When is it OK to break the speed limit?

[HDi fun]

In real world terms we can probably consider 80mph to be a reasonable transient speed to hit briefly during a swift main road passing manoeuvre. Less time on the wrong side of the road is a good thing. I doubt that many traffic officers would bother any of us for this alone.

I agree that 100mph is asking for attention and if we need to hit that speed to pass safely then we probably don't need to overtake in the first place.

 

[st24]

Good call.

 

[old-git]

My question would be what speed is the car you are overtaking doing if you have to break the national speed limit to pass it?

 

[HDi fun]

My question would be what speed is the car you are overtaking doing if you have to break the national speed limit to pass it?

It's not so much a case of having to exceed the speed limit in order to pass. It's a case of getting the overtake completed as swiftly as possible. This is why speed limit enforcement is better when performed by humans rather than by machines.

 

[old-git]

Agreed, but if you need to break the speed limit in order to overtake I would question the need to overtake in the first place.

I disagree that an ovetake has to be completed as swiftly as possible, I would go with as safely as possible. If you have to overtake swiftly then maybe you should wait until you can overtake safely

 

[HDi fun]

I am not suggesting overtaking dangerously. Nor am I suggesting compromising safety. You are assuming I mean cutting it down to the last microsecond with a car approaching in the opposite direction. You're wrong.

Let's consider passing a heavy goods vehicle. Surely it's better to go a dozen or so mph over the speed limit, briefly, than to be alongside a goods vehicle for a needlessly extended period that can be shortened simply by getting on with the task.

 

[old-git]

I know that you aren't.

I would exceed the limit to get past a lorry, I am no law abiding angel. What I am pointing out is that this is still breaking the law and wouldn't be a legitimate excuse. Having to break the law to overtake 'safely' means that you can't overtake safely within the speed limit so shouldn't really be overtaking.

We seem to have strayed somewhat off topic here. Mabye we should continiue this elsewhere?

 

[old-git]

Thread started as discusion was polluting another

 

[Yugguy]

When I had my wife and 18 month old daughter in the car and we were being chased and rammed by what turned out to be four men known to the police as violent and high on drugs.

 

[T9 man]

When I had my wife and 18 month old daughter in the car and we were being chased and rammed by what turned out to be four men known to the police as violent and high on drugs.

Good heavens!

 

[HDi fun]

That's fair justification in my opinion.

 

[stamford]

When I had my wife and 18 month old daughter in the car and we were being chased and rammed by what turned out to be four men known to the police as violent and high on drugs.

Can't argue with that at all. Nasty.

For me it would be if I had to get past a row of traffic in order to find a suitable space to pull into safely if I had blues and twos behind me and not chasing me!

 

[stamford]

Let's consider passing a heavy goods vehicle. Surely it's better to go a dozen or so mph over the speed limit, briefly, than to be alongside a goods vehicle for a needlessly extended period that can be shortened simply by getting on with the task.

Why go a dozen or so over the limit when lorries pull out and do 1mph more than the ones in the slow lane?

But yea I would do the same for a brief period to pass quickly and safely but not so close as if playing chicken unlike some I see on the daily commute.

 

[obi_waynne]

It's never ok to speed! (*someone has to take the sensible line here.)

I would say that if life depended on it you could speed. IE: Rushing to hospital or getting away from a ninja assassin driving a steam roller.

 

[rdp50734]

I think its ok if you're trying to preserve life.

If you are in danger or if you are getting someone to hospital etc... in an emergency.

 

[HDi fun]

Yes I think these situations qualify. As would making room for a response vehicle in my opinion. Technically there are no exemptions in law but provided the situations are genuine then the law is unlikely to be applied against you unless you create a worse situation whilst doing so.

This thread was born as a result of a conversation between OG & me regarding transient speeding whilst completing an overtaking manoeuvre.

Speeding is an absolute offence and it is possible to be issued with a penalty for even being 1mph over the speed limit. ACPO guidelines suggest 10% + 2mph over (eg. 68mph in a 60mph zone) as the minimum before any action will be taken. These are only guidelines but I suspect they are put there to accommodate situations such as mentioned herein.

Dealing with response vehicles is an interesting theme - in my opinion the silliest thing I see is people just dumbly stopping with no regard to how the response driver is supposed to make progress. You do not need to mount kerbs. Stopping across a left hand turning is daft - it might be just that one the emergency vehicle needs, but then again the response driver should indicate their intentions.

I have on occasions driven through a red light to facilitate a response vehicle but this is definitely not recommended. I only do this if I have absolute confidence that the junction is otherwise clear of traffic and I can see it to be so. If you are going to do this then it is ESSENTIAL TO STOP FIRST AND LOOK THOROUGHLY. This is the same procedure police, fire and ambulance drivers will adopt. And it is AT YOUR OWN RISK. If you cause a collision you will likely still be held at least partially, if not completely accountable.

 

[Yugguy]

I've heard of people getting fined off redlight cameras when they've gone through a bit to let emergency services through.

What happened to us was we were driving home one day, 8 years or so ago now. I had a 2.5 v6 vectra at the time, it was a fairly quick car. (It's the same one that got totalled later, pics in my gallery)

We came up behind an old Fiesta with four lads in. It kepyt going and then slamming on, as if it was trying to make me hit it. At a bit of clear road I got past it, with it trying to hit me as I went past.

When we got to the next junction it didn't brake, it used me as a brake, smashing into the back of us.

On straights I could get away, but as soon as either traffic or junctions appeared they would slam into us. This went on for a good 5 minutes. Luckily my car was much heavier and stronger.

We called the police. The 999 dispatcher's advice was to stop and see what happened. Which I simply wasnt going to do. (He later got sacked after my mother-in-law lodged a complaint.) We'd been able to get the reg number of the vehicle at least.

So knowing I wouldnt get any help from the police and would need to sort this myself I finally reached a dual carriageway and shot off to my brother-in-laws farm, got my wife and daughter safe and went with him and one of the farmhands, got ourselves some large crowbars and waited at the top of the farm drive.

Fortunately or unfortunately, we'd managed to lose them.

I reported it to the police and that was that I thought until a week later I got a call.

The police had found the car in the early hours of the next morning in the town centre, the driver slumped at the wheel, out of his head on drugs. He attacked the 2 coppers when they talked to him and got arrested and sent down. He was a career druggie and serial violent offender, him and his family well known to the police. The police think on that day he was looking for someone to hurt.

 

[HDi fun]

That is terrifying.

 

[obi_waynne]

What an ordeal! There are some real nutters around!