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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder if people who speed through motorway cameras just don't care about a fine?

147 replies

5toMidnight · 26/10/2016 18:10

I am regularly on a motorway with variable speed limits and active cameras/painted speed lines positioned behind every gantry. Every single time it seems I am the only person who sticks to whatever the speed limit is. Others seem to be doing at least 5 and sometimes 10 mph more than I am.

Actually I also see this a lot on regular roads. If I stick to the limit then I inevitably create a tailback. This morning I ended up doing 35 in a 30, I created a tailback and at one point the bloke behind me actually overtook me. ShockBlushHmm

So. AIBU to think that I am the only person who is worried about speeding any more?

OP posts:
LynetteScavo · 27/10/2016 20:54

When I went on a speed awareness course we were told the +10% & 2mph. The whole room disagreed. Almost everyone was a professional driver.i don't think any of them learned anything tbh. Well nothing more than 3 points in their licence would teach them.

ICancelledTheCheque · 27/10/2016 22:06

There was a good deal of difference in the speedos on my last two cars if you pay attention to the sat nav. On my new car it slightly overestimates but on my old one I could safely go way over and actually be driving at the right speed according to Tom Tom.

Maybe people know that but I do find it odd when I drive at 55mph on a 50mph motorway stretch and get overtaken by people doing at least 10 more - often HGV drivers!

YelloDraw · 27/10/2016 23:01

I got done for 76 on the motorway... so that wasn't 10% +2

wasonthelist · 27/10/2016 23:03

DH got caught by a fixed camera doing 32 in a 30 zone,

I don't believe this - if you can post any evidence of it, it will be the first time any has been made available on the internet.

wasonthelist · 27/10/2016 23:04

When I went on a speed awareness course we were told the +10% & 2mph. The whole room disagreed.

Disagreed with what?

wasonthelist · 27/10/2016 23:05

I got done for 76 on the motorway... so that wasn't 10% +2
Can you post the appropriately redacted PCN - it will be really interesting to see the proper evidence.

SpeckledyBanana · 27/10/2016 23:16

My 35 in a 30 zone was 10% plus 2, and I got caught Confused

My tutor said that rule wasn't true. Course was last month.

Veterinari · 27/10/2016 23:23

Actually Bogeyface

And if a person has to cross 2 lanes rather than one because someone prefers the view from the middle lane? Then so be it!

I dont know why people do it, I dont do it myself and yes it is annoying but the fact is that people do do it and so as a decent driver you have accept this an allow for it.

Err no, it's illegal, creates an obstruction and reduces a 3 lane traffic flow to 2

Over taking is fine, undercutting is not, no matter how much someone is getting on your nerves.

Undercutting per se may be against the Highway Code but it's fine to pass on the left if your lane of traffic is moving faster (which it will be if there are no cars in front of you obstructing you)

There is really is no justification for undercutting any more than there is for tootling along in the middle lane at 60, as the saying goes "Two wrongs dont make a right"

Actually there is. Passing on the left is not illegal. Obstructing the flow of traffic is illegal, dangerous and demonstrates a level of fuckwittery not compatible with safe driving

Yamadori · 28/10/2016 00:30

Obstructing the flow of traffic is illegal, dangerous and demonstrates a level of fuckwittery not compatible with safe driving
So is breaking the speed limit.

StiginaGrump · 28/10/2016 00:45

I have two family members who have been stopped by police for driving too slowly! One was in the middle lane - I think he got done for some driving offence though can't remember what.
I do lots of motorway driving and think once one car has shot through everyone else thinks they have some extra knowledge so follow. Love that mumsnet is full of strict speed rule observers - who is doing all the motorway driving then?
The gantry cameras that I pass flash so presume they all do, on my most frequent stretch there is only one that is live so you see everyone do 90+ til just before it. It is possible the breaking is more dangerous than the speeding though obviously the speeding shouldn't happen first.

Bogeyface · 28/10/2016 02:54

One thing that this thread has proved is a theory I have long had. That when you question why people speed they always, without fail, cite middle lane hoggers!

Someone doing 60 in the middle lane is not a reason for anyone to do 90 in any lane! Them driving too slowly in the wrong lane doesnt give anyone an excuse to bomb it. Yet when you call speeders, they deflect by saying "Well at least I am not hogging the middle lane......."

LynetteScavo · 28/10/2016 07:47

wasonthelist The whole room disagreed they were going more than 35mph on a 30 zone or whatever the appropriate equation is.

I know I wasn't. I was speeding, by going 32 mph. I was aware of my own speed, but not the speed camera.

And if the speed limit is 30/40/6070 mph why should there be any leeway?

Veterinari · 28/10/2016 08:08

I don't think anyone has used middle lane hoggers as an excuse for speeding Confused In fact I'm not clear how the two are related?

We've simply just pointed out that in terms of dangerous driving there are driving practices such as middle lane hogging that are just as common, more dangerous, also illegal and usually carried out by the smug 'safe' drivers that tut at someone going 5 miles over the limit on a motorway where that level of speeding is unlikely to make any practical difference in terms of safety, but their own inadequate driving skills do.

ElinoristhenewEnid · 28/10/2016 08:18

My sdd was stopped by police for doing 31 in a 30. No-one believed her until her aunt was stopped for exactly the same speed excess 2 weeks later in a totally different city! So it can happen!

Roussette · 28/10/2016 08:30

But were they charged Elinoris? I didn't think they charged anyone unless it was over 10% of the speed limit

I was stopped with on a road overtaking doing nearer 50 than 40 by a policeman hiding in the bushes holding a speed camera. I thought it honestly was 50 as I know the road well and it used to be. I pointed out that the speed sign was covered in bushes and I couldn't see it and he let me off....

PollyPerky · 28/10/2016 08:38

When it comes to motorway driving I hate being overtaken for some reason and I find driving very boring so I tend to speed to get there asap! I always work within the 10% rule around cameras and the rest of the time do what I fancy. Never had any points.... yet and most of my motorway driving is M25 based

I really wouldn't worry about the speed just keep an eye out for cameras and unpredictable drivers.

And I'm speechless darling, at your attitude.

I wonder if this poster is one who also uses a mobile phone when driving and has the same attitude to that.

What ignorance, arrogance and sheer stupidity.

PollyPerky · 28/10/2016 08:40

Actually there is. Passing on the left is not illegal.

Passing on the left is ok if the middle lane is stationary. It's not ok to drive at 90mph in lane 1 because you are too impatient to sit behind traffic doing 75-80mph in lane 2. (And I'm talking about a road like the A1 which is 2 lanes for hundreds of miles.)

Veterinari · 28/10/2016 08:44

I'm not sure anyone has suggested it's ok to drive at 90mph anywhere Polly Confused

PollyPerky · 28/10/2016 08:52

I'm sure. Go back and RTFT as they say here. There is at least 1 poster saying she drives at 85-95 as well as the one quoted who ignores speed.

PollyPerky · 28/10/2016 08:54

Here we are: page 3 by mrs Judgemental.
I drive according to the conditions on a motorway- sometimes it's 60, more often it's 85-95, sometimes in the 'slow' lane.

Tiredstressed · 28/10/2016 09:27

Isn't the issue that if the left lane is empty and the middle lane is full, the speed of the left lane may well be higher than the speed of the middle lane. In that situation, you could legitimately pass on the left. Of course, it would be more appropriate if those in the middle lane moved over to the empty left lane but that often doesn't happen.

ElinoristhenewEnid · 28/10/2016 10:20

Yes Rousette they both got fixed penalty £60 fine + 3 points on licence (these were before speed awareness courses were widely available). I think they were pretty Fed up knowing how other people speed!

PollyPerky · 28/10/2016 11:28

The thing is Tired that impatient drivers undertake, which is not quite the same thing. Undertaking is not allowed in the UK. My understanding of undertaking is- example- you are in lane 2 stuck behind someone who is going too slowly, and lane 3 is busy so you pull into lane 1, move ahead of one car in lane 2, then back into lane 2. This is likely to cause an accident because in the UK although we are supposed to look all around us when driving, we aren't used to being undertaken.

I am often undertaken when using the A1 because a lot of it just 2 lanes. I can be driving at 80mph behind someone maybe doing 70 in the outside lane when some idiot tail gates me. I won't speed up, being careful of my stopping distances and also tailgating the person in front. So the impatient driver undertakes me and then pulls in front of me, closing the safe stopping distance gap, or they drive further ahead in the inside lane then pull into lane 2.

Ime most undertaking is done by tailgaters who want the car in front to tailgate the car in front of them to push everyone along, with barely 6 ft between the cars.

Tiredstressed · 28/10/2016 11:35

Pulling in to undertake is not permitted, as you say. Staying in slow lane which is going at a faster speed than the middle lane is permitted. The behaviour that you describe is not permitted!

SlipperyLizard · 28/10/2016 11:45

Wasonthelist why would I make it up? I was annoyed because he'd been caught by the same camera 6 months earlier doing 36, and surprised that the 10% thing turned out not to be true.

I can't post evidence as it was years ago and I didn't keep the penalty notice, but I'm not making it up.