Speeding ticket on way to hospital

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What do you think of Elon Musk? Have your say | No thanks
View Threaded
Wed 25 Apr 2007 23:22
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - RJ
At about 3:30am today, about one street away from the A&E we were rushing to, we had a flash behind us and realised we were doing about 48 in a 40 zone - we were distracted and didn't notice. The visit did not turn out to be life-threatening.
What are the chances of getting out of the inevitable ticket, and will it require an appearance in court if we try to?
Thanks.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 25 Apr 2007 23:46
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Altea Ego
What are the chances of getting out of


On the hospital Excuse? None. specially as it wasnt life threatening. (which should be a blessing on its own)

>>the inevitable ticket and will it require

Dont be so sure, a ticket is not inevitable.
an appearance in court if we try to?


If you want to try and get out of it? then yes you need to do it in court.



------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 25 Apr 2007 23:48
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Pugugly {P}
- "we were distracted and didn't notice"

Don't mention that in your mitigation.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 00:45
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Stuartli
..or that, fortunately, it wasn't a life threatening case. Presumably you were not aware of that fact at the time?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 09:25
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Dwight Van Driver
Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

87. Exemption of fire brigade, ambulance and police vehicles from speed limits.

No statutory provision imposing a speed limit on motor vehicles shall apply to any vehicle on an occasion when it is being used for fire brigade, ambulance or police purposes, if the observance of that provision would be likely to hinder the use of the vehicle for the purpose for which it is being used on that occasion.

You sweat for 14 days to see if NOIP/Name and shame driver arrives through the post.

You will then have to consider accepting the Conditional Offer - £60/3 points, or

Elect Court appearance to prove to the satisfaction of the Court that the exemption applies -
not easy.........in fact I have never heard a success yet.

dvd

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 10:16
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - UncleR
I suppose this is where speed cameras remove that human touch of policing. I expect if you have been pulled at the time and the officer could clearly see you were on the way to the hospital with a genuine cause for hurry then you might well have been let off. Cameras deal with facts only.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 11:12
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Leif
Hire "Mr. Loophole" - Nick Freeman - and you will get off for rushing a suspected medical emergency to hospital.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 13:44
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Cliff Pope
Is there any case law supporting the contention that although not an ambulance and not driven by ambulance personel, a car can in certain circumstances be deemed to be acting on ambulance purposes?

Are there any comparable instances where a car has acted for police purposes - chasing a thief or murderer perhaps in order to aid his apprehension?
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 13:50
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Leif
My understanding is that anyone can legally break the speed limit but they must justify it in court e.g. a medical emergency. Wasn't it Beckham who justified speeding my arguing that he thought he was under threat from one or more other vehicles? However they are still subject to possible charges of dangerous driving if they do not take due care.

I would doubt that chasing a thief would be justification but that is no more than a guess.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 14:18
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Armitage Shanks {p}
I think Beckham was fleeing from photographers who were trying to take photographs of him without paying for the privilege. Why anyone would want photos of a man who, while good looking, looks like an explosion in OXFAM shop is another on life's great mysteries.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 20:12
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - RJ
Thanks for your replies, everyone. I think that in the days pre-cameras, a little humanity might have been expended in our favour, but these days it's more efficient to just book us. That said, I did have moral qualms about even raising the topic - however distracted we were by our own emergency to not realise we'd gone over 40, we were potentially a greater danger to others than we should have been.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 20:49
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Armitage Shanks {p}
A very mature outlook RJ. However, if you had been stopped by a traffice policeman you might have been given a blue light and siren escort to the hospital, depending on the severity of your emergency. Welcome to the dead hand of automated law enforcement in UK in 2007!
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 27 Apr 2007 13:16
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Westpig
we were potentially a greater danger to others than we should have been.


I suspect you are doing yourself an injustice at that time of the morning.........don't forget the limits are set for the worst case scenario ........e.g. pouring with rain, winter's moring, limited light, school kids on way to school, diesel on road etc,etc........i appreciate you were admittedly distracted, but it has to be kept in context

as PU states don't say you were distracted and that's why you were speeding, because that's admitting to driving without due care...and i'm sure you weren't doing that, were you?
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 21:13
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - graham woods
Hi RJ, Many years ago I was a taxi driver and had to go to a hospltal about 8 miles away to collect some blood which needed transporting FAST back to my local hospital. Once I had got the blood there was a police car outside and he said to me "Put your headlights on and keep up with me, so off we go at about 70-80 m.p.h.Scared me to death. I wonder if stopped by another police car on the way, would I have got off with it. This is totally true and not made up. Cheers, Graham.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 21:21
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - graham woods
P.S. This was in 30mph and 40 mph speed limits, not on the motorway at all. Cheers, Graham.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 21:28
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - mss1tw
Sounds great fun Graham! I'd love a police escort at silly speeds...
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 21:38
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - graham woods
Hi mss1tw, Honestly, it was a nightmare trying to keep up with the police car, and silly as it might sound, I got the impression from other motorist that I was chasing the police car .Would not like to do it again, but a strange experience never the less, I now have a pace-maker fitted (when I was 49) I wonder if this was the cause, lol, Cheers, Graham.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 26 Apr 2007 22:25
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Hugo {P}
It would probably have been safer/more practical for the police driver to put the blood in his car and drive himself.

Having said that I watched a piece of footage where an organ was rushed from one end of london to the other in half an hour. Apparently there were two cars in that convoy, just in case one broke down.

They made it with minuits to spare
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 27 Apr 2007 11:06
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Murphy The Cat
I had to do a similar high speed run to hospital a little while ago for a medical emergency. At times I was hitting 120 mph on the dual carriageway sections and the thought did hit me at the time of "what will I do if I get pulled now".

I was fortunate in the respect that the medical emergency was sorted out, and that I was never pulled/flashed. I took the view that if I had have been pulled/flashed I would have gone to court and pleaded my case. BTW, once I got into 30/40 mph limits, I backed right off.


MTC
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 27 Apr 2007 12:58
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Mapmaker
>120 mph

Wow! I once had a completely empty stretch of motorway - dry, warm very early Sunday summer morning and took the car up to 100 for the fun of it. (In Germany, of course...!)

Plenty scary enough for me.

>and the thought did hit me

Jolly lucky nothing else did hit you.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 27 Apr 2007 13:04
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Leif
"took the car up to 100 for the fun of it. (In Germany, of course...!) Plenty scary enough for me."

When my Ford Ka was new it would go well beyond the rated maximum speed. On a few occasions I did 110 mph on the clock and it felt incredibly stable and safe. The motorway was clear on both occasions. After 5 years the fuel consumption and maximum speed are nothing like as good as they used to be. I used to have a Nissan Micra (previous version) and even at 80 mph it did not feel stable. I suspect that in a Merc or Beamer you could do 150 mph and feel stable.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 27 Apr 2007 15:44
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Murphy The Cat
>
Jolly lucky nothing else did hit you.


Nothing even close !

MTC
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 27 Apr 2007 13:02
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - stevied
Are you famous and have a ridiculously high opinion of yourself, backed up by the adulation you receive on a daily basis from people who read Hello/Heat magazine?

Or are you a rich businessman who sees the law as a tiresome irritant only for the proletariat, especially as you have made donations to the government?

If the answer to either of the above is yes, then you're fine.

If not, then you'll probably be paying a fine and getting points.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 28 Apr 2007 17:56
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - bristolmotorspeedway {P}
RJ,
You may be let off this one. A few months back my father got clocked whilst rushing my niece to hospital with what he thought may have been a broken arm (it wasn't). Offence was similar - 48 or so in a temporary 40 zone. When the NIP arrived, he wrote to the force concerned explaining the full circumstances - ie, taking 2 yr old grand-daughter to hospital, inevitably distracted, unfamiliar area, gave times and full details of the hospital visit etc. Also was suitably apologetic, but cited previous good record too (40+ years with no points or insurance claims). The prosecution was dropped, accompanied by a warning that this was very much a one-off discretionary act, not to be seen as a precedent etc.

Given the time of your offence, and assuming you do get a ticket, it is certainly worth penning a letter explaining why you were 'in a hurry'.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 29 Apr 2007 00:43
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Hugo {P}
Given the time of your offence and assuming you do get a ticket it is
certainly worth penning a letter explaining why you were 'in a hurry'.


....however, take PUs advoce and DONT say you were distracted.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 29 Apr 2007 09:24
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - deepwith
Reading above messages, reminds me of fifteen years ago on the M6 on our way home to Congleton from London - husband then driving - when we were pulled over as we had a dodgy connection in a rear light, which apparently was coming on and off. As he peered into the car, the young traffic policeman noticed my rather large 'bump' with a look of total horror, then anticipated pleasure as he asked if we needed an escort to hospital? He was obviously disappointed to discover he was a month too early!
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 29 Apr 2007 22:36
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Hugo {P}
I like that story.

A policeman who is more concerned for the wealfare occupants of the car than a dodgy light
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 29 Apr 2007 23:18
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Leif
I like that story.


Me too.
A policeman who is more concerned for the wealfare occupants of the car than a
dodgy light


I read it as indicating that he was looking forward to a thrilling medical emergency rush to hospital.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 29 Apr 2007 23:41
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - deepwith
Yes, he was anticipating a quick trip on a quiet night without the dangers involved in a chase, sorry to disappoint him really, but sadly for him I had all my babes at home.
He did then help husband sort out the damp connection to the light before we went on our way. You see, speed traps just cannot offer the service of old!
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 29 Apr 2007 23:41
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Hugo {P}
I read it as indicating that he was looking forward to a thrilling medical emergency
rush to hospital.


Hmm - that too, to relieve the boredom perhaps
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 29 Apr 2007 23:44
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Leif
Hmm - that too to relieve the boredom perhaps



I guess copper-ing (copperisation?) is not as exciting as in the days of the Sweeney.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 30 Apr 2007 00:10
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - deepwith
MTC, we have learned a very important lesson. If you have a medical emergency it is better to get an ambulance unless you live in an area where the service no longer exists in emergency time.
Several reasons:
i. you are not a safe driver when someone you love is in danger
ii. you cannot run red lights etc or get cars to move out of the way if you meet a jam
iii. when you get to A&E, people in ambulances get seen immediately, unlike those brought in who have to wait for triage
I cannot tell you how stupid I felt at turning down an ambulance for my 3 year old (who had missed his prenatal police escort!) who was screaming in pain and then getting caught in caravan hell getting through Lyndhurst. Next time we used the ambulance.
Six months after this episode, I was very grateful to drivers like Graham rushing blood to hospitals, we were waiting for blood just before Christmas and none of the local banks had any 'o pos' available. It had to be brought from the midlands - his blood count was down to single figures. So cheers Graham!
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 30 Apr 2007 10:18
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Murphy The Cat
MTC we have learned a very important lesson. If you have a medical emergency it
is better to get an ambulance unless you live in an area where the service
no longer exists in emergency time.


Hello Graham
We were 200 miles away from home visiting friends. We had been passed from pillar to post and back to pillar again by NHS Direct.
We were over 15 miles away from the nearest ambulance depot.
The closest hospital was 20 miles away.
I got there in 15 minutes (ish)
We were seen right away.

i) I was totally in control of my driving at all times
ii) In the rural are that I was staying in, traffice lights/jams are not an issue
iii) We were seen immediately



MTC
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 30 Apr 2007 10:36
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - local yokel
> - We were over 15 miles away from the nearest ambulance depot.

Bear in mind that's it increasingly common for ambulances not to return to depot once off task, though that does not of course mean they'd a) have had one to spare and b) that it would have been closer than the depot.

We had a builder fall through the roof onto concrete. First on scene was the helicopter, second was a car-borne ambulance service officer, and last at 45 mins was an ambulance. It was a Mon at 0920.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 30 Apr 2007 11:12
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Murphy The Cat
Bear in mind that's it increasingly common for ambulances not to return to depot once
off task though that does not of course mean they'd a) have had one to
spare and b) that it would have been closer than the depot.



Good points and all very likely & possible. If I was staying in a very urban area, it would have been different, but where my friends live, on the two occassions that they have used the ambulance service it has taken between 20 & 30 minutes to arrive, & they're neighbour who is a nurse (of some flavour) recommended that I got her to hospital (pronto) myself, rather than take the time to wait for an ambulance.

Plus, after being messed around by NHS Direct, it seemed a much better course of action to use someone that I could 100% rely on to get the job done- me.




MTC
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 30 Apr 2007 11:45
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - local yokel
I'd have done the same as you in the circs., and probably got flashed as well.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 1 May 2007 00:43
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - PoloGirl
RJ you might get a sympathetic ear on this one. Some years ago my cousin was taken ill in Scotland and my uncle and aunty had to drive up there from the lake district. They received a NIP, wrote a letter explaining and never heard anything else about it.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 1 May 2007 07:24
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Westpig
We had a builder fall through the roof onto concrete. First on scene was the
helicopter second was a car-borne ambulance service officer and last at 45 mins was an
ambulance. It was a Mon at 0920.


some 15 years ago the ambulance service had real problems.........one of my junior officers bundled an unconscious man into the back of a 3 door Metro panda car once (with the help of his wife and dinner party guests), for the 2 mile trip to hospital, after an hour's wait for an ambulance.........fraught with danger though

he had nipped into his garage to play a new cassette he'd been given for his birthday and because it was cold had started the engine on his car to put the heater on??
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 1 May 2007 10:52
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Cliff Pope
It's all very well saying it makes more sense to wait for the ambulance, and it does if you know it's coming in ten minutes. But after the ten agonising minutes have turned into 15, then 20, then half an hour, at what point do you give up? Better to have left straight away in the car and not even bothered ringing for an ambulance if it's a real emergency.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 12 Jan 2015 12:02
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Biolmichael

Hello Bristolmotorspeedway

Your previous message read: You may be let off this one. A few months back my father got clocked whilst rushing my niece to hospital with what he thought may have been a broken arm (it wasn't). Offence was similar - 48 or so in a temporary 40 zone. When the NIP arrived, he wrote to the force concerned explaining the full circumstances - ie, taking 2 yr old grand-daughter to hospital, inevitably distracted, unfamiliar area, gave times and full details of the hospital visit etc. Also was suitably apologetic, but cited previous good record too (40+ years with no points or insurance claims). The prosecution was dropped, accompanied by a warning that this was very much a one-off discretionary act, not to be seen as a precedent etc.

Given the time of your offence, and assuming you do get a ticket, it is certainly worth penning a letter explaining why you were 'in a hurry'.

I know this was a while ago but have you still got the details?

I'm in a similar position but so far no sympathy from the police, still trying!

Thanks in advance

Michael

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 11 May 2007 01:26
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - RJ
Update: No NIP!

That's the end of two weeks plus a couple of days.
When it came to deciding whether to go there or not, we had a similar judgement to make to another poster - we'd called NHS Direct who recommended an ambulance, but we felt it was best we take ourselves - it's 20 miles-ish to an A&E dept, and it's a difficult rural area. The last time an ambulance came by this way, during the daytime, I realised where it should be going because of earlier police cars and when it passed by up a different road, I went out the front to wait for it to come back to guide it on. At night, with no street lights, no street signs, plus the trip here then to the hospital, it just made sense to make the trip ourselves.
Difficult decisions we have to make at times - we just have to try to make sure we're the only ones who are affected by it.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 12 Jan 2015 12:41
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - dieseldogg

At 55 years old and driving about 20,000 miles per year since 18 with NO high speed or injury accidents to my name AND a totally all time clean licence a few points.

(i) A child with a suspected broken arm is NOT a medical "emergency", seriously.

(ii) But in event of a medical emergency I too would drive, if required, and break speed limits, but only if safe to do so.

(iii) The only case where I have broken speed limits was was to attend my fathers death bed, in the early hours of the morning, I did not adhere to the speed limits, but I did NOT crash, and was clearly aware that I risked proscution and points if caught.

I though, in the circumstances, this was an acceptable risk, the possible proscution, but would have pleaded my case, and needs be, taken my punishment.

As Westpig kindly and clearly explained speed limits are set for "worst case" situations, and VERY SAFELY exceeded, circumstancs dictating and permitting.

Marcus

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 12 Jan 2015 14:31
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - Gibbo_Wirral

I wouldn't worry too much, this thread is from 2007.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 12 Jan 2015 16:46
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - leef

8 years too late, but never mind.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 12 Jan 2015 16:53
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - dieseldogg

Derp?

I wonder how it then came up as a fresh thread, before i replied, which is why wot i did reply, like?

I did? honest! however have to wonder at Westpig's comment, since he haint bin about this while.

Cheers

M

Edited by dieseldogg on 12/01/2015 at 16:54

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 14 Jan 2015 00:41
Speeding ticket on way to hospital - robsterm

I had a similar thing happen to my once, argued it and ended up with 4 points and £150 fine! I would just pay it unless you've already got 6/9 points then you might aswell try to argue it.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link