Following the Highway Code vs Fitting In

Following the Highway Code vs Fitting In

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Discussion

Reg Local

2,676 posts

207 months

Saturday 9th April 2016
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waremark said:
RegMolehusband said:
The police car was tailgating as a result of his frustration at the driver rigidly sticking to his speedo at 30mph,
How do you know that? Perhaps he was following an unmarked car in close convoy. Or just driving badly. Most explanations would involve the police driver being at fault.
There was a time, in my mid-to-late 20s, that my distance vision was starting to fail just slightly and I hadn't yet realised that I needed glasses (or probably hadn't yet admitted to myself that the Local family myopia trait had eventually caught up with me).

During that period I was finding it increasingly difficult to read number plates at night without getting quite close to the car in front. I was a traffic officer at the time and was probably mistaken for a tailgater quite a few times before Specsavers stepped in to restore my following position.

RobM77

Original Poster:

35,349 posts

233 months

Saturday 9th April 2016
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RegMolehusband said:
bmw535i said:
Checks mirror, sees police car, checks speed, speed ok, ah I'll speed up to please him.

Still, much better to receive a fine and points than receiving a Rodney King esque beating at the next traffic lights.
You don't seem to be able to comprehend what I'm saying. The police car was tailgating as a result of his frustration at the driver rigidly sticking to his speedo at 30mph, which was probably 27-28mph in reality. I probably would have done an indicated 33-34.
It's a limit, not a target. I wouldn't take any chances personally - the policeman in the described incident was simply being an idiot. On that note, it should be stressed that this was probably just a run of the mill policeman with very little driver training. I frequently see standard police cars breaking the Highway Code, it's quite normal. I can see your reasoning behind doing an indicated 33, but personally I wouldn't take the risk for the tiny gain it would give me.

ORD

18,086 posts

126 months

Saturday 9th April 2016
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A speedo on a modern car reading 30mph at a real 27mph? Very unlikely.

Kawasicki

13,041 posts

234 months

Saturday 9th April 2016
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ORD said:
A speedo on a modern car reading 30mph at a real 27mph? Very unlikely.
They exist, mainstream models too

ORD

18,086 posts

126 months

Saturday 9th April 2016
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Kawasicki said:
They exist, mainstream models too
Oh. I stand corrected smile

I stick to the HC and still drive considerately. They aren't incompatible.

Wollemi

326 posts

131 months

Sunday 10th April 2016
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ORD said:
A speedo on a modern car reading 30mph at a real 27mph? Very unlikely.
Indeed. Get a GPS and check your speedo. Both my cars under-read at 30. Landrover is doing 28 and Porsche 29. I suspect that this will be the case in most cars. I have been in some where 30 is only 27.

So Mr Self Righteous going along at a speed 30 " I'm travelling at the speed limit and NO ONE should be going any faster" is quite likely to be wrong.

Edited by Wollemi on Sunday 10th April 13:00

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 10th April 2016
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Wollemi said:
Indeed. Get a GPS and check your speedo. Both my cars under-read at 30. Landrover is doing 28 and Porsche 29. I suspect that this will be the case in most cars. I have been in some where 30 is only 27.

So Mr Self Righteous going along at a speed 30 " I'm travelling at the speed limit and NO ONE should be going any faster" is quite likely to be wrong.

Edited by Wollemi on Sunday 10th April 13:00
I am quite happy for people to go faster than me, they can overtake whenever they like. I would assume that road markings often found in 30mph zones are not a barrier to this as neither is the speed limit.

You can drive how you like, smugly believing you are getting one over on everyone by using a gps as your speedo. For the sake of 1-2mph, I'd say it probably isn't really worth it.

davepoth

29,395 posts

198 months

Sunday 10th April 2016
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Wollemi said:
ORD said:
A speedo on a modern car reading 30mph at a real 27mph? Very unlikely.
Indeed. Get a GPS and check your speedo. Both my cars under-read at 30. Landrover is doing 28 and Porsche 29. I suspect that this will be the case in most cars. I have been in some where 30 is only 27.

So Mr Self Righteous going along at a speed 30 " I'm travelling at the speed limit and NO ONE should be going any faster" is quite likely to be wrong.

Edited by Wollemi on Sunday 10th April 13:00
My car is pretty old now (13 years) but the speedo has always overread by 10% compared to a GPS and to governed trucks on the motorway - I have to have an indicated 60 to pass them, when they're limited to 52.

I can't ever recall driving something where the speedometer is dead on, and it would be silly for the manufacturers to do it. They always target a little bit above the true reading to make sure that the driver isn't accidentally speeding. There's a reason that the calibrated speedos in police cars need to be regularly calibrated.