I consider myself a good driver. My car insurance goes down every year because I’m so consistently safe on the road. The last time I got stopped by a cop, it was because I made an illegal right turn and the cop let me go with a warning because my record was so clean (plus I looked cute that day). That being said, I speed all the time and I never get caught. The secret is knowing where the speed traps are and never speeding in a school zone. The secret is also not going overboard when you do speed: going 45 mph in a 35 mph zone? Acceptable and understandable. Barrelling through a quiet country road at 91 mph? ARE YOU JOKING? So it is with Zara Phillips-Tindall, who just got her driver’s license suspended:
Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Tindall has been handed a driving ban after speeding through the Cotswolds in her LandRover. The 38-year-old equestrian star and granddaughter of the Queen was caught going 91 mph close at Dartley Bottom in rural Gloucestershire last year. Mrs Tindall already had nine points on her licence for other driving offences, leading magistrates in Cheltenham to issue a mandatory six-month ban after imposing a further four points.
The wife of former Gloucester and England rugby back Mike Tindall did not attend court as she was in Australia, where she has been advised not to get behind the wheel. Through her lawyer she pleaded guilty to driving in excess of 70mph on the A417 near Cirencester on November 6th last year.
Barry Warburton, representing Mrs Tindall, told the court he had been instructed to speak on her behalf as she is abroad. He emphasised to the magistrates that in law Mrs Tindall should therefore not be deemed by the court to be absent from the proceedings. He said: “I’ve advised Mrs Tindall not to drive from today in Australia as any driving ban in the UK would affect her insurance in Australia.”
Prosecutor Farley Turner said: “Because Mrs Tindall already has nine points on her licence she was unable to accept a fixed penalty for this offence.” Roger Utley, chairman of the bench, announced that as well as the six months ban the court was fining Mrs Tindall £666 plus costs and a victim surcharge of £151 – making a total to pay of £817.
I don’t entirely understand the “points” system but it sounds like Zara has been caught doing all kind of reckless sh-t before this speeding incident. Maybe she’s the grandchild most like Prince Philip, at least on the road. I mean… I’m not trying to laugh it off at all. She sounds like exactly the kind of reckless driver who should not be on the road. She’s lucky that she didn’t hurt anyone.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Uh don’t you live in Virginia Kaiser? Every state has a points system for your driving record. Each moving violation has a certain number of points, and once you get so many points, like 10 or something, your license can be suspended and revoked. Sounds like the exact system as the UK.
I truly didn’t know that. Because I am a good driver. I’ve never even gotten a speeding ticket, ever.
You should be careful in VA. their penalties for speeding are really high. Like reckless driving kicks in way “earlier” than it does for a state like Maryland.
@Becks I learned that the hard way. I got nailed speeding in Winchester on a drive home from college. I wasn’t speeding when I was pulled over (I had been speeding earlier that day since it was such a long schlep) My parents told me to just pay the ticket because VA and PA weren’t reciprocal states (but VA would notify PA if I fought the ticket)
Points are important. If you get a ticket some states will allow you to plead first offenses down to 1 point and not affect insurance rates. The more points the higher the insurance. The worse the offense the more points. Zara’s traffic offense was quite impressive. It would only have been better if she had said “do you know who I am?”
I’m dimly aware there are points systems (like some penalty-based weight watchers!) but search me what that means without going and looking it up.
I think your license gets suspended when you get 12 points in the UK – but you can get 3-4 points for each driving offence. And the points can stay on your licence for 4-11 years (so says google). Over here in the UK, you get points on your licence even if you are caught by a speed camera (which I don’t think was the case when I lived in Maryland, USA).
ETA Though with some driving offences, your licence may be pulled regardless of how many points you have on your licence.
You definitely don’t get points if you’re caught on a speed camera as there’s no way to tell for sure who the driver is.
@Lucia Over here they send a prosecution notice and you have to tell them who was driving the car. Then the person driving gets either get a fixed penalty notice or a summons to court (depending on your driving offence and the state of your driving licence). We’ve had a few politicians get in serious trouble because they had their significant others take the blame… only to have been found out lying. And they have gone to jail (which I would think was worse than having your licence suspended…)!
@ lucia, here in the uk you most certainly do get points, unless the infringement is on the low end when you may be offered a speed awareness course. I got done 39 in a 30 mph limit (forgot the limit had just gone down and there was a camera van waiting round the next bend) 3 points and £60 (at the time) fine. Friend of mine got a notice of intended prosecution for speeding and didn’t think she had been, so sent for a photo “to assist with identification” and got a beautifully clear picture of herself doing 46mph in a 40 mph area! Although some cameras take photos from the rear so probably might not identify the driver, but the ones that take photos from the front will do.
And in the UK, if the cameras catch your car speeding, a notice of intended prosecution will be sent to the registered keeper of the car who then has 28 days to advise the police who was driving the car at the time of the offence – if the RK doesn’t reply they get 6 points and up to a £1000 fine. False information is an offence punishable by prison (perverting the course of justice) – as a couple of MPs have found out.
Generally speaking 12 points in the space of 3 years results in a short disqualification from driving.
General rule of thumb for police forces is they will prosecute at 10% +2 mph over the speed limit – ie. 24/20, 35/30, 46/40, 57/50, 68/60, 79/70. Although offences at the lower end of the scale usually attract a speed awareness course costing around £100 but no points on licence. But you can only do one in any three years.
Mind you, when got my 3 points (well over 10 years ago and my first in 40 years of driving) I became paranoid about breaking the speed limit!
Sorry JF, you just beat me to it with your post
Meanwhile over here in CA we had a sheriff’s wife kill 2 ppl with her car, her THIRD DUI, and zero consequences. The USA is a joke in many ways, but it’s unreal how easy they go on drunk driving. To me one DUI should mean suspending your license for MINIMUM one year. If you get a second, revoke it for life. If you don’t care if you kill ppl bc you drive drunk, you’re a hazard to society.
Actually Cali if super tough on DUIs – just not cops or celebrities. My friend got a .09 on a breathalyzer test (should have contested it) and they threw the book at her – mandatory MADD meetings, defensive driving classes, ~$3,000 in fines. It took over her 23-yr old life for ~4 months and she had to get a waitressing job to pay off her parents.
@bananapanda
your friend is a normal civilian likely – ofc they threw the book at her. There are people who KILLED ppl that never see the inside of a jail. There was a guy that got 5 DUIs here killed some ppl and ended up getting probation. I’m sorry but your friend is still alive, not like the dead ppl here that never got justice.
If you get more than DUI, your license should be taken away for life. You play with the lives of others, you get part of your life take away. So many ppl die each year being killed by drunk drivers – the numbers are astounding and it sickens me. Guess the cops are too busy pulling over black people for nothing, or trying to get their speeding ticket quotas. Disgraceful.
If you drink and drive, you deserve for your life to end – not anyone else’s.
I don’t think it’s a quiet country road? It’s an A road – major road just under motorway status. It’s a dual carriage way national speed limit (70mph)… which means in practice most people drive around 80 in the fast lane.
Actually not too far from my house and although it is an A road, it isn’t a dual carriage way – very much going through villages, relatively narrow, lots of turns off it etc and definitely not a road you could do 70 on easily – usually about 50 safely.
Actually, to correct myself, parts of the A417 are dual carriageway and I’m not sure where on it she was caught….
Seems the height of entitlement speeding along everywhere you go with no concern for other drivers or for losing your driving privileges.
I don’t know that it’s entitlement. I’ve seen all sorts of assholes driving with no concern for other drivers.
+1 Sarah, boy racers being some of the worse.
I cant endorse speeding of any kind. Things may seem fine to do – until they’re not. Tye majority of accidents happen in low-speeding circumstances
Word. I never go more than 5km over the limit and even on the Autobahn I don’t go over the recommendation of 130km/hour.
There are reasons for speed limits. This is people’s lives so cut it out. I have NO tolerance for that crap. If someone thinks they are a good driver, look at the safety tests and find out what a difference 10km/h makes when you hit a person.
People here in Germany love going full madman on the Autobahn and they’re allowed. Ever have a massive BMW come at your tiny car from behind at 200km/h? It scares the shit out of you. At that speed, you have no control over the car.
I’ll stop now. But she deserves the 6 months.
@Ali exactly. If I lost my driving privileges for 6 weeks I’d be ubering back and forth to work. God knows what that would cost.
@Jessica ~ not in Vancouver, Canada you wouldn’t. … we are the only major North American city without car share. No Uber. No Lyft. Just taxis that will not take you from Vancouver to North Vancouver (12 kms) cause they would have to drive back empty cause those are the rules they themselves set. It is archaic here.
Her repeated infractions show that she obviously has absolutely no regard for the rules of the road, and speeding 91 mph is unbelievable. My car was struck from behind on the freeway several months ago and I flipped over so I’m really sensitive and enraged by stories about careless drivers. She may lead a low key life but she’s still a spoiled and entitled brat.
She obviously hasn’t learned from her mistakes. Very entitled.
Plenty of people do the same unfortunately even when they are not royal
We have a points based system and once you lose so many points, you have to attend mandatory driving safety classes before having a license reinstated.
The more I read about Zara — coupled with her behavior at H&M’s wedding — the more I dislike her. She seems like an entitled ass.
So many people jumped down my throat when I pointed out her behavior at H&M’s wedding. They chalked it up to her being pregnant. I chalked it up to her being an elitist a-hole. And for me this behavior confirms mu instincts about her. Titled or not these royals are all still rich and entitled.
Most of the royal women showed their ass at Harry and Megan’s wedding. Proof positive that money and status doesn’t equal class.
Zara’s always been a bit of a yob. She basically lives for free and uses her royal privilege to make money. She just got caught this time.
What did she do at the wedding?
Being pregnant and uncomfortable should not make you eyeroll an (admittedly offbeat but still) sermon repeatedly for sure. I think she’s an ass too
@Eugh. She did that. I remember that sermon and boy did Bishop Curry nail it. He saw. He saw.
Yes! This! I agree with you.
Reckless drivers, annoy the heck out of me. I was doing the nursery run with my 3 year old son this morning and because it’s just nearby we often walk. As we got to the pedestrian lane, we waited for the cars to stop (as they should, as it’s also a school route), the car on the opposite lane stopped whereas this blooming woman in her bmw just gun her car faster even though she had time to lower her speed and stop! So annoying, I’m glad my son was holding my hand.
“going 45 mph in a 35 mph zone? Acceptable and understandable. Barrelling through a quiet country road at 91 mph?”
Are you kidding me? The speed limit in a residential area is usually 30 to 35 – barrelling thru there at 45 IS totally unacceptable.
Quite country road is where people speed as it’s usually empty.
45 in a 30 is very dangerous, given that 30 is for built up areas – ie lots of cars and pedestrians.
I remember a speed awareness campaign that said if you hit somebody at 30mph there is a 70% chance they’ll live, but if you hit someone at 40mph there is a 70% chance they’ll die
Here in Ireland, we had for many years a poster campaign in an attempt to reduce the number of road traffic accidents. All it said was SPEED KILLS. Simple but effective.
She has 2 kids, that’s all I can say. Two kids.
This is where my imperial system ignorance tripped me up, I was surprised the fine was so high for 20 miles over the speed limit. Then I realized I was thinking in metric. She was doing 146 km/hr in a 110km/hr zone? Yeah, that sounds about right.
Do any of the reports state decisively that she was alone in the car? I read the DM one (yech) but didn’t notice.
TBF if my maths is right, doing 45mph in a 30 zone would be 28% over the speed limit. Doing 91mph in a 70 zone is 30% over the speed limit. Also she was on a dual carriageway, not a quiet country road. I am not defending her but this article comes across as a bit hypocritical to me…
I suspect the secret to not getting pulled over is not being a black man.
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