UK court bans speeding Polish biker

He really should have checked his mirrors!

 Still, at least some sort of sanity prevailed, they only banned him. They didn't send him to jail and the fine was modest.

Personally, though, I think that 15 months is a bit harsh. 6 months is more than enough in my view. What does anyone else think?

And, finally, of course, why don't the police spend more time chasing the really dangerous speeders? 50 mph in town (a common sight sadly) is far more dangerous than 120mph on an open road.

Until police attack the real dangers, not just the headline grabbing and revenue generating ones, I, like many others , will continue to have scant respect for the way the traffic laws are enforced. 

Posted: 09/09/2008 at 10:58

jimlin wrote (see

)

And, finally, of course, why don't the police spend more time chasing the really dangerous speeders? 50 mph in town (a common sight sadly) is far more dangerous than 120mph on an open road.

Posted: 09/09/2008 at 11:11

Being a traffic copper, i regularly sit at areas of 30/40mph for speeders. I am not talking about the ones going 5mph over either, i am looking for the ones either driving dangerously or going close to twice the limit.

How many of these people speeding in a 30/40 zone have made headline news? None, with the exception of road deaths.

Its just not headline making news, however going 120mph is headline news. I am not saying it is more or less dangerous, it just provokes a reaction more off the public.

The police use 2 forms of speed detection devices (in my force), one of them measures a vehicle between 2 points, and generally has to be used whilst following, but can be used static also, providing these 2 points can be seen. The other is a laser, that has to be used static. This is the one that we would use round town, providing we can find a safe place to use it.

 I have got 2 fatals on at the moment, one being a speeding biker who smashed his head open, the other being a child pedestrian who stepped out in front of a car. Neither of these were in a town. You try telling their families that its not dangerous.

Posted: 09/09/2008 at 11:22

jimlin wrote (see)

 Still, at least some sort of sanity prevailed, they only banned him. They didn't send him to jail and the fine was modest.

I don't know the full circumstances so must make judgements in the comments.

At least 50mph over the limit and in North Wales so surely this was a hanging offence, commutable to transportation to the colonies plus hard labour, so yes he got off lightly.

His comment about not looking at the speedo suggests he was just watching the road ahead and therefore not able to check behind either. 2miles at 120mph is 30 seconds, if at this speed it was too difficult to check the speedo or look behind then he was obviously riding at a dangerous speed, I really think he got off very lightly. Perhaps a more appropriate penalty would have been a smaller fine, being made to help clear up at a fatal RTA and being made to watch his bike being crushed.

I don't know the statistics but I would guess that the causes of bike fatalities are in more than 50% of cases caused by the other party, 120mph is 53 metre/second, so that is rather a long way for reaction time and how do you keep control when trying to avoid the car that pulled out thinking you were doing 70mph and he had plent of distance for acceleration before you caught up.

These sort of speeds should be let to the track.

Posted: 09/09/2008 at 12:39

isnt 120mph a mile evry 30 secs, as 60 mph is a mile in 60 secs,

Posted: 09/09/2008 at 17:06

Posted: 09/09/2008 at 17:14

Posted: 09/09/2008 at 17:17

IIIrd wrote (see)

isnt 120mph a mile evry 30 secs, as 60 mph is a mile in 60 secs,

1 mile in 30 seconds give 1760/30=58.67yards/second

1 mile in 30 seconds give 5280/30=176 feet/second

1 mile in 30 seconds give 1609/30=53.6 metres/second

I mile in 30 seconds is not as easy to visualise as 53 metres/second

Posted: 09/09/2008 at 22:14

PJT wrote (see)

 2miles at 120mph is 30 seconds, if at this speed it was too difficult to check...............

IIIrd wrote (see)

isnt 120mph a mile evry 30 secs, as 60 mph is a mile in 60 secs,

Posted: 09/09/2008 at 22:19

Posted: 04/02/2011 at 09:52

Posted: 04/02/2011 at 12:20