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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

I just got pulled over for doing 32 in a 30

680 replies

dialdrunkforyou · 17/01/2026 13:02

I’m shaking as I write this. I just drove out to walk the dogs and on my way back a police car pulled me over. I was doing 32 in a 30 and he said I was “lucky” that he’s not choosing to prosecute me over this.

AIBU or is this total overkill? It’s a dry sunny day, the roads are relatively quiet and I wasn’t driving erratically.

OP posts:
jamandcustard · 17/01/2026 14:31

dialdrunkforyou · 17/01/2026 14:30

I tend to pay attention to the road ahead of me, which is what you’re taught to do.

You should also be regularly checking your mirrors to see what's happening behind and to the sides!

NameChangeElaine · 17/01/2026 14:33

In dry conditions:

Stopping distance at 30mph - 23 metres
Stopping distance at 32mph - 26 metres
Stopping distance at 35mph - 29.5 metres

Risk of death: 30mph - 20%
Risk of death: 32mph - 25%
Risk of death: 35mph - 33%

A crash at 32mph has roughly 14% more kinetic energy than a crash at 30mph.

All of you getting on your high horses, yeah it’s all fun and games until it’s you who has to bury your child thanks to a speeding driver, go on, ask me how I know? In my case, a single fucking metre was the difference between life and death so yeah, a 3 metres stopping difference between 30mph and 32mph is not “nothing”. But yeah, poor you OP, shaking because the big bad policeman gave you a telling off for something you actually did.

Also, it’s a speed LIMIT not a speed target, if 2mph is “nothing” why the fuck not just go at 28mph? No difference right?

Also OP, maybe you should take refresher lessons if you don’t know how to mitigate your speed when going downhill and think that’s some sort of excuse.

Driving is so normal that it’s easy to become complacent and forget that the rules are there for a reason and actually one lapse in judgement can be the difference between life and death.

Beachtastic · 17/01/2026 14:33

TamarindCottage · 17/01/2026 14:26

“I'd be walking everywhere if the police round here started doing their jobs” 😂

I think there's a difference between doing your job and being a jobsworth! 🤔😁

allthingsinmoderation · 17/01/2026 14:35

jamandcustard · 17/01/2026 14:14

Nope, there's no threshold. Some forces choose not to prosecute until you're a certain amount over, but that's just choice, it's not the law.

I take your point ,I didn't think it was law,my daughter was told by the police that speed camera "guidelines" for prosecution was 10% plus 2 and this police officer followed those guidelines, but it was discretionary and that its illegal to exceed the speed limit and you could be prosecuted 1mp over the limit.

grumpygrape · 17/01/2026 14:36

dialdrunkforyou · 17/01/2026 14:30

I tend to pay attention to the road ahead of me, which is what you’re taught to do.

OP, from your posts.

AIBU or is this total overkill? It’s a dry sunny day, the roads are relatively quiet and I wasn’t driving erratically.

Where does it say you are OK to drive above the limit on dry sunny quiet days (the French, sensibly, reduce their speed limits in wet weather, they don’t increase them for dry, sunny, quiet days).

Yes, you shaking is overkill. You should be suitably contrite and appreciative you haven’t been prosecuted.

Because it’s a slight downhill?

I’ve already said – this isn’t going to wash with the Magistrates.

Nope. The speedo showed me at 32.

If you knew your speedo told you 32, which was over the limit, why didn’t you bring your speed down immediately instead of continuing to break the law?

oh give over. If I was doing 35 I’d understand but a couple of MPH on a clear road with a slight downhill isn’t speeding.

Yes it is.

I just think it’s a bit silly. About two miles away there’s a town full of drug addicts and drunks who make part of the town a no go area. But they’d rather pull over innocent people!

Does that mean you don’t want any traffic offences dealt with because the Police should be dealing with other potential offenders ? Are you aware many other offenders are caught by being stopped for traffic offences ?What part of exceeding the speed limit makes you ‘innocent’?

Because he was very intimidating, I’m a woman on my own and he was treating me like a criminal

If he acted inappropriately you need to report him, although I wonder why you think you should be treated differently to a man on his own. However, he was treating you like a person who had broken the law…..

But I was. (in response to ‘you weren’t innocent’)

You were – you were guilty of breaking the speed limit.

This is exactly it. He’s a man on his own, seen a lone woman doing 32 and decided to exercise a power trip.

As I said above, if he acted inappropriately then report him and prove he was on a power trip. He was doing his job.

You’re not going to the magistrates for 32 in a 30 😂

Trust me, you might.

This is how I feel. My town has a huge crime problem. But instead of spending time on that, they’re doing this.

Also, if his Speedo said 32, he must have been doing it too. So he was also just as in the wrong!

I don’t think Traffic cops investigate the other crimes mentioned. As I said previously, higher level criminal are often caught through traffic offences. Also, if we didn’t have Traffic cops we could all drive however we decided was OK. Are you Ok with drug dealers screeching round at 70 outside your children’s schools ?

Oh, please, don’t bring out the ‘if I was over the limit, so was he’ argument. How do you think the Police catch people if they don’t chase them? Burglars, drug dealers, murderers all get away if they put their foot down if the Police can't drive over the limit.

I tend to pay attention to the road ahead of me, which is what you’re taught to do.

Errrr, what do your think that mirror in the middle of the windscreen is for. apart from doing your make up in? Not just for Mirror, signal, manoeuvre but as you travel.


Genuine question. What would stop you from breaking the law in future?
*
Oh, and congratulations for posting a thread which has ticked off about 10 boxes on my MN Bingo card for 2026

THisbackwithavengeance · 17/01/2026 14:37

Of course it’s total overkill. What a twat.

Womaninhouse17 · 17/01/2026 14:39

Did the police officer say you were doing 32? I just wonder if you were doing more than that. Or perhaps they saw something else suspect? It does seem a bit drastic to pull you over, but I guess they had every right to do so.

ginasevern · 17/01/2026 14:40

PatThePenguin · 17/01/2026 13:57

Anyway, much easier box to tick than tackling the drug dealers and their snarling pit bulls in town.

Since when has this been the job of the traffic police?

Was it Traffic Police? The OP doesn't state that at all. Regular police pull motorists over quite frequently. Most Traffic Police operate on the motorways or major trunk roads and as this was a 30mph zone, it obviously wasn't either.

grumpygrape · 17/01/2026 14:40

THisbackwithavengeance · 17/01/2026 14:37

Of course it’s total overkill. What a twat.

I don’t think it’s kind to call the OP a twat. However, I think she must have stopped ‘shaking’ now, having posted so many responses.

Womaninhouse17 · 17/01/2026 14:43

dialdrunkforyou · 17/01/2026 14:30

I tend to pay attention to the road ahead of me, which is what you’re taught to do.

You should also be aware of what's behind you and around you. We are taught enough to pass our test, but there is far more to safe driving than that. It's interesting to keep learning how to improve your driving e.g. by having advanced lessons.

MasterBeth · 17/01/2026 14:43

dialdrunkforyou · 17/01/2026 13:08

oh give over. If I was doing 35 I’d understand but a couple of MPH on a clear road with a slight downhill isn’t speeding.

Well, it is.

Imdunfer · 17/01/2026 14:44

LaurieFairyCake · 17/01/2026 13:05

Do remember that your speed dial would have been showing 35+. It’s just the speed trap recorded you at 32.

Not true. Most new and recent cars show exactly 2 miles over the speed the car is actually doing on the speedo.

FlyingApple · 17/01/2026 14:47

He was enjoying watching you squirm.

PerksOfNotBeingAWallflower · 17/01/2026 14:47

I don’t believe this at all, speedometers are designed so that they will not display a lower speed than you are travelling so if your car was showing 32 you would be travelling slower than that.

Coulddowithanap · 17/01/2026 14:49

dialdrunkforyou · 17/01/2026 14:30

I tend to pay attention to the road ahead of me, which is what you’re taught to do.

😂 you get taught to be aware of what's behind you and at the sides of you too.

venus7 · 17/01/2026 14:50

30 is the limit, not the minimum.

NemesisInferior · 17/01/2026 14:51

dialdrunkforyou · 17/01/2026 14:30

I tend to pay attention to the road ahead of me, which is what you’re taught to do.

I would hope you were taught to occasionally look in your mirrors and at your instruments as well.

jamandcustard · 17/01/2026 14:51

PerksOfNotBeingAWallflower · 17/01/2026 14:47

I don’t believe this at all, speedometers are designed so that they will not display a lower speed than you are travelling so if your car was showing 32 you would be travelling slower than that.

Or her speedo is accurate and she was actually going 32.

DenizenOfAisleOfShame · 17/01/2026 14:51

The posters saying that doing 32mph is x% more likely to kill in a collision than at 30mph, and there’s y% more kinetic energy etc are no doubt right. But it’s all beside the point.

Speed limits are arbitrary in the sense that they’re chosen to be round numbers and applied with wide degrees of latitude.

Why not fix the limit at 28mph or 37mph? Going at 30 or 40mph would then bring statistical higher risk than the lower speeds. You could just go down until you get to, say, 5mph and eradicate all appreciable risk.

The latitude is that councils fix speed limits without any real knowledge of whether they’re justified or not. The usual decision is between 20 or 30mph. There’s no science in it, just choice.

The reality is that it’s a balance between practicality and safety. And that slight breaches of a speed limit happen everywhere, all the time. A 2mph excess is so small that it brings the system
into disrepute to act on it.

purplehair1 · 17/01/2026 14:56

I thought there was a 10% margin of error allowance? Think the police officer must have been having a dull day.

SoScarletItWas · 17/01/2026 14:57

dialdrunkforyou · 17/01/2026 13:20

This is exactly it. He’s a man on his own, seen a lone woman doing 32 and decided to exercise a power trip.

I was speed-van caught at 32 in a downhill dip in a 30 stretch. Got a letter, attended the speed awareness course online.

Because I was speeding according to the limit. Not because anyone was on a power trip 🙄

ginasevern · 17/01/2026 14:58

Coulddowithanap · 17/01/2026 14:20

Can everyone honestly tell if the driver of the car in front is male or female? How would they have known until after op was pulled over?

Yes they can. I was pulled over by two male coppers because my license plate was allegedly "dirty". I've got natural long blonde hair and I think they were hoping to oggle a nice bit of totty. Once they'd pulled up alongside (lights on and siren going), they realised I'm an old biddy in her 60's. One turned to the other and said "you lose mate". They then told me to clean my license plate whilst smirking their heads off. The whole thing shook me up to be honest as it wasn't long after Sarah Everard. For the record, my license plate wasn't dirty at all.

saraclara · 17/01/2026 15:03

OswaldCobblepot · 17/01/2026 13:06

I'm surprised they've got time to pull someone for doing 2 mph over the limit. No officers available to deal with burglaries, robberies etc but happy to allocate resources to this?

The same police officer will be pulling people over who are doing 40 or 50. It's not like he's been sent out specifically to catch people who are doing 32, FFS.

ZoomerBoomer · 17/01/2026 15:03

Shaking? Really? You need some form of resilience training because that’s not normal.

Ewock · 17/01/2026 15:03

dialdrunkforyou · 17/01/2026 14:30

I tend to pay attention to the road ahead of me, which is what you’re taught to do.

So you pay attention to the road but not your speed as well 🤣 Hopefully you know you should do both.
You were speeding you were given a verbal warning, not sure why you feel you should be exempt for this. Yes it was only 2 miles over the limit, but it was over the limit. Do you believe that you shouldn't be stopped until you were 3,4 5 or more miles over the limit?

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