UK performance

saphena

IBAUK Webmaster
Staff member
Premier Member
IBA Member
#1
Several of us have either received performance awards or have had anxious fortnights over the last year or so and I'm interested to know the answers to some questions:

1) Do you always/mostly/sometimes know (correctly) what the speed limit is?

2) Do you always/mostly/sometimes stick to it? If not, overtakes only or general policy?

3) Do you always/mostly/sometimes rely on satnav limit/camera alerts rather than eyeball?

4) If you either received or anticipated an award, was it triggered by camera or police officer? (anyone responding 'yes' will be sent to Coventry:cool:)

This isn't intended to produce a neat table of statistics, feel free to provide narrative responses and/or further questions.

My own responses would be:-

1) Mostly, approaching always.
2) Mostly. Exceptions being some overtakes and NSLs on country roads.
3) Never.
4) Camera. 62 in a 50 on a perfectly fine, clear, motorway.
 

owl*

Rally Bonus checker
IBA Member
#2
1) Almost always
2) Tend to stick to 30's, after that regard them as advisory & use my own judgement
3) Never
4) I have a wonderful photo of me travelling at 58 mph in a motorway restricted 50 limit at 0630 on a Sunday morning, showing 6 lanes of empty motorway and one motorbike. Sooo dangerous.
 

Coxy

Mr Brit Butt Tour
IBA Member
#3
1) Almost always
2) Always try to
3)Never
4) Over a measured mile on the A1 on Reston by-pass just North of Berwick at 45MPH in a truck in 1973
Pushing my luck now wait till next week
Think the fine was £8.00 and an indrsment :)
 

Rick UK

Brit Butt Light Rally Master
Premier Member
IBA Member
#4
Always.
30 - yes, 40+ - depends on location, traffic, road conditions, etc.
Never - Nagging Nellie needs an update, and is frequently wrong !
74.5 in a 50, by a traffic officer (remember those?). First glorious day of summer, clear DC, slightly over exuberant use of right wrist . Could have been worse, as the nice gentleman used a fair degree of discretion on the video playback.
 
#6
1) Do you always/mostly/sometimes know (correctly) what the speed limit is? Yes, I would confident I knew.

2) Do you always/mostly/sometimes stick to it? If not, overtakes only or general policy? Outside of 20/30/40 I tend to use judgement.....

3) Do you always/mostly/sometimes rely on satnav limit/camera alerts rather than eyeball? Eyeball and satnav bongs

4) If you either received or anticipated an award, was it triggered by camera or police officer? (anyone responding 'yes' will be sent to Coventry:cool:)
75 in temp 50 for a fecking cycling event (police waved a line of 8 cars in to a lay-by, with hin sight I should have challenged it as the gun couldn't have been on all the cars), 34 in 30 outside my own house camera van bloke apologiesed as I used to take him a brew, 82 in 60 being on the A9 mate was catching me doing 115 and was very lucky they pulled me and most recently 69 in a temp 60 at 11.40 at night when no one was there (feel a bit hard done there). I drive a lot for work and I am on 6 point currently being very cautious.
 

FazerPhil

President IBA UK
Staff member
Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#7
1 mostly
2 stick to all limits except on motorways where I match the traffic flow
3 Sat nav, signs and streetlight
4 Some years ago on the fazer 106mph on A5 north Wales. 6 month ban!! White van in layby after I overtook line of traffic.

I reckon we generally stick to speed limits but it's hard to know what the limits are as they change so often . Between my house and Bristol 6 miles away i go through 12 different speed limits!!!
 

Ian M

Well-Known Member
#8
1) Do you always/mostly/sometimes know (correctly) what the speed limit is?
yes

2) Do you always/mostly/sometimes stick to it? If not, overtakes only or general policy?
No certainly not 50 and lots of new 40 which are just dumbed down 60 as someone’s road safety wet dream. Nothing has physically changed in the highway estate, may be the surface is poorer, so I just carry on as it was or as I feel safe. Easy on a bike but in the car it can be a nightmare with the new breed of traffic police we have thanks to dash cameras etc

3) Do you always/mostly/sometimes rely on satnav limit/camera alerts rather than eyeball?
Since getting the latest tom tom, I rely on it more but I am surprised at the data base. Yesterday, I went to see one of the off-spring in Sheffield. The average speed cameras on the A54 were shown so I crawled along at mind numbing 50. However, the section of cameras from the junction of the A54 and the A537 into Buxton were not shown either on the way there are the way back. They have been there for years. Does this mean they don’t actually work so they are not shown??
On the m42 it constantly bongs but the gantry cameras appear to have gone replaced by evil hadecs at the side of the road for which it doesn’t bong for.

4) If you either received or anticipated an award, was it triggered by camera or police officer? (anyone responding 'yes' will be sent to Coventry:cool:)
Got prize from Avon and Somerset police for exceeding the artificially low limit of 60 on the M5 in Bristol by hadecs camera when the road was empty.
 
#9
There was a interesting article in the north Wales daily post about the new average speed cameras on the A55 by st. asaph.
217k out of 350k vehicle were doing in excess of the 70 limit there. NWP being the consummate A holes they are made haven't yet release numbers on how many were ticket of those
The accident numbers haven't gone up there for yrs so it seems strong evidence that the speed limit isn't right.
 
#10
1 - Mostly.
2 - Mostly, I often find I sit within 10mph over the limit
3 - Never rely on Satnav alerts, they are turned off – I live in a world of massive camera scattering so the constant alerts are counter-intuitive.
4 - Haven't had one for a while thankfully, but historically I have 3 cameras and a copper.
 

Megabuck

IBAUK Verifier
IBA Member
#11
1 - Not quite always, but pretty close.
2 - I ride at what I consider to be safe for the conditions. In built-up areas, that's often below the speed limit; elsewhere, it's not often below, especially with the pernicious spread of 40 and 50 limits on perfectly good country roads.
3 - Mostly eyeball, with satnag as double-check/backup.
4 - My riding is so good, I've had multiple awards. This may be related to my answer to 2... One policeman (2013 BBR), the other four were cameras.

Regards,
Martin
 

FJRPilot

Brit Butt Rallymaster RBLR1000 routemaster
Premier Member
IBA Member
#12
1 - Mostly, also approaching always.

2 - Mostly. Always adhere to numbered limits i.e. 30, 40, 50. But like many, on National Speed limit A roads at night or stupid o'clock in the morning I may exceed the limit but ride being safely as I'm sure we all do. For example who would try and ride at 60 down a stupid little back road with grass and shit growing in the middle (like during rallies) but on a massive fast A road where there's the occasional house at night stick to 60?

3 - Sometimes. As already mentioned device limits aren't often up to date or camera locations, as councils frequently change road limits etc. I always check the road signs too in case my satnag is wrong.

4 - Once. Many many years ago in my F reg Astra GTE 16v when doing 92 on a quiet dual carriageway (A17 Sleaford bypass) to get past a car up ahead before it went back to single carriageway. A Police rider was hidden in bushes on a bridge who then caught me up and pulled me over. He appreciated why/what I was doing but it was still a bit too excessive. Never been done on a bike :)
 

Winglider

Ex-Wiinglider
IBA Member
#13
1 Mostly

2 Mostly especially when I am working (taxi driver)
3 Sometimes when I am not sure but usually in 50 - 60 limits
4 Once in a 30 limit doing 38. In my taxi were I knew it was 30 and got caught by a copper with a speed camera.

I was running half an hour late with a regular wheelchair customer who was very late coming out of where I had to pick him up from.
I knew they often parked up with a camera in a small layby on this particular road, but as I came down the road I could see a van parked in the layby that wasn’t a police van.
The police car was parked behind it where I could not see it, and they had just pulled him up as well.

As I got much closer a female police officer stepped out of some bushes and zapped me.
I told her why i was speeding but accepted it was not an excuse.
I also informed her how upset I was and that I had a clean licence. As I had a 40 year plus record of undetected motoring offences and this was the first time I had been caught.
She was a bit shocked by my comment. But I explained that we all commit some minor motoring offences at during the course of our lives some time.

Got off with a speed awareness course. :):)

I have now also completed and passed the IAM advanced motorcyclist course, hopefully this will make me more observant, help me spot the coppers better. (sorry Bob ;))
 

jaybee

Latvian rider transport!!!!!!
Premier Member
#14
1. Mostly approaching always

2. I preface this by saying that i do take into account all prevailing conditions which means that quite often I am not close to even reaching the posted limit. In general though: 20s, 30s and most 40s = Yes
Some 40s - like those around the back roads of Surrey and Sussex that used to be Nationals - I do exceed but only within ACPO prosecution guidelines (10% +2)
50s - again it depends. No more than 10%
60s - often but only when conditions allow. Empty, well sighted roads in the back end of Wales is a definite Yes. Places where cyclists often lurk - No.
70s - very rarely as I am rarely in a hurry. If I am making progress then an indicated 78mph is a good compromise as I cover ground but if I miss a stealth camera I am OK.

3. Mostly i eyeball the signs but occasionally use the sat nav as a double check.

4. Been award free this century but had a few historically. One camera, the rest police including a ban for 3 months in 1988 for doing an average of 104mph on the A3 on the downhill stretch past Thursley. I whizzed past an unmarked Sierra 4x4 hiding in a lay-by and the only reason I wasn’t busted for more is that it took him a while to catch up. He caught me 5 miles later at the Hindhead lights when I had been stationary at a red for a while. Being the callow youth I believed everything he said but it is only in retrospect that I realised the evidence was flimsy and I could have challenged it in court.
There was another high speed pursuit back from Heston services one Friday night (2am Saturday morning). Flat out on my CBR 600 (jelly mould) and got pulled by a traffic Rover SD1 on the elevated section by Hammersmith. I had slowed right down but had missed the change to a 50 limit so got done for 72.
The camera award was earned at 3am on the way back from Spain having ridden from Alicante to epsom in one hit. I got caught doing 34 in a 30 a mile from home.
 

GarminDave

Ex-Arkwright
Premier Member
#15
1) Do you always/mostly/sometimes know (correctly) what the speed limit is? Always

2) Do you always/mostly/sometimes stick to it? If not, overtakes only or general policy? Mostly especially 30/40/50's

3) Do you always/mostly/sometimes rely on satnav limit/camera alerts rather than eyeball? Sometimes but mainly eyeball the signs. BTW about to ride in France and the 90kph is now 80kph but not all signs reflect this!

4) If you either received or anticipated an award, was it triggered by camera or police officer? (anyone responding 'yes' will be sent to Coventry:cool:) I've had three speeding tickets, two from Police Patrol Officers in 1990 one from a Camera Van in 2015.

I take the view rules are for the observance of fools and the guidance of wise men.

BTW if I get a ticket now I'm blaming Bob Stammers.

Love, light, and kindness,

Dave