I have to side with HJ.
Bournemouth has seen 3 weeks of mobile speed cameras (hidden in vans or in black boxes at pavement level) on all commuter routes. What riles is that as they don't flash you may well be nobbled 4 mornings in a row at 33 and lose your licence.
Local paper did usual self congratulatory blurb AFTER the event.
No Dosh - He who dies with the most toys wins.
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Local paper did usual self congratulatory blurb AFTER the event. No Dosh - He who dies with the most toys wins.
Noticed an article in our local rag this week which gave details of forthcoming mobile speed camera roads to be targetted. Can't be fairer than that. Trouble is, its not going to make a jot of difference to the way I drive because I'll forget when I'm trying to get from A to B. Presumably I'll get caught and then remember the blasted article and then swear several times and ....
Splodgeface
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I didn't read the article.
Despite the view that most people will have convictions about now, how is our accident rate going, Up or Down?
H
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Hugo
I haven't seen the figures for 2002 yet, but the trend is flat/very slight fall.
The 2001 fatalities figure was just over 3,400, IIRC.
The figures were falling fairly consistently until around 1998, but the downward trend has been less marked since then.
Brian
Still learning (I hope)
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Our local rag has taken to publishing sites of camera use on a weekly basis:
www.seriousaboutnews.com/bos/pages/speed.shtml
MOBILE SPEED CAMERA LOCATIONS
Week commencing January 20, 2002
A1 Road Beeston
A1 Road Sandy
A1081 Airport Way, Luton
A421 Milton Keynes Link Road
A428 Bromham Road, Bedford
A428 Goldington Road, Bedford
A5 near Battlesden
A5 near Kensworth turn
A505 Dunstable Road, Luton
A505 Hitchin Road, Luton
A505 Leighton-Linslade Bypass
A505 Park Viaduct
A505 Road, Tilsworth
A5120 Station Road, Toddington
A6 High Street, Clapham
A6 New Bedford Road, Luton
A6 near Barton Road, Gravenhurst
B1040 Potton Road, Biggleswade
B4540 Common Road, Kensworth
B531 Bedford Road, Kempston
Crawley Green Road, Luton
Leagrave High Street, Luton
Park Avenue, Bedford
Waller Avenue, Luton
B530 Road, south of Stewartby
HOWEVER they may not be operating cameras at all these sites in the next 7 days, furthermore they are free to operate cameras at any other sites they wish! So what use is printing the above list? They're all clear, fast open stretches of road, where common sense would tell you a speed trap is likely anyway.
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I got flashed about 15 months ago, and got the paperwork for it about 3 months later. It was a standard fine (41 mph in a 30 zone), but as I was in the process of moving myself and family over to Spain to live and work, I ignored it. I received a summons a few months later and ignored that also.
Well, to cut a long story short, after 6 months we've all returned to here in the UK. And I see I should have appeared in court over this incident last December. I haven't received any more paperwork yet, but what is the situation with delaying a conviction? Do you sill get the same penalty points, but just pay a bigger fine? Or does the court increase the points?
(As I still have the same car, and have returned to the same rented address, I see no way of wriggling out this one.)
Any help appreciated.
Chris
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All depends on the efficiency of the Court Office.They can either call it a day if they know you were unobtainable, OR:
Having issued a summons to a Court date and you have failed to appear or send any explanation then, on application, a warrant could be issued for your arrest for non attendance.
Ball, at the moment seems to be in your court (pun) as to what you do. Either stick it out and hope the matter rests or approach the Mags Clerks Office and let them know you are available.
If you got nothing whatsoever until three months after the flash then a NIP has not been served within the 14 days of the offence, an essential element in speeding cases for a prosecution to succeed. If a company car or rented NIP may have been served on registered keeper which is good practice.
DVD.
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Chris
Do some research on other threads on this site. I'm pretty sure 3 months is too long for the paperwork to reach you - assuming it didn't get lost in the post.
Failing that - scarper back to Spain pdq!
Terry
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DVD is absolutely correct here 14 days is the maximum period for issue.
Have a look on the speedtrap bible website there is a very clear description of a case that was overturned where 14 days was proved to have not been met by the force.
as ever
Mark
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Thanks guys.
As suggested, I've checked out this "14 day" business a bit more thoroughly. I'm pretty sure 3 months had elapsed before I received any summons, but it could be that the initial paperwork was sent to me much earlier and I didn't receive it. The block of flats we lived in then (and have now returned to) had a lot of probs with missing mail at that time.
Anyway, after reading other threads here on this forum, I decided to bit the bullet and I contacted the court this afternoon. It turns out that I've missed a total of 3 different court appearances (not 2) and another court appearance has been scheduled for mid-February.
As stated in my first post, I've got no way of wriggling out of this one. I just hope the court will be lenient. But it is b***** annoying. I've had a clean license for 15 years ...
Thanx again.
Chris
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The mistake was not replying to the summons, since I suspect that is an offence, irrespective of whether or not you can get the speeding conviction.
Years ago I got caught by police on the M3. Not the same, I know, since you are told at the time of possible prosecution.
I then, within a week or two, moved to New York. A while into the future the summons eventually reached me by a circuitous route and a couple of months late.
I wrote to them and explained. They were polite, dealt with it in my absence and fined me - which I paid.
However - no points and no ban, even on my UK licence, although by then I was driving on a US licence. Had I been living in the UK I would have got both, since I was well over 100mph.
I suspect that if you now write to them and explain then at worst it will be the normal points/fine you would have received had you dealt with it at the time, although I would gloss over the delay between receiving the summons and leaving the country.
Of course, your gamble is that by writing to them you will alert them to something they may have discarded. However, it will undoubtedly be worse if they find you.
I ignored a summons once. Actually, repeated summonses for the same traffic offence. When they caught up with me a loooong time later I got absolutely hammered.
I'd come clean if I was you.
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