Caught Speeding?

[developer]

Having cruised down the M5 at Distronic 70mph (yawn) I thought I'd give the car some beans on one of my favourite (and usually plod free) sweeping left handers on the A38 dual carriageway towards Birmingham.
The bend is sharper than the photo suggests, especially at mph.

As I rounded the bend to where the layby starts (the r in Birmingham) I spotted the back of a parked Police RR, sited closer to to the start of the layby than the large white lorry shown. Until you can see the entrance to the layby, the large hedgerows obscure you from it and it from you, so they hadn't been tracking me from further down the carraigeway.

I scrubbed off some speed using the gears (no brake lights) as I passed the RR, by which time I was reduced to "around" the 70mph limit.

Given the sweep of the bend, could I have been lasered?
I should add, the layby is also elevated from the dual carriageway.
There were no police further up the road and the RR made no attempt to pull off the layby and follow.

What do the panel think?

 

[st13phil]

What do the panel think?

Conjecture is futile.

If nothing arrives in the post in the next fourteen days (assuming that you are the Registered Keeper of the car and that you haven't changed address, car or car index number recently) then you're home and dry.

 

[wemorgan]

Will you wife take the hit for the team?

 

[st13phil]

^ Not to be advised, as Ms Pryce and the delightful Chris Huhne are finding out.

 

[developer]

Conjecture is futile.

Yes, yes, but there's nowt on the telly, so I thought I'd share it with my opinionated forum friends.

 

[Bellow]

Should've braked. So what if they notice? It's the hard number evidence on the equipment that they use to prosecute. Not the front of the car dipping and brake lights they can't see.

 

[developer]

Should've braked. So what if they notice? It's the hard number evidence on the equipment that they use to prosecute. Not the front of the car dipping and brake lights they can't see.

That's a good point, and a decision I had to make in that split second.
Because of the sharpness of the bend/speed I was past them in seconds, which would have left my brake lights glowing.
I felt that if I was over, it wasn't by much, and that acting a more casual manner might have been a better approach - time will tell.

Bear in mind it looks like a drug dealers car at the best of times .

 

[wemorgan]

speeding, windows tints, engine braking - at the very least the forum Police will be paying you a visit

 

[Harrythedog]

You'll be ok, he was probably just having a nap.

 

[st4]

That's a good point, and a decision I had to make in that split second.
Because of the sharpness of the bend/speed I was past them in seconds, which would have left my brake lights glowing.
I felt that if I was over, it wasn't by much, and that acting a more casual manner might have been a better approach - time will tell.

Bear in mind it looks like a drug dealers car at the best of times .

I reckon you may be ok. Curve of the road and a laser might make getting a speed difficult, they tend to use straight stretches.

They use vans etc, the car will have been waiting for bigger fish to fry.

 

[developer]

speeding, windows tints, engine braking - at the very least the forum Police will be paying you a visit

Excellent .

 

[MOCAŠ]

If they were there to catch speeders, then they'd clearly have chosen a position from which this was possible.

On the other hand, they may just have been (police) dogging...

 

[ianmc1200]

I wouldnt worry about it even if they did clock you- even after a notice of intention to prosecute i wasnt taken to court or fined as i didnt take up the 'offer' of a fixed penalty fine & points.
The speed? 92 in a 70 on the a38 nr plymouth.

 

[Palfrem]

Is that the stretch just up from Lydiate Ash by any chance?

Nice stretch of road...

I reckon you're in the clear, they're probably reading the Sunday papers.

 

[Benzmanc]

Most of the time a marked car will give chase, it's the civil servants that send letters out. I'd say you will be ok.

 

[Dieselman]

That's a good point, and a decision I had to make in that split second.
Because of the sharpness of the bend/speed I was past them in seconds, which would have left my brake lights glowing.

Which matters not a jot. If you see you're being gunned, hit the middle pedal.

On the handheld radar devices the operator could see the speed rolling away.

 

[whitenemesis]

As Steve has said, the curve would probably give erroneous results. Slip angles and such.

 

[developer]

Is that the stretch just up from Lydiate Ash by any chance?

Nice stretch of road...

I reckon you're in the clear, they're probably reading the Sunday papers.

Exactly that.

How times change - I used to be able to get round that bend, knee scraping the tarmac, at around 115mph (ish) on the Honda.
You can't even speed in peace these days.

 

[trapperjohn]

Home free I reckon John.

I think there is a given mandatory distance the laser has to "see" Check it out if you get a ticket. There does not appear to be enough "seeing distance" in that image.

If Smokie had been really interested he would have be after you like a scalded cat to at least check the tints out and invite you to blow his party balloon up.
CHEERS

 

[markjay]

On the balance of probabilities, the answer to your question is: probably not.


As for braking.... a solicitor involved in RTAs told me many years ago that the high tension and drama at the scene and aftermath of a crash tend to fade away by the time the case gets to court, and all that is left is the hard facts and figures - in other words, what can be proven.

I suppose the same applies to most other areas of motoring law, and to speeding - ultimately it is all down to what you have been clocked at - if you have been clocked - and not to whether your brake lights were on or not - keep in mind that it is not possible to ascertain by how much you reduced your speed, so you could maintain that you simply applied a feather-light touch to the brakes.


But thanks for raising it, yes, it was a bit dull on the forum these past couple of days with the Jubilee celebrations and all...


Oh, and... do not speed.