Filed under: Government/Legal
UK speeders may face significantly steeper penalty
Sucks to be you if you're a UK driver with a heavier than average right... wait, left foot. A proposal's on the table to significantly increase the penalty for speeding in Great Britain, including a larger fine and twice as many points added to your license. Under the new penalty structure, drivers going 45 mph or more in a 30 mph zone, 57 mph or over in a 40 mph zone or 94 mph and over in a 70 mph zone will be slapped with a £100 fine ($209.10 USD) and six-points on their license. That's up from the £60 fine ($125.50 USD) and three-point penalty given for current violations. Also under consideration is a new classification for minor traffic infringements that would carry a smaller £40 fine and two-point penalty. Any way you look at it, breaking the speed limit on British roadways is set to become an increasingly bad idea. [Souce: 4Car]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bert 5:13PM (11/09/2007)
If this is the way it's going to go, just limit all cars to a maximum speed of the maximum speed limit allowed. (i.e. 70MPH in the UK, 65 or 70 in the U.S.A., 110 in Canada (N.B. allows 110, IIRC). Once done you can put all the highway speed-trap cops on bad driving watch. Wake them up from their 2 hour coffee break under the underpass or behind the hill and get them working.
Speeding is like smoking. Governments want to do away with it, but don't want to do away with the money they generate.
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Mark 6:24PM (11/09/2007)
x2 they make so much money from the fines, I wouldn't be surprised if there are kickbacks to the "performance" shops around town.
Jer 5:16PM (11/09/2007)
It's still the right foot. Not everything is reversed on a right hand drive car.
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Tim 5:16PM (11/09/2007)
I hope that was just a bad joke.
Right-hand drive cars still have the same clutch-brake-gas orientation as left-hand drive cars.
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Hooper 6:28PM (11/09/2007)
"I hope that was just a bad joke."
No joke. This is Autoblog, inaccuracy is common.
MikeW 5:18PM (11/09/2007)
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/20/2060.asp
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Phil L. 5:19PM (11/09/2007)
John Neff -
Wait a minute: While the Brits drive on the left-hand side of the road, from the right-hand side of the car, their pedals are in the same location as we're used to here in the US: Gas pedal on the right-hand (foot?) side of the driver. Current UK drivers, please feel free to correct; I was last in the UK as a youth, so my memory might be fuzzy.
But this site appears to confirm:
http://www.jackdaw.u-net.com/ukfaq/ukdrive.html
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Toledo Guy 5:46PM (11/09/2007)
no no no....
of course the pedals are in the proper footwell. they are in the same order as left hand drive cars. clutch/brake/gas from left to right.
Phil L. 5:19PM (11/09/2007)
Ugghhh: I tried to type quickly, but still 3 minutes too late to be first on this item...
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Aki 6:31PM (11/09/2007)
I think Neff is referring to the fact that UK drivers need to slam the brakes for certain stretches where the speed limit unexpectedly drops, just to serve as a speed trap.
I'm curious--if these draconian laws keep passing, does that mean the populace is mostly in support of them?
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Tim 7:39PM (11/09/2007)
... you brake with your left foot?
Aki 7:53PM (11/09/2007)
Maybe they're F1 drivers in training =P
Random Task 9:07PM (11/09/2007)
It's amazing how draconian the UK is when they have such a car culture. McLaren, Prodrive, all the racing industry. Kinda lame for them.
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-blank- 1:35AM (11/10/2007)
It doesn't seem the US is far behind. Granted, we're not that as completely ridiculous yet, but we seem to be going somewhat speedily.
David 3:46AM (11/10/2007)
that's on par with what we pay in alberta, canada
no insurance - $3000
Fail to yield to pedestrian in a crosswalk - $575.00
20km/h over limit - $124.00
rolling stop - $287
passing a school bus with its lights going - $402
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Stewart 4:00AM (11/10/2007)
What? This isn't much at all! Here in Norway, We get about 1450USD fines for driving 80 in 60mph, or 1200USD for 45mph in 30mph.
Please don't complaint...
And due to enviromental taxes, a brand new Lancer Evo IX cost about 145.000USD. A reasonally priced car here, like a Polo or a Fiat Uno cost about 37.000USD.
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Andrew 12:26AM (11/11/2007)
Oh, please, will you get over it. The fines in Norway are not that bad compared with say Finland where you actually get fines *proportionate* to your *yearly income*.
This one Internet millionaire drove his Ferrari too fast and ended up paying a fine of at least 50.000 USD!!!
And the USD is worth so little that the amounts you mention seem huge. 1500 USD is only about a quarter of a normal monthly salary for Norwegians. It's not a huge amount of money, but it can hurt your spending. Our car prices are bad though :)
Tony 5:48PM (11/10/2007)
@ Stewart
"a brand new Lancer Evo IX cost about 145.000USD. A reasonally priced car here, like a Polo or a Fiat Uno cost about 37.000USD."
I agree those prices seem crazy; those prices are to pay for various maintenances. Ex.: being road, environmental, local/ state taxes and so on. If you drove on American Roads and Streets you would wonder where all our taxes are going, but I’m sure you’d figure it out.
Totally agree with the smoking analogy. Governments are always saying they want to stop smokers from smoking. So they increase taxes and fees on them but of course these actions never stop the smokers from smoking. They only increase the government coffers.
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Andrew 12:36AM (11/11/2007)
Actually the government tax added to Norwegian car prices are *supposed* to finance roads and maintenance but DO NOT. The money ends up financing things like schools and healthcare instead.
If the government didn't charge exorbitant taxes on new car sales the average Norwegian could afford to change cars *every* year.
Cars should NOT be considered a luxury in a country where the population is spread all over the land - and travel is difficult because of harsh terrain and long distances.