, I am another driver who does not break the speed limit to overtake - that would be breaking the law excepting some very specific circumstances. I don't speed, speak on a phone in the car, drink drive, or any other illegal things in my vehicle because I respect my own life as well as other people's. I am not for a moment implying that you go out there planning on doing harm to others, but some of the statements you've made smack of a genuine belief that it's ok to break the law because others do, that it's ok to speed because you think you pay attention, and that you are somehow not culpable if you are caught breaking the speed limit.

These things are not ok and I very much hope that you never have an accident out there, and if you do, that you can look back on the situation and genuinely know that you gave yourself every chance to avoid the accident. Including not 'creeping' over the speed limit.

scurryfunge · 07/02/2011 18:00

Safety has everything to do with it.

So as you were watching skateboarders you accelerated? (or were you driving at excess speed anyway?).

xstitch · 07/02/2011 18:20

If I saw skateboarders or any other potential hazard I would have eased off the accelerator so wouldn't be at high risk of creeping over the speed limit.

ccp as someone else said if you are caught by a speed camera doing 33 the likelihood is your speedo would be showing higher. Sorry it was your fault not the cameras.

Many of these villages have houses that open out close to the road, I'm sure you wouldn't like someone speeding that close to your front door, and before you ask no, I don't live in one of these villages.

GrimmaTheNome · 07/02/2011 19:01

drooling inbred 'local'

village idiots

nice.

Villages were built for people to live in, you know, before the invention of the motor car; they weren't designed as obstacles between City A and metropolis B where the arrogant selfish clever folks live, you know.

5Foot5 · 07/02/2011 19:52

bogeyface "My sisters FIL was fuming when he got caught for speeding. He did the old "Why dont they spend their time finding proper criminals" etc"

To be fair I can understand and sympathise with that POV a bit. That's not to say I condone speeding or any other dangerous activity when behind the wheel. I would never intentionally break the speed limit myself.

But I think it is fairly easy to see why people have a perception that the police would rather catch the relatively easy target of the motorist than "real" criminals, i.e. people who actually set out with the intent to commit a crime and/or hurt someone.

Rhian82 · 07/02/2011 20:25

They might not have the intent, but they could kill someone. And if they get behind the wheel of a car and break the speed limit, they know full well they could kill someone and have decided that their convenience is more important. That's someone the police should be dealing with - preventing potential injury and death.

Speedometers are made so their inaccuracies make them look higher than they are, not lower - if you have a sat nav that also shows your speed through the GPS then you'll see this.

Bogeyface · 08/02/2011 08:22

My driving instructor put it best for me.

He said "Every tine you get behind the wheel of a car you are taking control of potentially dangerous weapon. You could kill someone, injure someone or cause others to do that. You need to remember that every time you drive, you are responsible not only for yourself but for everyone else on the roads and pavements around you."

I never forgot that, mainly because he also wrote it in the card he gave me when I passed my test!

Oh and the drooling inbred villagers comment ccp......near me is the village that DH and I would love to move to but wont because of the traffic. It is a 60 before the village and 60 after, there is a 40 mph buffer zone either side that is ignored, leading to the 30 zone through the village. There have been several accidents, and cars going through the village at anything up to, and sometimes over, 60 is more common than people driving at the actual limit of 30. If people getting pissed off with that makes them village idiots, well so be it. Atleast with a speed camera in place they would be alive to be so.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 08/02/2011 10:38

Ccpccp said:

"The guidelines have been abused so that village idiots can fill their roads with calming measures to stop their precious little havens being used by commuters. Safety has little to do with it"

How can I put this simply, so that you will understand, ccpccp....

...if idiots did not speed through these villages, they would not need or want the calming measures.

Villages with main roads through them, and with no speed cameras or calming measures, have selfish drivers speeding through them at well over the speed limit. These are residential areas, and there is no good reason why the inhabitants should be happy about impatient and thoughtless motorists putting them and their children at risk - so they campaign for calming measures and speed cameras.

Whereas you, ccpccp would of course be completely relaxed and happy about people driving past your front door at high speed. It wouldn't bother you that your children couldn't cross the road or ride their bikes to school without taking their lives in their hands. If one of them got knocked over by a speeding motorist who decided that his need to get to his destination a minute or two faster was more important than your child's safety, you would be understanding of his needs and would conclude that your child's injuries and pain were better than having traffic calming measures or speed cameras in your area.

lemonbeaver · 08/02/2011 10:55

I have just had a speeding ticket.

I was speeding. No excuses. I was going 10 miles over the speed limit.

This is the first time i have been caught, i say caught because i have been driving for over 25 years and am pretty sure i would have gone over the speed limit in that time.

Why was i going 10 miles faster than i should? Well had just handed my notice in and was feeling fairly crap, i wasn't concentrating on driving, is that an excuse?

No it bloody isn't, i should have been concentrating. I could have caused a terrible accident, killed myself or someone else who would be totally innocent.

So i have returned the forms and am awaiting the fine/points etc. Actually i have no idea because like i say this is my 'first offence'

Will this make me think twice when driving, yes it will. I was a twat.

GrimmaTheNome · 08/02/2011 14:13

lemon - well done, taking it on the chin - you must be feeling crap in the circumstances.

If you're lucky you can avoid points by doing one of the 'driver education' courses - my DH and our former nanny both had to for small infringements of limits, both said they'd learned useful tips from it. (e.g. in 30 limits for most cars its better to drop to 3rd gear than stay in 4th)

ashamedandconfused · 08/02/2011 14:38

well done lemon - very brave to come on this thread with that admission, lets hope someone else thinks more carefully

ccpccp - you are being very thick and arrogant IMO

of course we all know that all sorts of other distractions and losses of concentration cause accidents, even deaths, at low speeds and within the limits on a given road

what we are all saying and you appear to be ignoring is that REACTION TIMES are greater and you are therefore MORE LIKELY to be in an accident (even if not the actual cause of it) if you are going faster. You cannot react as quickly and safely to the unforeseen, eg something falling off a vehicle in front of you, a child running into the road, a fallen tree

the cameras are all there for a reason. they have been shown to be effective. they have saved lives.

if you dont speed you dont get caught & fined - whats so hard to understand?

GiddyPickle · 08/02/2011 14:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 08/02/2011 20:14

Giddy - they also 'know' that they can drive safely at high speeds, when in fact they have just been lucky so far.

Bogeyface · 08/02/2011 20:46

SDTG -- I had an ex that was convinced that he could drive safely at speed because he said that constantly going fast meant that he could react faster.

It didnt make him react faster when he drove into the back of someone who was braking! Thankfully it was at the lights so only going slowly. Mind you, he was a total tosser in every way, the speeding was just a tiny bit of his tosserness!

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