Men Behaving Badly star Martin Clunes has been dropped from popular TV ads promoting Churchill car insurance, following a totting up of speeding offences that has seen him disqualified from driving.

Clunes, 50 is considered no longer compatible with car insurance advertising after his license recorded 12 points for speeding offences. This resulted in a ban and ironically, Clunes is sure to see his insurance premiums rocket following the offense when he gets back behind the wheel following his driving ban.

We always recommend driving with the required level of car and attention which includes adhering to the posted speed limit – something the Churchill star failed to do!

Maybe one of our speed camera detectors would be worth a buy in the new year Martin? Well we still love you for one of the best sit-coms of a generation as seen in the video below:

It seems the untouchable stars of Premiership football are not so untouchable when it comes to speeding offences. Former Arsenal and Manchester city player Patrick Vieira has been banned from driving after being caught doing 61mph in a 50mph zone. Vieira, 36 was caught in his Bentley Continental sports car at the time of the offence.

Vieria, now still involved at Manchester City Football Club claimed that he did not receive the prosecution at his home in Alderley Edge. Neighbours often brought around his mail after it had been misdelivered, he said.

Vieira’s lawyer, Gwyn Lewis, said this should have led to the case against his client being dismissed. Stockport magistrates thought otherwise and fined him £1,000 as well as banning him for six months. The punishment was suspended after lodging an appeal.

Further north, Newcastle United striker Demba Ba, 27, has also falled foul of the law and was handed out a six-month ban and fined £1,000 after being caught speeding twice and failing to attend court on three occasions.

Meanwhile at Manchester United, England fringe player Danny Welbeck has escaped a driving ban despite being caught speeding at 82mph in a 50mph zone. The 21 year old was defended by old favourite Nick “Loophole” Freeman and instead took just three points onto his license, a £65 fine and £350 court costs.

Perhaps the funniest incident was that or Welbeck’s boss and Manchester United Manager Alex Ferguson, who escaped prosecution for driving on a motorway hard shoulder in October 1999. His excuse was that he had severe diarrhoea and needed to reach a toilet. And we thought it was just the footballers who were full of it!

In one of the more bizarre stories we’ve come across, Athens-Clarke police arrested an Athens man Wednesday night for speeding recklessly through, wait for it, an apartment complex!

A security officer for The Point, 750 Gaines School Road, called police at about 10:25p.m. when a car had just sped out of the complex, leaving skid marks.

As the responding security were leaving the complex, the car returned at a high speed and ignored the security guard as he attempted to flag the driver to stop, according to police.

It was estimated that the car was speeding at between 45 and 50 mph through the apartment complex.

When the car eventually stopped, 30-year-old Shannon Markese Pittard was questioned as he got out of the parked car. The man denied he was speeding and said he didn’t see the guard waving at him, police said.

He had an open bottle of cold beer in the car, but Pittard said he didn’t know how it got there, police said.

Pittard, of Barnett Shoals Road, was charged with reckless driving and possession of an open alcohol container in a vehicle.

The Hummer isn’t a regular on the UK roads but across the Atlantic it’s not just Arnie who takes to the road in these heavy duty 4×4 monsters. They can be quite intimidating and guzzle so much fuel you’d need deep pockets to fill one up! However, in Canada they save lives!

Darrell Krushelniki from Edmondon, Canada intentionally drove his Hummer into the path of a speeding motorist earlier this week. Sitting at a red light, Krushelniki noticed four children ranging from 3 to 16 in age crossing the road at a pedestrian crossing. More to the point, he also noticed a speeding Pontiac heading for the same crossing without showing signs of slowing down.

“You just had that feeling where you knew something bad was going to happen. I had to get in front of him,” said Krushelnicki. “He didn’t have any attention to the crosswalk and the kids. I was quite sure he was going to hit them.”

Krushelnicki also noticed that the driver of the speeding silver Pontiac seemed to be on the phone whilst travelling at almost 50mph, police later revealed.

Reacting quickly and without regard for his own safety, Krushelnikcki drove into the junction to intentionally block the path of the Pontiac. The Pontiac collided with the Hummer with Krushelnicki suffering only a chipped tooth and the children remained unscathed.

Police are commending Kushelnicki’s actions and a new Facebook fan page has been created for the newly dubbed “Hummer Hero” and not only will Krushelnikki not be facing charges for the incident, his insurance company will not hold him liable – common sense prevails.

Stay safe and OFF the phone!

The Hummer was a wreck but thankfully nobody was properly hurt

North East Safety Camera Partnership (Nescamp) have caught just under 100 motorists breaking the speed limit in just three and a half hours. The A956 Ellon Road near Gordon Barracks was home to 47 drivers found to be travelling above the posted 30mph limit.

Shortly afterwards, the A96 Inverurie road was monitored for an hour and a half, near Bucksburn police station resulting in another 52 motorists being caught over the limit.

The highest speed recorded was 53mph, with many others travelling in the “high 40s and into the 50s” according to Nescamp.

All drivers caught will now face three points adding to their license and £60 fines, netting a cool £6,000 for under four hours work.

Julie Smith, of Nescamp, said: “To detect almost 100 offences during three and half hours of enforcement is very, very disappointing.

“I would like to stress that dual carriageways within the city do not automatically have a 40mph speed limit. In fact there are over ten such roads in Aberdeen which are subject to a 30mph limit.”

“Nescamp have issued numerous press releases in recent years to highlight the speed limit of city dual carriageways and have placed advertisements in local newspapers to try and remind people of the limits.

“Nescamp do not want to catch people out, we want to slow people down. I would urge motorists to drive at 30mph or less on city dual carriageways if they are in any doubt about the limit. The speed limits are in place for the safety of all road users.”

We would urge motorists to give themselves a second chance and look at a comprehensive speed camera detector system such as the Snooper 3Zero, which will heighten awareness and generally make you a safer driver.

£6,000 in speeding fines generated in under 4 hours

Four Porsche drivers have been caught speeding and had their vehicles IMPOUNDED in Vancouver only a week after another group of Porsche drivers received a warning for speeding!

In an 80kmh zone, the four sports cards were snapped traveling at speeds of between 125kmh and 131kmh and pulled over. The unlucky four were promptly issued with speeding tickets of $368 each and had their cars impounded for a week.

Cpl. Fred Harding said, “Drivers are reminded that road safety is the responsibility of all road users,”.

“Driving at excessive speed can lead to severe sanctions from the Motor Vehicle Branch Superintendent which includes the suspension of driving privileges for an undetermined period of time.”

Waiting in a line, four speeding Porsches were issued with a $360 fine each

A mobile speed camera set up in North Yorkshire has managed to snap 13 motorists clocking some ridiculous speeds, earning themselves a trip to Selby Magistrates Court. Six drivers and seven bikers are accused of speeding between 72mph in a 40 zone and 132mph in a 70 zone.

Whilst we sympathise with some drivers caught speeding, it’s hard to argue that 132mph on any stretch of road is anything but wreckless.

All thirteen drivers will be sentenced next week in Selby Magistrates Court.

We recommend a speed camera detector to help make them aware of the posted speed limits.

From next Monday, Mobile Speed Cameras will be out in force throughout various parts of the Lothians.

Cameras will be located in Edinburgh on the A90 at Cramond, Muirhouse Parkway, West Granton Road and the A70 in Balerno. West Lothian doesn’t escape either with mobile speed cameras positioned on the S89 at Armadale, the A71 at Polbeth and A71 at Breich.
Meanwhile, over in East Lothian, mobile devices will be deployed on the A198 at Castlemans, the B1345 at Fenton Barns and B1377 at Mungoswells.

Keep your eyes peeled – you have been warned. Could be worth looking at one of our Speed Camera Detectors to help you stay alert.

A Yelverton resident down in Plymouth has been caught speeding but following the fixed penalty notice and three points, he is putting his foot down in a different way and fighting against the ticket. The controversial speed camera on Gdynia Way seems to be creating havoc for city motorists because it is deemed to have insufficient.

Resident Simon Turner says that there’s not enough signage in the area alerting drivers to the speed limit change as up until last year’s multimillion pound road works, Gdynia Way was a 40mph zone – now reduced to a 30mph.

He said: “Due to the lack of optional combined safety camera and 30mph signs at the exit from Cattedown roundabout, the motorist is under-informed.”

Last month, local paper The Herald reposted on cab driver Dean Gillard who was also caught speeding three times in one morning on Gdynia Way forcing him to move cab firms so he wasn’t passing through the camera as often.

It is drivers like this that Simon plans to stand up for, and any other motorists who have been caught along the stretch.

This Is Plymouth posted these comments from Simon;
“It’s not about money or the points, it’s about road safety.

“I have come under considerable pressure from the Safety Camera Unit to accept the £60 fine and three points on my licence but I have refused to accept this conditional offer despite the extension to the time limit.”

He also said: “I am therefore facing a summons and in doing so will act as spokesperson for others who have been or will in the future be caught out by the lack of signage in Shapters Road and Gdynia Way.”

This is a risky strategy and could result in further punishment for him but to the letter of the law, the UK Government Traffic Signs Manuel, 14.1 states: “To avoid the risk of failed prosecutions, it is of the greatest importance that speed limits be signed lawfully.

“It is equally important that speed limits be signed clearly and in accordance with this guidance, so that at no time will drivers be in any doubt about the prevailing limit.”

The other side of the argument suggests that there is adequate indication that the speed limit of the area is 30mph and not 40pmh. To be fair, Plymouth City Council has the Highway Code on their side which states that “in areas of street lighting the speed limit is 30mph, unless a different speed limit is specifically signed.”.

Of course the easiest way of preventing failing foul of the speed limit would be to have one of our speed camera detectors on board so there was no way you would miss the speed limit. Click here for more details.

And second place goes to…. Wrexham, for catching the second highest number of speeding motorists in north Wales during 2011! The speed camera found on the A525 Heol Maelor in Coedpoeth registered a massive 1,391 speeding motorists last year.

If we say that each motorist received a standard £60 fine and three points on their license, that’s total of £83,460 in revenue and over 4,000 speeding points dished out onto people’s licenses.

First place as taken by the Greenfield A548 in Flintshire which registered 1453 speeders and generated a cool £87,000 in fine revenue.

The Coedpoeth camera, although second in the revenue stakes, wins the “Most Attacked Speed Camera” award for North wales with arson attempts, lens damage and even paint throwing.

We think that the easiest way to avoid speeding is to install one of our speed camera detectors into your car. Starting at under £100, it can save your license and help you become a safer driver!