Hi all,

Last night on the way back from Beau's because I bought his wheels I got flashed in a 40mph zone, although my speedo said 40mph!? Obviously, I'll have to wait and see what the ticket says to see what speed I was doing?

One thing has come to my attention, and I quote from Speed Trap

Dirty/Jumbled number plates - s43 Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 states:- if a registration mark fixed on vehicle is in any way obscured or rendered or allowed to become not easily distinguishable the owner/keeper is guilty of an offence. The punishment is a fine only but not limited to £60.00. In the event any site visitors are charged with this offence it is well worth running a defence because all the accused has to do is show that he took all reasonable steps practicable to prevent the mark being obscured or not easily distinguishable.
Note, where a driver fraudulently jumbles up or otherwise obscures the registration mark he commits what is called an offence triable either way. That is he can be tried in the Magistrates Court or the Crown Court and faces the possibility of a 2 year prison sentence and fine.

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That reads to me because of my number plate which has smaller lettering and an image on the background, that I could face a 2 year prison sentence?!

I am not happy with this as literally 10 seconds before I saw a car bomb past the camera on the outside lane and it did not flash! Obviously I am going to appeal as I am a new driver, feel this is unfair, don't have the money to pay up and I don't want 3points!

Can I use my speedo being inacurate as my basis of excuse because that is the only thing I can see possibly wrong, I NEVER speed in any situation due to my accident on my ped and the amount of accidents I have witnessed due to speeding.

Any advice is highly appreciated as I am sh*tting a brick to be quite honest!

Thanks

PeteyPye said:

Hi all,

Last night on the way back from Beau's because I bought his wheels I got flashed in a 40mph zone, although my speedo said 40mph!? Obviously, I'll have to wait and see what the ticket says to see what speed I was doing?

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maybe it was your new wheels?..... bigger....

beau_4076 said:

maybe it was your new wheels?..... bigger....

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The speedo doesn't work like that does it?
Talking to Mike last night Beau and he thinks the bigger wheels the slower the speedo calculate's, can anybody prove this wrong?

PeteyPye said:

The speedo doesn't work like that does it?
Talking to Mike last night Beau and he thinks the bigger wheels the slower the speedo calculate's, can anybody prove this wrong?

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i know they affect it, but i dont know if they make it over read or under read

yeh they will make it read slower

If they're my old wheels, then the speedo will be about accurate. at 40mph on the speedo you should be doing borderline 39/40.

Alex-R said:

yeh they will make it read slower

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Its simple logic the bigger the wheel the more more the car will travel in one revolution there off.. It can make your speedo less accurate having bigger wheels (or will it?) In any case it is doubtful it would affect it to the extent of 8 mph + it took to get flashed.. Speedos on cars are always out a little anyway.

What wheels did you buy.

If you want to know the speed your doing with the new wheels then look at the wheel radius calculator on here www.rochfordtyres.co.uk click in your old size and the new size and its will tell you the correct size tyres you should have and the speed you will be doing at 70mph thought beau would have known this

you sure it was a 40 mph limit not 30 mph, camera could be on the blink.

as for your number plate if its not legal thats your own fault you knew the risk you were taking with it. you will prob get a fine for the plate if they can pick it up on the pictures.

was it a mobile or fixed camera, which way ws the flash facing towards you or away, how many flashes did you see? could be that the flash was not for you.

VindiVee8 said:

which way ws the flash facing towards you or away

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A mobile camera wont flash.

I was thinking about asking the same but i though he cant be that dumb to think it was for him going towards it can he ?

just to be safe, torch it......................

he didnt say it it would, you get forward flashing cameras - they flash purple ish.

bigger wheels make the speed under read, but if you've gone from small wheels with large profile tyres to big wheels with small profile tyres than you may have actually reduced the rolling radius and made the speedo overread.

Good point, a Truvelo [of which the county I live in has them as their main camera] faces towards the driver BUT doesn't flash...

Where there any cars going the other way? Maybe it was a GATSO flashing another car, on the other side of the road.

How many flashes is important.. It should have been 2 flashes. You will know within 14 days if you are going to be prosecuted for anything, after that I think you will be in the clear.

^^thats what my mate thought, took his fine 5 weeks to come through

If you don't have the NIP within 14 days I'm sure its dead.

PeteyPye said:

Can I use my speedo being inacurate as my basis of excuse because that is the only thing I can see possibly wrong, I NEVER speed in any situation due to my accident on my ped and the amount of accidents I have witnessed due to speeding.

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No, you can't use that as an excuse. It is a legal requirement to have a functioning and accurate speedometer (accurate to within +/- 7.5% I think) when using a motorvehicle on the road, so if your speedo was faulty you have in effect broken another law.

If the overall circumference of your new wheels + tyres is bigger than your old wheels + tyres, then the speedo with under-read. The opposite is true if the overall circumference is smaller.

Hopefully you weren't speeding and the camera just flashed randomly. If it only flashed once you'll probably be ok.

Oh, and fitting dodgy number plates is a no no, unless you particularly like getting attention from the Police

Goldie Punto said:

A mobile camera wont flash.

I was thinking about asking the same but i though he cant be that dumb to think it was for him going towards it can he ?

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If its a mini gatso mobile cameras will flash (rear facing 2 flashes) if its a pro lazer (front facing) then no flash, but these only work during the day and normally operated from the back of a van. Truvelos are front facing and triggered by strips in the tarmac before the camera and use infra red flash you will see the red flash (twice) but just looks like a light no where near as bright as a gatso. And of course the good old gatso rear facing (get you as you pass them) two flashes and use radar to measure your speed.