Been caught speeding

[speedy49]

Help sorry I know this isn't AIBU but traffic

Tonight literally 15 mins ago so 00:40 ish I was driving home about a 10 minute journey on a road with a 60mph limit.
I was doing about 80. Yes I know I was in the wrong please dont bash me.
Then I got to my turning, turned in, and realise there was a police car behind me pretty much the whole time.
Now I'm freaking out because I know I was speeding and I know they were behind me. But they could have pulled me over and didn't, didn't even flash me?
I don't have any points, never paid any fine, never taken a speed awareness course.
Has anyone ever had a similar experience, if so did it end in a ticket or not?
Very worried, please be kind I know I was in the wrong

I can promise you that (unless you are speeding) if you hit a person in the middle of the road, late at night wearing all black, legally you will be fine. It’s a total myth that it’s always the driver’s fault. Pedestrians and cyclists are very much expected to take personal responsibility for their safety.

Are we no longer at liberty to exercise common sense?

Apparently not if you drove at 90 in a 60 zone.

Ah I must be punished forever more I see 🤣

Again, get over it, I did!

Speeding threads always bring out the worst on here
I received a speeding fine recently in the post after driving somewhere (not local) completely unfamiliar to me
I had been dropping DP off to collect a vehicle for his new job and he had driven there and I drove back
This meant I wasn’t sure who was driving at the time of the offence so checked the pictures they give you a link to online
unfortunately it was me - they also give you a film clip which I watched out of curiosity - wish I hadn’t
The film showed me driving carefully and within the speed limit - apart from for under one second when I must have taken my eye off the speedo probably because I was looking for directions
I certainly didn’t see a camera or speed van as if I had I would’ve been pretty stupid to speed up briefly for the single second it captured the image

I hope you get a speeding ticket, because you deserve it for going so far over the speed limit.

Why were you going so fast? Please answer because I'd love to know.

And you'll definitely get a ticket, as the police would have E been well aware how fast you were going, as they were behind you! No way are they going to let you get away with that.

Agreed

I've witnessed people driving slowly but doing very dangerous things, like driving straight into a roundabout without checking what's coming, not stopping at junctions, going down one way streets the wrong way, going through red lights, not stopping at pedestrian crossings

Nobody is a perfect driver, everyone makes poor split decisions sometimes

Hopefully this will be a wake up call for op to not go 20mph over the speed limit next time

And@TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl

A number of years ago outside Salisbury a body was found in the road

It was subsequently established that a man was walking home from the pub, was hit by a taxi that didn’t see him.
The taxi driver heard and felt something, reversed (running him over again) and still couldn’t see anything
Then drove off running him over for a third time

As a driver you need to anticipate hazards and give yourself the best chance to avoid them. It’s your responsibility. Flying along at 80 in the dark when you can’t see what’s around the next bend is lunacy. You can’t justify it, any way round. Pedestrians are allowed to use those roads. As are cyclists. Even if both are showing high vis, you are reducing significantly your opportunity to take evasive action to avoid them once you see them, by not driving to the conditions. It would still be your fault if you hit them.

Why were you going 90 in a 60? So you were going well over motorway speed on a normal carriageway, that's not designed for those speeds.

Please do enlighten us all.

OP, please take what I say not as a telling off or as sanctimonious preaching from my high horse, but some genuine advice meant in good faith.

You may or may not get a ticket, all you can do now is wait to find out. It will either arrive or it won't. Try not to stress because either way you won't end up in jail, 80 in a 60 is 3 points and a fine. If you were doing 81 or more it may end up in court. Either way this too shall pass, it won't last forever and you will be okay. It might be stressful or upsetting, but that feeling won't last forever, you WILL be okay.

I fully understand that now and again, creeping over the speed limits does happen and we are almost all guilty of it, but come on OP, 80 in a 60 is a fair whack over the limit. I'm all for driving as close to the speed limit as possible where safe to do so, so as not to hold up others on the road, but there's really no reason for going that fast as I'm sure you know.

Remember that if you had a crash going at 80, not only would it be more likely to hurt yourself and others, but if there were serious injuries or fatalities, there's the likelihood you could be charged with "death by dangerous driving" which carries a prison sentence, all for something you could have easily prevented.

You don't seem like a bad person, you weren't speeding maliciously, you weren't intending on being dangerous but the fact is, it is dangerous. You could be the safest driver in the world but if you're going 80 and someone else makes a mistake in front of you such as pulling out on you, you've got much less time to react to it.

I hope that this fright of the threat of a fine and points is enough to bring your speed down to the legal limits, not only will it be safer but you'll save yourself some fuel too, and you won't panic next time you pass a police car as you'll be in the knowledge that you weren't speeding. From now on, enjoy the weight off your shoulders knowing that you simply cannot get done for speeding, as you won't be speeding, and any speed camera or police car can just be forgotten about rather than feeling the worry that you are right now.

Best wishes OP, try not to worry too much. We all make mistakes, we are all human, but what's important is that you learn from it 🙂

See, whilst I can’t get the hysteria about speeding on here, I think if you DO speed then take responsibility for getting caught.

It’s fine to hope you’re not caught, but if you are, accept it. The fact that you were in an unfamiliar place isn’t relevant - you should know road conditions and the Highway Code well enough to drive safely everywhere.

And I find it hard to believe that you were over the speed limit for literally one second before slowing down. How much over were you?

Ive been caught once driving 48 in a 40. It was a speed van that was situated about 12 feet from an area where it goes from 60 to 40. Loads of people get caught as they’re still slowing down coming out the 60 area. This happened to me - and it’s entirely my own fault. I should have slowed down sooner. I accepted the course I had to go on, and I’ve never had any points or been caught before or since. But this one time it WAS my fault and I own that

I agree with JaceLancs, loads of people get done for similar minor mistakes. 6 MN'ers got tickets dropping dc at Uni in September, an unknown place for the first time, couldn't believe they had been so careless. Normally take pride in their driving. In such instances I just think it's the police, cash cow, trying to get £100 and 3 points off as many people as possible.

@TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl why would you assume they're not wearing hi-vis, though?

But even if they aren't, as a driver you need to be driving so that you can avoid unexpected obstacles, no matter how stupid you think they are

In the last year I've come round corners to floor water, sheep, deer, a dead badger, horses and riders and broken down cars.

There's no way you could stop safely at 80mph. All the hi-vis in the world wouldn't have made a difference.

On the speed awareness course I was surprised by how many people denied they were speeding or made excuses. Or moaned about the existence of the speed camera van. “I didn’t see it in time”. That’s the whole point 😂 “The van was hiding” - oh you couldn’t have been speeding then 🤣

It’s the same people who moan about getting a parking ticket. Don’t park over your time and you won’t get a ticket.

Again, get over it, I did!

What was for you to get over? You got away with it. .

Repeating the same bizarre, meaningless catchphrase over and over won't suddenly make it less nonsensical.

Many cyclists don’t wear high-vis. Many do. If you don’t take responsibility for your own safety you only have yourself to blame if you get hit. Not quite the same as a badger is it.

You were going too fast to be eligible for a speed awareness course, so you will most likely get a fine and points.

And crying about it constantly or making twatty comments won’t make me give a shit or feel bad, so I’m not sure what your point is actually in persistently mentioning it. Are you expecting an apology or something?

TeamHerbivore · Today 01:11
I hope you get fined and points. Please be kind, ffs, how about please don’t speed. 🙄“

This.
Pathetic.

I've heard that story about a driver travelling at 30mph... speed really isn't the cause of that accident

*And crying about it constantly or making twatty comments won’t make me give a shit or feel bad, so I’m not sure what your point is actually in persistently mentioning it.

I haven't "persistently" mentioned it.

Are you expecting an apology or something?

Definitely not. You seem quite pleased with yourself if anything.

Many cyclists don’t wear high-vis. Many do. If you don’t take responsibility for your own safety you only have yourself to blame if you get hit. Not quite the same as a badger is it.

What a nasty thing to say.

Nobody deserves to get hit by a car.

I recently parked somewhere I'd parked before in order to go into Argos and collect an order. As I was putting it into the boot, less than 10 minutes later, a parking attendant came up to me and said I was parked in a disbaled bay! When I looked there was nothing painted on the road and I knew it didn't used to be but apparently they don't need to paint on the road now and the sign had been turned round. The attendant was OK about it, he knew I had only been a few minutes and the sign was turned round but had he wanted to book me I would have accepted it, I'd inadvertantly done wrong.

When my late OH gave up time to run the village Speedwatch they were subjected to all kinds of abuse from speeders, especially Mums on the school run! Moi?
If you do wrong you should be willing to accept the consequences and be glad of the times you've got away with it!

Re the man in Salisbury - again, don’t walk home pissed in the middle of the night on a dark road. It’s the basics of getting home safely.

However - I find it hard to believe a professional driver wouldn’t know you’d run someone over

I’ve never hit anyone, not even an animal, but I’ve hit kerbs and it feels like a massive bang so I can only imagine what running over a person would feel like. Sounds like a shitty defence from the cabbie

It’s most likely that this won’t be followed up, but it’s not impossible and a fine could arrive in the post

Should that happen your choices will depend on the specific speed and the local policy on speed awareness courses

However you said ‘about 80’
Which speed measurement are you going by?
Car speedometers in the UK generally over estimate your true speed as manufactures are not permitted to show under estimated errors
If your speedometer said 80 then you could have been actually doing in the region of 75-77
If it was ‘up to 80’ in the region of 75 then you may have been doing 70

The police behind you probably didn’t stop you because they were not interested in you whilst they were travelling to something else , they could still have monitored you to a degree and would have stopped you if they saw more, such as wobbling across the lane, erratically driving etc

If you (get a passenger to) compare a sat nav or phone navigator against your speedometer (for some distance) then you will get a general idea of your actual speed in relation to the speedometer
(don’t use that to justify going faster)