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news
20 mph sign (CC BY-ND 2.0 licensed by Tony Hall:Flickr)Driver risks losing licence for repeatedly breaking 20mph limit
A woman from Bristol says she is being “penalised” after receiving nine points on her driving licence due to being caught breaking a 20 mile an hour speed limit three times within the past month.
30-year-old Rosy Allen fears she will be banned from driving if she is caught speeding again, reports the Bristol Post.
She told the newspaper: “I just feel really gutted. I don’t think it’s fair I’m being penalised for something everyone does.”
Earlier this month, research by the University of the West of England found that the city-wide speed limit had saved four lives and prevented 11 serious injuries in Bristol since it began to be phased in during 2014.
Government figures published last year, however, suggested that four in five drivers across the UK ignore 20 mile an hour limits, prompting campaigners to call for greater enforcement.
> 20mph speed limits ignored by four in five drivers
Ms Allen was caught by mobile speed cameras deployed by Avon & Somerset Constabulary.
The force provides advance notice of where they will be each week, with the list also published by the Bristol Post.
But Ms Allen insisted: “I do respect the 20 mph limit but no one drives at that speed. It’s so hard to drive at that speed.
“It’s really disappointing. I feel the system isn’t there to help people like me.
“I’m made to feel like a criminal for doing something everyone does.”
“I know it’s not okay but I’m going 26mph.
“It’s going to destroy my business,” she added, explaining that she wouldn’t be able to visit customers in person if she were banned.
The Bristol Post reported that while some motorists in Bristol caught breaking the law by exceeding the 20 mile an hour limit could attend a driver awareness course rather than have their licence endorsed with penalty points, that option was not available to Ms Allan.
The reason? She had also recently been caught driving through a red traffic light.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- The Industrial Biscuit 2 sec ago
Invite him to stand at Fox Corner, the busy light controlled junction outside his own Con Club in Shipley....
- MinardiM189 4 hours 51 min ago
Is the most combatitive rider being awarded points? I thought Pellizzari won the award yesterday. Shouldn't he have another 10 points?
- ErnieC 10 hours 5 min ago
Not sure if that is actually an insult, now tonsil on the other hand certainly is. Tonsils serve absolutely no purpose.
- ROOTminus1 11 hours 56 min ago
Ranks of youth in maillot noir et beige? Too paramilitary? Swap out the revolutionary berets for areo lids and casquette
- froze 14 hours 26 min ago
This is terrible news, one of the best, if not the best, custom-made steel bicycle manufacturers in the world becoming extinct....
- froze 14 hours 33 min ago
Hmm, well some people are a pain the arse to get the pain the ass gone, I'm one of those....
- Eton Rifle 16 hours 59 min ago
I've never been "forced" to stop in an ASL when driving. I use this one weird trick called "paying attention and planning my driving". It will...
- eburtthebike 17 hours 52 min ago
I look forward to this being thoroughly analysed and discussed ignored in the election campaign....
- Simon E 18 hours 30 min ago
What's your point? They are using recycled aluminium, which is surely a positive move and doesn't appear to be common practice....
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81 comments
But Ms Allen insisted: “I do respect the 20 mph limit but no one drives at that speed. It’s so hard to drive at that speed."
I would suggest that from this statement alone she needs to learn the logical fallacy of her thinking but with this statement you'd have to question her intellectual capacity for thought let alone to drive and she'd save everyone time by just returning her licence.
You'd think that if driving a motor vehicle was so crucial to her business, that she'd maybe pay a little more attention to her driving? I'm sorry, but I really have no sympathy for her.
Now, where did I leave my tiny violin...?
"I do respect the 20mph limit"
Course you do sweetheart - by repeatedly exceeding it, and being caught doing it and penalised for doing it..
I must say that line is a classic. It's like a rapist saying he respects women's rights.
How stupid is she though seeing as she got caught 3 times? Most people that get caught didn't see the cameras quick enough but still saw them. She must totally clueless and best removed from the roads - god knows what else she won't see, like kids and stuff that 20 zones are for.
"There's an old folks home half way along the road and some of those pensioners are slow to cross. I suppose I'm expected to stop running them over now, pretty pointless as they're almost dead anyway. Political correctness gone mad!" said Ms Allen
We should be talking about this more. Too many drivers see road regulations as an assault on their 'freedoms' - rather than as things that save lives.
And how is it hard to go at the speed limit when others aren't? Are they viariously pressing their imaginary foot on her accelerator. I don't understand.
Lift your right foot slightly off the accelerator until the needle on the speedo is hovering on/below the "20" on the dial. See? Not that hard really!
And whilst you are doing that you are not looking at the road. It takes about 2 seconds to check your speedometer and at 20mph thats about 50 feet of action you didn't see. It's just a matter of time before the defense says he had to check his speedometer and whilst doing that he didn't see the cyclist.
Waiting for the abuse as usual but then who cares about the facts?
Does it bollocks, in any case your checking speed regularly, if you can't check your speed and continually have control/be aware of everything around you then you shouldn't be on the roads, period.
That maybe so, but if your vision is so poor that you can only see 50 feet ahead, I suggest that your licence is handed in at the first opportunity.
Facts are that you should have enough information from the view ahead in order to make a quick glance at the speedo.
She really is a special kind of stupid and selfish and really shouldn't be on the road.
Who cares about the facts? Not you, clearly.
No abuse, but if you can't get a good idea of your speed from outside cues like engine tone and the speed at which the surroundings are coming towards you and going past you, maybe you should think about giving up driving. I regularly hop off the bike and straight into the car whilst still in lycra to go and pick up the missus at the station. As I'm driving through ___________, which is a 20 limit, I hardly ever need to look at the speedometer, because I can guage my speed with the aforementioned cues. When I do look, I am rarely out by more than 1 or 2 mph.
So please tell me how far you travel when checking your speed at 30mph, 40mph, 50mph, 60mph? After all, whatever the limit is, you have to check your speed occasionally, or does this somehow magically apply only to 20mph limits?
By using your "logic" any speed limit increases risk because drivers have to check their speed.
I'd like to think of some suitable abuse, but nothing I can think of sums up your complete lack of sense in a snappy, witty way, so consider yourself abused in whatever way offends you most.
I use the satnav that warns me, and if you care to check the research you will find the safest speed for any road is the 85th percentile not some artificial limit imposed because it seems the right thing to do.
Oh dear Research again, so boring.
Are you the same guy who came out with this nonsense last time round? Trying again? If you check the research you'll find your claim is twaddle. It's just something some US highway engineers made up. There's no reason why non-drivers should have to accept the jdugement of drivers as to what speed is 'safe'. 85% of drivers are no more an authority than one driver. You don't get to make that decision unilaterally.
"It's just something some US highway engineers made up. "
Now why would they make that up, ever heard of Pareto?
Congratulations you've just made an excuse case for driving at 20.
Let's assume everything you say is true.
So if you drive at 30 and check your speed that would be 75 feet you 'didnt see'.
So definitely drive at 20.
So why not introduce the 4mph limit and the man in the red flag? Speed vs safety is always a compromise, the faster you go the worst the impact, pure physics, so if you follow your argument the motorways should all travel at 5 mph? So should cyclists, they hurt when they hit someone.
Awwww didums
Sounds like the sooner she loses her licence the better.
“I just feel really gutted. I don’t think it’s fair I’m being penalised for something everyone does.”
Ha ha ha!
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