I was not offering a defence. I merely wished to offer an explanation and to attempt at least to add some argument to the whispers that despite it being taboo, it can happen that someone can end up speeding inadvertently.
I learned to adjust my driving based on the prevailing traffic/weather/road conditions. The current effective zero tolerance and all-or-nothing approach to penalties has led me to change my driving behaviour, but not for the better.
Having lived with the cloud of a pending court date for the past 7 months, I now adjust my speed based on looking out for speed limit signs and watching my speedometer. Whether my instinct tells me I am driving at an appropriate speed or not has been beaten out of me. Do not trust your instinct because invariably the county council disagrees and feel I ought to be driving 20kph less. So, in the open road, I drive between 90 and 100, and only transgress above 100 because I don't have cruise control. In restricted speed zones, I am sticking to 0-10kph below the limit religiously (variations down to wind speed, gradient and inability to hold my foot steady, as opposed to being intentional). But that is not making me a safer driver. I am now so paranoid that I might have missed a sign, I am a nervous wreck. My observation is focused on trying to spot speed limit signs and keeping an eye on my speedometer. As a result, I do feel I am paying less attention to the real hazards in built up areas. I am adding to the frustration of the drivers behind me because I am holding them all up in the quiet zones either side of built up areas where county councils have set speed limits on the expectation that the town will eventually expand out that far. But I am doing what the authorities want me to do, and that is all that counts.
So did I have a defence? No. But I had an explanation. I was not being cheeky. I was not being erratic or dangerous. I was not driving at a speed that mismatched road and weather conditions. I had focused on the traffic behind me and to the right when merging onto a dual carriageway and missed the speed limit sign on my left telling me the limit was still 60kph. My instinct told me this was a dual carriageway with fast flowing traffic, heading out of town. Mitigating factors are taken into account if I am caught with 100k of drugs on me, but not if I am found to have missed a speed limit sign. I am just too hard nosed to take the 2 points on the chin.
I never got to say any of this in court. And maybe the judge would have told my solicitor to shut up, but I don't have the points. A small moral victory.
The defence rests.