Question for TonyRec etc - motorway speed limits ?

[craigw]

Hi Tony & other chaps in blue.

I've been doing a fair bit of motorway driving recently and find that I drive ever slower probably partly due to being a little older now & having an 18month old in the car. My question is at what kind of speed would you pull someone over on the motorway ?(assuming they arent driving irratically & weather was ok etc etc).

I only ask as I travelled along most of the m4 yesterday at almost dead on 70 as conditions were so bad and was amazed by people hammering past me.

ps. to the ford puma driver who tailgated me at about 2 feet from my bumper when I couldnt pull over, I hope you weren't hurt but it came to no surprise to me to see your car smashed up 20 miles further on when you had gone into the back of somebody!

Thanks guys.

[Plotloss]

I was told on my RoSPA that in decent conditions and as long as you arent driving like a complete twat going past a parked copper at 80-90 shouldnt raise so much as an eyebrow...

[Byff]

Plotloss said:

I was told on my RoSPA that in decent conditions and as long as you arent driving like a complete twat going past a parked copper at 80-90 shouldnt raise so much as an eyebrow...

That reminds me of when I first got the Cerb, driving along the A1, saw parked up copper so slowed down. My mate mentioned "erm....your still doing 90!"

I slowed right down to 70 after that - just incase.

[puggit]

Plotloss said:

I was told on my RoSPA that in decent conditions and as long as you arent driving like a complete twat going past a parked copper at 80-90 shouldnt raise so much as an eyebrow...

Unless there's a Talivan on a bridge

[Fat Audi 80]

My mate who IS a copper, told me he sets his gun to 93 and anyone over they chase!!!

He did also add the speed they will try and stop you at depends entirely on the BiB own personal set limit and some of his collegues are less lenient!!

Personally I feel I could justify 85 - 90 in good conditions

HTH

Steve

[craigw]

funnily enough while reading your replies a colleague came over & mentioned that he was stopped at 90 on the M25 last night, given a slight ticking off but nothing else then sent on his way!

[hertsbiker]

Byff said:

Plotloss said: I was told on my RoSPA that in decent conditions and as long as you arent driving like a complete twat going past a parked copper at 80-90 shouldnt raise so much as an eyebrow... That reminds me of when I first got the Cerb, driving along the A1, saw parked up copper so slowed down. My mate mentioned "erm....your still doing 90!" I slowed right down to 70 after that - just incase.

Back in the old days.. when on a long run down the A303, I had to remember to slow down to 100, after cruising along at a comfortable 140.

Ahhh. Such is life. Double the limit, and still here??? surely the "statistics" must prove I'm dead, right? if +5mph = double the chance of an accident...

(ok, I wouldn't go that fast NOW, but it was 4 years ago - before I got followed by a police helicopter!!)

[tonyrec]

That is a good question.

First and foremost, Trafpols have their own personal limits on what speeds they will (a)Stop people for and (b) What speeds they will Summons, Ticket or Verbally Warn for.

I know for a fact that if for example,when theres a Trafpol car cruising up and down the Motorway at the speed limit (not normally done and is bad practice), anyone that overtakes the said car will more than likely get a ticket.(Lack of respect of both the Law and of the Police that they are overtaking).

A lot of my colleagues have fairly high limits on the Motorways in good weather, taking into account the time of day etc etc but there are also colleagues (minority thank god) that will process their mothers for doing 80. This is all fact by the way and nothing is made up.

This also varies from Force to Force. I know of one Force that will ticket for 80 and above....

We are, after the real pi$$takers and as ive said all along,once you pass the magic 100mph mark then it is bigboys speed and you will get summonsed. This is not so much for the speed but for failing to observe the road ahead enough to see the Trafpol, if you know what i mean.

In esscence, if you do travel at bigboys speed on a nice road in good conditions with very little traffic then your reactions/observations must be running at 100% for the purposes of keeping a clean licence.

We certainly dont want to give people points, and i certainly dont want to take peoples licences away for speeding but it has to be said but some people dont try to help themselves at all.Theres more to driving fast than pushing your right foot through the bulkhead.

[craigw]

sounds fair enough. Thanks very much for the info.

[pmanson]

tonyrec said:

I know for a fact that if for example,when theres a Trafpol car cruising up and down the Motorway at the speed limit (not normally done and is bad practice), anyone that overtakes the said car will more than likely get a ticket.(Lack of respect of both the Law and of the Police that they are overtaking).

I always wondered why they tend to sit at about 65.

[tonyrec]

Craig, YHM

[T4R]

tonyrec said:

That is a good question. This also varies from Force to Force. I know of one Force that will ticket for 80 and above....

Any clues as to where this may be Tony ?

[tonyrec]

If we sit at 70mph then after a few mins you look behind and its like the start of a Grand Prix. Very frustrating for other motorists.

On normall patrol, 55-60mph is recommended.

[tonyrec]

T4R said:

tonyrec said: That is a good question. This also varies from Force to Force. I know of one Force that will ticket for 80 and above.... Any clues as to where this may be Tony ?

Herts and Hampshire

[AlexH]

tonyrec said:

We are, after the real pi$$takers and as ive said all along,once you pass the magic 100mph mark then it is bigboys speed and you will get summonsed. This is not so much for the speed but for failing to observe the road ahead enough to see the Trafpol, if you know what i mean.

Tony - I presume by this you are talking more about not seeing a marked car (quite literally a fair cop in this case IMO); would you say that same applies for unmarked cars?

[tonyrec]

Had a colleague that was given a ticket for doing 38 in a 30 limit

I can guarantee that the next few people that he stopped for similar speeds also got tickets.
Its human nature after all.

[craigw]

received Tony, thanks.

[tonyrec]

AlexH said:

tonyrec said: We are, after the real pi$$takers and as ive said all along,once you pass the magic 100mph mark then it is bigboys speed and you will get summonsed. This is not so much for the speed but for failing to observe the road ahead enough to see the Trafpol, if you know what i mean. Tony - I presume by this you are talking more about not seeing a marked car (quite literally a fair cop in this case IMO); would you say that same applies for unmarked cars?

With unmarked cars the emphasis is well and truly on bad/dangerous driving. Only high speeds warrant action whilst using this type of car.

[AlexH]

Cheers Tony - should I ever find myself 'accidentally' doing a bigboys speed, I'll still (as Shaw Taylor used to say) 'Keep 'em peeled'.

[tonybav]

Thanks for the insight tonyrec only goes to prove that most Trafpol are motorist like the rest of us and want to see sensible limits applied. Unfortunately, as we know cameras etc can only apply arbitrary limits with no consideration of other factors. For example, driving on the a12 yesterday afternoon with the rain so bad I personally kept to 50-55 which did not stop many hammering past me at 80 plus, god know what visibility they had, but going past lorries I doubt they could see more that a few feet, madness.