Rjan:
I can think of multiple places where 20mph over the speed limit is considered perfectly reasonable by a sensible driver
Can you not see the irony in that statement?
I don’t see it, no. In my general experience, most speed limits are suitable for wagons, not for cars.
Even then one of the places I have in mind that is a 30 limit would be suitable for a fully-freighted wagon travelling between 30mph and 40mph (albeit it isn’t a place I’ve often frequented in a wagon, but it is an arterial route).
As I say, the idea that a car driver caught doing 50mph on that stretch was driving insensibly with regard to the road itself, is a laughable notion.
We all witness drivers doing insensibly high speeds from time to time, but it is not really that common, and it is very often in situations where the driver is still within the overall speed limit, or it is massively over the speed limit in settings where most reasonable drivers would still exceed the limit itself (just not by the same degree).
It’s not unusual nowadays to hear of grandmothers over retirement age with points on their licences. Are we to believe that these old ladies were tear-assing around the streets at the time, at a speed no reasonable person would have considered appropriate?
The manner of speed enforcement nowadays is not a serious attempt to reform or limit those drivers whose judgments are considered unsafe and far outside the norm. It is simply a way of collecting another road tax from the general population, supposedly giving the police something material to do on a quiet day which defrays the cost of their wages (rather than just letting them play snooker or take a long lunch, or doing something else of a community nature which would hone the social skills and mindset of police officers), or placating a minority of extremists who for one reason or another have a tyrannical attitude to the issue of speed.
I’m going to go with the don’t go too hard on him as well. We all did or still do it although 51 in a 30 is silly. I’m the first to admit to being no angle but do stick to the limits in 30 and 40 residential areas. My lads 18 and has just got rid of the black box he had to have for his first years insurance. He now speeds too much and I’ve warned him about the consequences WHEN he gets caught. One of his mates who’s 20 got done for drink driving!!! He keeps telling us what car he’s going to get when he gets his licence back lol. I just keep telling him he’ll need extremely deep pockets for the insurance…if anybody will even insure him at all.
Go easy on him, we were all young and daft once upon a time.
I used to swim in reservoirs. I also used to put two pence pieces on railway lines and then hide in the bushes until the train went past, then went to retrieve them. Used my black widow on various folks greenhouses, robbed stuff, got involved in fights, and was generally an idiot.
I also used to drive extremely fast in 30 limits. The lad will learn and at some point grow up. As has already been said, no-one got hurt and the lesson is there to be learned. His old man sounds like a cracking chap and there is no reason to suggest the lad won’t follow suit.
It’s great to hear from the holier than thou brigade though. Keep up the hypocritical ■■■■■■■■ lads…
When he does get his licence back, his best bet is to buy a vintage car and insure it through a club dedicated to that marque. If he gets one over 40 years old, there is no tax either.
