Speeding Ticket, Olé!

[Ivo Simons]

No penalties for me in the first 5 years.
Maybe 2 speedtickets, but that was with a camera, so you can't get points then.

 

[GAIAjohan]

No penalties for me in the first 5 years.
Maybe 2 speedtickets, but that was with a camera, so you can't get points then.

Yep, exact rules:

Wat telt mee?

Niet alle overtredingen worden meegeteld in de maatregel Beginnend Bestuurder. Het betreft alleen overtredingen waarvoor de bestuurder is staande gehouden. Flitsboetes tellen dus niet mee. Ook overtredingen die in het buitenland zijn begaan, tellen niet mee.
De overtredingen die worden geregistreerd zijn:

• bumperkleven;
• ernstige snelheidsovertredingen (meer dan 30 km/uur te hard/op autosnelwegen meer dan 40 km/uur te hard);
• het veroorzaken van gevaar of hinder in het verkeer;
• veroorzaken van materiële of immateriële schade door onjuiste naleving van de verkeersregels;
• het veroorzaken van een ongeval met dodelijk gevolg of zwaar letsel.

Alcohol

Rijden onder invloed valt niet onder maatregel beginnend bestuurder. Wel worden beginnend bestuurders eerder naar de EMA-cursus gestuurd (al bij 0,8 in plaats van 1,3). Overigens, jongeren die met een slok op een motorvoertuig besturen, lopen vanaf 1 januari 2006 de kans om al met 0,2 promille alcohol tegen de lamp te lopen.

 

[Péter Bártfai]

Actually I think speed limits are there for a reason, and when I get the chance to drive a car I always keep within the limits. (50/90/110/130 here, funny because it was 50/80/100/120 before we joined the EU, but then they changed it saying "90/110/130 is the EU standard" lol)

Sometimes I even feel they should put down a sign for a lower limit in some areas, f.e. in my village, narrow road, trees everywhere, in any moment a kid, or a dog/cat can appear in front of you, and if you go with 50km/h, the distance you travel until you can react is 6-8m! (and then you need to stop as well) Speed limits are not only for the driver's safety, but for those who are "out of the car" too.

Of course a deserted highway at midnight can seem safer, but anything can happen anywhere, anytime. F.e. I know somebody who was almost killed by a truck that has stopped on the highway! When it appeared in front of him, he couldn't stop. His luck was only that he wasn't only speeding but didn't have his seatbelt on as well, so he could lie down to the front seats before his car went under the truck's back end (except the top half of the car of course)

Be careful on the roads everyone.

 

[GAIAjohan]

There's not really a EU standard.

In NL it's:
50/80/100/120

Belgium doesn't have the 100 area, like we have, they just have 3 standard speeds:

France:

Germany:

Denmark:

Sweden:

As you see, no trace of a standard

 

[GAIAjohan]

But I would be happy when motorways go to 130 here..

Even though a lot of motorways look like this here:

 

[Michael Herrmann]

the 130 in germany is not a limit it is more you maybe drive not faster at part of the highway where no speed limit is but if you want then nail it
you can see it as its not a white and red plate its a blue plate

 

[GAIAjohan]

the 130 in germany is not a limit it is more you maybe drive not faster at part of the highway where no speed limit is but if you want then nail it
you can see it as its not a white and red plate its a blue plate

Blue part around speed is advised speed . We have them in NL as well.

But mostly on 80km roads, where for example before a corner 60 is advised, that sign is there.
Example:

80 is maximum there, but 60 advised

 

[Michael Herrmann]

hehe

 

[Marcel Hulsbergen]

Bram i bought this and it helped me a lot already, I just own it a week:

http://www.gpsshop.nl/product/78663/category-3893-gps-radarverklikkers/alertegps-g520.html

Or the cheaper alternative, which is really the same product:

http://www.gpsshop.nl/product/88146/alertegps-wikango-one-3-mnd-rta.html

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Lol Marcel, i thought these devices were forbidden now?

 

[Marcel Hulsbergen]

Noo this is not a detector, it is a gps with a gprs waring system build in. I own it one week now read here:

http://www.alertegps.nl/flitsmelder-alerteGPS-Wikango.html

 

[Maurice Hurkmans]

Lol Marcel, i thought these devices were forbidden now?

No, not in Holland or Belgium....Its not a radardetector, but a GPS with all known radarlocations in it (which is updated every month). But in some countries even this device is forbidden (like in Germany, Austria and Switzerland)

edit: looooool Marcel is even speeding on sundaymornings

 

[Marcel Hulsbergen]

It is easy to hide and not traceble, I mostly drive in Belgium and Holland, it works amazing good, I can see on my display I have mostly about 6 till 20 cars arround me with the same system. Even in Germany I would use it.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

The only thing i need is a bucket of stealth-paint!

 

[Michael Herrmann]

lol Bram that wont save your from Laser Pistols

 

[Ron Attwood]

I haven't read the whole of this thread but I get the gist of it. I believe, like most of you, that speeding tickets is nothing more than a revenue generator. How's about a cunning internet plan to get EVERYONE in the country to not exceed the speed limits at all. Whatever the time of day or place, for a whole week! It would be interesting to see what the authority's reaction would be. Not best pleased, I'll be bound!

 

[April Dillon]

I'll be honest here:

Personally, I believe that people should be able to drive at the speed they're comfortable at, no matter what that speed is. I reckon that without low and strict speed limits, the amount of crashes on roads around the world would go down.

The speed limits are what they are for the sake of everyone's safety. It's 30mph in 30mph limits because you don't need to hit a pedestrian much faster to stand a good chance of killing them.

The speed limits are there to draw a line. There's plenty of people who may be safe to drive faster, if they've got the reactions and a car which can stop fast enough. And there's plenty of people who probably aren't safe to drive at those sorts of speeds, the people whos age has gotten the best of them. But there's no use trying to keep track of how fast everyone's safe to drive at. So they just draw the one line.

It's a common opinion that women aren't as good at driving as men. Which is reinforced by this being scientifically proven fact (depending on your definition of "good driving"). But don't think that means they're responsible for more accidents (in graphics -> sex). Women are more likely to bump into another car whilst parallel parking, or reverse into the wall in a car park. Whereas it's the men who flip their car upside down doing 120mph on the motorway, killing twelve other people in the crash.

In a town called Tunbridge Wells not far from where I live, there was a bunch of young blokes with their girlfriends spread across two cars. They decide it'd be cool if they have a race down the road leading into the industrial estate. Ended up crashing, and the only survivors just so happened to be the driver in each car. They ended up going to prison over what happened. I guess while they rot behind bars they can think about how they killed all their friends.

Driving fast isn't just something your driving instructor will nag at you about, and it's not just a Daily Mail reader's worst nightmare. It is dangerous. And that's the inconvenient truth of it. I just hope you'll either come to terms with that, or not kill anyone else when it goes horribly wrong.

 

[Rhys Gardiner]

It's a common opinion that women aren't as good at driving as men. Which is reinforced by this being scientifically proven fact (depending on your definition of \\\\"good driving\\\\"). But don't think that means they're responsible for more accidents (in graphics -> sex). Women are more likely to bump into another car whilst parallel parking, or reverse into the wall in a car park. Whereas it's the men who flip their car upside down doing 120mph on the motorway, killing twelve other people in the crash.

In a town called Tunbridge Wells not far from where I live, there was a bunch of young blokes with their girlfriends spread across two cars. They decide it'd be cool if they have a race down the road leading into the industrial estate. Ended up crashing, and the only survivors just so happened to be the driver in each car. They ended up going to prison over what happened. I guess while they rot behind bars they can think about how they killed all their friends.

Driving fast isn't just something your driving instructor will nag at you about, and it's not just a Daily Mail reader's worst nightmare. It is dangerous. And that's the inconvenient truth of it. I just hope you'll either come to terms with that, or not kill anyone else when it goes horribly wrong.

I know that driving fast on roads that are not right for it is dangerous. But it has been proven that, with the speed limit brought up on roads that are safe enough, crashes will go down. For example, there was this town in Italy that had a speed limit on one of its roads that was about medium-ish (I think around 70km/h... I read the article a long time ago so I can't remember all of the fine details). Anyway, the road was known for its high number of crashes. The authorities decided to test raising the speed limit as opposed to bringing it down even further, and guess what happened? In the month or so after the limit was raised, the number of crashes went right down.
Another, slightly different, example has been demonstrated on a highway in the Nothern Territory here in Australia. This particular highway, which goes straight through the middle of the outback, had no speed limit posted before 2006, which meant drivers could travel at whatever speed they were comfortable with. Of note is the fact that before the 110km/h speed limit was introduced, there were almost no crashes or deaths on the highway... but in the months after the speed limit was brought in, crashes and fatalities went right up. Do you see the picture I'm trying to paint?

My point is, it's not speed that kills people; it's concentrating on keeping the vehicle under that speed that kills people. Keep in mind that I'm not talking about speed freaks with more cubic inches than experience or common sense - kids like the crash victims you describe more often than not treat the road like a racetrack because they are a) High on Alcohol or drugs, b) Wanting to impress their mates/girlfriends/whatever, or c) Wanting to get high off breaking the law (If a driving law was relaxed (keep in mind that I am NOT saying completely taken away) then it is my belief that there would be less incentive to break it. I haven't heard of deaths or pileups on the unlimited sections of the Autobahn...). I'm talking about normal people who obey the road rules. Concentrating on keeping your car at a certain speed has been proven to take people's concentration off the road because they're keeping their eyes on the speedometer all the time, thus making a car crash more likely.

I did not mean to give the impression that everyone should be able to go whizzing around suburban streets at 70mph, so I'm sorry if you read it that way. I am not a mindless hoon - in fact, when I get my learner's plates in a few months, I have sworn to do my utmost to be as safe a driver as I can. I know full well that speed limits are there for a reason, but I'm just saying that limiting the speed that people can travel at has the potential to do just as much harm as good.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Some good reads in this thread!

I was referring in the first post to speeding on an empty highway. On normal roads i drive really dull, and 99% of the time at the correct speed. Especially in urban areas a child can cross the street and you can hit it in a blink of an eye.

Though on highways that are deserted the police should not be so anal as they are in this country. On similar roads in Germany i can drive as fast as i want (heaven ) and the death rate of highway victims seems even lower there because people watch out overtaking other cars.

 

[Dave Flower]

Drivers are increasingly being given the message - follow the rules, follow the rules, stick to the speed limits - to me a Green Light always did and still does not mean 'Go' it means 'Go if the way is clear'. I passed my driving test years and years ago and admit to being a 17 year old nutcase thats lucky to be alive, or not in jail, considering some of the crazy stuff I got up to back then. Some great advice and time spent being driven by and driving some far more accomplished drivers as well as having access to and 'training' from a Police Class 1 (Pursuit) Examiner helped calm me down, and in all honesty probably did save my life.

From back then one thing that always sticks and that I had repeatedly drilled into me is to drive not so much by the rules but by being ultra observant and then driving at a speed and manner that was safe for the road, given the time, traffic, weather, road surface etc etc - If the speed limit is 70mph there may well be time when 70mph is not safe, just as at times 150mph may be safe on the same stretch of road, (just don't get caught). My problem with this BLIND enforcement of the law is that people then stop thinking about their driving, their minds almost wander off, so long as they are in the rules then thats ok, 70mph in a 70mph limit is fine, even in driving snow and fog, the light is green I'll go through without scanning for someone jumping their Red, so many times I see this attitude because thats whats drilled into people nowadays by rules being Blindly Enforced against drivers, while the little scroat mugging the old lady gets told not to be a bad boy again!

One of my biggest lucky escapes came when in my younger crazy days, I went down a City Road at above 95mph in a 30mph limit - not advisable, especially on a busy Friday Night, at 9.30pm, even less advisable when a Police Vauxhall Senator is waiting to turn across your path into a side road. Anyway he saw me coming, didn't pull across me and caught me up at the next set of lights..His first words we that he was surprised I managed to stop for the Red Lights, his second was and what Speed were you doing - My reply 30mph... and I stuck to it despite his obvious frustration... in the end he said if we went to court he would say I was doing considerably more than 30 and would have killed him and his colleague if he had pulled across in front of me - true - but he had to issue a ticket for 'exceeding' 30mph and give me a fixed penalty - unless you know they have clocked you NEVER admit to breaking the limit..
It happened again some years later in the middle of the night, I was in a Mitsubishi L300 Panel Van (2litre, 16 valve Twin Cam Petrol) - passed a side road between two houses, in a 30mph limit at about 75mph - just as a Police car pulled up to the junction - now this is a big white van with red signwriting all over it - I slowed using handbrake and gears (no brake lights) as soon as I passed him and waited for the inevitable blue lights of destiny, again a Police Man who had no idea of actual speed trying to get me to admit to speeding, 'What speed were you doing' - Me - '30' Him - 'No, you were definitly doing more than that, come on what speed?' Me - '30' Him (getting frustrated) - I know you were doing more what 50, 60 mph, admit it, what speed were you doing? Me '30' Him - 'Now come on all I saw was a Red and White Flash, so what speed were you really doing?' Me - '30' Him (exasperated) - but you were just a flash to me and my colleague' Me - 'Well it must have been an optical illusion because of the narrow road you were coming up or the streetlights but I was doing 30' Him - Well I think you were doing more and I'll keep an eye out for you, now on your way and watch your speed...'

I could go on all night with stories of crazy speed, grasstracking on fields at 2am with no lights, and getting stopped by the law on countless occassions, as well as not getting stopped because they simply couldn't keep up and I knew they couldn't have my number because I didn't let them get close enough - but that was then, this is now, they have helicopters now, so its a lot different, also time and maturity has taught me that its neither big nor clever to speed and drive crazy on the roads, I just wish they would make people THINK about their driving instead of enforcing rules and encouraging people to get bhind the wheel and act like robots..

Rant Over...