Making good progress behind a patrol car
Discussion
Driving from Heathrow to Brighton last night I came across a couple of marked vehicles in convoy around jct. 9 of the M25 and followed them until they turned off at Cuckfield on the A23.
We averaged around 90 MPH, and I stayed a good 1/2 mile back for the first 10 miles or so (in a reasonable amount of traffic maintaining the same pace, so as not to stand out!), before getting the courage to edge up to within a couple of hundreds metres.
My question for all the BIBs out there is that I assume you can get pulled for speeding behind a patrol car, but how often does this happen?
We averaged around 90 MPH, and I stayed a good 1/2 mile back for the first 10 miles or so (in a reasonable amount of traffic maintaining the same pace, so as not to stand out!), before getting the courage to edge up to within a couple of hundreds metres.
My question for all the BIBs out there is that I assume you can get pulled for speeding behind a patrol car, but how often does this happen?
I've been stopped by a trafpol in a marked Omega, I'd been following him at some distance at about 75-8O ish on this nice fast open open NSL (Corfe Castle to Wareham) as we aproached the roundabout he stop gets out and waves me down, he was none too pleased to say the least, I had been doing all the roadcraft stuff, It was an empty road too.
I was surprised to say the least, but I spose it was rather cheaky thinking about it.
Have also overtaken a line of about 6 cars all doing a rather dull 60ish there was a Volvo 850 up front as usual, nice bit of NSL & overtaking manouver completed, must have passed the lead car at nearly a ton, only for my passenger to point out there were two men in white shirts with lapels in the front
some gentle slowing down ensued & they followed us for several miles at a slightly steadier pace. oops.
I was surprised to say the least, but I spose it was rather cheaky thinking about it.
Have also overtaken a line of about 6 cars all doing a rather dull 60ish there was a Volvo 850 up front as usual, nice bit of NSL & overtaking manouver completed, must have passed the lead car at nearly a ton, only for my passenger to point out there were two men in white shirts with lapels in the front
some gentle slowing down ensued & they followed us for several miles at a slightly steadier pace. oops. cptsideways said:
I've been stopped by a trafpol in a marked Omega, I'd been following him at some distance at about 75-8O ish on this nice fast open open NSL (Corfe Castle to Wareham) as we aproached the roundabout he stop gets out and waves me down,
Followed a dog van on the motorway at about 80-85 and got pulled, he *cliamed* I was lucky because he was on his way to an "emergency" and then proceeded to follow me (until I lead him to some twisties I knew well).
Can anyone suggests what kind of an "emergency" that the bib in the above two examples requires them to exceed the speed limit but yet allows them sufficient time to pull over and stop someone?
I can't think of any and IMHO are two examples of the rampant abuse of privilge you can see on a near daily basis.
I always find that if you don't take the p*ss you can overtake BIB no problem .. the other night I was on the M1 and a maxed peugeot somethingorother came past me - I was doing 80ish.
further ahead i saw him pull up sharpish and slow down to 60ish maybe .. he'd come across a marked patrol car, I just kept going at 80ish and drove straight past them all, signalling my intentions and pulling back into the n/s lane a soon as the overtake was completed .. no problem. It took the peugeot a while to catch up again and fly past me, only to do the same thing a few miles later when there was another patrol car .. yo-yo ..
If you drive courteously you don't stand out as being a plonker and chances are you won't get pulled 'cos there's usually someone else nearby doing something daft which has attracted their attention anyway.
further ahead i saw him pull up sharpish and slow down to 60ish maybe .. he'd come across a marked patrol car, I just kept going at 80ish and drove straight past them all, signalling my intentions and pulling back into the n/s lane a soon as the overtake was completed .. no problem. It took the peugeot a while to catch up again and fly past me, only to do the same thing a few miles later when there was another patrol car .. yo-yo ..
If you drive courteously you don't stand out as being a plonker and chances are you won't get pulled 'cos there's usually someone else nearby doing something daft which has attracted their attention anyway.
joospeed said:
I always find that if you don't take the p*ss you can overtake BIB no problem
I find this as well. Keep it down to 80 when they are around.
I'm amazed to watch every driver behave themselves when the BIB are around. Lane discipline, no speeding, watching mirrors etc and then revert to disorganised mayhem once past the BIB.
If they can to it when they know they are being watched, why can't they do it all the time ?
All very valid comments. I kept well back and watched them and everyone around them for a while - certainly didn't want to stand out (though I was in a whale-tailed Rally Slag!).
I've always believed that if you're not taking the pi$$, then you're fairly safe. Certainly in the many hundreds of thousands of miles I've driven this seems to be the case, not to mention the fact that most officers are normal, sensible people (from my experience!) rather than petty jobsworths.
The reason I asked is that given the conditions, the speed seemed reasonable - how many officers would look 1/4 mile back and try to VASCAR someone in these situations?
edited to say: Having given it a bit more thought, we may have been averaging closer to 85 MPH, but still a fair bit over 70.
>> Edited by julianhj on Saturday 27th December 13:55
I've always believed that if you're not taking the pi$$, then you're fairly safe. Certainly in the many hundreds of thousands of miles I've driven this seems to be the case, not to mention the fact that most officers are normal, sensible people (from my experience!) rather than petty jobsworths.
The reason I asked is that given the conditions, the speed seemed reasonable - how many officers would look 1/4 mile back and try to VASCAR someone in these situations?
edited to say: Having given it a bit more thought, we may have been averaging closer to 85 MPH, but still a fair bit over 70.
>> Edited by julianhj on Saturday 27th December 13:55
julianhj said:
I assume you can get pulled for speeding behind a patrol car, but how often does this happen?
The only time I have been done for speeding was following an unmarked patrol car in excess of 90mph.
Anyone foolish enough to follow a marked police vehicle above the speed limit deserves a big fine and lots of points on their licence, and their head examining
I tend to find that if anyone follows me when I`m on a blue light run I illuminate a rear facing flashing matrix with the words KEEP BACK or TOO CLOSE. That tends to work, if it doesn`t I will usually carry out a Police Pilot check (if I`m operating) and get an average speed. If I get cancelled to the call or someone else is going I`ve usually got time to dish out a VW or a 3 pointer.........
If drivers want to draw attention to themselves it`s up to them.
If drivers want to draw attention to themselves it`s up to them.
bluepolarbear said:
Can anyone suggests what kind of an "emergency" that the bib in the above two examples requires them to exceed the speed limit but yet allows them sufficient time to pull over and stop someone?
I can't think of any and IMHO are two examples of the rampant abuse of privilge you can see on a near daily basis.
How long is a piece of string?
If i thought that someone was taking the piss then anytime really.........depends on how much emphasis you put on it.
Many times ive been 'going somewhere' and have deassigned myself to deal with something that ive come across direct.
joospeed said:HA HA your having a laugh aint you?? . The other morning i was taking my missus to work when waiting to pull out of her road a police car went past and by the look of death i got as he went past you would of thought i was the most wanted man in england.. Pulled out on my way then stoped at some lights 1 mile down the road i can see him looking at me in his mirror he looks really upset and angry . we continue on our way now on a dual carrageway 50mph limit. he decides to do 35 mph so i overtake him and pull in and stay at the painfuly slow speed of 45ish mph . He then decides that he has to drive 1" away from my back bumper. i can see the look of rage in his face as i wont exceed the speed limit he followed me all the way to my girlfriends work, about 25 mins , then at a set of lights pulls across me and says that i overtook him at 65 . i tell him it was 45ish still under the limit and his face went red and he had a huff then he called me a w*nker and that he'll be looking out for me . maybe he was having a bad morning! i then wished him a good day . At least traffic cops have got a sense of humour!!
I always find that if you don't take the p*ss you can overtake BIB no problem ..
dannybmw said:
I always find that if you don't take the p*ss you can overtake BIB no problem ..
HA HA your having a laugh aint you?? . The other morning i was taking my missus to work when waiting to pull out of her road a police car went past and by the look of death i got as he went past you would of thought i was the most wanted man in england.. Pulled out on my way then stoped at some lights 1 mile down the road i can see him looking at me in his mirror he looks really upset and angry . we continue on our way now on a dual carrageway 50mph limit. he decides to do 35 mph so i overtake him and pull in and stay at the painfuly slow speed of 45ish mph . He then decides that he has to drive 1" away from my back bumper. i can see the look of rage in his face as i wont exceed the speed limit he followed me all the way to my girlfriends work, about 25 mins , then at a set of lights pulls across me and says that i overtook him at 65 . i tell him it was 45ish still under the limit and his face went red and he had a huff then he called me a w*nker and that he'll be looking out for me . maybe he was having a bad morning! i then wished him a good day . At least traffic cops have got a sense of humour!!
Danny, do you get any other persecutory feelings on any given day?
Vascar can get you,from all angles, but a few things you should know :
The operator ( if the police car is moving )has to be able to fix a point first. So if he's follwing - easy, also to the side - to the rear is tricky and needs a firm point such as a lapost or marker board ( for example ). Then he sets the time counter - obviously in reverse if you're behind - distance then time - with me so far? Then, at least 3 tenths of a mile, the process is repeated. It's a simple formula of speed equals distance over time.
The officer has to go on a four day VASCAR course, and it's not an easy course to pass.
So hopefully this explains why you can be got from any angle - even if there are cars in bewtween you, or you think BiB is out of sight.
Prolaser is a different animal altogether ... and an easier course to pass.
The operator ( if the police car is moving )has to be able to fix a point first. So if he's follwing - easy, also to the side - to the rear is tricky and needs a firm point such as a lapost or marker board ( for example ). Then he sets the time counter - obviously in reverse if you're behind - distance then time - with me so far? Then, at least 3 tenths of a mile, the process is repeated. It's a simple formula of speed equals distance over time.
The officer has to go on a four day VASCAR course, and it's not an easy course to pass.
So hopefully this explains why you can be got from any angle - even if there are cars in bewtween you, or you think BiB is out of sight.
Prolaser is a different animal altogether ... and an easier course to pass.
TEXET said:
DVD said
"VASCAR can get you from, back, sideways, towards and away."
OK, explain the sideways bit!!!!! AND
"the officer/s were too engaged with other stuff to clock you."
Fresh batch of donuts??????
>> Edited by TEXET on Sunday 28th December 22:20
Last year our convoy of two Tivs overtook a slow moving group of cars in an NSL. Perfectly safe manoeuvre and we had spotted the marked police car in the middle of the group before starting the overtake. We had already watched an Audi make the same move.
Soon after I spotted a bike catching us up. No great surprise as we were in superbike heaven territory. I was surprised that it didn't appear to be gaining on us as we were taking it easy. After a while I forgot about it, simply noting it was still there when I could see back down a straight.
About ten miles later we were on a bypass around a small town and I misread the speed limit; I though we were still in a 40 but infact it was NSL. The bike rapidly caught us up and it was a police bike! At the far side of the town the bike left us and turned back towards the town.
Had we been 'making progress' the sneaky sods would have had us! They certainly tailed us for enough miles on the off-chance we might accidentally let our speed wander upwards. I wonder if the Audi creaming off into the distance got the same treatment? I think not!
Soon after I spotted a bike catching us up. No great surprise as we were in superbike heaven territory. I was surprised that it didn't appear to be gaining on us as we were taking it easy. After a while I forgot about it, simply noting it was still there when I could see back down a straight.
About ten miles later we were on a bypass around a small town and I misread the speed limit; I though we were still in a 40 but infact it was NSL. The bike rapidly caught us up and it was a police bike! At the far side of the town the bike left us and turned back towards the town.
Had we been 'making progress' the sneaky sods would have had us! They certainly tailed us for enough miles on the off-chance we might accidentally let our speed wander upwards. I wonder if the Audi creaming off into the distance got the same treatment? I think not!
I have a "friend" that was doing approx 85 to 90 down a very quiet M3 at 2AM before Xmas and sticking to left and overtaking correctly etc. A car was following me, ahem, him, for about 5-10 mins, not too close just following at about the same speed between 85 and 90.
Then on a long clear stretch the following car sped up and overtook slowly at about 95ish and had a look in the car as they passed. It was a T5 Estate Police car with Bib in.
Didnt stop my "friend" for speeding and I believe they had followed to use their judgement on my driving and decided I was doing no harm.
Wish speed cameras were this intelligent.
Then on a long clear stretch the following car sped up and overtook slowly at about 95ish and had a look in the car as they passed. It was a T5 Estate Police car with Bib in.
Didnt stop my "friend" for speeding and I believe they had followed to use their judgement on my driving and decided I was doing no harm.
Wish speed cameras were this intelligent.
Julian64 said:Iv had my car for three years nearly and have never really had any problems with the old bill . I do get pulled over say once a month not cause of my driving but because the copper wants a look at my car!!.
Danny, do you get any other persecutory feelings on any given day?
. I know lots of traffic police because they allways talk to me at my local petrol station, asking me what im doing to my car next , how fast it is?. I always say its top speed is 70mph 
DanI was on my way home on the M5 late one night at about 90,little traffic, keeping to the left etc, and pulled into lane 3 to pass a lorry passing a caravan. just as I got level with the front of the lorry I saw the marked police car in the left hand lane. Knew to jam on brakes would be too little too late,so carried on, and they just let me get on with it.
I think its all up to the individual bib concerned, and you rdriving standard at the time.
If I'd been doing it in the p*****g rain, or tearing up behind a car in front they probably would have had me.
I think its all up to the individual bib concerned, and you rdriving standard at the time.
If I'd been doing it in the p*****g rain, or tearing up behind a car in front they probably would have had me.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff