Insurance Quotes for Drivers Convicted of Speeding

Compare cover for your car, van or motorcycle today and see how much your could save

A driving licence endorsement is classed as a conviction. The rehabilitation period for driving licence endorsements is a period of five years, after which they will be classed as 'spent'. You must declare all 'unspent' convictions to insurers when required to do so.

Car insurance quotes for drivers convicted of exceeding the speed limit

DVLA Speeding Endorsement Codes: SP10, SP20, SP30, SP40 and SP50
(remains on driving licence 4 years from date of offence)

Fixed penalty for speeding: 3 penalty points and a £100 fine

Exceeding the Speed Limit Offence

It is an offence to drive a motor vehicle on a road while exceeding the legal speed limit.

Evidence of speeding can be produced by various mechanical devices such as:

• a police vehicles speedometer
• VASCAR (Visual Average Speed Computer and Recorder)
• GATSO speed cameras
• TRUVELO speed cameras
• speed radar equipment (Speed Guns)

Some of these devices can often corroborate a police officers observational evidence in order to help secure speeding convictions.

For evidence produced by a radar speed measuring device to be admissible in a court of law, it must be a device that is type approved by the Secretary of State (Home Office).

National Maximum Speed Limits In the UK

Local Maximum Speed Limits in the UK

In addition to the national speed limits outlined above there may be locally set speed limits. Locally set speed limits are set by local councils in certain areas such outside schools or on particularly bad roads. These locally set speed limits must be clearly signposted.

Top of page

ACPO Speed Enforcement Guidelines

Driving at any speed over the legal speed limit is an offence and the police are not restricted as to whether to prosecute or not. However ACPO speed enforcement guidelines outlined below recommend that enforcement by prosecution should only be considered when a motorist exceeds the relevant speed limit by a certain threshold.

These are guidelines only and police officers can use their own discretion as to what enforcement action is taken, depending upon various factors surrounding the offence.

Police Officers Discretion

ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) have issued speed enforcement policy guidelines. Part of these guidelines state that when police officers believe that a speeding offence has been committed, then they must exercise their discretion as to the appropriate enforcement action after considering the nature and circumstances surrounding the offence.

Depending upon the circumstances surrounding the speeding offence, they may:

• Issue a court summons; or
• Issue a fixed penalty notice (speeding ticket); or
• Offer the motorist the chance to take the speed awareness course; or
• Caution, warn or take no further action.

An example of a police officer exercising their discretion of speeding enforcement might be where a motorist is caught speeding outside of a school. The motorist may not be exceeding the speed limit by much, however, a different course of action may be taken depending on the circumstances.

If for example, the motorist is caught speeding outside of a school during adverse weather conditions at the end of the school day when lots of pupils and traffic are present then they may decide that it is appropriate to issue a court summons for the offence due to the potential danger posed.

However, if they caught the motorist speeding outside of the school in the middle of the night, in clear weather conditions and no pedestrians were present, then they may decide the appropriate course of action would be to issue a fixed penalty notice (FPN).

Top of page

Speeding Penalties, Speeding Fines and Penalty Points

Depending on the circumstances surrounding the speeding offence a motorist may:

If they have been pulled over by the police.

• Receive a fixed penalty notice on the spot; if:
  • They produce their driving licence and counterpart for inspection to the police constable; and
  • The police constable is satisfied that the motorist would not be liable to be disqualified under the totting up procedure; and
  • They surrender their driving licence to the police officer to be retained and dealt with accordingly.
• In other circumstances they will receive a speeding ticket and verbal notice that they will either receive a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) or a summons to appear at court.

If they have NOT been pulled over by the police.

If for example a motorist has been detected exceeding the speed limit by a fixed speed camera or mobile speed camera van or any other prescribed speed detection device and they were not pulled over by the police for the offence they will receive a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) in the post.

Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP)

Under section 1(1)(c) of The Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 [2] a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) must be served on the driver of the vehicle or the registered keeper of the vehicle within 14 days of the commission of the offence. The NIP will provide details of the alleged offence, including the time and place where the alleged offence was committed.

Any one who receives a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) has 28 days in which to comply with the notice.

People who fail to comply within 28 days will be liable to prosecution under section 172 of The Road Traffic Act 1988 [3] (Fail to give information of driver's identity as required), the maximum penalty for this offence is 6 penalty points, a driving licence endorsement (DVLA Endorsement Code: MS90) and a Level 5 Fine.

The notice of intended prosecution may provide a motorist with the option of accepting a conditional offer of paying a fixed penalty and sending their driving licence back for endorsement along with payment or opting to take a speeding awareness course in lieu of the fixed penalty if eligible.

The motorist may also request a hearing in a court of law if he wishes to contest the alleged charge(s).

A fixed penalty will only be accepted when a person sends appropriate payment along with the relevant documents and the appropriate person who inspects them is satisfied that upon conviction of the offence, the offender would not be liable to be disqualified under the section 35 of The Road Traffic Offenders Act [2] (totting up procedure).

Fixed Penalty System

Fixed penalty for speeding: 3 penalty points and a £100 fine

The fixed penalty system was introduced by The Transport Act 1982 [4]. It was introduced as a means to speed up the prosecution procedure for certain road traffic offences such as exceeding the legal speed limit.

Drivers who accumulate 12 penalty points within a three year period for speeding or other driving offences will have to appear at a magistrates court and will be liable to receive a driving ban under the totting up procedure.

Magistrates sentencing guidelines for speeding offences.

Top of page

DVLA Speeding Offence Endorsement Codes

Endorsements & Penalty Points

Top of page

Speeding Awareness Courses

The national speed awareness scheme offers certain motorists who have been caught speeding an alternative to prosecution. This applies to all speed bands with the exception of 20mph zones.

Motorists who are caught speeding while travelling at a speed greater than 10% plus 6mph above the speed limit will not be able to take a national speed awareness course.

The speed awareness course is designed to educate motorists with the intention of helping them become safer drivers and hopefully avoid exceeding legal speed limits in the future.

Motorists offered the chance to complete a speed awareness course will have the option of paying a fee and completing the course as an alternative to receiving penalty points and a fine (the fixed penalty).

Once a driver has completed a speed awareness course they will not be eligible to receive another speeding awareness course offer if they commit a speeding offence within 3 years of the original speeding offence.

Top of page

Type Approved Speed Detection Devices

There have been many speed measurement detection devices type approved over the years from hand held speed guns to fixed speed cameras.

Home Office Type Approval (HOTA) is a rigorous process that ensures type approved speed detection devices are of the required accuracy, resistant to error and the evidence produced by these devices is reliable.

The following is a selection of speed detection devices that have been type approved by the home office.

Reference:

[1] The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

[2] The Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988

[3] The Road Traffic Act 1988

[4] The Transport Act 1982

Top of page