So how does this work?

[miasmum]

In our local paper their is a section on local sentencing from the Magistrates Court. One person has been fined a total of £250 for driving at 35mph in a 30mph area, but someone else got a total of £80 fine for driving and using a mobile phone.

Now I may be wrong but I am pretty sure more people have been seriously injured and even killed by drivers on mobile phones, than by someone driving 5 miles over the speed limit.

Someone else got fined £67 for leaving a car unattended with the engine running I didn't even realise that was an offence

[Kaz]

That does sound a bit odd

[Workingman]

The law is an ass and the judicial system has all its priorities wrong.

[TheOstrich]

Just to say, I waited until this weekend before posting so I could see the list of recent court cases in our local newspaper.

Driving while using a mobile phone - fined £200 (£300 with costs) and 3 points (similar result for another culprit)
Exceeding 30 mph - fined £265 (£371) and 4 points
Exceeding 30 mph - fined £135 (£235) and 3 points (similar result for another culprit)

I guess the last three depended on what they were exceeding the 30 mph by ......

Your Magistrates' sentences do indeed seem a bit odd, MM, as Kaz said. Can only think there was some sort of mitigating circumstance in the mobile phone case?

[Workingman]

It's a funny old world. There are reports that prosecutions for mobile phone use whilst driving fell 24% last year; with a total drop of 40% since 2011. How can this be when the use of a hand-held mobile phone when driving is know to be dangerous?

[meriad]

apparently if you get caught using a mobile whilst driving it will affect your insurance premium, whereas speeding (within reason) doesn't.

The insurance companies say driving whilst on a mobile is a deliberate act where as a few miles over speed limit many people aren't aware of and it's usually not done deliberately. But as said that is for the 'just over' the speed limit. Excesses of 10 miles or more per hour over the limit I think are treated more harshly by the insurances.

[miasmum]

Actually Ria as the speeds went up they got fined less. It seemed a complete farce the whole thing