Plans to Raise Maximum Speeding Fine to £10,000

There is a Fourfold increase coming in maximum amount magistrates can fine speeding motorists. It could see someone speeding on a motorway being fined up to £10,000. Currently the maximum is  £2,500.  It is the first increase since 1991.

The new guidelines look like this

Under the proposed changes the maximums in each category will increase as follows:

	From	To	Examples
Level 1	£200	£800	Includes unauthorised cycle racing on public ways.
Level 2	£500	£2,000	Includes driving a motor cycle without a protective helmet.
Level 3	£1,000	£4,000	Includes the sale of alcohol to a drunk person or being drunk and disorderly in a public place.
Level 4	£2,500	£10,000	Includes speeding on the motorway

Within the guidelines it is stated that Drivers caught using a mobile phone behind the wheel will face a £4,000 fine. $4000 makes you think doesnt it?!

The end of last year saw the total for fines collected reaching al all time high of £284, of course with these new guidelines that figure is set to rise at the end of this year.

Read the full story here about the fines rising to £10,000 on our site

Sources: Guardian, itv

Speeding on Motorways Has Reached a Record Low Due to High Fuel Prices and Cameras

So Official government figures out yesterday reveal that the proportion of people that speed on motorways has dropped to a record low,  presumably following a rise in speed cameras and several years of high fuel prices, experts claim. Only 47 per cent of people drive faster than 70mph on motorways in Britain, compared with 57 per cent a decade ago. (please note that these are not my observations from the statistics although there is a link to them at the bottom should you wish to take a look at them for yourself) Apparently the figures only take in to account vehicles in “free flowing” traffic and not those slowed down by congestion (although I dont see how this is either possible to gather or a fair reflection on what actually happend on our roads having spent 7 1/2 hours in traffic myself on what should have been a 1hr 20 round trip to London, anyhow I digress!). The number of ‘extreme’ speeders (traveling above 80mph on motorways) has also dropped from 20pc in 2003 to 12 per cent in 2013. It is also worth noting that the readings are taken from sections of road that do not use speed cameras. (I dont know about you but I treat the whole of the M25 as a camera hot spot even after reports some months back that the overhead gantry cammeras have not been working fo quite some time)

Motoring groups said the decline in speeding over the past decade had coincided with a steady increase in pump prices, suggesting that motorists may have been reducing their speed to conserve fuel and save money. The continued use of speed cameras by police to crack down on speeding may also have played a part.


Ed Morrow, campaigns officer for Brake, the road safety charity, said: “The fact remains that almost half are still breaking the limit, and more than one in ten is doing so by more than 10mph”. Now I actually thought that thats an interesting stat that half of us are still breaking the speed limit, What do you think? tweet using #halfbreaklimit

To read the full story about people driving slower on motorways
Sources: Telegraph, Gov Statistics

New Police Vehicle for Motorbike Campaign

Even the non car enthusiasts at work today thought this looked cool, so we had to share.  As one of the less inconspicuous vehicles in the war against road traffic offenders the Ariel Atom has become the newest member of the Avon and Somerset Police. apparently the car can do 0-60mph in 2.5 seconds with 350bhp. It has also held the Top Gear lap record for nearly two years. A reader of Visor Down pointed out that the 0-60 probably goes down quite a bit once all of the police paraphernalia such as radar timing equipment, radio, NPR device, latest aerodynamic Hella pursuit lights and emergency equipment have been added on

There were also other interesting comments on the visor down site from contributors such as where is its front numberplate for it to be legal on UK roads, Yeh where is that??? and while we are on the subject someone also looked up the number plate and it doesn't exist - also illegal! (have not checked this myself)

Also comments about the amount of time that it would take a policeman to actually get in and out of the vehicle, surely the biker would shoot off again at this point if they really wanted to get away?

Anyway on the other side of the coin if you want to see the car in rel life without being persued by it you can as it will be at Haynes Motor Museum, Sparkford, Somerset on Sunday June 8 from 10am until 4pm. Admission to the event is FREE

To read the full story please go to our website www.radar-detectors.co.uk

Sources: http://southsomerset.thebreeze.com , http://www.visordown.com

Parrots are not Authorised to Supervise Learner Drivers

Hi guys, this one actually happened a while ago but its just so great we had to tell you about it even though its not in a timely nature, in fact it happened all the way back in January 2014

Basically West Yorkshire police pulled over a 50 year old lady learner driver on a motorway (learners not allowed on motorways) BUT that's not all...... There was no one else in the car apart from a parrot in the front seat (presumably conducting the driving lesson!)

Best bit of all the West Yorkshire police tweeted about it including the phrase "parrots are not authorized to supervise learner drivers"

Anyway to read the full story please visit our site www.radar-detectors.co.uk  we have started your morning off right for you with this little snippet!!

Sources: Mirror & Telegraph

Freedom of Information Act Reveals Britain's Top Speeders

So todays news has reveled that a motorist was caught driving at 149mph by a speed camera on the M25 in Swanley, Kent. this is actually probably old news as there has been no date put on the conviction and the information was released via the use of "the freedom of information act" 39 Police authorities in England and wales were asked by IAM the location and speed of the fastest motorists caught in the past year. 33 responded. In general from reading the information it appears that the amount of speeding morotists is rising rapidly and attempts to make it as socially unacceptable as drink driving are failing miserably, again looking at the facts possibly because the penalties arent as harsh as they are for drink driving

Highest speeds recorded by speed cameras in England and Wales

Speed limit (mph)	Highest speed recorded (mph)	Difference (mph)	Location
70	149	79	M25 Swanley
60	127	67	A413 Wendover By-Pass, Wendover
50	119	69	A414 Stanstead Abbotts
40	113	73	A17 Station Rd, Swineshead Bridge
30	96	66

Kent Police said 66,357 people had been handed speeding notices in 2013, compared to 34,438 in 2010. (Response to a separate Freedom of Information request by BBC Radio Kent)

Sources BBC News and IAM

In Case You Missed It

last week Ex-minister Chris Huhne was ordered to pay £77,750 in legal costs

The costs were relating to his prosecution for passing speeding points on to Vicky Pryce his ex-wife (she herself was ordered to pay £49,200) for her part in the crime. It seems to me that this is a very clear message from the government that you are always better just taking the points! Remembering that both parties got jail time as well. To read this story please visit our news page http://www.radar-detectors.co.uk/page/speeding-news#chrishuhne Tags: #chrishuhne #speeding #fined #points #drivinglicence #vivkypryce

Eric Craggs Cleared of using LaserStar Laser Jammer

So on the 15th during this week Eric Craggs was cleared of using a LaserStar Laser Jammer.  Laser jammers have long been seen as a bit of a grey area of the law by those in the know as there has never been a successful prosecution of anyone using one as was the case this week.

They are legal to sell in the UK although possibly not in some other countries.

The product in question the "LaserStar" (not clear weather he was using the pro or elite version) works as both a jammer and a parking sensor.

To read the full news story about Eric Crags and the Laser Jammer  click here