Speeding? behind plod

[jimbo]

John, I was sat about 25 feet behind him, and when he was moving to the right to take a peek before overtaking I was doing the same. What is the stance on overtaking speed, is it justified to accelerate to say 70 on a 60mph limit to get past something and then slow down to the limit, or is anything over the limit a no no ?. I ask because the volvo was doing about 55mph, but I didn't want to go past him because doing so would have meant going above the speed limit to overtake safely. Jim

[pitbull]

I would consider that anyone from the dark side (the Force) who is not traffic are not specialists with high speed in vehicles (some I would even question on this statement). Being licensed to drive in a manner not befitting an everyday motorist takes time. The bad attitude that police develop happens when they realise they have been promoted to a level in society of their own inability. ( John excluded cos. we have chatted on this before and he’s not yet Vader ) Even if they have the ticket to do so, the non traffic vehicles capabilities fall well short of a supercar. Avoid them at all costs for it all falls to their mood and life’s unfair lottery.

[peter phelps]

quote:I would consider that anyone from the dark side (the Force) who is not traffic are not specialists with high speed in vehicles (some I would even question on this statement). Being licensed to drive in a manner not befitting an everyday motorist takes time. The bad attitude that police develop happens when they realise they have been promoted to a level in society of their own inability. ( John excluded cos. we have chatted on this before and he’s not yet Vader ) Even if they have the ticket to do so, the non traffic vehicles capabilities fall well short of a supercar. Avoid them at all costs for it all falls to their mood and life’s unfair lottery.

For what it's worth, driver ability has nothing to do with whether you're a traffic patrol or not. The training standard is the same, experience is usually similar, it's just attitude that may be different. The business of traffic units is driving standards, speed, accidents etc, and they therefore tend to set a good example. The business of non-traffic units is mostly crime, and they often need to get from A to B as fast as they can, without crashing, to stand any chance of catching the bad guys. Plod may be on traffic patrol one week, then be posted back to division the next. The skills are the same, the motivation is very different. Yes, I am another copper, but not the traffic sort.

[john robson]

Mmm, interesting, I personally would not do anyone overtaking a car say doing 45 in a 50 by accelerating up to 60 or so in fact the overtake should be done quickly, but that is me thee are some right BA!"£*ds out there, I know I have worked with them, but that does apply to all jobs though.

[AndrewD]

Taking a more rounded view of speeding (i.e. what is appropriate for the conditions). Very enlightened attitude. Can you perhaps encourage Gatsos and SPECS to adopt your level of discernment?

[john robson]

Sorry can't do that one, at the moment GATSO's etc arestill under the 'control' of the Police to some degree, but like the decriminalisation of parking if speed enforcement by GATSO's etc passes to the council or another body expect it to get far worse than it is now, it happened with parking, Traffic Wardens are like pussycats compared to the council wardens. Also quite a valid point by Mr. Phelps, a lot of officers have worked in other departments, such as traffic, motorways, etc and then for whatever reason gone back to working on section, so try not to sterotype us, we are criticised for it, don't do it youselves, you don't know who you are talking to, he may have been in the job for 2 mins or he could have done 20 years and covered dozens of different deparments. Just to cover another point I recal reading on a post. Quite a few officers do have very tasty cars, from my force I know of officers with Porsches, Ferarri's TVR's tweaked Subaru's etc the list goes on It may not be the highest paid job but some have rich parents other have won the lottery Edited by john robson on Tuesday 24th April 15:46

[jimbo]

How do you stand if when you accelerate to overtake, a camera that is positioned on the other side of the road to catch people travelling in the other direction flashes at you - are you nicked ? Purely hypothetical question of course, It didn't happen to me on Friday on the run up to Knockhill and I'm not really worried that my points tally will now stand at 9 Jim

[Nightmare]

think you'll find that any picture taken would be about halfway along your car so probably not to worry.... John, I was interested in your point about indication....It is probably one of the things that annoys me the most when driving and people dont indicate. Its particularly annoying at roundabouts, seeing as its both dangerous and thoughtless.....and how can anyone determine if the signal 'is of benefit to someone'? I also did the IAM test some years back, and disagreed with bits of it and still do. I cant posibly claim to be the best driver in the world, but sections just didnt make good sense at all - especially the 'being as far accross into the middle of the road as possible' - just bloody silly! I accept that this is all my opinion, so feel free to point and make jokes!! Night p.s. to the original point of this thread...I have no problem with police speeding and doing me for speeding. It seems hypocritical, but then Im not a policeman and dont know what is involved in doing the job each day. I bet most people here take advantage of whatever 'perk' their job offers......