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Caught Speeding By A Bloody Mobile Speed Camera!
Man, I got a speeding ticket. Or, I'm about to get one. Guess I was a little too excited about my race day out at Thruxton. I got nabbed by one of the many speed cameras in Wiltshire on the way to the track! The picture above is me in action, as downloaded from the convenient Wiltshire & Swindon Safety Camera Partnership site. I got a letter telling me to go there and verify if it was me. I don't drive that fast. Well, actually Rebecca at SEOmoz did occasionally have a death grip on the door of my Mini and inquired about the local speed limit when she was here a few weeks ago. But honest, I don't think it's that bad. It can't really be. My last speeding ticket was like 15 years ago when I was heading to Zion National Park in my old Honda Del Sol convertible. Such a nice car. Such a mean cop, just across the border in Utah. And everyone finds is funny when someone named Danny Sullivan gets a speeding ticket, let me tell you. You know, the other one who actually races cars and won the Indy 500. I sometime imagine him doing a search on his name thinking, who the F- is this other guy dominating the search results. Sorry, Danny -- it's a different type of track on the internet. And the court clerks laugh at me, not you.
Since that ticket, nada. I typically drive like only 10 percent over the speed limit if I'm going to exceed it at all because somehow, I heard the speed camera only kick in above that level. Occasionally, I even have my GPS that screams at me if I'm near a speed camera. But I know where all the ones are in our area, so it's not that useful. Ah -- but this was a mobile speed camera! They parked along the road and caught me heading by, 82 mph in a 70 zone. Here's what they looked like:
See the white van? There's a guy in there with a laser-based speed camera. Here's me:
It tells you I'm doing 82 mph on a road that, the speed camera site tells me, has an average speed of 83 mph. I was average. Note the car on my tail. Fair to say, I'm not the fastest out there. In fact, I'm pretty sure I moved over to let the other car pass. I also probably saved him from getting a ticket. Sadly, there seems no mention of traffic school, so common in California where it is a necessity to ensure people can keep their licenses. No license, practically no life, not in Southern California. Up in the north of England, Mike Grehan got to go to traffic school. So far, nothing here in the Beautiful South suggests this is an option for me. Instead, now that I've sent back the letter saying yes, I was driving the car, I should receive notice I'm getting 3 penalty points on my license plus a 60 pound fine ($120). The fine's not that bad. Penalty points suck. Get 12 in all, and you lose your license. The best part about Britain is they actually put the infraction on your license. A driver's license is this big piece of paper that also comes with a photo license. Technically, you don't have a license unless you have both parts (but unlike California, you don't have to have your license with you when you drive). I'm going to have to send the license in, then they'll put the infraction on the paper and send it back to me. Four years from now, I can have it removed. Well, point made. I'm driving slower now even on the giant empty road where the speed was totally fine and I was average. Average! By Danny Sullivan on Dec. 15, 2006 | PermalinkSee related posts in: Cars & Driving
Next Post: Dave Naylor's New MySpace Site, TickMe Comments Comment by timmayer Wow that sucks, some of my buddy’s in the UK who have received their max points before loosing their license will get their friends with no points to take the fall for them. It’s a screwed up system, especially when in Germany you don’t get points for speeding tickets. I am jealous of your track day at Thruxton, I built a race car for track only use. Wow I love it; I have nothing but great news about that track. Hopefully on my next trip I will hit that track. If you would like to try my track car at Sears or Laguna next time you are in the bay area let me know. It’s a 300HP Miata. I love to bring people out to events, its so much fun! Comment by Aaron Shear I just got my first three points today too :( 59 in a 50 zone.... There are now 10 speed cameras on my journey to the office (Its 10 miles) so if im ever late I could lose my licence in one go! Comment by SEOidiot I have beat three photo radar speeding tickets by simply tossing them in the trash. The law in Arizona states that you must be legally served within 4 months of incident. being legally served means a cop pulls you over and you sign a ticket or in the case of photo radar, you pay ticket admitting the fact that you received it. Otherwise they cannot prove that you received it via mail. They may second a second notice or even a processor but in even in the latter case, you do not have to accept anything from a processor nor even admit who you are. ;-) Comment by David Wallace WHAT? Tim you got busted by a plane? I didnt know that really happened, I thought that may have just been scare tactic. And mobile speedometers?! Do we have those here?! Dont tell anybody - I dont want that to catch on! :( I also have traffic court (whatever that is?) (tomorrow), $300 fine if I miss it, for getting my first speeding ticket in California. Ok, it wasnt just speeding, it was speeding, unsafe lane change, following too close and having no registration. (?!) I just wish I was wearing my Cops Love Me shirt that day, darn. Comment by lauralippay Commiserations Danny, I got caught back in August 2006 by an unmarked police car. I won't say how fast I was going, other than I'm an idiot for doing so! In my defence it was a beautiful summers evening and I just genuinely didn't realise how fast I was going! Top down, warm air... I thought I'd gotten off with it til recently receiving a nice xmas present from Her Maj by way of a 'must appear in person court summons' :D Not good, I'm expecting a ban at worse, but will wear my best grovelling face and tie! Comment by robwatts Luckily in Ontario Canada we voted away our photo radar! For some reasons the british accept themselves being monitored by cameras more then north americans.. Rebecca Johnson Comment by rebecca | March 31, 2007 3:57 AM Cameras are all around us sadly... you can check online to see if you have any speeding tickets coming your way from mobile, gatso, truvello, specs and average speed cameras by going to http://www.i-database.co.uk Comment by Suggs Want to comment? If you are signed into TypeKey, you'll see a form below. No form? Click on the sign-in link below, and you can sign-in or sign-up for a free account. Sorry you have to use TypeKey, but I use it to avoid comment spam. All comments currently appear automatically after posting.
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I just got a new car and a speeding ticket too. I was caught by an airplane flying overhead on 280. I am headed to court at the beginning of the year to see if I can do traffic school. Will have to try going to a track sometime sounds fun.
Tim