To be terrified I'll lose my license

[PepsiMaxx0]

I have a clean driving license. Driving for over 40 years with no incidents. Like many others I sometimes go over the limit on motorways if I consider it safe to do so....
I was travelling back from Manchester airport on the m62 during the early hours of this morning. Almost empty motorway. Doing about 80mph average I would say. Occasionally crept to 85. I noticed a camera flash on the gantry. No limits were lit up. I assumed it was from the other side and carried on. Several miles later it did it again and yes for a 3rd time which is when I thought this is too much of a coincidence it must be me! I've just woken and have that sick feeling. The only defence I can offer is motorway was empty, it was between 4 - 5 am this happened and I do not think I was driving dangerously. I just wanted to get home to bed after a late night flight. What will be the penalty for this?

Driving at 160pmh on a motorway (if indeed you did, I'm somewhat sceptical), is an extremely stupid idea even if permissible by law.

Be as sceptical as you like, I couldn't give a shit. My car will do a genuine 194mph (over 200mph on speedo) but 160-170mph was plenty for me.

I've also done well over 100mph on public roads on the Isle of Man loads of times.

I'm perfectly happy with my choices, thanks.

Calm down lewis Hamilton

We need to make our own judgement about what's safe, not rely on an arbitrary number while driving like a zombie.

If you think the speed limit should be changed, start a campaign, a petition, whatever. But in the meantime don't be a dick.

I mean, he might have been trying for the Darwin Award.

Hitting him at 70 would have had the same effect as 85. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This 👏

The stupidity alone of still driving over the limit when you already think you’ve been caught by a camera is truly astounding. Better to stay off the roads with that mentality

I would probably get a boob job and call yourself Katie.

🤣🤣

If you'd been going faster you'd have been long gone before he had time to set off across the road.

Think you get 3 points for each speeding offence, so 9, but you can reduce that to 6 by attending a speed awareness course.

I’d have a word with yourself - yes, many of us do speed occasionally but when you’ve been flashed by a speed camera a normal response is to slow the f*ck down for the rest of the journey. It may have only been 4-5am, but there re still other people on the roads - emergency workers who’ve completed a late/12hr shift and are knackered, perhaps even traumatised, negotiating the roads in the dark with speeding plonkers on the road.

You’re very lucky you probably won’t lose your license, but only because on this occasion you didn’t cause an accident.

Your thinking is reductive and you're accusing other people of the same thing. I never said that driving below the limit is safe and above it is dangerous or that you could isolate these factors and make such basic and reductive statements. I never said that the best way to drive wasn't to be constantly assessing and responding. It doesn't matter that there are other ways of driving irresponsibly. We're talking about speeding. Of course shouting children and noise in the car are distracting factors. Nobody has said otherwise.

I have met plenty of people who arrogantly make up their own rules. They always talk about their clever risk assessments and why the law was wrong or arbitrary in the first place. They always cite that nothing's gone wrong so far. They talk about other countries and other governments. It simply doesn't matter. You were given a licence on the understanding that you have acknowledged and agreed to be bound by the law in this country. You can't outrun or outwit physics. When another car contains loud or distracting children or your own car contains loud or distracting children and you suddenly need to take evasive action because of this, your stopping distance and control of your vehicle will be significantly aided by driving within the limits. As a society, you have the right to assume that other people are operating within given legal parameters. It's difficult to make clear assessments when Jack has decided his safe limit is 80 and Jenny has decided she can do 90 as long as it's a Tuesday and there's no camera. As long as Jack and Jenny share the road with everybody else, they should be sharing the same laws.

I don't know why it surprises me. I teach secondary and under developed critical reasoning skills sees the same thing trotted out multiple times a day. It's either "well he started it or he did X and that's far worse" or "I don't like the rules anyway, why do I have to do what you tell me?" I sort of let their adolescent brains have some leeway early on on KS3, but expect with maturity and experience that they'll come to understand that governance is universal and based upon myriad and complicating factors that they're failing to consider. Lots of people don't ever get it and are willing to risk other people or their friends and family as long as they can trot out their failsafe "well this is worse" and "nothing's gone wrong so far" or "other countries are different".

I can't stop people speeding. I can't stop people thinking they're safe and so skilled or special that they don't have to behave like everybody else.

I might start doing the same thing but in other spheres. I'm going to play Scrabble according to my own rules. And push into queues at the supermarket. And demand entry to Alton Towers an hour before they open. It's fine because Thorpe Park opens earlier and that's fine. And they don't queue in France. And I've played Scrabble for years and nobody died. Am I a maverick? I am, aren't it? Nobody's died yet. God it feels good to be better than everybody else.

Think you get 3 points for each speeding offence, so 9, but you can reduce that to 6 by attending a speed awareness course.

I'm pretty sure they won't offer speed awareness if there is more than one offence.

But 9 isn't quite enough points to have to surrender a licence anyway.

After a bit of googling it seems the cameras in the M62 are reknown for random flashes and the fact it didn’t have a speed displayed may well mean they weren’t actually active. They may well have caught you speeding, they may have been recalibrating or something else entirely. Unfortunately all you can do is wait it out and see if letters arrives, even though they legally have 14 days for the fine to reach you they usually arrive within a few days.

That makes it even worse if you were in the emergency services and likely saw first hand the devastating consequences of speeding and how lives are ripped apart.

Absolutely shameful.

OP, I think your mitigating circumstances actually make it worse. Driving tired from a night flight and distracted by bad news is exactly when you need to take it steady. The time saved won't make a material difference - so you got home a few minutes earlier than if you hadn't been speeding, how much did that really help? And now you have another worry to contend with. But you definitely weren't as on the ball as you usually would be - I think you ignoring the first two flashes shows that your mind was elsewhere - and that's more dangerous. As counterintuitive and sanctimonious as it might sound, when you're that desperate to get home is probably the time you should go easy, take breaks, keep focused and drive carefully. I think it would be better for your peace of mind overall and you'd get home a bit later but in a better frame of mind than frantically rushing, speed cameras notwithstanding.

*Like many others I sometimes go over the limit on motorways if I consider it safe to do so...."
You don't have the right to decide when its safe to speed, the limit is the limit, is the limit and that's it. You're lucky you haven't been caught before with this attitude. You're an entitled driver not a good one. Have I sometimes thought speed limits were too low for fhe road, sure, have I felt entitled to speed in those circumstances no. Speeding kills people and drivers with your entitled attitude are a big part of why road tolls are so high.

Equally you could be driving along a motorway at 70 mph which is apparently completely safe.

The a meteorite could plummet out the sky and smash into the ground directly in front of you leaving a massive hole that you plummet into and die.

The point is safe is not a boolean concept. You don't suddenly become 100% safe at the speed limit threshold. And you only bother to plan for events that have a reasonable probability of happening. Otherwise the best thing to do if you want to be 100% safe from travel accidents is never to travel anywhere (of course in the event of that the meteorite might hit your house instead).

As an aside, IME the best argument for not traveling at high speed on empty roads under good conditions is the probability of a tyre blowout, which makes cars incredibly difficult to control at very high speed. This is unlikely to have disastarous results for anyone except the people traveling in the car though.

You know what? Your reckless driving could very well result in someone else receiving really bad news. You have said that you speed at other times as well when you consider it safe. Well guess what, its not up to you to decide that you can exceed the speed limit when it suits you. I hope you do lose your licence because people like you cause terrible accidents and kill on the roads every day.

@LiterallyOnFire

I'm pretty sure they won't offer speed awareness if there is more than one offence.

You're pretty wrong.

Motorways are statistically far safer than other roads. despite the speeders and the middle lane hoggers and the people with fog light on when it’s not foggy and the ones with no lights on at all when visibility is bad and the people breaking down and random people with wheelbarrows crossing them.

it’s not about the speed.

One thing to note your speedometer will over read by 2-3 mph so you might only be down for 80mph.
Some years ago now someone was flashed 3 or 4 times on the same stretch of road on the same journey.
Their lawyer successfully claimed that as all the offences happened on the same road on a single journey they should count as a single offence.

so that may happen to you or you’ll need to go to court with a lawyer.
the new camera’s that sit on side of a motorway are permanently live and seem to be set around 78-80.

your defense (bad news) is actually admitting that you were not fit to drive at that time.

Cool.

And being tired! I'm shocked OP thinks it's okay

I agree with this. There are far more dangerous things that I see daily on the motorway than someone driving over 70. The flow of traffic is often above that anyway and evidence across Europe is actually conflicting as to whether 70mph is statistically any safer than variable limits that are far higher (such as on autobahn etc ). Accidents on motorways are more often than not caused by incompetent driving - people braking without any reasonable explanation, swerving in and out of lanes, lack of concentration and awareness, tailgating or complete ignorance of basic driving skills. I see this ALL the time. People sat like total lemons in middle or outside lane, oblivious to the road users around them is my personal pet hate. Far more dangerous than someone hacking up an empty road at 85 mph.

I’m laughing at the sanctimonious replies on here though as I would bet my house that the majority of you have all done over 70 on motorway at some point or another. I’m certain you’d notice if limit on all cars was suddenly capped at 70!

OP - what is stupid is you didn’t clock the cameras or first flash but we all mess up at some point ! Not the crime of the century. Recommend running Waze to warn you in future if you have a tendency to push the limit. That being said, you may be lucky, the wait is part of the punishment I’m afraid. If you’re not, take it on the chin because ultimately, when you break the law knowingly you gotta hold your hands up. I suspect the worry of this will mean you won’t speed again anyway.

I remember an accident near my parents. 50 limit road, duel carriageway, two lanes.
It was a collision between a hgv and a motorbike, resulting in the death of the motorcyclist. Fine day, not too sunny etc. Perfect conditions.
The hgv driver held his hands up and said "I never even saw him. I must not have looked."

Then they investigated, and found that the motorcyclist had been clocked at 150mph further up the road. His brake cable had melted in his desperation to try and brake in time to stop. The speedometer was stuck on 120mph.
Investigations showed that the hgv driver would not have been able to see him at the point he started to move out

I'm certain that the motorcyclist, had he simply been pulled over for speeding, would have said he had assessed the situation and was perfectly safe at the speed he went, and was a careful driver.
It's a pity he hadn't been pulled over.