Page 1 of 7

Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chief says

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:27 am
by dvenman
This is going to be an interesting discussion. Given the lamentable lack of enforcement already, how does he propose this is implemented?

My view has always been that the only answer to bad driving is proper training. But because that's difficult, use the stick rather than carrot...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/31/motorists-should-penalised-going-just-1mph-speed-limit-britains/

Re: Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chief says

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:40 am
by Triquet
People staring at the speedometers is likely to increase the incidence of rear end shunts. Either that or Mr Average will start driving at SL - 5 everywhere just to be on the safe side.

Re: Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chief says

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:15 am
by Taffy
Triquet wrote:People staring at the speedometers is likely to increase the incidence of rear end shunts.


Perhaps an alternative would be the use of Intelligent Speed Limiters? If your vehicle is incapable of exceeding the speed limit unless you specically take steps to override the ISL, you can significantly reduce the time that you need to spend looking at at the speedometer.

Re: Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chief says

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:20 am
by dvenman
Taffy wrote:Perhaps an alternative would be the use of Intelligent Speed Limiters? If your vehicle is incapable of exceeding the speed limit unless you specically take steps to override the ISL, you can significantly reduce the time that you need to spend looking at at the speedometer.


Intelligent Speed Limiters, if I understand correctly, need to know where the car is, where the speed limits change, and do that properly. And good though they are, the in-car "I can see a limit sign" technology will suffer from the same issues as you or I in that an obscured sign will be missed and there's the potential for an incorrect limit to be applied. Knowing my luck it'll be in the wrong direction too :)

And I still don't get why people need to focus on the speedo. I can manage to maintain a speed limit quite happily with occasional glances, I can't see how other drivers can't manage...

Re: Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chief says

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:37 am
by GTR1400MAN
My Clio has a large digital speedo. Even the cruise control can't stop it going 1 mph over or below all the time! When I did my IAM test one of the comments during the feedback was the display often showed 31 in town. I'd just been given a F1rst so wasn't about to argue about the real speed vs the displayed speed.

One thing I get my (motorcycle) Associates to do is to listen the engine sound at different speed. As Dvenman says, you shouldn't need to keep constantly looking at a speed readout. However, the linked article may change that if ever implemented.

Re: Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chief says

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:44 am
by Matt1962
For a 'Police Chief' he is surprisingly uninformed about how the law actually works. Even with a supposed absolute offence like speeding, custom and practice have modified the point at which a chargeable offence is seen to have occurred (normally 10%+2, but certainly not 1mph over the posted limit). This is for all sorts of good reasons - not least the accuracy of the monitoring equipment available to drivers and enforcement officers.

Re: Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chief says

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:47 am
by angus
Perhaps he should start by getting his officers to set an example. I never see marked cars sticking to 30/40/50 limits. It would be interesting for one of us to sit with him for an hour to see if he can drive for that period at the speed limit, but never exceed it.

The man's a prat

Re: Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chief says

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:50 am
by Horse
dvenman wrote: Given the lamentable lack of enforcement already, how does he propose this is implemented?


Average speed cameras, and spot speed cameras on motorways? I'm not saying that would target the people who 'need' the attention, but it's one way it could be done and would affect* many people every day.

* Affect, as in 'loads of drivers will pass them every day, compared to quiet country lanes which we are told are high-risk'


NB I know someone who was prosecuted and fined etc for 41mph in a 40 limit.

Re: Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chief says

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:05 pm
by jont-
If the goal of speed limits is a realistic safe maximum for a section of road, we first need to take a damn good look at what those limits are and how they've been set. Then you can get into discussing whether penalties for exceeding them make sense.

Re: Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chief says

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:22 pm
by Gareth
dvenman wrote:I can manage to maintain a speed limit quite happily with occasional glances, I can't see how other drivers can't manage...

Perhaps you aren't deaf? :P

More seriously, some people aren't able to hear small changes in pitch and/or don't have the fine motor control needed keep the pitch within relatively small tolerances. Drivers with automatic gearboxes are at a further disadvantage if they don't or aren't able to lock the gear, since on a light throttle they'll change up to the highest possible gear, making fine control difficult.