Speeding, ouch..................

[Blackbird]

I have no problem with the police doing their job. I'm really happy that that they remove crap drivers and make the roads safer for the rest of us, despite getting the occasional tug for speeding. It's impossible for them to be selective.

I do have a radar detector, mainly for when I miss eyeballing camera vans. I reckon it's actually slowed me up due to being paranoid every time it goes off!

[MikeL]

I have no problem with the police doing their job. I'm really happy that that they remove crap drivers and make the roads safer for the rest of us, despite getting the occasional tug for speeding. It's impossible for them to be selective.

What is a "crap" driver? And does an increasingly strict, no-tolerance, no-discretion enforcement policy actually make the roads safer?

Overtaking on a double yellow line at 163 strikes me as unwise, to say the least, regardless of the individual circumstances...

On the other hand, it is entirely possible to lose one's licence and be removed from the road for an extended period entirely as a result of an accumulation of demerit points for offences such as 111 kph on the open road. A hypothetical motorist, who has held a licence for 30-odd years, never had a serious crash or been convicted of anything other than minor speeding offences, and is therefore a relatively "safe" driver, if he loses his licence, will statistically reduce the average "safety" of the roads, albeit infinitesimally.
Multiply that infinitesimal statistical effect by whatever number of otherwise "safe" drivers/riders are being put off the roads by stricter and stricter enforcement of speeding laws and ultimately it becomes significant.
Taken to the (absurd) conclusion, we will be left with roads populated by criminals who flout all regulations anyway and people who keep safely to the speed limit but still don't give way at intersections, remember to signal before changing lanes, or think that the sudden U-turn in a busy city street might be hazardous to someone's health...

[scumdog]

Quite right! Since indicating, giving way at intersections etc is up to the driver/riders discretion I don't see why the speed they want to travel at should not likewise be up to their discretion too.

[Coyote]

The comment I made earlier was a bit stupid. You're kinda asking for a ticket going at 160.

But I still reckon cops are still out to get money. About a year back, we were towing one of our bikes on our trailer, and the speed limit for a trailer is 80kph, which is hard to do when you have people wanting to go 100 up your ass. Anyway, since we only recently got the trailer at the time, my Dad had forgotten about the 80 rule and was doing about 90 to keep up with the rest of the traffic, cop pulls us over and says he caught us doing 92kph, and gives us a ticket for roughly $400. Isn't that a bit excessive?

[jrandom]

trailer... 92kph... ticket for roughly $400

That can't possibly be right. 12kph over the limit doesn't get you a $400 ticket.

[scumdog]

Damn right it's expensive, come down here and IF I did give you a ticket for that speed I believe it would be for $80.
Off the top of my head I would say you would have to be towing at 116kmh or faster to get a $400 speeding ticket - you sure the price is right and you sure there were no other offences (no w.o.f. etc) involved?

[Coyote]

That can't possibly be right. 12kph over the limit doesn't get you a $400 ticket.

My Dad might be stretching the truth. I didnt hear the cop cause I was half asleep in the back seat of our cage. Whats the normal fine for 10+kph over?

[Timetogo]

The whole speeding thing is a load of....
Problem is its an easy one to target, makes the politicians feel good, the mad right feel holy and gives the police something nice and easy to monitor cause they have a digital readout with little extra work apart from sitting in there car waiting for some poor bastard who’s doing more than 8-9 kph over so their stats look better AND they make lots of money from it.
They see people coming who are speeding and give them a ticket with a nice readout on the dash that says "yes you were speeding" Which is a LOT easier than proving you didn't indicate or were following to closely etc. especially if its argued in court without a witness or similar.
They aren't about to sit at an intersection and count the number of people who do indicate correctly when again they have a nice little digital counter to do the job for them. How much is the current road toll up on last year ?? the median speed has certainly been lowered ….

[crashe]

Quote[ speed and thrills are, after all the whole point of motorbikes and ANYONE who disagree's with that is deluded or delusional, take your pick. ]Quote

Actually I like to ride because I enjoy riding.... I dont go out there to speed on the open roads... I do like to see what is happening out there....
I may zip and zap in the suburbs etc... but open roads no way.
But then I dont have a fast bike either just for that reason.

But then not everyone wants to speed or be a lunatic on their bikes.

So does that me deluded or delusional.... NO F**King way.

[scumdog]

The whole speeding thing is a load of....
Problem is its an easy one to target, makes the politicians feel good, the mad right feel holy and gives the police something nice and easy to monitor cause they have a digital readout with little extra work apart from sitting in there car waiting for some poor bastard who’s doing more than 8-9 kph over so their stats look better AND they make lots of money from it.
They see people coming who are speeding and give them a ticket with a nice readout on the dash that says "yes you were speeding" Which is a LOT easier than proving you didn't indicate or were following to closely etc. especially if its argued in court without a witness or similar.
They aren't about to sit at an intersection and count the number of people who do indicate correctly when again they have a nice little digital counter to do the job for them. How much is the current road toll up on last year ?? the median speed has certainly been lowered ….

And your quick, simple and easy to implement plan to nab those that don't indicate or follow too close is...? - without using any more staff of course.
BTW:
I have yet to see a way to detect a 'fails to indicate' or 'follows to close' from 250 metres AND have them drive right up to the Police vehicle so in that respect your comments about the 'nice readout on the dash' and the ease of using it is correct.
If your talking about money then those to examples would be more profitable than a measly $80 for doing 'only' 14km over the limit so get off your whinging arse and invent a way that detecting those two offences easier for me. (and people I HAVE stopped for those type of things say 'what about all those mad drivers that speed all the time, why don't you pick on them?')
Have a nice Christmas.

[Coyote]

If ya wanna speed, start racing. Far safer as the traffic is all one way, and no cops out there to say slow down.

[XP@]

Have sympathy... I was caught for 111km in a 50 zone just after I came out here.
I suffered the 28day ban (a friend rode my bike home) but as for the fine... well they should have made sure that their speed gun was properly calibrated.

I would suggest you get a good traffic lawer or make sure they have followed the rule book to the letter.

Even if you do manage to get off it use the 28 days to think long and hard about your riding. I did, it has probably saved my life a number of times
As a result I bought a book (proficiant motorcycling by D L Hough), took a few lessons (in preparation for mitigation in court) and bought a slower bike (f650)

The F650 opened up a Kiwi novelty called gravel roads. With chunky tyres and a few guts you have a lot more fun off road and on gravel than you ever thought possible on the road. You also stand a lot less chance of being caught at silly speeds.

[loosebruce]

I've got just over 2 weeks to go until i am legally allowed to ride on the road again, this time i lost it on dermerits, but i have lost it in a bigger way a long time ago, who do i blame, myself, i was the one that choose to open the throttle, i'm not a stupid man (some might disagree) but i know the laws quite well and know full well i'm doing wrong and if i get caught, well shit i get caught, i live with it, i've been push biking to work almost every day, not having a licence has been an inconvience but i only have myself to blame.

Why anyone would blame the police i don't know, sometimes i feel they are a bit unreasonable, but what can you do? I always am polite and coopritvie (sp) when pulled i wont give the officer any shit or try and talk my way out of it, for that fact half the time i get off with a waring or a much lighter fine, well worth being a nice guy.

Example being one day i gave the TL a handful in 2nd in a 50 of all places, throttled off rolled round the corner and ping, HP sitting on the side of the road with his head out the the window looking straight at me, i waved to em and pulled straight over beside him, he'd clocked me at 83kph, we had a nice wee chat and he asked me why, i couldn't give him an answer why i did it, but he stated how he used to ride and RF900 back in south africa and knows how easy it is to get up to speed on bikes, i was licenced and WOF and Reg'd, tyres had tread (for a change ) he said he wouldn't overlook it completely but did me for 61kph - $80 ticket and 20 points, better than the other ticket i could've got, top bloke he was.

Morale- be good to the police if you get pulled, hell i aint no angel i have done a few runners.

And big ups to the officer who got some drunken bum who i watched pull outta the side road across from st lukes drive up the traffic island then slowly drive back across the road and park up, as i rode by he was finishing off a beer (WTF) quick call on the cell and the patrol car was on em in a matter a minutes

[MikeL]

top bloke he was.

On the contrary. I think he let the side down. Not to mention confuse the motoring public with blatant inconsistency. I did 71 in a 50 - absolutely no aggravating circumstances - a wide, almost deserted thoroghfare at 10 pm in perfect visibility and weather conditions - no-one can persuade me that my speed was unsafe in anything other than a statistical sense. She cheerfully did me for 71 ($120 = 35 points).
If there are going to be exceptions made, how about some consistency on the criteria and from officer to officer? Otherwise, as I've pointed out previously, it's just a lottery.

[Biff]

Hey poms - if you get caught speeding while you still have a UK licence to hand, do what I do (done twice) , tell them you're a tourist, pay your fine and get away without any demerit points. Just keep an eye on your ticket, if the cop enters your DOB on the ticket then your points will add up on a specifically allocated Kiwi cyber licence. So if you do ever apply for a Kiwi licence they'll be on there. Then there's the possibility of a cop running a rego check on your moto, then you're in deep shittee.

I was talking to a French biker the other day (yes he did smell) whose been doing it for years. "Claims" to have racked up over 12 speeding tickets in the last 2 years or so and should have been banned 2 or three times over.

Even better - don't speed, get bored, turn to drink and drugs, beat the wife, get divorced and be forced to live the rest of your life in a cardboard box in the gutter - or even worse join the H.P!!