For Farks Sake!

[Hyaon]

Been unwell since this weekend, but forced myself to go in today as only one day then off for rest of the week! Weather forcast last night was usual gloomy bit of rain, 15oC and 15mph winds. The usual!

I leave the street and notice it's a bit windy, but nothing too severe and thought to myself just watch out for the usual bins/lids/rubbish blown onto the road.

5 minutes later I realise it's not A BIT windy but really bloody windy! It feels like someone is pushing me from all directions and find the handlebars really hard to keep steady. Being on a heavy bike, I don't usually get affected by this easily. I enter a junction, getting slightly nervous as it's still dark and a van is next to me in the left lane and then!..

Only way I can describe what happened next was the feeling of someone trying to pull the wheels sideways away from me. The bike lurches madly and I fight to keep the bike in the same lane. I properly cacked my pants, screaming 'ohshit!' and legs clench like mad on the tank and my arms lock up. Then a double flash. 'Geez, it's thunder and ligh-... argh! *bike wobbles again*

I realise once stabled myself, I've gone past the crosby road north 30mph limit speed camera, which Ive passed twice a day for 3 years since gaining my car and bike licences. I have no idea what speed I was doing because of my cackpants moment. Usually I check my speed doublefold before approaching any speed camera, but my attention was completely distracted.

I accept I lost control of the bike, that bit is bloody obvious! I feel because I was wrestling with the handlebars, the twisting must have made me accelerate strongly. Getting to work I checked the current weather conditions which stated 33-40mph winds! and took a screenie. On the rest of the journey I was seeing a lot of debris, even branches and metal signs on the road. Peoples first comment when they got into my work was "it's fucking windy out there" etc.

Is this something I can ask the camera fines/council for mitigating circumstances or is my points virginity is about to get shafted? I have emailed merseyside road safety partnership who appear to be in charge of the one I passed, ironically their contact being enquiries@noexcuse.org.uk.

I guess if it boils down to 3 points, £60 fine I should just be glad I'm still alive and didn't crash [again]. It just felt utterly out of my hands is all.

/End long blathering session/
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Mod2 Passed 30/03/2011!
CBF125>GSF650 Bandit K8>B-King 2008+R1 2002

[nowhere.elysium]

You're riding something as hefty as a B-King, and you're cacking it about wind?

Loosen up - it helps. You really don't need to adjust your riding all that much for wind - if anything, I've noticed that as soon as I stopped locking my upper body up in high winds, getting blasted all over the place ceased to be a problem.
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'10 SV650SF, '83 GS650GT (it lives!), Questionable DIY dash project, 3D Printer project, Lasercutter project

[ThoughtContro...]

They'll argue you should be going at 30mph anyway as that's the limit not, "Please can I get off because it was very windy and I forgot to slow down for the camera". Usually if there's bad side winds or gusts my first reaction is to ease off the throttle, since if I'm going to be blown into the path of anything, survival chances are likely to improve if I'm going slower

If you've been clocked accept the points and chalk it up to an act of God.
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Prize cunt
--
"In a world of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act" - George Orwell

[Rogerborg]

Worst case, don't take the FPN, let it go to court, plead guilty, and enter a written mitigation explaining what happened. You could note that the reflex response of a biker is to accelerate out of a bad wobble, as bikes get more stable at speed, although that might come across a bit wise guy.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Frost]

They will argue that poor conditions are an additional reason not to be speeding, rather than an excuse for doing so.

I just use counter steering to counteract the wind. Doesn't work when you're stationary though

[Andy_Pagin]

[Hyaon]

That's the thing, if you lose control of the bike it's very difficult to ease off on the throttle when the handlebars are wobbling about everywhere? I think I was on a death grip as at that moment it was pretty violent. The rest of the journey was minor wobbles but could still keep control of my speed etc..

Oh well, bugger!

EDIT:Car licence was 3 years ago, bike I started riding last October but passed this march. My point was, I know the speed camera is there, I know it's a 30 as its a busy junction at rush hours. I would never rev the tits off past that camera on purpose.
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Mod2 Passed 30/03/2011!
CBF125>GSF650 Bandit K8>B-King 2008+R1 2002

[_Troy_]

You were like this riding a B-King!

I was riding my little 125, and personally found changing lanes without any input from myself to be a hilarious (if not terrifying) way of commuting to work.
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Current bike: ZX6R J1
Previous bikes: CLR 125 | GS500 | ZX6R G2 | SV650

[Marcg868]

Didn't mind the wind today. Even on the motorway on a 125. The rain mixed in with the wind however, i did not like!
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JACK, MISS YOU LOADS YOU LEGEND.

[The Artist]

[Hyaon]

[Frost]

[Rogerborg]

[Asharin]

You may not even hear anything more. Was the Camera facing you? No number plate on the front. For that matter the camera might not even be operating fully.

[Hyaon]

It was a rear facing camera, and I had thought about it possibly being out of film/not hear a sod. But looking at how my week is going so far with other cockups/shiteness, I'm going to bet a letter is coming soon!
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Mod2 Passed 30/03/2011!
CBF125>GSF650 Bandit K8>B-King 2008+R1 2002

[Paulington]

Make sure you get the photo, somehow.

You doing a slide whilst breaking the speed limit and shitting yourself is something to be framed. !
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"Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul."
Current Vehicles: '89 Kawasaki KDX200, '99 Yamaha XV535, '00 Honda ST1100 Pan-European, '08 Suzuki GSX-R1000, '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GS4 2.0 TDCi, '15 BMW 1 Series 116d Sport Turbo.
CBT: 27/08/08. Theory: 04/09/09. Module 1: 16/09/09. Module 2: 01/10/09.

[Vin]

I can't see any mitigation in what you are saying.
Which seems to be along the lines of I was speeding because I lost control of my motorcycle. As excuses go that is a bit limp.
It looks like you're an relatively new biker so put it down to experience and next time try to relax when it is windy.

[G]

It's still quite possible the film will have run out, or it never had film in.

From what I can see, by claiming these 'mitigating circumstances', you're admitting to dangerous/careless driving more, rather than providing mitigation for speeding.

[Clanger]

[Chris750]

Whether you go to court or not, if your pleading guilty then I wouldn't of thought the court would go any more hard on you than what you would of got for just accepting a ticket.

Explain that you will plead guilty to the offence as you are not denying you travelled at the alleged speed.
Tell them that you chose to attend court as you wanted a chance to fully explain the events that occurred.

Say you have never had any points to date as you take the rules of the road extremely seriously and never exceed the speed limit.

Say that having points on your licence will be extremely detrimental to your job.

Say something like "on approaching the speed camera which I ride past regularly, I was below the speed limit. While approaching the area in which I exceeded the limit, I was hit by a sudden strong unexpected gust of wind, which would of resulted in me being blown off course into the opposing carriageway and potentially losing control, at this point, I reacted on instinct to keep the bike in control by increasing my speed slightly to stabilise the bike and use the extra power to counteract the wind and keep on course.
I remained fully in control of my vehicle at all times and I believe if I hadn't reacted as I did this would have caused a greater increase in risk of losing control and causing an accident".

Print off as much evidence as possible of it being a gusty day, say on the initial part of your journey the wind was less insignificant and not a problem, but you experienced a sudden stronger gust which you dealt with in the safest way possible, state you only exceeded the speed limit for an extremely short distance.

I am not sure that if I was in your shoes whether I would go to court or just accept the ticket. But if I did go to court, then I would probably say something like this in your situation.
At the end of the day if they don't care about the reasons you give they will only give you what you would of got if you didn't attend.

Make sure you dress smart and be respectful. You never know you may get a sympathetic magistrate. You regularly read of people getting off with much worse offences.
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Current Rides: GSXR-750 WS, GSXR-1000 K5, KTM EXC 300