To ask a driving question?

[SendforJulietOne]

If I passed you when driving (passing each other going opposite ways) and I flashed my headlights at you and made a thumbs down sign, would you understand what I mean?

Context- I thought this was well-known, DP has never heard of it, so we're wondering if it's local to my area.

I wouldn’t have a clue.

Everyone who gets caught speeding always claims to have only been 1 or 2 mph over the speed limit, it’s never oh yeah I was doing 50 in a 30. I just think it’s bollocks. You’re not getting done for speeding doing 32 in a 30, I just don’t buy it.

Never heard if it

The fact that your OP has never heard of it either is irrelevant. He was caught speeding so needs to face the consequences

I remember my uncle telling us someone had flashed their lights and made a palm down gesture to warn him of a speed camera. That must have been over 40 years ago, so it's not new.
A lorry driver flashed and did a thumbs down at me a few weeks ago, so both gestures seem to be universal code for a speed camera.

I always flash to warn people, regardless of whether or not they look to be speeding.

Seriously? You flash your lights at people that are doing the correct speed? That's definitely not normal behaviour. If I was driving properly and you flashed me I wouldn't have a clue why. How is that helpful?

Sarcasm and joking have no place in my mind for this subject.

Seeing the mopped up bodies and, worse still, trying to support the desperate relatives. A car is a loaded gun ......

Another way in which country/ rural/ suburban driving and city driving require quite different skills! I wouldn’t have had the first clue!

If you get a speed awareness course you can only have been doing a couple of miles over. That's part of tbe criteria.

This is what I would have thought too - lower speed as hazard ahead. But the thumbs down would mean nothing.

Unless the limit was 5mph, I don’t believe that your DP has been done for 1 or 2 mph over the limit.

Handheld and fixed cameras have the same degree of accuracy. The law says the limit is what is displayed on the round sign, no where in the road traffic act does it say "the speed on the sign plus a.bit for luck". It is illegal to have a speedo that under reads, so you will know if you are speeding. I've been caught, I've done the course, now I take more care.

*The police will consider the following grounds when assessing your eligibility for the driver awareness course:

• your speed narrowly exceeded the limit and falls within the guidelines set out by the National Police Chief Council (NPCC) up to:
• 31 mph in a 20 mph area
• 42 mph in a 30 mph area
• 53 mph in a 40 mph area
• 64 mph in a 50 mph area­­
• 75 mph in a 60 mph area
• 86 mph in a 70 mph area*

It's a little bit more than a couple of mph over.

It was literally on the letter he got from the police. 32 in a 30.

Fair but still not ridiculous levels of speeding is it?

If the person coming towards you happened to be a police officer you can end up being fined/getting in trouble for this. It’s happens where I Iive

Where I am it's usually a flash and an exaggerated mouthing of old Bill, maybe with a thumb gesture over their shoulder towards the direction they came from, but I live in Essex

Speed trap. Round my way though it tends to be multiple light flashes without hand gestures.

I think it’s reasonable to warn of a speed trap. It’s usually drivers repeatedly flashing and hand with palm down moving downwards. Not seen a thumb down. It’s reasonable to suggest to other drivers that they obey the speed limit. The police want the fine money and the convictions - not people actually driving more responsibly. You are not likely to get caught!

From my experience over many years no end of people claim that they know someone receiving a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) for 31 or 32 mph in a 30 yet whenever i have asked them to prove it they never did. Potential speedometer errors and calibration variations on the equipment used would be too easy to question in court.
I even offered to pay someone’s fine if they showed the summons wording for 32 in a 30 - it was never forthcoming. Are you prepared to show that it was a NIP from the police for 32 in a 30? You don’t have to prove it to me, you don’t know me but seeing is believing.

What is your definition of ridiculous levels of speeding, if not 15 mph over the speed limit?

I’ve been driving for more than 30 years and never heard of this.

As the daughter of a lorry driver I can confirm; it means there is a speed check up ahead!

I was hit by a car whilst walking my kid to primary school on a country road. She argued in court that she wasn’t speeding but still managed not to see us and hit me and sent me flying into a ditch.

No idea of the actual speed she was doing but it was too fast for her to react in time, even though it was daylight and a straight road.

Luckily DS was ok but I wasn’t!

You may think you’re a champion for the underdog helping other drivers to avoid getting a ticket for being slightly over the speed limit. Go you!

I think you’re a bloody busybody who won’t care until someone you’re close to, gets hit by a speeding motorist!! 😢

He was speeding the limit was 30 not 32. What is so difficult to understand?

Don't know how you've got so many replies.

Most MNers "live rurally" and "don't drive" (it's never "can't" or "won't") and have to take their kids on 3 buses each way to get to school in the morning 😅