Waze is your friend in these situations. I rarely drive anywhere, even though I might know the route like the back of my hand, without using Waze. It warns of fixed cameras if you're over the limit, even by 1mph, and if a fellow wazer has spotted and reported it before you, of mobile cameras as well. And you can return the favour if you're the first to come across it.
When I lived in England I became a self employed driving and CBT motorcycle instructor. That was the best speed control ever for me, as penalty points on driving licence would put me out of business. In my 20's would drive to my ability and not speed limits, but looking back that was not wise even though never had an accident However now living on Isle of Man and when on roads displaying the UK maximum speed restriction sign, it means end of speed restriction so drive as fast as you like. Madness really, as people die because of it, since the roads are narrow with sharp bends. Now when visiting UK it is relatively easy to keep with the speed restrictions.
Really - they are bad in so many ways only have any real place where you want to keep speeds down below 10mph otherwise people are continually speeding up and braking - they damage cars and also the road, bad for emergency vehicles too. They do have their place but not on 30mph through roads
A couple of years ago I'd have said I had no sympathy, even though I'd been caught a few times, it was my fault, I knew I was over the limit (albeit on quiet country roads). But last year I got done at the end of the M62 going in to Liverpool. It goes down to 50mph, but there are so many signs at that point I just didn't see the 50mph sign. It's a complete information overload. I'd like to see how many people get caught there, as I think that the cameras aren't saving lives or cutting speeds, they are simply punishing drivers who miss the lowered limit. It would be much better to do some research on why drivers are failing to reduce their speed (using money from the speeding fines) and make improvements.
Saw one yesterday outside our local school, no issue with that. I got caught doing 36 just after the speed changed from 40 to 30 near pugneys in Wakefield on a green belt road with no houses 1/2 miles before you get Asda or any other signs of life. They hide on the corner to get people who don’t slow down in time - yes, technically I was speeding, but it’s not contributing to road safety there, just making money.
It would be interesting to know what the guidelines are regarding the siting of speed cameras, fixed or mobile. I bet very few are placed to aid road safety. The revenue is the most important thing as far as they are concerned.
I wonder how much people getting caught once results in them generally taking more care in future. That specific incident may not have saved a life but it may cause a life endangering situation to never come about at a future time. People on here have said the course made them more aware and a better driver and there’ll be plenty of people who got points who will drive more carefully to not collect any more. The specific time they get caught might seem harsh and is the one they think about but it’s unlikely to be the only time they have ever broken the limit.
Driven up the M1 this morning coming home from Birmingham. Between roughly Chesterfield/Sheffield, we spent about 15 miles at 40mph due to an ‘incident’. There wasn’t anything to be seen anywhere for the duration. Then we went back to 70 for 3 miles before the 50mph roadworks around Meadowhall. All seems a bit daft to me.
The thing is almost all drivers break a speed limit sometimes. I suspect there are very few who have always slowed to 30mph or 40 or whatever before passing the limit sign, rather than starting to slow down on approach and continuing past the sign. Never speed above 30mph to overtake a cyclist even if its actually safer to do do so. never speed up to get past a car on the motorway that speeds up as you are overtaking or to clear a car joining off a slip road. Do we want a culture where everyone sticks rigidly to a speed limit at all times always paying more attention to their speedo than what's going on around them, never temporarily slightly speeding up to create space for other road users. Dont get me wrong I think speeding is generally the wrong thing to do and these days I try to stick to the limit especially in urban areas but the obsession with speed and ignoring most other types of dangerous driving annoys me As I said above especially the way the variable limits are used on motorways. For example you are approaching an off motorway gantry its clear in front and there is a car driving a bit too close behind you are doing 70mph and halfway past a car doing a little less than 70. 30 Yards before you get there the sign suddenly illuminates with a 40 limit Do you stand on the brakes to try to slow to 40 before passing the sign and risk a rear end shunt, legallly correct or do you slow down gradually but pass the 40 sign still doing almost 70mph slowing to 40 and returning to the inside lane behind the car you were overtaking which slowed more slowly than you did That exact scenario happened to me quite recently. Also in this instance I passed one more gantry at 40 then the next was all clear and no obvious reason for the sudden imposition of a limit
Having just completed the course I have to say it was well worth doing, I’m not going to lie I went into it with a “just get it over attitude” but it makes you aware of the consequences speeding can have on people, the guy who took the course was brilliant, I certainly learnt things that I wasn’t aware of or that I’d forgotten, I think these courses should be offered free for people to take anyway,
He actually mentioned this, he said many times the general public often phone an incident in so they automatically put a speed limit in place until they’ve managed to check it out and make sure it’s clear, granted 15 miles seems excessive., on a side note he also said that a lot of motorways now have sensors that will automatically put a speed restriction up because there might be a build up of traffic quite a few miles in front just to slow the traffic down.
Absolutely, get back to me when some ******* whizzes passed you doing 60 in a 30 and ends up killing g someone, I was first on the scene not a pretty sight. She was returning g from putting flowers on her husbands grave on cemetery Rd, she ended up joining him that day
I got caught doing 47 on a 40 round the corner from where I live. I drive on that road a lot and have never gone over 40 on it since
I was in Liverpool recently. I did happen to see the sign but can't comment really on whether it's good enough. But notwithstanding any issues with visibility of the lowered limit, I do think that the lowered limit and the camera to enforce it is there for a good reason. Very shortly afterwards, the motorway ends and you are immediately in a built up area. Because of the horrible 6 way crossroads that are very prevalent in Liverpool, the end bit of the motorway is stacked back for large parts of the day as cars wait for the lights. I would hate to think of someone not realising the motorway is about to end steaming up to that queue at 70mph.