Just got done for speeding :(

Supercell

Well , i'm a little bit miffed, overall i'm a very very law abiding motorist.

Today driving indo town, i got nicked by a garda standing behind a tree, was doing 39mph in a 30 mph zone.

What really bothers me is that i'd just gone through traffic lights and the road ahead was clear, it was a bright sunny day and absent mindedly i just opened the throttle a little on my bike, it still felt like i was going slowly, wide open road no traffic etc..

My crime? ....did 39 mph (briefly) in a 30 mph zone.

What really bugs me is that, i wasnt doing 60 or 80 or something insane, i was a little over the rediculous speed limit in the area, and was absolutely no danger to anyone, but the Garda still gave me a ticket, and that two points on my insurance.....

How do ppl feel about sppeding, tbh, i'm first to say that ppl driving at 60mph through a housing estate should be locked away, but 39 mph on an open road with nobody around, seem very very harsh, i could have been driving at 100mph and got the same fine !

These are my first points ever for driving and must admit i'm a little shaken by getting them, is there any exemptions for insurance..ie <4 no penalty, or >0 we can charge you + €€€

Just seems so unfair ...speeding @ 39 mph ..on a road with nobody but a garda behind a tree

Carnate

At the moment Insurance companies dont have access to your

driving record at the moment, as i was told by the person taking

MY Money for speeding , i was doing 54 in a 30, down hill in

Dundrum by pass.


My Fault

Do the crime Pay the Fine!

Silent Bob

Originally posted by Carnate
At the moment Insurance companies dont have access to your

driving record at the moment, as i was told by the person taking

MY Money for speeding , i was doing 54 in a 30, down hill in

Dundrum by pass.


My Fault

Do the crime Pay the Fine!

54 down the Dundrum bypass is a bit excessive. It really should be signposted as a 40 zone though.

Carnate

Oh yeah,

And if you had been doing 100mph,

You would have got arrested on the spot.

Dont speed in built up areas

"slight rant"
Its the 12 points thing that bothers me, one time you hear that if you speed u will get fined, if you dont wear your seatbelt you get fined, BUT what about all these L plate Drivers driving without a full licence passenger? I saw this the other day a cop parked beside a Ldriver at a main set of Traffic light and no passenger in the L drivers car, I know she was an L driver because she was in front of me Signaling right and then she turned left after the cop car moved on.


Crazy new laws that are not enforced.

BrianD3

What I find crazy about the points system: you get 2 points for a relatively minor speeding offence, yet only 5 points for driving with no insurance. So if you're caught speeding 6 times in a 3 year period you're disqualified yet you can be caught driving uninsured on two separate occasions and keep your licence. In my opinion anyone caught driving uninsured should get an instant 5 year ban and for a second offence, a life ban.

BrianD3

Supercell

Frankly wish i had been doing 54 mph, would have felt that i earned my two points, as it is, it was a slow ride down a wide empty road

Supercell

Wonder if this is an irish record for speeding ie 39mph!!

Anyone got done for a lower speed?

MrJoeSoap

Dont mean to offend or upset anyone here, but doesnt a 30mph speed limit mean you stay under 30mph? So you say you werent doing 60 or 80... so what? You could still kill someone at 39 (not that I'm saying you would have, you seem as though you know what you are doing).

The fact is that speed limits and laws in general are there to protect the public, and where lives are concerned (and so often lost), why should the gardai be lenient?

Supercell

Originally posted by MrJoeSoap
Dont mean to offend or upset anyone here, but doesnt a 30mph speed limit mean you stay under 30mph? So you say you werent doing 60 or 80... so what? You could still kill someone at 39 (not that I'm saying you would have, you seem as though you know what you are doing).

The fact is that speed limits and laws in general are there to protect the public, and where lives are concerned (and so often lost), why should the gardai be lenient?

Honestly dont think on an empty road , i'm any danger to anyone bar the garda lurking behind a tree.

I do take yourpoint, maybe 60mph and i'm constitiuting a risk, but 39mph, seems excessive personaly:(

That said bítching about it wont make any difference, i'll pay the fine and probably les inclined to lift a finger if real crime happens, after all i'm now a criminal (((

mike65

Originally posted by Longfield
Honestly dont think on an empty road , i'm any danger to anyone bar the garda lurking behind a tree.

Thats the bit that pisses me off, traffic enforcment should'nt involve
clandestine behaviour by the guards...it smacks of quota filling.

Mike.

oneweb

Originally posted by Longfield
Whinge, whine, excuse-making

Stop making excuses. There was a speed limit. You went over it. Whether or not you realised, it's your responsibility to be aware of the limit and keep to it. Regardless of how wide the road is, how bright the sun is shining, how little traffic there is or how many Gardai are hiding behind a bush, the speed limit was set down for a reason. 9miles over the limit is exactly that. You won't be doing that again, now will you?

Supercell

Its a bit like "entrapment" to the motorist, ie the driver is caught on a good stretch of road where he's caught unawares due to the fact that his/her speed is safe on that stretch of road.

Funny how in any other part of law, this would not be tolerated, as its unfair on the so called "criminal" , but for the motorist its ok.

I do NOT avocate speeding, and this makes the fine so much harder to bear

Why don't they choose accident blackspots or places where sppeding constitutes a real and present danger?, rather than a place they know they will catch ppl. Smacks to me of hypocracy, the whole point of a speeding fine is to stop dangerious drivers, not the ones you know will probably be going "fast" in a zone you know has a speed limit thats OTT.

Supercell

Originally posted by oneweb
Stop making excuses. There was a speed limit. You went over it. Whether or not you realised, it's your responsibility to be aware of the limit and keep to it. Regardless of how wide the road is, how bright the sun is shining, how little traffic there is or how many Gardai are hiding behind a bush, the speed limit was set down for a reason. 9miles over the limit is exactly that. You won't be doing that again, now will you?

Yes i will and no doubt you will too, have you ever driven 10mph over the speed limit?

RicardoSmith

Look on the positive side. Something a lot worse could have happened to you today. If speeding was the worse thing to happen, then it was a pretty good day. You were unlucky as 60% of people maybe more. Drive about 40-50 on that road.

That said maybe it will make you more aware of the posted limits in future. If you think about its a 30 zone you should be fine driving at 2/3 the limits at 20mph. I know that seems sooooo slow but in fact thats probably whats a resonable speed for the road. 30mph is the limit, not the recommended speed.

The fact that it was lack of concentration that was the problem, should perhaps wake you up to the fact that perhaps your concentration isn't what it should be.

But I agree that its silly to not to take into account the road conditions and perhaps most of us would say a warning would be sufficent. They say that if you are over by 5-10% they'll let you away with it. But you were almost 33% over it.

Silent Bob

What annoys me is that official stopping distances and speed limits haven't been revised since the 70s.

E.g. my dad's motorbike has servo-assisted ABS brakes with a computer that distributes maximum braking to each wheel. It has a measured braking distance of 32m from 96km/h.
The figures given in The Rules of The Road are for a braking distance of 52m.

Also the distances given for reactions don't seem right. You are travelling at 26 2/3 m/s. I have a reaction time that has been measured at 0.18 to 0.23 seconds (that's time from seeing to doing).
I would then have travelled 6m (worst case). As opposed to the figures given to us which say 20m.

So if I were on such a bike my stopping distance would be 38m (maybe even add another 10m for not always operating at peak efficiency).

This is still way less than the figures we're given of 72m.

Also Seamas Brennan did mention something about some speed limits being rediculous and how you can't expect people to stick to them (this was on the Late Late about Christmas-ish). He also mentioned that they would be revised when all the signs are changed to km/h.
This will be a good thing (people are far less likely to feel like they are persecuted for driving a car) however I can't help thinking that Seamas Brennan says a lot of things, not all of which are acted upon (e.g. "Insurance companies must offer a 15% discount to points free drivers":rolleyes:)

Silent Bob

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
That said maybe it will make you more aware of the posted limits in future. If you think about its a 30 zone you should be fine driving at 2/3 the limits at 20mph. I know that seems sooooo slow but in fact thats probably whats a resonable speed for the road. 30mph is the limit, not the recommended speed.

The thing is that 30mph is a 'lowest common denominator' kind of limit. They pick it based on the knowledge that really old people with bad eyesight and god-awful reactions will also be driving down there.

If it's a case of a speed limit truly being the maximum safe speed for a road then (certainly on roads like the Dundrum bypass) the limits should be higher BUT people should also know that they should drive at a safe speed which, for them, might be much lower than what is signposted. This would require personal responsibility though - something which by the looks of things governments aren't prepared to give us (c.f. the whole compulsory DRL thing...)

RicardoSmith

Are you allowing for distractions that can happen to anyone, in considering reaction time. Like glare from the sun, scratching you ear or a pretty babe catching your eye? Maybe even day dreaming? Or do you reckon your reaction time is pretty much the same no matter what you are doing?

Silent Bob

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Are you allowing for distractions that can happen to anyone, in considering reaction time. Like glare from the sun, scratching you ear or a pretty babe catching your eye? Maybe even day dreaming? Or do you reckon your reaction time is pretty much the same no matter what you are doing?

That would be why I said maybe add an extra 10m (over 1 and a half times the 'reaction distance')

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Silent Bob
That would be why I said maybe add an extra 10m (over 1 and a half times the 'reaction distance')

Ok well how long in terms of sec is that for a distraction at say 35mph over 30mph. Say for example an everage person say tuning in the stereo for 1-3 sec's and in an average car without any electronics controlling the brakes, something like a 96 fiesta for example. I'd say you'd start to cover 30m. You could run down an entire football team in a line in that distance. (assuming you didn't notice them in a line in the middle of the road in the first place of course)

Silent Bob

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Ok well how long in terms of sec is that for a distraction at say 35mph over 30mph. Say for example an everage person say tuning in the stereo for 1-3 sec's and in an average car without any electronics controlling the brakes, something like a 96 fiesta for example. I'd say you'd start to cover 30m. You could run down an entire football team in a line in that distance. (assuming you didn't notice them in a line in the middle of the road in the first place of course)

I should probably also add that the figures in The Rules of The Road are best-case scenario figures.

Obviously worst-case involves your car ploughing into everything in sight (along with all the stuff you didn't see:))


And you'd have to be a bit of a twat to tune the radio without checking that you have the distance in front of you in case something goes wrong... (like you end up tuned to Lyric FM:))

edit: those figures I quoted were braking distances from 96 km/h or 60mph. Obviously if you are only doing 35mph the reaction distance is less, as is the braking distance.

At 35mph you are travelling 15.7m/s.
At 30mph you are travelling 13.5m/s.

Given a reaction time of 0.5s your reaction distance at 35mph is 7.85m, at 30mph it's 6.75m.

Victor

Originally posted by BrianD3
What I find crazy about the points system: you get 2 points for a relatively minor speeding offence, yet only 5 points for driving with no insurance. So if you're caught speeding 6 times in a 3 year period you're disqualified yet you can be caught driving uninsured on two separate occasions and keep your licence. In my opinion anyone caught driving uninsured should get an instant 5 year ban and for a second offence, a life ban.

Driving without insurance doesn't kill people (directly).

Silent Bob

Originally posted by Victor
Driving without insurance doesn't kill people (directly).

Neither does driving at 35mph on a completely empty road in safe conditions...

Victor

Originally posted by Silent Bob
Neither does driving at 35mph on a completely empty road in safe conditions...

What if the Garda behind the tree was a 6 year old about to run onto the "empty" road? If a doughnut eating Garda can hide behind the tree, so can a 6 year old.

Members of the Dublin Cycling Campaign set up a camcorder to get evidence of motorists (indiscriminately) using a cycle lane - do you think one of them would oblige and get videoed? Nope, the only things that work in this country are actual and / or perceived enforcement. You need to know you can be done for going 9mph over the limit.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Victor
Driving without insurance doesn't kill people (directly).

Ahh if you don't have insurance you shouldn't be driving and you're not driving you can't knock anyone down...

Its all semantics anyway. You either abide by the rules or you don't. If you can't do the fine/time, don't do the crime. Personally I find driving here a complete pain in the butt. Its why in the UK track days have become so popular. If we had any decent tracks and insurance it would be the same here.

Silent Bob

Originally posted by Victor
What if the Garda behind the tree was a 6 year old about to run onto the "empty" road? If a doughnut eating Garda can hide behind the tree, so can a 6 year old.

How many 6 year olds will be hiding behind a tree on the Dundrum bypass?

Possibly there will be more when the shopping centre is open, but until then...

Also I did say completely empty and safe conditions

Obviously if there is a potential for people to be running across the road from behind obstacles then you shouldn't be driving as fast :rolleyes:

Also take for instance Ballinteer road. There are no trees or entrances that a person can suddenly appear from, the verge/footpath/cyclepath is just too wide. You see everybody on the road if they are there, yet the Gardai have been parked up on the verge (blocking the cycle/foot path I might add) with the speed gun out. Of course they too were blatantly obvious...

Carnate

Just to clear up a small point,

1. it was a sunday morning 8am

2. the only buildings are ones being built(building sites)

3.dry road coming off the end of the m50 going downhill

4.cop hidden behind a hoarding.

5.forgot to take in to consideration the hill and in a automatic.


Hope this helps!

oh yeah .. and the holyer then tho brigade should remember the .. "let those without a Law Broken at any time cast the first Summons "

RicardoSmith

So what are you saying. Theres unavoidable circumstances where its ok to break any law? And this was one of them? Or that you can't manage to keep this car under the speed limit, and its the cars fault not yours? Or its a silly rule, you should be allowed to go faster depending on the time of day and if its been raining or not? (un enforceable) The cop wasn't doing his job properly, hes an idiot. Its not fair?

What?

I've seen how unfair cops can be alright. But this sounds like a simple case of you not paying attention and being caught out. I mean its all over the media how they are trying to catch everyone and enforce stricter controls. So its not really a surprise. Think about it from the cops point of view. If you were trying to catch people when would you try and do it?

Exactly.

Like you are the only person to have been caught speeding. Duh.
Most people don't bleat about it though. Take it like a man for pitys sake. If he'd done you for dangerous driving then you'd have something to complain about maybe. If you can't control your car within 9mph of the speed limit then drive 15mph beneath it. Or get the car fixed.

The_Conductor

I beat the record for the slowest speeding fine- Was doing 26 miles per hour in a 40MPH zone (Donnybrook village) and was fined for driving too slowly. It was early on a Sunday morning, and the car, an old mitsubishi spacewagon, had just blown a piston, and I was trying to nurse her home rather than leave her on the side of the road (had made it back from Sprucefield just outside of Belfast- the engine was screwed anyway, so it wasn't going to do it any harm getting a couple of miles further on). Acceleration was non-existant, but if you totally floored the pedal eventually you could move along, at a fairly sedentary pace. Pulled over by a Garda on a motor cycle and on the spot fine of £50 for driving too slow...... Thank God the penalty points weren't in. It really stuck in my throat to pay the £50....... Things like that are really an abuse of the system.

Silent Bob

That seems insane, esepcially considering that the minimum speed on a motorway is 30mph.

Also kind of flies in the face of the fact that the speed limit is a limit, not a recommended speed

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by smccarrick
I beat the record for the slowest speeding fine- Was doing 26 miles per hour in a 40MPH zone (Donnybrook village) and was fined for driving too slowly. It was early on a Sunday morning, and the car, an old mitsubishi spacewagon, had just blown a piston, and I was trying to nurse her home rather than leave her on the side of the road (had made it back from Sprucefield just outside of Belfast- the engine was screwed anyway, so it wasn't going to do it any harm getting a couple of miles further on). Acceleration was non-existant, but if you totally floored the pedal eventually you could move along, at a fairly sedentary pace. Pulled over by a Garda on a motor cycle and on the spot fine of £50 for driving too slow...... Thank God the penalty points weren't in. It really stuck in my throat to pay the £50....... Things like that are really an abuse of the system.

Now that I would have complained about. Cop was an idiot. Is there a minimun speed posted. If not I wouldn't have paid it.

Carnate

Ric--hard---o

Do you Drive at all?


Your taking this very personal (sry if wrong spelling).

Chill man..

But if not pls add a few smilies pls..

RicardoSmith

Yup though quite a while. But I don't enjoy it anymore. With all the muppertry going on these days. Both by road users, the traffic planners (in the loose-est sense of the word "planner") and the boys with the flashers. Had a few run ins myself. Got pulled once or twice in the past. I've seen my share of "creative" policing. Trust me you'll know when someone doing a number on you, its not very subtle and not very nice. Had a clean slate up to now, (not without some close shaves either) but its getting harder and harder to keep it that way. Didn't mean to come across all serious. But lots of talking carp going on in this thread...:D

JohnBoy

if someone is driving without insurance do they really care that they have 5 points on their licence?

Oh no my joyriding insurance will go up, what shall I do???????


:rolleyes:

Supercell

Originally posted by smccarrick
I beat the record for the slowest speeding fine- Was doing 26 miles per hour in a 40MPH zone (Donnybrook village) and was fined for driving too slowly.

You just made my day, cannot believe ppl are actually done for driving too slowly, i know its in the ruleboot, but thought it a kinda urban myth that anyone actually was ever fined for this, sometime a little more leaway could be given when the roads are empty and the speed limit appears to be totally arbitorily picked for that area (at any time).


As to the argument about a kid running out on the road..well if you doing much more than 5mph and they run right out in front of your vehical, chances are speed limits wont make much of a difference, and when i did spot him..was logng since slowed down before i reached him..but his gun had already recoded the speed.

WhiteWashMan

i love the fact that the reactions here are so different to the ones here : http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92938&perpage=40&highlight=speeding&pagenumber=4

which is it?

you were speeding i think was how most people complained.

you w3ere 9 miles an hour over the limit.

you COULD HAVE KILLED SOMEONE!!!!!!

YOU SHOULD HAVE HAD YOUR LICENCE TAKEN FROM YOU AND YOUR LEGS WHIPPED WITH RIDING CROP!

Gordon

WWM, in fairness, if that thread was posted here it would have the exact same reaction as this thread.

Motors = car drivers on the whole
Afterhours = non car drivers on the whole.

ww)

unkel

Originally posted by Silent Bob
the minimum speed on a motorway is 30mph.

Bob,

Where did you get this info? Is this official? IMHO it is more dangerous to do 30mph in the fast lane (should be called overtaking lane) of an empty motorway than doing well over 100mph. Anybody ever driven in Germany? It works very well over there with people making cruising speeds of 100mph+ safely. Do not try to do 30mph in Italy on a motorway cause you will not survive. Same in Spain.

Silent Bob

Originally posted by unkel
Where did you get this info? Is this official? IMHO it is more dangerous to do 30mph in the fast lane (should be called overtaking lane) of an empty motorway than doing well over 100mph.

You know the really big blue sign on the approach to a motorway?

"No L drivers, no vehicles under 50cc, no slow vehicles (under 30mph), etc."

And yes, it would be exceptionally dangerous to drive at 30mph in the overtaking lane.

sceptre

Originally posted by Longfield
Its a bit like "entrapment" to the motorist, ie the driver is caught on a good stretch of road where he's caught unawares due to the fact that his/her speed is safe on that stretch of road.

Nothing like emtrapment at all. You could say it's like a jewellery store leaving a watch out on the counter with no-one looking while you're there but that wouldn't be entrapment either. it's not as though there was a cop in the car encouraging you to go over the limit.

I'm not trying to portray myself as some kind of saint btw (I try to keep to speed limits but don't always) - I'm just pointing out that you did break the law and you will get the penalty and that's all. Pointless saying there are other places the cops should be - that would be like saying "why punish people for thieving when there are so many unsolved murders"

Victor

Originally posted by Silent Bob
the minimum speed on a motorway is 30mph.

Your vehicle must be capable of 30mph - you at a similar speed to surrounding traffic.

kdevitt

My friend got done for 32 in a 30.... its a joke...

Your speedo is calibrated to be within 10% of your actual speed - so you could happily be driving along at what you think is 30mph, but get done for doing 33... most sensible police forces have a 10%+2 ratio for what speed you'll get done for, ie. 35 in a 30, 57 in a 50, 79 in a 70... of course it'd really mess up the gardai's handy little revenue generator if they were to apply it here.

sceptre

Originally posted by Carnate
5.forgot to take in to consideration the hill and in a automatic.

Don't get the significance of this tbh. Are there no brakes on your car?

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by kdevitt
My friend got done for 32 in a 30.... its a joke...

Your speedo is calibrated to be within 10% of your actual speed - so you could happily be driving along at what you think is 30mph, but get done for doing 33... most sensible police forces have a 10%+2 ratio for what speed you'll get done for, ie. 35 in a 30, 57 in a 50, 79 in a 70... of course it'd really mess up the gardai's handy little revenue generator if they were to apply it here.

Has anyone ever attempted to challange the accuarcy of the equipment used by the Gardai? Ask them for the calibration cert for the device they are using. They usually wont have it. Get the serial number of the device and force them to produce it. Most laser traps are calibrated every 6 months.

If they refuse then challenge it in court.


Heres a interesting page on speed traps
http://www.speed-trap.co.uk/Accused_Home/How_it_Works/How_it_works_Home.htm

nellieswellies

Jeez 32 in a 30 is a bit excessive, I pay reasonably close attention to my speed and sometimes your speed could easily go to 32 before you cop on to it and get it back down.
Another thing this is a bit off topic but it really gets my goat when you are driving AT the speed limit and people still tailgate you applying silent pressure for you to speed surely you should be able to report these instances but I reckon if you do no good will ever come of it. I'll give you an example 2 years ago Christmas (about 12.30pm)week I was driving home towards Bray on the N11 between Cournels court and the Ballybrack exit I pulled away from the traffic lights and down the road on the dual carrigeway theres a jeep reversing towards me in my lane NOT the hard shoulder, I get 500m down the road and theres a checkpoint that this smart arse spotted the checkpoint whacked the jeep in reverse and started reversing away, if he done this in the hard shoulder I would not have said a word when I got to the checkpoint but this muppet was in my land backing towards me in the dual carrigeway. I got up to the cops and told them what just happened they said "did you get the reg" I said no but if you leave now you'll see him and pulled away as far as I could see in my mirror they stayed put and did'nt bother.

kdevitt

I pay reasonably close attention to my speed and sometimes your speed could easily go to 32 before you cop on to it and get it back down.

The unfortunate part is that your speedo could be reading 30mph on the mark, and you could be done for up to 33mph so you mightn't see any need to get your speed down... being so anal about enforcing the speed limit means people are spending more time looking at their speedo than at the road ahead of them...

Either way, the guards are more interested in generating revenue than saving lives imho.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by kdevitt
The unfortunate part is that your speedo could be reading 30mph on the mark, and you could be done for up to 33mph so you mightn't see any need to get your speed down... being so anal about enforcing the speed limit means people are spending more time looking at their speedo than at the road ahead of them...

Either way, the guards are more interested in generating revenue than saving lives imho.

Very true. Guess we'll have to drive around at 25mph, but doh! then I'll get done for driving slowly.

xlex

Originally posted by kdevitt
The unfortunate part is that your speedo could be reading 30mph on the mark, and you could be done for up to 33mph so you mightn't see any need to get your speed down... being so anal about enforcing the speed limit means people are spending more time looking at their speedo than at the road ahead of them...

Either way, the guards are more interested in generating revenue than saving lives imho.

IMO if you spend time checking your speedo for fractions over the 30/40/50/60/70 MPH mark you'll spend more time looking at the speedo than the fricking road, how is that a good thing?

kdevitt

yep - exactly my point... the fact that no leeway is being given is causing a new standard of crap driving - people driving on the limit, hitting the brakes to slow down, and then tapping their brakes every 15 seconds or so - i see it on the M50 every morning. People hit 70 mph and then the brakes start flickering on and off like they have a mind of their own.

Victor

Originally posted by kdevitt
People hit 70 mph and then the brakes start flickering on and off like they have a mind of their own.

Which will get you done for dangerous driving - on a motorway, drive at the speed of surrounding vehicles.

kdevitt

hehe - good one

The guards are generally oblivious to anything other than a:smashing into someone/or someone elses car, or b:driving over the speed limit no matter how minor the infringement

I've sat on the Blanchardstown M50 roundabout on several occasions while a guard on a motorbike has completely ignored people cutting up other cars by taking a right turn onto the M50 while in the inside lane (straight ahead only). A guard also almost crashed into the side of a friends car on sunday because he didn't bother looking at the indicators on my friends car showing they were taking a right turn, and then proceeded to give them a bollocking!!

Either way - most people who do the brake tapping thing (i wonder is it nervous energy??:D) have nothing in front of them to keep up with...

delop

A few years ago, I was driving on a secondary road down the country doing about 45 - 50, perfectly under the speed limit, There was a 10 yr old child cycling on the same side of the road as me, heading in the same direction, It was a straight road, I could see him well ahead of me, I slowed down a bit Indicated to pass him, and just as I got abreast of him, give or take a meter, He dicided to cross the road without looking, I coudlnt avoide him and the car would not stop.

Anyway to make a long story short, the child was not injured, Luckly for him, his bike was to only thing destroyed, he flew right over the car and landed in a soft field. I was cleared of any criminal responsibility (not that that mattered)

My point is I wonder what woudl have happened If I was going slower, I might have been able to stop or have had more time to avoid him.. I know they are all if's but You cant predict what unexpected things might happen when you are out on the road, such as childern doing childern things or guards hiding behind trees...

Its a shame I had to go through that experence before I learned ...