I accidentally said something wrong to the police

So this Uber driver was im sure driving 90mph on a Motorway, very dangerous driving for most part and I reported him

He was driving fast and I did not take videos of him when he did hit 90mph

I've got three videos of him

-video one: it clearly shows he is driving 82 mph on the way up

-video two: driving fast just weaving from one lane till the next lane, not properly over taking, weaving fast

An image too of 45mph on a 30mph road

Would I penalised for saying 90mph, the video clearly shows 82mph going up when it cuts out

(edited 7 months ago)

Reply 1

Muttly

20

Did you feel frightened by this man's driving? If the answer was yes then there are reasons why you felt frightened, not just that you were a nervous passenger? It his driving was dangerous it usually requires something else to corroborate your own observations to prove it (for example he crashed).

If it was your opinion of 90mph without any factual evidence to support that (for example you saw the needle on the speedometer) then your evidence might not be admissible, presuming you are not an expert witness? If you have given your information to the police in good faith there would not be any issue. If there was a problem with your evidence to prove speeding they may not use certain parts of your evidence (like the 90mph bit) In fairness 90mph whilst over the speed limit is not particularly fast. The greater excess (as a margin past the 30mph limit) is the 45mph in the 30mph limit. But again it is difficult to prove 'historic' excess speed without specific time/distance equipment or use of radar equipment.

Speed alone will not be sufficient to prove dangerous driving. It depends on the context and how bad the lane changes and other driving behaviour was at the time and how much risk that created for other road users.

The police might just pass it through to the taxi licensing department for them to review this case and the man's private hire badge. The taxi licensing dept can revoke his private hire licence, and they are usually receptive to complaints about taxi drivers and their behaviour.

Reply 2

Analyst89

OP

20

Original post by Muttly

Did you feel frightened by this man's driving? If the answer was yes then there are reasons why you felt frightened, not just that you were a nervous passenger? It his driving was dangerous it usually requires something else to corroborate your own observations to prove it (for example he crashed).

If it was your opinion of 90mph without any factual evidence to support that (for example you saw the needle on the speedometer) then your evidence might not be admissible, presuming you are not an expert witness? If you have given your information to the police in good faith there would not be any issue. If there was a problem with your evidence to prove speeding they may not use certain parts of your evidence (like the 90mph bit) In fairness 90mph whilst over the speed limit is not particularly fast. The greater excess (as a margin past the 30mph limit) is the 45mph in the 30mph limit. But again it is difficult to prove 'historic' excess speed without specific time/distance equipment or use of radar equipment.

Speed alone will not be sufficient to prove dangerous driving. It depends on the context and how bad the lane changes and other driving behaviour was at the time and how much risk that created for other road users.

The police might just pass it through to the taxi licensing department for them to review this case and the man's private hire badge. The taxi licensing dept can revoke his private hire licence, and they are usually receptive to complaints about taxi drivers and their behaviour.

Thank you

I don't think they will caution me for this, I did report him for driving 90mph however he was going over the speed limit and was driving dangerously

Reply 3

StriderHort

21

I don't think you would ever be expected to professionally assess their speed with accuracy as member of the public, while it might technically change the band of punishment it doesn't change the grounds of your report.

Reply 4

Trinculo

21

Uber will have full data on the car and how long it took to get from one point to another.

Reply 5

StriderHort

21

1 random Q I have is how did you keep up with them to take multiple vids? Like how does your first vid 'clearly' show him doing 83mph unless you were able to pace them yourself? likewise you've obv kept up with them despite their speed onto different roads, If they've been mostly 15mph over the limit and aggressively over taking... you shouldn't have been able to legally keep up surely?

Reply 6

Analyst89

OP

20

I was scared in the back seat, he was going too fast so I video his speed on the motorway and the almost 20mph excess on normal roads

I have been asked to upload videos from the police

I said 90mph, the videos don't show that, could I get cautioned? However there is enough proof of his dangerous driving

Reply 7

5hyl33n

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by Analyst89

I was scared in the back seat, he was going too fast so I video his speed on the motorway and the almost 20mph excess on normal roads

I have been asked to upload videos from the police

I said 90mph, the videos don't show that, could I get cautioned? However there is enough proof of his dangerous driving

Just curious, did you not ask the driver to reduce his speed?

Reply 8

Anonymous #1

You won't get cautioned, you didn't do anything wrong. You won't get a criminal record for this - you're just a witness. You don't have to be super accurate with what you tell the police here - 90mph is how it seemed to you and you have evidence to back up that you were in the ballpark.

Lots of factors here - you were stressed being the main one!

Don't feel like you have to answer to people who are invalidating your experience or saying you should have spoken up. If someone is speeding without a care, who knows what they may do to you? Also, when you're stressed fight or flight kicks in.