Do police cars stop quicker?
Discussion
A rhetorical question for you:
Are police cars fitted with uprated brakes and better tyres than us normal mortals?
Well I f
ing hope so. I was driving down a single lane NSL at about 70mph (I know, I'm about to commit Sepukku due to the shame of exceeding the limit by 10mph 
with no other cars around, and no junctions).
I looked in the mirror to see a 406 police car approaching rapidly, and thought oh bugger, they're going to nick me. So I gradually reduced speed to the 65, in the hope that I would get a ticking off. Did they stop me?
Nope.
They hardly even stopped themselves, but proceeded to tailgate me (at about 1 car's length) doing 65 for a mile and a half.
I was rather
to say the least.
No blues and twos in case you were wondering
Are police cars fitted with uprated brakes and better tyres than us normal mortals?
Well I f
ing hope so. I was driving down a single lane NSL at about 70mph (I know, I'm about to commit Sepukku due to the shame of exceeding the limit by 10mph with no other cars around, and no junctions). I looked in the mirror to see a 406 police car approaching rapidly, and thought oh bugger, they're going to nick me. So I gradually reduced speed to the 65, in the hope that I would get a ticking off. Did they stop me?
Nope.
They hardly even stopped themselves, but proceeded to tailgate me (at about 1 car's length) doing 65 for a mile and a half.
I was rather
to say the least. No blues and twos in case you were wondering
This is the sort of thing that really annoys me 
. The Bib thinking that they are above the law at times. How many times do the police speed in the daily course of their duty? How many times do they use the lights and sirens to get across the city quicker than being caught in traffic? I would not bet against it being a higher number than most people think.
A friend of mine who is a copper has been caught speeding a few times but all he has to do is flash his warrent card and hey presto he is no longer in danger of being convicted. Why cant we all have this form of get out clause instead of having to defend ourselves against an out of date system that even the police dont agree with.
Cars today are built to a much better standard than when the limits were set yet we still have to trundle along the motorways at a pedestrian speed.
I would have thought that it would be prudent to update the NSL's on all of our roads and the limit should reflect the dangers relative to each specific road.
I would also like to see a minimum spoped limit set on the motorway. How many times have you had to break hard when some idiot who forgets to check his/her mirrors prior to pulling out pulls out and then proceeds to create a massive tailback because he/she is travelling well below the pace of the normal traffic.
Another belly ache is people whoi sit in the middle lane when nothing exists in the left hand lane. People listen we dont have slow medium and fast lanes on our motorways. The outer 2 are OVERTAKING LANES and should be treated as such. Why have a 3 lane motorway when idiots sit in the middle lane at 65 pootling along ablivious to all other traffic and essentially reduce it to a dual carriageway. God forbiud if you do decide to undertake and a copper sees you. You have broken the law and will be held responsible for it whilst the initial cause of the incident carry on pootling along in his own little world.
. The Bib thinking that they are above the law at times. How many times do the police speed in the daily course of their duty? How many times do they use the lights and sirens to get across the city quicker than being caught in traffic? I would not bet against it being a higher number than most people think. A friend of mine who is a copper has been caught speeding a few times but all he has to do is flash his warrent card and hey presto he is no longer in danger of being convicted. Why cant we all have this form of get out clause instead of having to defend ourselves against an out of date system that even the police dont agree with.
Cars today are built to a much better standard than when the limits were set yet we still have to trundle along the motorways at a pedestrian speed.
I would have thought that it would be prudent to update the NSL's on all of our roads and the limit should reflect the dangers relative to each specific road.
I would also like to see a minimum spoped limit set on the motorway. How many times have you had to break hard when some idiot who forgets to check his/her mirrors prior to pulling out pulls out and then proceeds to create a massive tailback because he/she is travelling well below the pace of the normal traffic.
Another belly ache is people whoi sit in the middle lane when nothing exists in the left hand lane. People listen we dont have slow medium and fast lanes on our motorways. The outer 2 are OVERTAKING LANES and should be treated as such. Why have a 3 lane motorway when idiots sit in the middle lane at 65 pootling along ablivious to all other traffic and essentially reduce it to a dual carriageway. God forbiud if you do decide to undertake and a copper sees you. You have broken the law and will be held responsible for it whilst the initial cause of the incident carry on pootling along in his own little world.
woodytvr said:
Should have brake tested him "You'd have seen the rabbit that ran into the road if you weren't so close"
was sorely tempted! A few weeks ago I was being followed on a twisty country road (NSL) with a police car behind.
this one was not quite as close, but still not safe. So when the 40 limit approached, I dropped it from 4th to 3rd "in order to fully comply with the road laws guv'nor" but forgot to brake.
Needless to say, there was a lot of wide eyes, white knuckles and blushes in my rear-view mirror, plenty of laughter in my car!!
silverback mike said:Apparently wasted money on the brakes, according to Julian Smith
Response cars are fitted with stiffer suspension due to the amount of kit which is carried, and believe it or not, they do have uprated brakes....I can only speak for our force though.
, a colleague of yours...
CraigAlsop said:
Response cars are fitted with stiffer suspension due to the amount of kit which is carried, and believe it or not, they do have uprated brakes....I can only speak for our force though.
Apparently wasted money on the brakes, according to Julian Smith
, a colleague of yours...
They are uprated so that they do not fade as quickly as standard brakes. They do not stop you any quicker than ordinary ones. That is the message Julian was trying to get across!
gone said:And I quote..."Why do you need that level of equipment for road use? When would you ever be in a position where you are getting your brakes to heat up to that sort of temperature range? If you are then we suggest you take a good long hard look at your driving style, because it isn’t your brakes that want sorting out, it’s the thing that holds the steering wheel."
They are uprated so that they do not fade as quickly as standard brakes. They do not stop you any quicker than ordinary ones. That is the message Julian was trying to get across!
I'm with you Steve - personally I always uprate the brakes on my cars, and consider it money well spent, I was just having a gentle jab at Julian. (I think most of his thrust is on target BTW)
Also, if the uprated brakes don't fade, then they *will* stop you quicker than brakes that are fading. Also, better brakes should be easier to modulate, and hold on the edge of traction, so again should make it easier to stop the car faster.
it happens a bit round here as well, some of us believe they do to try and make you do something silly.
It's not only happened to me (an unmarked car chased me home flashing it's headlights) but someone else I know had a similar thing on a twisty backroad.
I got a ticking off as I slowed right down and crawled along, he got his licence revoked as he tried to loose them on the twisties. Both late night, both unmarked Mondeo.
However, it's not dented my confidence in the Police, when they got out of the car they did use a poetic licence a bit but spoke to me clearly, nicely and let me off.
It's not only happened to me (an unmarked car chased me home flashing it's headlights) but someone else I know had a similar thing on a twisty backroad.
I got a ticking off as I slowed right down and crawled along, he got his licence revoked as he tried to loose them on the twisties. Both late night, both unmarked Mondeo.
However, it's not dented my confidence in the Police, when they got out of the car they did use a poetic licence a bit but spoke to me clearly, nicely and let me off.
Fatboy said:
Working on that principle, they will probably take longer to stop, as the cars weigh more...
Especially when you take into account the amount of stuff the motorway cars carry - must be 1/2 a ton of the stuff in the boot of those things
Plus the weight of the donut/pie-eating
driving the thing!
To mmy knowledge, the area cars on my borough (Enfield) are standard, apart from our old (02) reg vectra which has lowered suspension. Area car drivers can drive the way they do, cause they're trained to. I was out with one a couple of weeks ago in a standard Astra SXI Diesel, and he was very capable of chucking it around the streets.
And for the record, my borough don't use Blues and Two's just to get across town, we'd rather sit in traffic and watch the totty go by!
And for the record, my borough don't use Blues and Two's just to get across town, we'd rather sit in traffic and watch the totty go by!
I am not trying to be nasty or unkind, but I do find this constant 'we can drive very fast because we are specially trained to' to be a little arrogant.
Police cars do have accidents, sometimes, sadly, involving fatalities, and this is due to driver error when 'on a shout'. Whilst understandable, it is still the case that the basic laws of physics cover ALL vehicles, police and public.
My experience has been that police drivers are good, but not exceptional at overall car control. They are taught to a system which works up to a point, and that point is reached when something happens beyond their training. Rather like an RAF trained pilot flying safely at 500 feet and 650 knots who has a 'birdstrike' on his canopy. He may 'crash & burn'!
In the dry, police drivers are mainly good, but in the wet or icy conditions their training is not as good as it might be. Their use of the 'shuffle' method of steering is wrong for certain circumstances, but that is what they are trained to do and it can get them into a lot of trouble.
So please, gentlemen, don't keep preaching the 'specially trained' sermon whilst implying that the rest of us are always somehow inferior in terms of ability, experience and aptitude.
Police cars do have accidents, sometimes, sadly, involving fatalities, and this is due to driver error when 'on a shout'. Whilst understandable, it is still the case that the basic laws of physics cover ALL vehicles, police and public.
My experience has been that police drivers are good, but not exceptional at overall car control. They are taught to a system which works up to a point, and that point is reached when something happens beyond their training. Rather like an RAF trained pilot flying safely at 500 feet and 650 knots who has a 'birdstrike' on his canopy. He may 'crash & burn'!
In the dry, police drivers are mainly good, but in the wet or icy conditions their training is not as good as it might be. Their use of the 'shuffle' method of steering is wrong for certain circumstances, but that is what they are trained to do and it can get them into a lot of trouble.
So please, gentlemen, don't keep preaching the 'specially trained' sermon whilst implying that the rest of us are always somehow inferior in terms of ability, experience and aptitude.
what's an area car driver ?
is that a bib that's under gone some type of advance driving training ? or a bib that's done their course at hendon ?
going a bit off topic
I'm not going to get into the debate of what's a good driver or bad driver but.. I would say it's someone who has good driving skills/control and pays attention to the surroundings and conditions around them. There are plenty of top racing drivers who have had big accidents on the road. I would have a guess it's when they've not been paying attention rather than a loosing control over their vehicle.
Then again their are some crap bib drivers - was on the North circ a few months ago - cop car comes up from behind - i move over and then he swerves into the middle lane and runs straight into a car that's moved over for him - laff !! bib was totally in the wrong.
jamescarter1981 said:
To mmy knowledge, the area cars on my borough (Enfield) are standard, apart from our old (02) reg vectra which has lowered suspension. Area car drivers can drive the way they do, cause they're trained to. I was out with one a couple of weeks ago in a standard Astra SXI Diesel, and he was very capable of chucking it around the streets.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff