Stig Steals F1 Car for Joyride

Bit of fun for a Saturday

600,000 Speeders Caught in Europe in 1 Week

29 countries took part in the operation was organised by the European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL) to tackle the problem of speeding and dangerous driving. In total, 605,523 speeding drivers were stopped by police officers or caught by camera in a single week. The operation took place between 14-20 April this year and the results have been released now that all 29 countries involved have processed the cases. TISPOL President Koen Ricour reminded drivers that speed was one of the 'big three killers' in the road environment.

"Speed limits are in place for a reason, to reduce casualties and keep the roads safe for everyone. Unfortunately there are some drivers who see speed limits as optional and others who regard them as an inconvenience. But speed limits are there to save lives. Drivers who either exceed the speed limit or drive at a speed that's inappropriate for the road, traffic or weather conditions, are more likely to be involved in a collision. At best this will result in damage and delay; at worst it can lead to serious injury or death. We urge all motorists to demonstrate care and consideration for themselves, their families and others by driving safely at an appropriate speed, and certainly within the speed limit at all times. In this way, drivers will be greatly reducing the risk of killing or seriously injuring themselves or other road users."

Sources: bt.com

10 Speed Cam Facebook Page Fans in Court

In France ten motorists are due in court in September, because they are active members of a Facebook page that identifies the location of speed cameras. They have been accused of using “a device capable of detecting radar”. This is illegal in France (not illegal in the UK) The Facebook page has 9,000 members, all of who can update it in real time with the location of permanent and mobile speed camera sites using their smartphones, this will instantly notify all other members of the page.

David Alegre is one of the 10 defendants, he is a truck driver David Alegre, said he was stunned to receive a summons. He admitted he regularly contributed to the Facebook page, but said he had no idea it would land him in trouble with the law.

He said: “I am being treated like a radar detector.”

Mr Rémy Josseaume his lawyer argues that communicating information on the Internet does not fall under the ban on using radar detectors in France.

 Read the story on our site about this french facebook story

Sources: connexionfrance.com

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