85% Of Car Drivers Break 20mph Speed Limits, Reveals U.K.’s Department For Transport
85% Of Car Drivers Break 20mph Speed Limits, Reveals U.K.’s Department For Transport
On roads with a 30mph maximum, 50% of car drivers break the law, says the annual DfT report on speed limit compliance.
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I believe it 100%.
I started riding with a Garmin bike radar and installed an app that tells me exactly how fast a car is going when it passes, and the majority are over the speed limit.
Just the other day, in a 60 km/h zone, I clocked two cars going 125 km/h.
If I thought for a second that police would charge these drivers using photo/video evidence, I'd fork over the $500 to get the radar with a camera built-in and report each and every speeding driver that passes me.
In Denmark we have the lovely new law that if you drive more than 100% over the speed limit and over 100 kmh or drive over 200 kmh at all or drunk driving with over 2‰ they confiscate the car and you are not getting it back at all. They confiscate the car regadles of who owns the car (with very few exceptions) and that is also if it is leased. So far since when the law started they have confiscated over 2000 cars in two years. It's my favourite law of all laws right now. The fine for driving crazy is also nicely proportional to your income and it removes the car so the person cannot just drive without license afterwards.
I can't get behind property seizure without compensation, but I can understand everything else.
Even if they said "you can't have this car any more, but can sell it from our facility" that'd be better I think
In effect, is it really that different to a fine? It seems to have a couple of advantages, though: it's easier to collect, and it's proportional, so a person who can afford a fancy luxury car pays more than someone in an old banger, without the complexity of having to evaluate their income and savings.
This is exactly the reason they are doing it. Proportional to income and the car is completely and physically removed from the road. There was a big issue here where the offender would just drive without license or the car was leased or borrowed so there was no real penalty. Now the leasing company would have to take responsibility for leasing fancy supercars to anyone and everyone and people lending their car to a known drunk or fast driver would definitely think twice.
That part is all good. The problem is they don't care whose car it is. If I was to borrow your car, and then break this law, then YOU are out a car. Yes, you can try and get the money back from me, but that might take a decade if I don't have money to replace your car.
If you ask me, that's crazy.Well I agree it might be a bit crazy, but I also must admit that I like the law because it works and it makes it such that I don't want to lend my car out to anyone unless I know for sure how they drive by driving with them a few times. It puts the responsibility into the hands of the car owner. Just replace the word car with gun and it all sounds reasonable. If I just lend my gun to a friend who I only know very little or I have never seen hold a gun in his hand that would be very bad. Even if he has a license for guns. And if he shot someone or broke the law in other ways with the gun I'd only expect the gun to be confiscated regardless of who owns it.
There's a significant difference between an accident and deliberately being wrekless
@TDCN There is nothing about being “wreckless” when borrowing something to someone else. If person has a valid driving license that is all that matters. We ain’t even taking about lending a car to a obviously drunk idiot which is punishable.
Normally me neither, bit in this context where you are driving so recklessly you are endangering everyone else and we are talking over double the speed limit I'll allow it. Noone has any rights left when you are doing that kind of stuff deliberately.
As I wrote to someone else my reasoning is this. It puts the responsibility into the hands of the car owner. Just replace the word car with gun and it all sounds reasonable. If I just lend my gun to a friend who I only know very little or I have never seen hold a gun in his hand that would be very bad. Or if a company leases big guns that are super dangerous. Even if he has a license for guns. And if he shot someone or broke the law in other ways with the gun I’d only expect the gun to be confiscated regardless of who owns it.
@GBU_28 play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Driving a car is not a right. Especially in Denmark where public transport is an perfectly viable alternative for most of the population.
Totally agree, which I said in my comment.
But owning property is owning it outright. You don't own it at the whim of someone else.
I in general do not agree with government seizure of property without compensation.
I agree with losing your license, losing the privilege to drive and use public roads, etc.
@GBU_28
I've found that people are big fans of government action against people with little or no due process, until it happens to them.
@JegVilleSeShitpostsI don't know if you're aligned with me or not
@GBU_28
That really, *really* shouldn't matter. One of the biggest problems around the world today are people checking for labels and group membership before considering otherwise valid points.For what it's worth, I've found this behavior exhibited by all groups.
I have no clue what you're talking about,
I essentially said "I don't understand the wording of your comment"
@GBU_28 Forfeiture of property involved in committing a crime is standard practice.
So is police brutality.
I'm allowed to have opinions not codified in existing standards
@GBU_28 @JegVilleSeShitposts do you also oppose confiscation of guns from murderers?
I do, with compensation. Obviously I am not suggesting there isn't incarceration happening
@GBU_28 @JegVilleSeShitposts 🤡 Welcome to society.
Childish reply
@GBU_28 @JegVilleSeShitposts How do you feel about steep fines for drunk driving? How is this different?
Fines are fine. I understand at the end of the day they behave similarly. But the value of the car may not be the right amount for the fine, and the citizen may be able to get the best sale price for the car.
@GBU_28 @JegVilleSeShitposts , all property is owned at the whim of someone else !
The person that chooses to work for you, the customer that chooses to buy your goods, the person that chooses to sell their house, etc ...
You're just a care taker for a short while and if you're mistreating that privilege it should be able to be revoked!Wrong! You challenge bodily autonomy if you disrespect physical property.
Do you disrespect a person's bodily autonomy?
As long as it then goes swiftly through the court system to confirm this. Otherwise it is theft, like US asset forfeiture.
@GBU_28 @TDCN this is basically an income adjusted fine for breaking the law in egregious ways. Are you also opposed to fines for other bad behavior?
I also appreciate that it gets more people thinking about ways to move without a car. that is more doable in Denmark then in the US, but cars are dangerous, and if you put other at risk so casually I have little sympathy.
For the sake of conversation, let's consider some other owned object. I'm grasping here but say you had your computer seized for anti government speech. (I know, not the same as endangering people with a car).
It wouldn't be right to lose a multi thousand dollar device simply because the government willed it. Certainly not without compensation.
@GBU_28 skip any example that doesn't routinely involve the single biggest cause of child death in the US. There is no reason for a person to be exceeding the speed limit by double. That's just gambling with others life and limb.
I think a multi-thousand dollar, income adjusted fine should be the minimum in that case.
The point is I selected an example that had no relation to cars or driving, and no safety context.
The point of the example was ownership, and dealings with the government.
Critical thinking 101
I made clear in earlier comments that I'm aware driving is a privilege and reckless driving is a serious crime
It also makes people think twice before lending their car to any random friend
My dude, I said take the car away! Fine them! Take the driving privileges! Just pay them for their property or allow them to sell it!
Man you can't hold more.thwn one thought at a time huh
Sorry I won't budge on property rights.
Driving is a privilege, and the government can absolutely bar you from using public services (roads) but ownership is a serious thing to me
@GBU_28 @TDCN Think of the car as a "dual use" item - i.e. you can use it as transport or to (potentially) get other people injured or killed.
The law aims at the second (mis)use. Even though I'm a car-loving German I really second that part of the Danish law and I honestly wish we would have something similar.
@TDCN sounds great and would definitely be useful in #australia where there is continual news of unlicensed or habitually reckless drivers causing havoc. Maybe making owners responsible would start a shift in society where parents and friends need to their own role in this continuing drama.
Exactly
@TDCN @Showroom7561 the best law ever, and soooo sweet that this sucker got his new car confiscated: https://www.nrk.no/rogaland/shakhwan-ameen-ble-tatt-i-fartskontroll-i-danmark-_-far-ikke-tilbake-sin-splitter-nye-lamborghini-1.16446941
Åh jeg elsker denne historie. Det er det toppen af det bedste
@TDCN I do admire the Danish pragmatism endlessly. One of my favorite countries. Thanks for sharing.
@TDCN @Showroom7561 In my hometown its kind of a hobby to rent fancy sports cars for the weekend and this is as stupid as it sounds. I would love this law for Germany as well.
@TDCN @Showroom7561 During my holiday in DK I already noticed speeding is not really a thing.
It is already super expensive for a normal speeding ticket so yes people are really careful. Still people speed everywhere it's just only a little over
@TDCN In the Netherlands things can get expensive to, however the chance of getting caught is pretty low. However, up to 30 km/h it's an administrative matter, above that a prosecutor gets involved. https://www.anwb.nl/verkeer/nieuws/nederland/2023/februari/boetebedragen-2023 The last three cars I owned have a speed limiter that I use much though, I'm not the brave type. 😉
@TDCN @Showroom7561 I'll be honest I think it's an an odd stance to take to say confiscation is wrong. The 100 kmh limit is about 60 mph, to be over 100% that means the limit is 30 mph. This limit is normally through a town, village or urban area. So if someone drives at 60 mph down the high street, that's not just a "little bit of speeding", that's completely reckless
@TDCN @Showroom7561 Impossible in Germany 😄 But it sounds very good - and easy to understand
@TDCN Did you know a screenshot of your post is on Reddit (saw a bot post it here on Mastodon) https://redd.it/163foqd
Lol thank for letting me know. That's definitely interesting. I ditched Reddit so don't really care for karma farmers. They could at least have linked to my original post but it's Reddit after all so what can you expect. Funny it gets reposted back to lemmy
@TDCN @Showroom7561 it's very nice as an idea, but I doubt it's constitutional, I fear that a good lawyer would be able to get back your car. You would need the money to hire a good lawyer though.
Nope, doesn't work like that here. We don't have constitutions the way you do on the US. Many cases have been tried in court and the offender lost in many cases
@TDCN @Showroom7561 What would happen to Carsharing Organisations? Forcing them to drop these customers would be fine but confiscating their cars would be a very bad idea IMO.
They probably have to go after the person who lost the car for compensation.
I'm in a car sharing co-op in Germany and if I loose the vehicle because of recklessness I'd need to pay up for that.
@TDCN @Showroom7561 Sounds like a good idea indeed. Only one remark: what if the car is shared by 2 persons?
It's still confiscate. The law is pretty clear that it pretty much doesn't matter who owns the car.
@alternative_be @TDCN @Showroom7561 then it's gone for both, I guess, as it's even confiscated from car sharing companies.
@TDCN @Showroom7561 do you know why they put the 100kmh limit on? Driving double the limit in an urban area is more likely to kill someone than a deserted rural road.
If you have a 20kmh zone it sounds unreasonable to get your car taken if you drive only 40 kmh. 40 is still quite slow
@TDCN @acs 5 out of 5 pedestrians will survive a collision with a car traveling at 20km/hr, only 4 out of 5 will survive a collision with a car traveling at 40km/h.
This doesn't include the large difference in level of injury.So by speeding your taking a situation where nobody should die and making it a situation where someone might.
A 20km/h area is an area where there will be lots of people to hit so it's even more important to stick to the speed limit in that situation
You still get a massive fine of 1200 kr (175usd) in this case at 20kmh and at only 30% above you get a "cut in your license" (like a yellow card in football). 3 of those "cuts" and you have to get a new licens. 60% above the limit they outright take your licens and the fine goes up. If the speed limit is reduced due to road work the fine is doubled. And many more rules. If you are a student or pensioner you fine gets halfed for instance. Besides the fine if you go at 60% or above you also need to pay 500kr or more to a "victims" fond that raises money for the victims of traffic accidents.
@TDCN @Showroom7561 I really like this law in principle, but without *free* rehab, or really any other drug recovery assistance, and without a good social safety net, it does inordinately punish poor people. Yes, if the person is a rich asshole, 300% take *all* their cars. But sometimes the person is poor and using alcohol to just feel less shitty about their life and need the car to be able to have a job. Not that that's good, but it *is* a reason to not take their car...
@neonregent @TDCN @Showroom7561 It's Denmark. Country with functional public transport system. Country, where you really don't need to own a car to have a job...
@TDCN @Showroom7561 Personally, I think banning.someone from driving hurts them harder than loosing a vehicle, as one can't just get a new driving license - the loophole that allowed one to just make a new license in another EU member state has been closed for those barred from (re)issue of a license.
Trust me they are still banned from driving for a year or more if this law triggeres
@TDCN that's quite low.
People speeding 100% over limit usually get barred for life from attaining any permit unless they get medically certified to be able to drive.
And even then they'd likely not face charges for speeding alone but literally charges for attempted homicide by gross neglect and recklessness.
I mean if one's driving like 100km/h on regular city roads they don't just loose their license but face serious jailtime.
And I think that's more than justified.
I said "or more" because I don't know the details. Depending on what you did you can get banned for much longer or even face jail time if it's very severe. It's individual and depends on the offence
Yes! More of this. ESPECIALLY taking BMWs and Mercedes away from rich douchenozzles.
We need this in the US so badly.
A Norwegian rich man went to Germany and bought a brand new supercar for millions and got stoped for driving 228 kmh on the highway in Denmark on the way home so the confiscated his car and he didn't get it back. Fucking love that story. Article below but in Norwegian. Thanks to @atlefren@snabelen.no for the link https://www.nrk.no/rogaland/shakhwan-ameen-ble-tatt-i-fartskontroll-i-danmark-_-far-ikke-tilbake-sin-splitter-nye-lamborghini-1.16446941
There is no more possibilities in Danish courts but – very last line of the article – Ameen (reckless driver) is hoping to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
What the hell are people like this thinking? 😅
The law works because if he was just slapped with a fine that's just like saying "yes you can drive like a maniac as long as you just pay and he can clearly afford it. This way he's stopped properly and will probably never be speeding again in dk
@TDCN @Showroom7561 onfeel they should drop the driving to 50% over the speed limit ... Very generous with 100%
Hugz & xXx
@melissabeartrix @TDCN @Showroom7561
Counterpoint: some roads switch between 70km/h or 80km/h and 40km/h based on time of day; so you're on a road engineered for 70-80km/h, there are no children anywhere because school won't be out for another half an hour, but it's already 75% or 100% over the speed limit if you mistake the timeThe law states that it has to be 100% over AND over 100 kmh fo for a 40 zone you'd have to driver over 100kmh for the car to be confiscated
@Showroom7561 @TDCN all the "but they need a car" people in the comments should also take a look at the amazing public transit options in Denmark and think about how that could make their life great (especially us USians)
Also... Just drive the speed limit and noone takes your car away from you
@TDCN @Showroom7561 like most fines, this just makes it legal for rich folk and potentially life-destroying for poor folk.
If this happens to a taxi driver, they might end up homeless. If it happens to a rich playboy they'll just go buy a new car and carry on speeding.
The taxi driver could also... Just hear me out... Drive the speed limit and not drive like a maniac. Then he's fine and noone takes his car.
@TDCN sure, unless it was the car owner's friend, or kid, or crack addict neighbour who took their car and then committed the crime.
Regardless, the issue is not whether crimes should be punished, but whether it makes sense to have punishments that only affect the poor.
Just don't lend the car out to anyone you don't fully trust. Take responsibility of your vehicle and make it clear to the borrower that he/she should drive properly regardles of that being your mom or your best friend. If the car is taken without your consent it's theft and grounds for the exceptions in the law so you get it back.
@TDCN again, why is personal responsibility only for poor people? That's the key point but you keep glossing over it.
Okay hers the thing. It's naive to think that it's just "nothing" for rich people. You have to take the rest of the law into consideration. They obviously don’t just take the car from the owner as the only thing with this kind of extream offence (obviously, otherwise it’ll be a dumb law). On top there’s a huge (and I mean huge) fine for the driver and they take your lisence and you are completely banned from driving for X amount of years. After the ban you have to pay for a completely new drivers license which is really expensive but more importantly really time-consuming in Denmark. We are talking weeks of training and mandatory tests, first aid exam and hours of theory and practical lessons. There are payments to a fond that raises money for traffic victims and for multiple offenses or if you drove exceptionally wreklessly there's possibly jail time. Even if you are rich this is not just “pocket money” there’s more context than you think.
@nicklockwood @TDCN @Showroom7561 you're right. Mandatory speed limiters are a much better option. They're cheap, easy and avoid having to fine people.
@jessta @TDCN @Showroom7561 it's almost as if speeding fines are more about creating a revenue stream for the government than they are about preventing speeding 🤔
@nicklockwood @TDCN @Showroom7561 no, it's just politically impossible to mandate speed limiters. Governments tried 50yrs ago and haven't tried again since. Car manufacturers want people to know they can speed. It's all over their marketing.
@jessta @TDCN @Showroom7561 if they really wanted to they could use the traffic camera network that already tracks numbers plates to do average speed checks on every car and issue fines automatically. I suspect they don't because then traffic would grind to a halt.
Why would it grind to a haltm I see no reason for this. People just need to drive the speed limit. In Norway for example they have cameras at the begining of long stretches of highway and a camera at the end and if your average speed is higher than allowed it automatically sends you a fine. Those stretches of road are soooo nice to drive because everyone are driving the same speed and it's so smooth
@TDCN @Showroom7561 Rich person drives 240kmh drunk out of their mind, loses expensive car, gets another the next day because it's still just pocket change to them.
Boyfriend "borrows" the old-but-working car of his abused girlfriend who's barely making it paycheck to paycheck, drives 110kph, her car gets seized and she now has no hope of escape.
An extreme comparison? Yes. But it illustrates that nice simple one-size-fits-all laws often have abhorrent results.
I forgot to also add that they obviously don't just take the car from the owner as the only thing with this kind of offence (obviously, otherwise it'll be a dumb law). On top there's a huge fine for the driver and they take your lisence and you are banned from driving for X amount of years. You have to pay for a completely new drivers license which is really expensive but mire importantly really time-consuming in Denmark we are talking weeks of training and mandatory tests, first aid exam and hours of theory and practical lessons. There are payments to a fond that raises money for traffic victims and possibly jail time if you drove exceptionally wreklessly or drunk. Even if you are rich this is not just "pocket money" there's more context than you think.
There are exemptions in the law for this exact matter. It states of the punishment is unreasonably hard on the owner they can get it back
@TDCN @Showroom7561 This sounds terrific. Do you have a link to that law please. (In Danish is fine). I want to use it as an example for discussion leading up to my city’s elections next year. It will upset the many car brains who run my city. 😀
It's not a single law to say but changes to the existing law so the actual writing is spread out over a few paragraphs. Here's a link for the entire traffic law LINK Start at §119 about confiscation and §133 about offences that causes you to loose your licens. The details can be a bit difficult to sift out. It's law stuff I guess.
@TDCN @Showroom7561 do you have breathalyzer tests that actually work in normal use here? because if not this is just stealing cars, lol
I don't understand what you mean, of course they work and then if its high they verify with a blod sample to verify and to give you the benefit of the doubt
@TDCN oh i'm just from a country that uses breathalizers as evidence on their own and they don't actually work
Damn that's shity... I feel sorry for you.
@TDCN what is 2‰? I am not familiar with the notation. Is that 0.2%?
You got it.
@TDCN @Showroom7561 I think you mean blood/alcohol level of .2% - at 2% you would be long dead. And .2% is not driving drunk, that’s driving practically passed out. To be that drunk a 50kg dude would need to have 7 drinks in an hour. That person needs detox, not a car.
https://www.healthline.com/health/alcohol/blood-alcohol-level-chart
@Z_Zed_Zed @TDCN @Showroom7561 2‰ = 0.2%. The per-thousand sign isn't used often in informal English, but if someone took the effort to select the character, they probably meant it. 🙂
Exactly. In Danish we exclusively use promill (per thousands) for blood alcohol level so it's a habit for me to use ‰ or more commonly the written form promille
@TDCN @Showroom7561
Two examples from Australian states:
https://www.police.vic.gov.au/hoon-laws
https://www.police.wa.gov.au/Traffic/Cameras/Speed/Hoon-driving
Just a few days ago the news carries pictures of a vintage Holden muscle car being crushed because the owner had been driving at 250 Kph in a 110 Kph zone.I do t agree on the crushing aspect of this law. It's environmental iresponsibil and stupid. Just sell/auktion the car and spend the money on making better traffic safety
@TDCN @Showroom7561 oooh! what happens in case of theft? Is it still confiscated from the owner?
That's probably the exceptions I mentioned. I'm no expert, bit of be unreasonable to the owner if the car was stolen.
@TDCN Sounds interesting. Does the law work - in the sense that it deters people from driving recklessly, or is it too early to tell?
I just tried looking uh up and it's still too early to say. Of course the car lobby ar criticising the law and asking why they are not year concluding anything yet but to be fair it has just been covid and 2 years is just so short to see any impact to the statistics. In my own opinion I think it must work. It's a specific type of people who drive wreklessly and often in groups of "cool guys". If you start to remove cars from those groups they will be more hesitant to lend each other cars. If they get impacted the story will carry more impact than a massive fine. A car is very a physical object and is more visible than a debt. If a dad find his son drove wreklessly and got the car confiscated it wil be a stronger lesson for both the father and the son. I can be unfair but we have tried fines for so long and it has not worked. We already have the some of the biggest fines for traffic violations in the world.
@TDCN @Showroom7561 So if it is leased, do they sell the car and pay off the lease? Or do you have to pay for insurance that covers the lease holder if this happens? I guarantee you the banks that finance leases are not just eating that.
Here in the USA it is almost routine for the drunk who finally causes a fatal accident to have six DUIs, a .15 BAC, and a revoked license at the time of the mishap.
Tbh I have no idea how it works in practice but I'd assume the leasing companies will just pass on the cost to the offender
@TDCN @Showroom7561 it's a pity they don't have the same law for cyclists 😂 they're everywhere in Denmark. I was dodging them more than cars to be fair 🙈
Oh you be dead if you walk on a bike lane 😅☠️
Thats nuts....
In a good way yes.
@TDCN @Showroom7561 it obviously shouldn't be proportional to your income, it should be set to the actual negative externality cost. this is a failure to understand basic economics. If we can save more statistical lives with the money from the tax then the statistical expected loss, then we want these people speeding and paying for it.
@TDCN @Showroom7561 :ablobaww:
You got a radar to check the speed of cars passing you?
The radar tells me when cars are approaching from behind and how far. It's been a massive gamechanger for safety by enhancing my spacial awareness.
There's an app for my bike computer that also captures speed and car counts using the radar.
I would imagine that aggregating this data from thousands of users could help cities to plan better cycling infrastructure and build traffic speed/flow mechanisms to enhance cyclist safety.
@Showroom7561 @mondoman712 the UK also has new amendments to the highway code about safe passing distances for bikes, horses, etc; my brother has front and rear cameras for his bike and the police are actually following up on his reports of drivers passing dangerously close, even at lower speeds. Sometimes things do change for the better
Yes, I recall someone in the UK posting videos of dangerous drivers and the follow up by police. Many of the consequences are light for the behaviors witnessed, but it's better than nothing.
@Showroom7561 @mondoman712 what’s the name of the app and for which platform is it? Having the info about how fast someone overtakes one sounds very interesting.
It's called "My Bike Radar Traffic" in the Garmin Connect IQ app. 👌
@Showroom7561 thanks! Sorry for the late reply, somehow I had notifications disabled.