Traffic Officer - I must drive slowly
Discussion
This annoys the hell out of me.
They always drive at 55mph on a motorway and about 80% of drivers think they MUST match their speed and if they do dare pass them it must be very very very very slowly.
I was on the M25 Monday night and this happened 3x; I thought there must be an accident as the traffic backed up so much that it was at a crawl.
But no, it was just a traffic officer pootling along and all the sheep crawling past him.
AFAIK they cannot book you for speeding, so why do people worry and why the hell do the traffic officers drive so damned slowly, they must know the impact it has between 1 and 5 miles behind them!
They always drive at 55mph on a motorway and about 80% of drivers think they MUST match their speed and if they do dare pass them it must be very very very very slowly.
I was on the M25 Monday night and this happened 3x; I thought there must be an accident as the traffic backed up so much that it was at a crawl.
But no, it was just a traffic officer pootling along and all the sheep crawling past him.
AFAIK they cannot book you for speeding, so why do people worry and why the hell do the traffic officers drive so damned slowly, they must know the impact it has between 1 and 5 miles behind them!
I notice this quite a lot, especially on the M4/M5. The b
ds hog the middle lane and like you said there is a tail back for quite some time. I have no problem with overtaking them at the correct speed limit and if they have a problem with it, I would love to go into details of lane hogging is not exactly legal 
. Now hurry the fk up and be in the correct lane
ds hog the middle lane and like you said there is a tail back for quite some time. I have no problem with overtaking them at the correct speed limit and if they have a problem with it, I would love to go into details of lane hogging is not exactly legal . Now hurry the fk up and be in the correct laneEdited by Monkey news on Wednesday 30th June 10:22
For me it shows the mentality of the average road user and is very very worrying - if they are so daft as to think PC WhiteCap is sat there taking down every registration and issuing FPNs, then what other barmy thoughts do they hold towards different driving situations?? Actually this question is usually answered in some of the 'driving' I see every day 
I know its not technically the law to drive above 70mph and I know it makes us all hypocrites on here when we call for others to obey laws we think ARE appropriate (anti social chavvery for example), but it still is so unnecessary to stick blatantly to the posted limit for no other reason than a perceived risk of 'getting in trouble'.
I know its not technically the law to drive above 70mph and I know it makes us all hypocrites on here when we call for others to obey laws we think ARE appropriate (anti social chavvery for example), but it still is so unnecessary to stick blatantly to the posted limit for no other reason than a perceived risk of 'getting in trouble'.
Edited by GestapoWatch on Wednesday 30th June 10:25
Are traffic officers the ones in black and yellow mitsubishis? Because they are always doing it and it's very annoying. However the other day two police cars passed us at about 85-90mph and then decided to tailgate every single car in the fast lane untill they moved aside. I don't think it was an emergency either as no blues n twos
http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/11235.aspx
Q) At what speed to Traffic Officers patrol the motorway?
The current advice given to Traffic Officers is to patrol at the speed of traffic in lane one, and on quieter motorways at not more than 60mph. Traffic Officers are not allowed to break the 70mph speed limit.
This gives a balance between not holding up traffic whilst being able to spot a broken down vehicle on the hard shoulder and bring our vehicle safely to a stop at the correct distance behind that vehicle which is usually approximately 25 metres behind a broken down vehicle.
Q) At what speed to Traffic Officers patrol the motorway?
The current advice given to Traffic Officers is to patrol at the speed of traffic in lane one, and on quieter motorways at not more than 60mph. Traffic Officers are not allowed to break the 70mph speed limit.
This gives a balance between not holding up traffic whilst being able to spot a broken down vehicle on the hard shoulder and bring our vehicle safely to a stop at the correct distance behind that vehicle which is usually approximately 25 metres behind a broken down vehicle.
I totally ignore them from a speed point of view.
As for actual Police cars I still pass them mildly over the speed limit (eg. about 75) (when most people pull over and either won't pass or crawl past at 69.9mph) - my reason being that they must think that these non/slow overtakers are as daft as I do. 25 years of this hasn't had me tugged yet.
As for actual Police cars I still pass them mildly over the speed limit (eg. about 75) (when most people pull over and either won't pass or crawl past at 69.9mph) - my reason being that they must think that these non/slow overtakers are as daft as I do. 25 years of this hasn't had me tugged yet.
JumboBeef said:
http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/11235.aspx
Q) At what speed to Traffic Officers patrol the motorway?
The current advice given to Traffic Officers is to patrol at the speed of traffic in lane one, and on quieter motorways at not more than 60mph. Traffic Officers are not allowed to break the 70mph speed limit.
This gives a balance between not holding up traffic whilst being able to spot a broken down vehicle on the hard shoulder and bring our vehicle safely to a stop at the correct distance behind that vehicle which is usually approximately 25 metres behind a broken down vehicle.
My BiL is ex trafpol and now on motorbikes. When they finish a job, they go back down the motorway to their base at a spirited pace so they can maintain their high speed riding capabilities. On hearing this, a new inspector ordered them to stop and only travel at 70, to which my BiL informed him that they can either ride above 70 or well below it, otherwise they would create a rolling roadblock by travelling at 70. The inspector relented. Q) At what speed to Traffic Officers patrol the motorway?
The current advice given to Traffic Officers is to patrol at the speed of traffic in lane one, and on quieter motorways at not more than 60mph. Traffic Officers are not allowed to break the 70mph speed limit.
This gives a balance between not holding up traffic whilst being able to spot a broken down vehicle on the hard shoulder and bring our vehicle safely to a stop at the correct distance behind that vehicle which is usually approximately 25 metres behind a broken down vehicle.
Dog Star said:
I totally ignore them from a speed point of view.
As for actual Police cars I still pass them mildly over the speed limit (eg. about 75) (when most people pull over and either won't pass or crawl past at 69.9mph) - my reason being that they must think that these non/slow overtakers are as daft as I do. 25 years of this hasn't had me tugged yet.
I do the same (if the rolling road block scenario has established itself yet).As for actual Police cars I still pass them mildly over the speed limit (eg. about 75) (when most people pull over and either won't pass or crawl past at 69.9mph) - my reason being that they must think that these non/slow overtakers are as daft as I do. 25 years of this hasn't had me tugged yet.
I pass at upto an indicated 80 (so probably around 75 or so) and then slow a little when I pull back in.
As long as you are not going silly with the excess speed and are only exeeding for the purpose of safely passing then they appear ot be fine with it.
Dog Star said:
I totally ignore them from a speed point of view.
As for actual Police cars I still pass them mildly over the speed limit (eg. about 75) (when most people pull over and either won't pass or crawl past at 69.9mph) - my reason being that they must think that these non/slow overtakers are as daft as I do. 25 years of this hasn't had me tugged yet.
+1As for actual Police cars I still pass them mildly over the speed limit (eg. about 75) (when most people pull over and either won't pass or crawl past at 69.9mph) - my reason being that they must think that these non/slow overtakers are as daft as I do. 25 years of this hasn't had me tugged yet.
Kentish said:
I have even seen an alarming amount of morons slow down and pull in behind VOSA MPV's
FFS!
maybe they should not be marked up 'like police cars' either?FFS!
I don't see why we can't have a different look for non emergency vehicles that still need to stand out.
Those VOSA and HATO guy's should all be in High Top transit vans with orange lights on the top and they could have all the day glo and high viz they want, and still not look like police cars.
Edited by Hedders on Wednesday 30th June 12:04
Because a transit van will not do the things that are required by traffic officers, because everyone and his dog have transit vans with chevron markings on the back,Gas, Electric, recovery etc. etc. so drivers would ignore them when they are doing traffic management, they also need the all round visibility when doing this traffic management.
HATO's will not even call in about traffic offences, but it's a favourite trick for the BiB to sit approx ½ mile in front of the HATO vehicle to catch those that blast past.
HATO's usually drive in lane 1 at lane 1 speed when patrolling so they can pull onto the H/S when a vehicle is spotted, they may move to lane 2 when looking for debris or a pothole etc or something that's reported as live lane, but with no distinct lane given, or just between junctions, then they can see all lanes and react if required.
They cannot travel at more than 70 mph, and are tracked by GPS
HATO's will not even call in about traffic offences, but it's a favourite trick for the BiB to sit approx ½ mile in front of the HATO vehicle to catch those that blast past.
HATO's usually drive in lane 1 at lane 1 speed when patrolling so they can pull onto the H/S when a vehicle is spotted, they may move to lane 2 when looking for debris or a pothole etc or something that's reported as live lane, but with no distinct lane given, or just between junctions, then they can see all lanes and react if required.
They cannot travel at more than 70 mph, and are tracked by GPS
madala said:
Dog Star said:
I totally ignore them from a speed point of view.
As for actual Police cars I still pass them mildly over the speed limit (eg. about 75) (when most people pull over and either won't pass or crawl past at 69.9mph) - my reason being that they must think that these non/slow overtakers are as daft as I do. 25 years of this hasn't had me tugged yet.
+1As for actual Police cars I still pass them mildly over the speed limit (eg. about 75) (when most people pull over and either won't pass or crawl past at 69.9mph) - my reason being that they must think that these non/slow overtakers are as daft as I do. 25 years of this hasn't had me tugged yet.
There is still the strong urge to look left at them as you pass though, and when they are looking you straight in the eye, it makes me cringe
covboy said:
I had the situation a few years back where the guy in front of me braked from about 70mph to 55 when he spotted a Traffic car driving round a motorway service area FFS
On the M4 on Monday late afternoon, the vehicle two ahead of me in the middle lane - travelling at around 65mph - braked hard when he saw a Womble trundling down the 'on' slip road. The driver between us - who was too close to the car in front - braked and swerved into the outside lane, narrowly missing a fast-moving BMW. Eejits all three of them!I was two plus seconds behind and off the throttle waiting for the Beemer to pass me, so wasn't incommoded.
Streaky
philthy said:
madala said:
Dog Star said:
I totally ignore them from a speed point of view.
As for actual Police cars I still pass them mildly over the speed limit (eg. about 75) (when most people pull over and either won't pass or crawl past at 69.9mph) - my reason being that they must think that these non/slow overtakers are as daft as I do. 25 years of this hasn't had me tugged yet.
+1As for actual Police cars I still pass them mildly over the speed limit (eg. about 75) (when most people pull over and either won't pass or crawl past at 69.9mph) - my reason being that they must think that these non/slow overtakers are as daft as I do. 25 years of this hasn't had me tugged yet.
There is still the strong urge to look left at them as you pass though, and when they are looking you straight in the eye, it makes me cringe
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