2 speeding tickets or just 1 for driving a long distance above limit and being caught in 2 radars?

Question

This question originated from a recent action taken by the Highway Patrol in Brazil to catch speeders who slow down only when close to static speed radars and then speed up again. They wanted to catch speeders by placing one extra portable speed radar close (a few kilometers apart) to the other.

Besides catching speeders on the second radar what eventually happened is that some speeders received 2 speeding tickets (1 from the static radar and 1 from the portable one) and that's the point of my question: if you are driving above the limit and keep that speed for a long distance, is that 1 violation of the law or 2? Getting 2 tickets for 1 law violation might be considered a double punishment? If the idea of getting 2 tickets is OK, at which point ended the first speeding and started the second?

I specifically mentioned Brazil in my question, but this question is wide enough to be applied in other countries. Those answers are welcome too.

Answer 1

In the UK, s28(4) Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 states that

Where a person is convicted (whether on the same occasion or not) of two or more offences committed on the same occasion and involving obligatory endorsement, the total number of penalty points to be attributed to them is the number or highest number that would be attributed on a conviction of one of them (so that if the convictions are on different occasions the number of penalty points to be attributed to the offences on the later occasion or occasions shall be restricted accordingly).

In other words, if you commit two or more offences 'on the same occasion', a court will only award penalty points attributable to the offence attracting the most points. 'On the same occasion' is interpreted by the court. I'm not aware of any case law on this point, so a court will be able to apply its discretion.

Note that this only applies to the penalty point aspect of the sentence: the convictions will all stand, and any fines awarded as a result are not subject to the same rule.

Of course the police may use their own discretion and charge a subset of the offences actually detected.

A short glossary

• endorsement means that the offender's licence will be 'endorsed' with a number of penalty points.
• penalty points are recorded on the driver's record at DVSA and expire after a number of years, depending on why they were awarded. A minor speeding offence will normally attract three points which last four years. Receiving twelve points within three years normally results in an automatic twelve-month ban; newly licensed drivers can have their licence revoked on reaching six points.