Hello chaps.
This has got me worried.
Five weeks ago, travelling to Glastonbury trying to find our car park, one of the volunteers told us to go down this stretch for x miles to a roundabout. After travelling Lord knows how far, I pulled in & asked this group of elderly volunteers the way, the chap said you've gone the wrong way, turn round etc. As I turned around 50 yards past him, I put my foot down, he bloody pulled a speed gun out!
Fast forward 3 weeks, I got a nice letter from Avon & Somerset police saying I've been caught by the Pilton Community Volunteers doing 45mph in a 30 zone. It's more than 3 points & could be a ban, one & a half times my salary in fines etc. In my ignorance, I didn't realise it was a 30 zone.
I've not heard back from them since. So I'm asking, what am I looking at penalty wise? i've no previous speeding convictions, and being a city boy, obviously didn't know the limit.
Hope someone can help me.
Thanks as always
Adam
I was under the impression that the community speed traps were a 'warning letter' only, so consequences are only meaningful if the police enforce the findings of the volunteers. Otherwise it is just a scary letter and not much more.Originally Posted by adam164
Is it a 'scary letter' you have received or an actual notification of a fine/prosecution?
It's probably just a warning letter but put a photograph up with redacted details and i will let you know.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
City boy or not you should know how what the speed limits are.
It's nothing more than a letter advising you of what could happen if the police caught you doing that speed.
There will be no follow-up action or prosecution. If you were to be fined and/or given penalty points you would have received a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) demanding payment and that your licence be sent to the DVLA.
Any road with street lights and no other signs is 30mph - Restricted roads in built up area. I know many people are unaware of this basic rule.
Google Street view.
It is just a letter, but interesting from a GDPR point of view especially considering that when you buy a used car it is virtually impossible to find out who the last owner was, why are these people allowed such information (maybe they don't see it and someone else sends the letters out?
Just a warning letter...relax and consider yourself told off.
I am pretty sure the Villagers just inform the police of their findings.
The police then send out the scary letters.
Correct...that's how they get round data protection and GDPR rules.
Hate people like this. If you want to be a police officer join the police
I'm surprised they haven't installed a speed camera if that's a particular hotspot. Might help pay for all the letters they're sending out.
Shouldn't be driving then.
some churchy do gooders tried this in our village. There was so much bad flack from the locals they quickly ceased doing it! I wasn't involved my self but I heard there were quite cross words exchanged between various pensioners ;-)
Tut, "churchy do-gooders" spoil sports.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Yeah, should leave the boy-racers be.
I'd join in the the official game of letters if it were me.
I'd ask for the calibration certificate of the speed gun used and the date of testing, and ask what training the speed gun operator has had, and does he have an operators certificate ...... :D
Many of the roads around my way are 20mph and we sometimes have "churchy do gooders" with speed cameras, occasionally with a police officer in attendance.
Good luck to them I say, just trying to keep the roads safe.
Cheers,
Neil.
Too right. Speed enforcement is fair enough (although, round where I am, it's more aimed at commuters doing 5mph over the limit rather than the idiots going way over, especially at night). I would be making a serious amount of trouble over this and asking them whether what they are doing is legal, etc.. I'd be asking them to justify why such a threatening letter isn't a crime under the Malicious Communications Act 1988. It's accusing the OP of something with zero independent evidence.
For anyone living near the New Forest, be aware that there is a similar voluntary community (The Friends of the Forest) who will report you to the Feds if they 'think' you're exceeding the 40mph (in most places) limit. They don't have cameras, they just guess.
Is it legal to wheel-spin next to the 'churchy do gooders', thus showering them in gravel/dust, so long as you don't exceed the speed limit?
Asking for a friend....
I had one of these letters last year , turned out the churchy do-gooders just make a note of what they thought the registration was & send it to the police..... in my case I was at the other end of the country to where the alleged offence took place .
Unfortunately there are too few police officers around, you’d complain if it was police doing this whilst other crimes were going uninvestigated by your local bobbies?
^^^^ This,
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Funnily enough I had one of these today in a local village but I was under the speed limit. He could hear my car a ways away and it looks quite aggressive. The look on his face was one of real disappointment that he wasn’t able to jot me down in his little book. These people just wind me up.......
That said, they do get to wear a jaunty little high vis vest so maybe it’s worth it?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yeah, just shoot around the place, do what speed you like.
So in general the forum sees them as jumped up no-bodies with nothing better to do than spoil people's fun, does that mean that as motorists we are a special case, above the law and beyond common sense?
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
From previous threads on here, yes.
I usually keep 'Waze' activated on my mobile as it gives you an audible warning when you go over the speed limit.
Its a useful reminder.
Pretty sure member of the public/ local resident cannot use or provide formal evidence of speeding.
I am a JP and never had prosecution based on one of these community cameras, just snotty letter - had one myself too!
I'd say no, it means that vigilantes are not what is needed and are certainly never a good idea. Are these people trained? Are they vetted? And what else will they do? One day you're sitting in the park minding your own business and the next thing you know they are flagging you as a paedo'.
Douglas Adams opined that anyone seeking public office should be automatically barred from holding public office, I'm of the same opinion of people wanting to police their fellow citizens; who want power without accountability.
Hopefully your 'snotty letter' was accepted in the spirit in which it was sent.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Worth a read as it answers most of the questions
https://www.communityspeedwatch.org/
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Hope this may help,
https://www.avonandsomerset.police.u...eeding-notice/
https://www.aph.com/community/holida...eeding-ticket/
Stuart
The speeding in the small village where I work is horrendous. I work on a 30 limit which has schools, paths, shops all close to the road but speed some people drive is crazy. They've literally tried everything and nothing works. I seriously believe it will take a serious injury or death for people to take note.
The speed watch team are out there atleast one morning a week always in the same spot and sometimes accompanied by an officer. Anything is better than doing nothing and surely trying to remove the possibility of serious injury or death must only be a good thing.
As others have said
It’s not a summons or a notice of intended prosecution
A”shot across your bows” so to speak
Bin the letter then familiarise Yourself with The Highway Code.Your excuse is feeble
The road we we live on has recently become a bit of a rat run, it is a 30 limit, every evening rep mobiles winding up the hill at stupid speeds, Essex county council put speed monitoring stuff on the lampposts, the result was they are not going to do anything as the percentage of cars going over 70 and 80 mph was to low to justify action,
I live on a generally quiet but main road into town. I have no problem with people exceeding the limit slightly but some people (usually the same locals) really take the p!ss. Unfortunately police budget cuts mean that there is very little visible policing and I have no doubt that the sort of people who disregard a speed limit also disregard other laws which amounts to antisocial behaviour if not worse.
I don't agree with the local speed enforcement teams who have no clout but if we could be sure that they would be deployed where necessary (eg outside schools etc), I would be more than happy for the private sector to take over speeding control.
And this is from someone with a pokey German sports car that has been known to experiment on wide open roads but rigorously adheres to 30mph limits where people live or there are pedestrians.
What utter bollocks. I’ve been on speed awareness courses where there have been a number of elderly people present for speeding. I’m pretty sure they are not drinking white lightning on street corners at night with ghetto blasters blaring.
I think you are spot on, as this is how I understand most road safety improvements are justified and prioritised nowadays.
The greater the number of serious injuries/deaths that occur, the greater the priority/obligation is on the authorities to take action to reduce the number.
That's OK - Boris is going to put another 10 billion police officers on our streets, and it's only going to cost us three shillings.
Or perhaps the fact that there haven't been any such incidents means that the speeding isn't as dangerous as it's perceived to be?!
Government statistics show that only around 4% of serious accidents have speeding as the main causal factor (it's not clear whether "speeding" is defined as "exceeding the posted speed limit" or "driving too fast for the condition", two very different things which are often conflated under a single heading).
Much more dangerous these days is "distracted driving" (often while using a mobile, but also due to the technological complexity of the infotainment systems fitted to most modern cars). Of course it's much more difficult to detect - you can't just point a hairdryer at the car.
I support these ‘churchy do gooders’, I’d do it myself if I was retired.
Our village is a case in point, for years the feeble council refused to lower the limit from 40 to 30 on the grounds that ‘motorists were exceeding the 40mph limit, so they’d exceed a 30 as well’. That went down like a lead balloon at the public meeting...
Then, our local paper boy was killed whilst doing his deliveries at 0645 in the morning, and speed was deemed a factor at the inquest.
All of a sudden, 30 signs went up, road refuges and other measures went in, and everybody sat back and admired the now safely bolted stable door.
I’ve written endlessly to the local police about speeding particularly outside of the 0800-1600 working hours of the safety camera teams, and I’ve stood with uniformed officers who were operating a speed gun in plain sight with a police car parked 90 degrees to the road, and yet still an endless stream of motorists went past nearer 40 than 30 and in one case at 58mph. The police officer literally couldn’t keep up with the number of people she flagged down and spoke to.
Why somebody can’t do 30mph for about 600m is beyond me, they just don’t seem to care or even conceive that even an accident where speed isn’t a factor is better for the poor buggers you hit if you’re doing the speed limit and not over it.
If a letter helps you think about what you’re doing next time you head through that place, then it’s a good thing I’d have thought.
You probably should have known that it wasn't a 45 zone.
About thirty or so years ago, a colleagues daughter aged 9 was killed as a result of a driver doing an estimated 46 mph in a 30 mph road. This absolutely devastated the mother and she was on anti depressants for years. Her life ruined and a 9 year old child killed just because someone drove a bit too fast.
Anything or any initiative that makes the roads safer has to be a good thing.
Just a warning if it's civvy volunteers.
We have them in our village from time to time. Always fun to read all the howls of protest from speeders on the local facebook page. Same people would be telling a different story if their kids were hurt by a speeding motorist.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Anti-social people get old too.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
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