Colleague is blaming me for speeding fine

[LivingLifeInPink]

A few weeks ago I called a friend a colleague with a work related query and he answered while he was driving (handsfree). I didn't know he was driving - we work remotely at the moment.

A week later he received a speeding fine and he's looked at the call logs - it shows he was caught speeding 1 minute into our two minute phone call.

He is saying it's my fault as the call distracted him. It was a static speed camera, not a policeman - ie. the camera is always there and it's a route he takes every day.

I really don't think I'm responsible for his own mistakes.

His fault
He answered, he could have let it ring out
I'd be telling him to fuck off, politely in a work appropriate manner lol

You are most definitely not responsible. What a twat. Is he going to blame his passenger for his speeding whilst driving and having a conversation?! Personally, I think hands free is a lot less distracting than having someone sit next to you faffing in their hand bag or fiddling with the radio. Out him in front of colleagues....that should put him back in his box.

He's an idiot - end of story/thread

What an idiot ! - the ‘receiver of the fine !’
Don’t answer the phone if you can’t drive correctly whilst on it ! That’s what answer phones are for ! How anal though they have checked there ‘phone log !’

No it’s not YOUR fault or YOUR fine ...

He can try that as line of defence. I don't think they'll waive the fine or points. What an irresponsible idiot. Are all of your colleagues bratty toddlers?

Is the OP not coming back?

It is definitely not your fault - his choice as a driver was to decide whether or not to answer the phone, given that he was driving. The legal and safe choice was to choose not to. The choice he made was to answer. The phone call then distracted him from driving safely, as a consequence of which he broke the speed limit.

Definitely 100% not your fault. There is no smidgen of culpability attached to you, no share of the blame whatsoever, it was all his choice and he is a git for blaming you. Nasty, bullying behaviour. Raise a complaint with HR.

Lol, the brass neck of him.. what a doorknob... leave him to it, he’s clearly delusional you’ve just been given insight to his true self ...

I suspect that the OP isn't coming back because she’s reread her friend’s text and realised that he’s blatantly taking the piss out of himself. If this had happened to me while I was on the phone to a friend I would totally put all the blame on them and tell them they owed me a pint. Clearly I wouldn’t actually mean that they were to blame, because that would be ludicrous.

(In fact this wouldn’t ever happen to me because I’m scarred for life from my terrifying experience getting a lift from a work colleague who was negotiating million pound deals on his handsfree phone while drifting across four lanes on a tricky motorway interchange. I’ve never been so close to death).

I suspect that the OP isn't coming back because she’s reread her friend’s text and realised that he’s blatantly taking the piss out of himself. If this had happened to me while I was on the phone to a friend I would totally put all the blame on them and tell them they owed me a pint. Clearly I wouldn’t actually mean that they were to blame, because that would be ludicrous.

If I have learned anything in life, it's about the infinite capacity of cheeky fuckers ...

This guy sounds like a jerk. He might be mad because he wasn't supposed to be away from his desk, at that time, and he got nabbed. Must be a joy to work with.

I'd love to know how much over the speed limit he was doing! Has he admitted what speed he was doing? If he wont tell you, almost certainly he was already speeding and wants someone to blame for his stupidity. Tell him to jog on. Once I was blamed by someone who scraped their car ' because of how you'd parked'. I was in the house, my car was not moving and parked on my drive as usual. Twat.

He is a silly man. You are not responsible.

He had two choices neither of which he took, so the fine is all his as the speeding was done solely by him. He could have 1. not answered the phone at all and called you back later or 2. he could have stopped driving, pulled over and taken your call while not driving and not been distracted. The fine is all his.

@VeggieSausageRoll

You have to be doing a reasonable amount over the speed limit to get caught by a static camera, not just a couple of mph.

Say he was in a 30mph limit, the tolerance is usually 10% +2-3mph so let's say he was caught at 35mph, then add in the margin of error on his speedometer in the car (they always read slightly faster than you're actually going), his speedometer would have been shown him going almost 40mph as a minimum in the 30 zone. You say it's a route he regularly takes and a fixed camera. My money is on the fact that he usually exceeds the speed limit through there and forgot to slow down for the camera.

Your speedo is not over reading by 10% 😂

Sigh 14% I'm dumb

I think you are to blame here and should pay his speeding fine, plus compensation. Maybe offer to pay for his next service too? Least you can do.

@Elsewyre my satnav has a feature to check the current speed limit and measure my current speed which it can do by seeing how fast my location is progressing along the surface of the ground - it obviously takes an average over a few seconds, seems to be about 10 secs or so, but if going at a steady speed it is accurate.

When my speedo needle is bang on 30 the satnav calculates I am actually doing 27mph. When the needle says 70, my actual speed is 64mph. This is definitely a thing.

What on earth made him think he could competently do two things at the same time?

I drove a car a few years ago (a Ford) that could combine reading road signs and it's GPS database to set the cars speed limiter automatically. (It also pinged and put a message on the screen for warning signs). If speeding is your problem.

And having been on a speed awareness course, I also know that talk of "tolerance" is bollocks. There was a person on my course who was done for 31 in a 30, and the instructors told us that was going to be much more the norm in future. And everything else they predicted has come to pass.

TL;DR - there's no excuse for speeding. Just as much as there is no excuse for using a phone when driving.

Tolerance not bollocks. I read article about new speed fines where head police man discbribes guidance. Usual is 10% +2 but the policeman on the road does not have to follow the guidance.

Most cameras at 30 only take photo at 35. The data was released by most police force. Was on article.

he can say what he wants but he has no legal rights to hold you accountable, stay calm, he is clearly trying to shed blame, but he shouldnt have answered his phone, its his problem, very unpleasant for you, you could file a grievance against him

He should not have answered the phone. He was driving. It’s against the law.
You cannot know where someone is or what they are doing when you call. It is not your fault.