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Speeding
Apr 14, 2010
114 in a 50!
Hi, I am currently facing the prospect of receiving a court summons for travelling at 115mph in a 50mph limit.
The facts are as follows:
1)Sunday 11th April, travelling on my motorbike down a 70mph dual carriageway, came to a roundabout where the road became single carriageway and the speed limit dropped to 50mph. There were speed limit signs on the exit of the roundabout followed by repeater signs (although I dont know how far up the road they were).
2) For some reason, that honestly I cannot explain, I accelerated out of the roundabout and increased my speed, using higher revs in each gear than normal.
3) I was zapped by an officer standing more than 25ft away from the LHS of the carriageway. He/she must have then sent a radio call to his/her colleague further along the road. The officer who made the stop was on a motorbike and was accompanied by a following traffic car. It was the motorcycle officer who had all of the conversation with me.
4) I was given a verbal NIP at the roadside and was told that I was to be reported for the offence of driving in excess of the speed limit. The officer was very pleasant but I was astounded that I had allegedly been travelling that fast. I have no evidence to support this (I did not check my speed on my dash, stupidly) but when you ride the same bike for a long time you have a good idea of your speed (mainly because most of the time you have to be looking up and forward). The officer asked how fast I thought I was travelling and I said that I thought in excess of 60mph (which was true, but not 115mph). He further explained that because I was travelling more than 26mph over the limit he could not issue a fixed penalty notice.
I have one major concern: where the officers were standing with their device, they were not able to see me until I was almost opposite them on the road. If I was going that fast they would then have to 'sight' the device and hold it on me to get a reading. The distance they would have to do this is approximately 350m. The side of both me and my bike have relatively few, if any at all, flat surfaces where a laser can be bounced off. I looked at this last night and was surprised by this. I know from a friend that they are trained to use a fixed point, like a number plate, but at the angle they were at they could not see the plate until much later in the distance.
I have a clean licence and travel in excess of 30,000 miles (mostly business and commuting) in my car per year and probably about 5,000 miles on my bike. I am a company director and the loss of my licence could lead to me losing my job.
I understand that I did wrong, although I am not convinced about the speed reading (I accept I was over 50mph, I realise that makes me guilty of the offence) but it is the 115mph that concerns me.
I am yet to receive any paperwork but as I am sure you will appreciate I would like some advice as early as I can (it may help me to sleep).
The facts are as follows:
1)Sunday 11th April, travelling on my motorbike down a 70mph dual carriageway, came to a roundabout where the road became single carriageway and the speed limit dropped to 50mph. There were speed limit signs on the exit of the roundabout followed by repeater signs (although I dont know how far up the road they were).
2) For some reason, that honestly I cannot explain, I accelerated out of the roundabout and increased my speed, using higher revs in each gear than normal.
3) I was zapped by an officer standing more than 25ft away from the LHS of the carriageway. He/she must have then sent a radio call to his/her colleague further along the road. The officer who made the stop was on a motorbike and was accompanied by a following traffic car. It was the motorcycle officer who had all of the conversation with me.
4) I was given a verbal NIP at the roadside and was told that I was to be reported for the offence of driving in excess of the speed limit. The officer was very pleasant but I was astounded that I had allegedly been travelling that fast. I have no evidence to support this (I did not check my speed on my dash, stupidly) but when you ride the same bike for a long time you have a good idea of your speed (mainly because most of the time you have to be looking up and forward). The officer asked how fast I thought I was travelling and I said that I thought in excess of 60mph (which was true, but not 115mph). He further explained that because I was travelling more than 26mph over the limit he could not issue a fixed penalty notice.
I have one major concern: where the officers were standing with their device, they were not able to see me until I was almost opposite them on the road. If I was going that fast they would then have to 'sight' the device and hold it on me to get a reading. The distance they would have to do this is approximately 350m. The side of both me and my bike have relatively few, if any at all, flat surfaces where a laser can be bounced off. I looked at this last night and was surprised by this. I know from a friend that they are trained to use a fixed point, like a number plate, but at the angle they were at they could not see the plate until much later in the distance.
I have a clean licence and travel in excess of 30,000 miles (mostly business and commuting) in my car per year and probably about 5,000 miles on my bike. I am a company director and the loss of my licence could lead to me losing my job.
I understand that I did wrong, although I am not convinced about the speed reading (I accept I was over 50mph, I realise that makes me guilty of the offence) but it is the 115mph that concerns me.
I am yet to receive any paperwork but as I am sure you will appreciate I would like some advice as early as I can (it may help me to sleep).
Category: Speeding
Posted by: patterson
There are lots and lots of issues here.
You are right to fear a big discretionary ban if convicted at that speed.
It is often possible to negotiate a lower basis of plea with the prosecution behind the scenes, if there are any flaws in the way in which the officer used the speed detection device.
there are issues in your case in relation to the sighting of the device and the angle from the carriageway. There is also a question as to whether or not they had time to form the opinion that you were speeding before zapping you with the laser gun. they are not allowed to just zap people randomly to see what speed they are doing.
Having said all that you don't want to poke an angry dog with a sharp stick if you don't have a chance of defending this matter !
We would need to assess the evidence when the statements come through with the summons and then make a judgement call as to the best way forward.
You are right to fear a big discretionary ban if convicted at that speed.
It is often possible to negotiate a lower basis of plea with the prosecution behind the scenes, if there are any flaws in the way in which the officer used the speed detection device.
there are issues in your case in relation to the sighting of the device and the angle from the carriageway. There is also a question as to whether or not they had time to form the opinion that you were speeding before zapping you with the laser gun. they are not allowed to just zap people randomly to see what speed they are doing.
Having said all that you don't want to poke an angry dog with a sharp stick if you don't have a chance of defending this matter !
We would need to assess the evidence when the statements come through with the summons and then make a judgement call as to the best way forward.