McLaren seized by police after speeding in Welwyn Garden City

Officers caught a driver in a speeding McLaren on 13th August and the tweeted:

“79 in a 40. Not a good day. Especially when we find out the insurance didn’t renew.

“Vehicle seized. We offered to drive it to the recovery yard but control insist it has to go on a truck.”

A police spokesman confirmed the sports car was a McLaren 720S, and was stopped today (Monday, August 13) at 10.30am.

“It was recorded doing 79mph in a 40 zone,” he added. “Further checks revealed that the vehicle was not currently insured and as a result the vehicle was seized.

“The driver was issued with a Traffic Offence Report by officers, meaning he will be prosecuted for the above offences at a later date.”

It is understood that the motorist will have to prove he has got insurance and pay a recovery fee before being able to get the car back.

Eight year olds caught speeding

You wouldnt expect it but Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency figures reveal that children as young as eight have been caught speeding by police in Britain in the last two years.

A Freedom of Information request covering 2017 to the present, unearthed that there were two instances where people aged eight were found in cars or on motorbikes.

At the other end of the spectrum more than 900 people in their 90s got penalty points for speeding (three of these incidents involving people aged 99).

If a driver is underage, the endorsements are held on file by the DVLA and the penalty points can be added to any driving licence they hold in the future.

The DVLA did not provide information about the circumstances of the driving offences, saying its role was to compile information provided by the courts.

But its figures show more than one million speeding offences were recorded over the period concerned.

Nearly 1,400 offences related to people aged under 17, including one aged 11 and three aged 13.
The majority of speeders were people in their 40s, which is thought to include the largest age group of motorists.

The highest number of speeders were aged 46, amounting to 30,075 offences

Source: BBC

Mum makes fake road camera to tackle speeding cars

A mum has erected a fake speed camera because she was worried about the threat to her children's safety from speeding cars.

The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, told the BBC: "The speed limit here is 30mph but we have cars and lorries speeding through here all the time."

She added: "We looked at what people had done in other villages with the same problem and realised that if it's on private land it's not illegal."

Road safety campaigners call for anti-speeding system in all new cars

Road safety campaigners want anti-speeding technology (Intelligent Speed Adaptation - ISA) fitted as standard to all newly manufactured cars after a rise in the number of crashes caused by breaking the speed limit.

The system shows the speed limit of the road a person is driving on and can control the speed of the vehicle.

Intelligent Speed Adaptation technology allows drivers to select an option where acceleration is stopped automatically at the speed limit specific to any road (this can also be disabled via button). When this mode is turned off the speed limit is still displayed but the speed not overridden.


Its developers say ISA is intended as a road safety device, but it could have additional benefits.

These include reducing congestion as a result of collisions, and cutting vehicle emissions as drivers adopt a smoother driving style

Campaigners are making the call as part of Road Safety Week after Scottish government figures earlier this year showed a 14% rise in road deaths in Scotland during 2016 compared with 2015.

Jason Wakeford, director of campaigns for Brake, said: "Speeding remains a major problem, causing untold suffering to families up and down the country."

More on this story

Motorway roadworks speed limit could be increased

Speed limits for motorway roadworks where the limit is currently 50mph could be raised in a bid to ease congestion in England.

Highways England recently carried out trials in which it was discovered that drivers' heart rates were lower when they drove at 55mph or 60mph rather than the usual 50mph through roadworks. The study further suggested that motorists felt more relaxed travelling at higher speeds, partly because they had a greater ability to accelerate past heavy goods vehicles.

It is reported that the new limits could come into effect in some areas this year. Unite a trade union, which represents road workers throughout the UK, said the proposed speed increases ignored the safety of those maintaining motorways, who "work in already very dangerous conditions".

A spokesman said: "Sadly, in recent years there have been several deaths of motorway workers and these changes will make their work even more dangerous. 
"Already motorists frequently drive into coned-off areas. At increased speeds, it will make such potentially lethal accidents even more common."

Edmund King, president of the AA, said increasing the speed limit could help reduce congestion, he said it had to be targeted at the longest stretches of road works where there were no workers.
He said: "When work is going on and it's in close proximity to the carriageways we should stick at lower speeds and sometimes it needs to be lower than 50mph, depending on the layout."

Jim O'Sullivan, chief executive of Highways England, told The Times that the 60mph limit was "something that we want to introduce to as many roadworks as possible".
But Mr O'Sullivan said that lower speeds were likely to be maintained in areas with narrow lanes, contraflows or where workers are close to the road, due to safety reasons.


Other sources include: BBC

Beware Admiral’s policy when it comes to speed awareness courses

We came across a news story in the Guardian where journalist Miles Brignall, had called Admiral whilst looking for car insurance. One of the questions was asking if he had been on any speed awareness courses. He replied “yes” and the quote increased by £50.

This seems ridiculous when the whole point of the courses is that they are an alternative to prosecution meaning that no official record is kept. Admiral defends its action saying that its data shows that drivers who attend a speed awareness course are more likely to have an accident in the following 12 months than those who committed no offence. “A speed awareness course will impact the premium, but shouldn’t impact it as much as a speeding endorsement".

Miles said that his course provider, DriveTech, says it does not share details as it is information not in the public domain.

It would appear from the information in the Guardian that as far as they know, at the moment at least! Admiral is the only insurer that asks this, Other big firms are still only asking about formal convictions.

Common sense therefore having come across this information would be to avoid admiral when its car insurance renewal time if you have attended a speed awareness course within the last 12 months.

Fore more on this story please see the Guardian

Employer Fires California Woman For Deleting App That Tracked Her 24×7

Myrna Arias, has filed a lawsuit against Intermex her former employer (a money transfer service), for invasion of privacy, retaliation, and unfair business practices and is seeking damages in excess of $500,000. She claims she was fired for uninstalling an app from her iPhone, that let her boss, John Stubits, track her movements 24 hours a day.

The app Xora, allows an employer to monitor workers locations on a Google Map. They can also see where they have been, the route they have driven and where they are now.

Image Source Anonymous

The lawsuit alleges: “After researching the app and speaking with a trainer from Xora, Plaintiff and her co-workers asked whether Intermex would be monitoring their movements while off-duty. [Arias boss, John] Stubits admitted that employees would be monitored while off duty, and bragged that he knew how fast she was driving at specific moments ever since she had installed the app on her phone.

“Plaintiff expressed that she had no problem with the app’s GPS function during work hours, but she objected to the monitoring of her location during non-work hours and complained to Stubits that this was an invasion of her privacy. She likened the app to a prisoner’s ankle bracelet and informed Stubits that his actions were illegal. Stubits replied that she should tolerate the illegal intrusion.
“He confirmed that she was required to keep her phone’s power on ‘24/7’ to answer phone calls from clients. Stubits scolded Plaintiff when she de-installed the app in late April 2014 in order to protect her privacy.”
 
“The app had a ‘clock in/out’ feature which did not stop GPS monitoring, that function remained on. This is the problem about which Ms. Arias complained. Management never made mention of mileage. They would tell her co-workers and her of their driving speed, roads taken, and time spent at customer locations. Her manager made it clear that he was using the program to continuously monitor her, during company as well as personal time,” Arias’ attorney, Gail Glick said.

Source Anonymous

Irony of the lib dem candidate caught speeding by camera he secured funding

A Lib Dem parliamentary candidate was caught speeding by a camera he admits he "secured the funding for".

Stephen Gilbert's solicitor pleaded guilty on his behalf to speeding in his Kia car at 40mph in a 30mph zone on the A390 at St Blazey, last August.

Mr Gilbert, 38, of Beach Road, Newquay, was fined £430, ordered to pay costs of £85 and given three penalty points.

A charge of failing to give information relating to the driver's identity was withdrawn at Bodmin Magistrates' Court.

Mr Gilbert is defending the St Austell and Newquay seat in Cornwall.

The politician tweeted that the speeding conviction was "ironic" as he had "secured the funding for the camera 15 years ago".

.@tamsinmelville ... and isn't it ironic since I secured the funding for the camera 15 years ago! @BBCCornwall

— Stephen Gilbert (@stephen_gilbert) April 22, 2015

Driver caught speeding at 136mph on the A5 in Conwy

Four people were caught driving at speeds of over 120mph on roads in Wales last year - with one topping 136mph, the Institute of Advanced Motorists has revealed.

Three of the worst speeders were caught on the A5 in north Wales, while the other was on the M4 in south Wales.

It said the 136mph driver broke the 60mph limit in Conwy by 76mph and was one of the worst cases in Britain.

The figures for 2014 were released following a freedom of information request from IAM to the welsh forces. The figures showed Wales' worst speeder was recorded by North Wales Police at 136mph on the A5 Ty Nant to Dinmael road in Conwy.

The A5 also saw two further instances of over 120mph speeding recorded; 122mph on the Ty Nant-Cerrigydrudion stretch in Conwy; and 121mph at Halton, Wrexham.

The final case of 120mph being exceeded was captured by South Wales Police: 125mph on the M4 between Junction 35 Pencoed and Junction 34 Miskin, where a 70mph limit is in force.

The charity is campaigning for an increase in visible policing to deter excessive speeders.

2015 Ford S-MAX will help avoid speeding fines

Ford has confirmed the new driving technologies that will feature on its next-generation S-MAX. The seven-seater MPV goes on sale during summer 2015.

The biggest highlight of the new driving technologies is called Intelligent Speed Limiter. It can stop drivers from exceeding the speed limit and therefore avoid speeding fines.

The S-MAX can determine what the current speed limit is using an onboard camera and/or map data from the car’s sat-nav. The Ford can decrease engine torque by electronically adjusting the amount of fuel delivered whenever it surpasses the current set speed limit.

Source: carkeys.co.uk.

Kent Police educating motorists about the dangers of speeding

Kent Police has taken to the roads of Ashford to educate motorists on the dangers of speeding.

Local PCSOs carried out the speed awareness event at six locations in the area along roads highlighted by residents as being potential speeding ‘hot-spots’.

A total of 575 vehicles were checked during the two-day exercise on Tuesday 10 March and Saturday 14 March.

Of those, 22 drivers were found to be exceeding the speed limit and were spoken to about the dangers of speeding.

Roads checked were:

• Faversham Road, Kennington: 125 vehicles checked, nine exceeded the speed limit
• Canterbury Road, Kennington: 111 vehicles checked, seven exceeded the speed limit
• Charing Hill: 80 vehicles checked, one exceeded the speed limit
• Smarden: 25 vehicles checked, none exceeded the limit
• Appledore: 60 vehicles checked, none exceeded the limit
• Canterbury Road, Kennington: 130 vehicles checked, three exceeded the limit
• Top of Charing Hill: 44 vehicles checked, two exceeded the limit

"The speed checks were carried out along roads which residents have highlighted as having issues with speeding drivers.

It is reassuring that such a low number of drivers had to be spoken to but we will continue to monitor any areas of concern.

Educating drivers continues to be fundamental in our efforts to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on Kent’s roads.

Appropriate advice has been given to those drivers and although the purpose of these patrols was to educate drivers, next time people could face penalties.

Speeding can put pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists in danger so we are asking all road users to play their part in helping keeping our roads safe."

  – Inspector Andrew Judd of the Ashford Community Safety Unit

Man has been jailed for six months after trying to avoid paying for speeding tickets

Martin Whitworth from Wythall, Birmingham,  A man has been jailed for six months after trying to avoid paying for speeding tickets.

He was issued with a speeding ticket after driving through a safety camera at 64 mph in a temporary 50 mph speed limit on the M5 in August last year.

Upon receiving the notice in the post he told police that someone must have stolen or cloned his registration plates.

Thinking he had got away with it he tried the ruse again when he sped through a West Midlands camera in Shirley on 18 August.

However enforcement officers became suspicious after investigations revealed that the theft had never been reported and after viewing the photographic evidence they were convinced that the man in the image was the registered keeper.

In a bid to clear up the confusion the 46-year-old was asked to visit the station to speak to the enforcement officers. Knowing that the police were on to him he panicked and reported his plates as stolen to cover up his actions.When interviewed where he admitted that he was the driver and had fabricated the lies in a bid to avoid the penalty points and fines.

Whitworth was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday 2 March after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice and two counts of excess speed.

PC Jason Dooley, from the Camera Enforcement Unit, said: “This should be a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of trying to avoid speeding tickets.

“The man spun a web of lies and tried to wriggle out of paying for the fines, thinking he could evade the police.

“What he did not count on was that we would investigate the offense fully.

“If Whitworth had taken the points he would have been out of pocket for a short time but now he will have a conviction that will always be with him.”

£40,000 speeding ticket for going 14mph over limit

Finnish authorities take a very dim view of speeding, as they demonstrated when they fined one driver a staggering £40,000 for going just 14mph over the limit.

The huge  sum was demanded because in Finland, fines for speeding are scaled up according to the wealth of the law-breaker. 

Unfortunately for this businessman  who was caught travelling at 64mph in a 50mph zone he is a multi-millionaire and the authorities took a peek at his tax return.

Reima Kuisla's tax return showed that he earned 6.5m euros (£4.72m) a year, so they dished out a 54,000 euro fine, the Iltalehti newspaper reported.

The fine has a logic to it, but Mr Kuisla complained bitterly on his Facebook page about the sum he was asked to hand over posting a picture of the ticket and saying: ‘Finland is impossible to live in for certain kinds of people who have high incomes and wealth. I’m considering leaving the country.’

However, sympathy levels in Finland for his plight have been fairly low. One user wrote on the Iltalehti website: ‘He should stop complaining and hang his head in shame instead.’

SIEMENS (SAFE ZONE) CAMERAS

 Overview
Safezone is now Home Office type approved and can be deployed in cities, towns, villages or on urban and inner urban roads.  It is basically an Average Speed Monitoring system based on the ANPR (Automatic number plate recognition) technology.

Safezone has been designed to be used for 24/7 enforcement and covers speeds from 20mph to 140mph.  It supports multi-lane and multi entry/exit points meaning it can be used for all types of highway scenarios.  

Key components of Safezone:

• The cameras are based on ANPR technology for capturing vehicle data.
• It can be used to enforce short distances in villages and around schools as well as motorways, duel carriageways and also in road works.
• Enforces speed limits from 20mph – 140mph.
• Can be installed on existing street furniture such as telegraph poles.
• Was first trialled on Springdale Road in Poole, Dorset and is now being rolled used in Milton Ernest, Bedfordshire.