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A mess of mixed signals
Page 26
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THE RECENT government figures have done little to resolve the arguments surrounding the question of speeding. However, neither side has introduced into the argument a critical component: namely. what is the speed limit? Put simply, I do not object to the letter of the law being applied. What I object to is the greyness of the law that we are applying.
Let me give some real examples: I am driving my car along an A-road and pass a 30mph speed limit sign with a painted '30' on the road. Some 200 metres later there is a smaller 'repeater' sign with a camera icon on a yellow background specifying a 40mph speed limit. What is the legal speed limit?
Last year two police officers from one force quashed a speeding conviction in another force area on the basis that the 'repeater signs with camera and yellow border' were not prescribed signs and therefore meaningless: the National Speed Limit therefore applied. Following this principle, although I have passed a 40mph repeater,it could be argued that the speed limit is still 30mph.Another confusion is that of differing speed limits according to vehicle type. If Jam driving my artic along a dual-carriageway where a 60mph speed limit is signified,my speed limit is 40mph (national speed limit). Unfortunately the car drivers hooting and flashing behind me are unaware of this and, according to another Chief Constable, it would be difficult to have signs designating the plethora of speed limits that apply on any one stretch of road (although the French manage to). Everyday! find myself in situations both in car and artic where the speed limit is debatable.Yet the Road Safety Partnership can hand out fixed penalty notices with impunity and my only recourse is to spend time and money, both of which are unrecoverable, pleading in front of lay magistrates who have little understanding of the complexities of traffic law particularly as it applies to HGVs.
We need a clear signification of speed limits and a nationally agreed application of the law.
Richard Jordan Clevedon Somerset