road traffic law question....

[JimL]

People should have driving tests every 5 years!

So a ricer who has just passed his test can take to the road and share it with a 56 year old truck driver who is driving 40 years and has driven 2 million miles yet you think the old guy needs more tuition.

What you are suggesting is probably going to happen though and it will be the same as all these modern tests/tickets/safety courses ..... a big money racket designed to take money from your pocket and make you miserable.

I saw an artic driver pull into the yard at the end of his shift and instead of parking, he just stopped it and hopped down and away home he went, blocking other lads in for the morning, and it turns out he's a qualified instructor.

Your country sounds like a restrictive *ip, mine is too, where theres always someone out to get you, where you cant scratch your ****** ar$e without offending someone. I cant wait till they come and take me away in the white van coz I'll leave a big $hite in it for them. In fact they're here now, I better go....

(how did I get here, I thought this was the anarchy section, now we can return to regular programming)

[B16mts]

So a ricer who has just passed his test can take to the road and share it with a 56 year old truck driver who is driving 40 years and has driven 2 million miles yet you think the old guy needs more tuition.

What I mean is there are many road users who haven't a clue about a lot of things on the road, and how to deal with them properly. My Grandad has been driving for 60 odd years, so is all his experience worth it? No, he got his license "durin the war" when he didn't need to take a test, and frankly the 83 year old scares the $hit out of me when he drives!
The last thing i'd want is for it to become a money maker for the government, in fact I believe the dreaded road or petrol tax should fund 1 test every 5 years. If you fail, you pay for the retest within 1 year, or else your license is removed.

Just a thought

Mart

[da SLUG man]

70 seems slow, but soon speeds up when your front tyre blows out!!

Woah... that's scary!

[M35A2]

I think you will find that stretch of roadworks is 50MPH. I know for definite that if you are going Westbound it's a 50MPH limit, as they have a portable 50MPH electronic speed sign on the approach, then the camera is on the left under the bridge.

I'm sure the speed limit applies to both sides. I went through there late on Wednesday night in the waggon, and it was 50MPH on both sides!!!

It's usually 10% plus 2MPH before you will get nicked, but don't count on it as they can nick you for doing 1MPH over the limit. They have the extra to allow for speedo differences. So 10% of 50MPH = 5MPH + 2MPH = 57MPH

I know what I would like to do with all the speed vans and cameras........

[M35A2]

So a ricer who has just passed his test can take to the road and share it with a 56 year old truck driver who is driving 40 years and has driven 2 million miles yet you think the old guy needs more tuition.

What you are suggesting is probably going to happen though and it will be the same as all these modern tests/tickets/safety courses ..... a big money racket designed to take money from your pocket and make you miserable.

I saw an artic driver pull into the yard at the end of his shift and instead of parking, he just stopped it and hopped down and away home he went, blocking other lads in for the morning, and it turns out he's a qualified instructor.

Your country sounds like a restrictive *ip, mine is too, where theres always someone out to get you, where you cant scratch your ****** ar$e without offending someone. I cant wait till they come and take me away in the white van coz I'll leave a big $hite in it for them. In fact they're here now, I better go....

(how did I get here, I thought this was the anarchy section, now we can return to regular programming)

Fantastic post, laughed my ti*ts off. But, Ireland must be 100times less restrictive than England.

For a start, you are part of the EU the same as us. So how is it all your waggons rip down the motorway at 60-70MPH and get away with it? Don't you have your tachos checked?

[M35A2]

What I mean is there are many road users who haven't a clue about a lot of things on the road, and how to deal with them properly. My Grandad has been driving for 60 odd years, so is all his experience worth it? No, he got his license "durin the war" when he didn't need to take a test, and frankly the 83 year old scares the $hit out of me when he drives!
The last thing i'd want is for it to become a money maker for the government, in fact I believe the dreaded road or petrol tax should fund 1 test every 5 years. If you fail, you pay for the retest within 1 year, or else your license is removed.

Just a thought

Mart

Nice idea, but as a professional truck driver, I'm fu**ed if I want to be taking a test every 5 years. Besides, what about peoples fitness to drive? As a professional truck driver, once I reach 45 I will have to take a medical every 5 years until I'm 60. Then I will have to take one every year to keep my HGV licence. So why should I have to do that to keep my HGV, and not joe bloggs with just a car licence?

[mark g8awo]

What you spotted was a camera system locked into dvla computer that is checking to see if you have rent in the window... What you probably didnt see is further down the road there is a swarm of coppers poised to chase you down the road to tell you the error of your ways...

[ChaosinDevon]

What you spotted was a camera system locked into dvla computer that is checking to see if you have rent in the window... What you probably didnt see is further down the road there is a swarm of coppers poised to chase you down the road to tell you the error of your ways...

Not if MacDonalds is open they wont

[Jay101]

they probably were road rent cameras. If you do get the lovely letter stating "please inform us who was driving so we can demand some cash and give you some points so your insurance company can screw you over next year as well", you can argue it if there were no signs. No restricted limit signs = no restricted limit. If you do contest it i would get a few days worth of video footage of the area showing there are no signs. Also if you can film a marker post near by so you can prove you have filmed the same section of motor way they are talking about.
i think over 70's should be retested. they do some amazing driving stunts. However there are some little b*****d's out there who i think got their licence using 3 tokens from a Corn flakes packet!
Best one i've seen lately was a 19yr old trying to join the M25. No problem you would think. He was doing well until he realised he was going the wrong way down the slip road into the on coming traffic!
As a mate of mine said the other day, Speed itself doesn't kill... it's the a***hole behind the wheel and then the sudden stop at the end of it that kills!!

[TJG]

Nice idea, but as a professional truck driver, I'm fu**ed if I want to be taking a test every 5 years. Besides, what about peoples fitness to drive? As a professional truck driver, once I reach 45 I will have to take a medical every 5 years until I'm 60. Then I will have to take one every year to keep my HGV licence. So why should I have to do that to keep my HGV, and not joe bloggs with just a car licence?

Maybe cos youy jockey something weighing the wrong side of 40 ton and it tends to win most arguments it starts?

I can't see anything wrong in EVERYONE being retested at regular intervals, if you fail you should get say 2 months to get your act together and pass a retest. Driving is not some god given right, it needs to be earned. If anyone thinks their driving is so good it shouldn't apply to them then they got nothing to worry about, if they think they might fail and are worried they should go get some lessons quick before they kill someone. When anyone gets behind the wheel the rest of us are putting our lives in their hands and given some of the amazing stunts I have seen pulled on the road (& I include lorry drivers in that as well) it doesn't give me a warm comfortable feeling inside.

Is there anyone out there who can honestly say that in the last 6 months they can say that not once have they thought, didn't see him, didn't notice that, wasn't expecting that or just got impatient and did something stupid? I anyone says yes to that then I'll believe in god, cos he just posted on this forum!

People most in need of a test, drivers of LHD lorries on the M25, most of them are accidents looking for somewhere to happen.

[pete27]

Incorrect, the case you refer to was where hundreds of vehicles were caught on a camera, where no speed limit signs were posted, so no one knew what speed they were supposed to be doing. There were no roadworks.
What never fails to amaze me is when people get caught speeding and they state " no speed signs"...... what happened to common sense, oh yes I forgot, it's not very common !

Dead clear cut in Calafornia and some other states in US signs on roadworks inform you that you are charged double the fine and penalty for speeding in roadworks....

[Apache]

Another speeding related question - ChaosinDevon?

Must have been two instances then.

Slightly off topic, but you may have an opinion / advice on this.

I was driving between Mold and Wrexham in North Wales (which will ring speeding alarm bells immediately) last weekend on my home to Malvern (Worcs). The area in question is rural and thus the road often has things like horse boxes, livestock lorries, tractors etc on it. There is a 60mph single carriageway bit of a couple of miles long, and I and several other vehicles were stuck behing a car towing a horsebox at around 40mph. Knowing there was a dual carriageway section coming up, I decided to wait until there to overtake (safer in a Surf - not the most sprightly of vehicles). The dual carriageway section is around 3/4 mile long, and as there was a lot of traffic waiting to pass the horsebox, the van in front of me, and I didn't dawdle past as it would hold up the traffic behind us (Highway Code - making good progress - not unduly holding up traffic). I estimate I hit 60mph in overtaking.

At the end of the dual carriageway, there was a scamera van - sorry 'safety partnership van'. I received a fixed penalty notice this wednesday. 57mph in a 50mph limit.

Why have a 60mph limit on the single carriageway which has at least two junctions on it, reducing to 50mph on the dual section (it used to be 70mph a few months back), with no junctions or houses etc and only fields alongside.

I have written to the co-ordinator of the Flintshire camera partnership to ask him the same question and to request the accident data for that stretch of dual carriageway. He has read the email a few days ago, but has not responded.

Does this sound like a cynical revenue raising excercise to you?

PS - I am not one of those people who complains about speed limits in general, but this does seem grossly unfair. By it's design, that section of dual carriageway is there in order to facilitate the passing of slow traffic safely. How do you do that without there being a speed differential between yourself and what you are overtaking?

[TJG]

Slightly off topic, but you may have an opinion / advice on this.

I was driving between Mold and Wrexham in North Wales (which will ring speeding alarm bells immediately) last weekend on my home to Malvern (Worcs). The area in question is rural and thus the road often has things like horse boxes, livestock lorries, tractors etc on it. There is a 60mph single carriageway bit of a couple of miles long, and I and several other vehicles were stuck behing a car towing a horsebox at around 40mph. Knowing there was a dual carriageway section coming up, I decided to wait until there to overtake (safer in a Surf - not the most sprightly of vehicles). The dual carriageway section is around 3/4 mile long, and as there was a lot of traffic waiting to pass the horsebox, the van in front of me, and I didn't dawdle past as it would hold up the traffic behind us (Highway Code - making good progress - not unduly holding up traffic). I estimate I hit 60mph in overtaking.

At the end of the dual carriageway, there was a scamera van - sorry 'safety partnership van'. I received a fixed penalty notice this wednesday. 57mph in a 50mph limit.

Why have a 60mph limit on the single carriageway which has at least two junctions on it, reducing to 50mph on the dual section (it used to be 70mph a few months back), with no junctions or houses etc and only fields alongside.

I have written to the co-ordinator of the Flintshire camera partnership to ask him the same question and to request the accident data for that stretch of dual carriageway. He has read the email a few days ago, but has not responded.

Does this sound like a cynical revenue raising excercise to you?

PS - I am not one of those people who complains about speed limits in general, but this does seem grossly unfair. By it's design, that section of dual carriageway is there in order to facilitate the passing of slow traffic safely. How do you do that without there being a speed differential between yourself and what you are overtaking?

I now accept these things as part of the cost of driving, the sad thing is the points. I've been done taking the last 20ft off a bus lane at the traffic lights cos there was a q turning right and I needed to go left, been done several times for london congestion charge...I drive into Londo cos I'm really busy and need to go to a lot of places, get home knackered and remember it in the morning....too late son kiss goorbye to £50 cept I thinks its £80 now. I got irt registered to pay by text now, in my phone as "Kens Thieving Swindle"

[Jay101]

The dual carriageway section is around 3/4 mile long, and as there was a lot of traffic waiting to pass the horsebox, the van in front of me, and I didn't dawdle past as it would hold up the traffic behind us (Highway Code - making good progress - not unduly holding up traffic). I estimate I hit 60mph in overtaking.

At the end of the dual carriageway, there was a scamera van - sorry 'safety partnership van'. I received a fixed penalty notice this wednesday. 57mph in a 50mph limit.

Why have a 60mph limit on the single carriageway which has at least two junctions on it, reducing to 50mph on the dual section (it used to be 70mph a few months back), with no junctions or houses etc and only fields alongside.


How do you do that without there being a speed differential between yourself and what you are overtaking?

A number of points in this, it is likely that the 3/4 mile strech of dual carridgeway has until recently had people exactly as you state stuck in a long que of traffic waiting to pass a horse box or similar. All of a sudden that 3/4 mile dual carridgeway becomes salvation from the bordom of being stuck behind a slow moving house. That dual carridgeway is a 3/4 mile drag strip to freedom. Trouble is when you come off the other end, i asume not having been on that road, and come into a 60 limit or below your needle of joy is pointing more towards 80, 90, 100 mph.
i think the answer you will get from them is that there have been a number of accidents on that road due to excess speed and that's why it's now a 50mph limit are they are taking the harsh decision to prosecute you when you are on the 10% + 2mph limit. Got mine almost exactly in the same way.
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