Police and Oversteer

[TurboHatchback]

Robatr0n said:

they let it slide.

Badum-tish etc.

[Robatr0n]

Ugh!

[davepoth]

nitrodave said:

a few years back, when it covered in snow i was driving round buckingham palace in a 200sx. No matter what i did the back end would step out but i neatly connected the right-left-right drfits without it getting too out of shape. Came to a stop at the set of lights and an unmarked cop car pulled up next to me.

They rolled the window down and complimented me on handling of the car in those conditions.

Good traffic officers can tell the difference between keeping control in bad condition and intentionally over steering with your foot planted on the throttle

If you imagine the amount of terrible driving they had probably seen that day, that you were moving forwards in roughly the direction you were aiming for probably marked you out as the spawn of Fangio.

[DWS]

I know I'm going to get flamed for this
But (as I tell my wife when she gets into a slide - sanctimonious driving God that I am)If your vehicle gets into a slide YOU are driving too fast for the conditions or the conditions are so bad that YOU (Anyone) shouldn't be out on the road.

I know I'm going to burn in hell!









PS Yes, I have driven like a Tw@t many times. Both intentionally and because I was driving too fast for the conditions.

[AlexHillTVR]

I wouldn't call what I did driving too fast for the conditions haha. It was more the trying to get going too fast for the conditions whilst not straight ;-)

[HertsBiker]

defblade said:

See, I don't quite understand this one:

Slide without meaning to (ie, losing control of the car but being lucky/skilled/quick enough to gather it again after the event) = OK.

Slide on purpose (ie, remaining in control of the car all through the action) = DWDCA.


???

You are so right.

[Mr Classic]

Not really, intentionally putting yourself in a situation where by its definition you have less control, doesn't that seem quite stupid?

[Cyder]

DWS said:

I know I'm going to get flamed for this
But (as I tell my wife when she gets into a slide - sanctimonious driving God that I am)If your vehicle gets into a slide YOU are driving too fast for the conditions or the conditions are so bad that YOU (Anyone) shouldn't be out on the road.

I know I'm going to burn in hell!

PS Yes, I have driven like a Tw@t many times. Both intentionally and because I was driving too fast for the conditions.

That's tosh though isn't it, in light drizzle I can make my car with 115bhp go sideways at walking pace without trying very hard at all. That's going neither too fast, nor being out in conditions that I shouldn't be out in.

[skwdenyer]

DWS said:

I know I'm going to get flamed for this
But (as I tell my wife when she gets into a slide - sanctimonious driving God that I am)If your vehicle gets into a slide YOU are driving too fast for the conditions or the conditions are so bad that YOU (Anyone) shouldn't be out on the road.

I know I'm going to burn in hell!









PS Yes, I have driven like a Tw@t many times. Both intentionally and because I was driving too fast for the conditions.

I suppose at this point that we should have a discussion about slip angles? They are non-linear with load, but they are always present - when you think your tyres are not sliding, your tyres know that they are sliding...

Since the UK Gov gives specific advice on what to do when you encounter a "skid" whilst driving (see http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121015... for example), it can be fairly assumed that it is not an entirely alien occurrence even to "normal" drivers.

Yes, vehicles and tyres have come on in leaps and bounds since the days when your average driver could expect to experience "skidding" quite regularly on a wet road, but, still, it is what it is.

If you drive around a wet roundabout and encounter some spilled DERV, for instance, what should you do? Park the car at the side of the road and walk home, so clearly deficient are your driving powers that day? Or accept that a slip and a slide are (or at least were, for most) part and parcel of normal driving, however infrequently?

You are, I suspect, blessed with a very tolerant wife, however

[Kawasicki]

Mr Classic said:

Not really, intentionally putting yourself in a situation where by its definition you have less control, doesn't that seem quite stupid?

Like intentionally driving at 60mph instead of 40mph

[Toltec]

Mr Classic said:

Not really, intentionally putting yourself in a situation where by its definition you have less control, doesn't that seem quite stupid?

Less control than who?

I would also argue that fitting tyres below the standard of the originals is a lack of due care.

[AA999]

It must be a very grey area of the law if nobody has yet clarified it.

[mph1977]

Police attitude to oversteer ?

in the mid 1990s Lincolnshire positively encouraged it ...

they used to run freesessions for new drivers on the skid pan at Force HQ ...

[un1corn]

There might not have been time to pull you, due to an urgent Facebook argument that needed sorting.

[oilspill]

The blokes on wheeler dealers film themselves getting the back end out on public roads,so it must be ok.

[sebhaque]

Few years ago in the winter snowy weather I was driving home in my-then 911. There's a notoriously slippery (but fairly open) corner on the commute back, and on this occasion I was feeling a little mischievous. I drove up to the corner, waited for a green light, and performed one of the world's slowest powerslides on some fresh snow.

It was only mid-slide, with full opposite lock on and two rooster tails of snow erupting from the rear tyres, did I spot the parked police car on the inside of the corner. I looked up to see a rather confused policeman watching a 911 go past sideways, didn't really know what to do so gave the policeman a jolly wave and smiled. The policeman, still confused, waved back and resumed staring at the other side of the road. Meanwhile I had (unsurprisingly) cocked up my powerslide and performed an artistic 360-degree pirouette before straightening up and returning to my cautious drive.

I can only assume that it wasn't worth the Police's time to attack the one car that dared go round that corner in the snow, and also given that this was in Wimbledon where Porsches nearly outnumber households, they weren't too fussed. I coudl have just been another Carlton Banks for all they cared.

[Baryonyx]

nitrodave said:

a few years back, when it covered in snow i was driving round buckingham palace in a 200sx. No matter what i did the back end would step out but i neatly connected the right-left-right drfits without it getting too out of shape. Came to a stop at the set of lights and an unmarked cop car pulled up next to me.

They rolled the window down and complimented me on handling of the car in those conditions.

Good traffic officers can tell the difference between keeping control in bad condition and intentionally over steering with your foot planted on the throttle

I believed this story right until the bit where the cops started complimenting you.

[snowen250]

Biiiiig wide wet roundabout. Middle of the night, deserted roads.

BMW estate, no skill from me results in a reasonable couple of slides. Followed by me facing the wrong-ish way at standstill. At which point a marked Volvo traffic cop pulls up alongside an already sheepish and rather panicky me (a half spin isn't nice.....in your dads car) and with a pointed finger yells through the window "YOU......HOME.....NOW!"

I drove home, went to bed, and couldn't believe how lucky I was!

[Marc p]

I remember when I had my first Supra (N/A, but with LSD), I came to a damp t-junction one night and just couldn't resist the urge, que the clutch drop and a glouriously smooth power slide emerged.........straight past a copper waiting to pull out of another T-junction 40 metres down the road, he called me a tt and told me to go home

[tribbles]

I got pulled for my tyres squealing a little bit when I went around a sharp corner a few years ago. Was surprised by that - apparently I "wasn't in full control". Just a verbal warning though.

I felt as if I had the last laugh, though, as I had pulled into a busy petrol station where they popped out for their chat with me. Once they'd chatted they had to wait for me to fill up, queue behind the many people in front of me )only one person serving) and eventually pay (took about 5 minutes).