Caught Speeding...
Discussion
Notes:
Little did I know, there was an undercover Police car following me...
We pulled up at the next set of lights, cars queuing to my left and diagonal hatchings to my right, a pedestrian crossing just ahead. After a few seconds, to my surprise the car behind me pulls alongside me on the right and the passenger winds his window down and says "Evening, nice car mate." Not realising that I was actually talking to 2 Police officers, I looked at them trying to working out if they were genuine VX220 fans or if I was getting carjacked... crazy, I know but that's what was going through my head ...so, with a confused but enthusiastic nod and a smile, I said "thanks mate!"
The passenger replied "Slow down next time, you were going a little bit quick coming onto that road..." it was then my heart sank briefly; I realised who I was talking to and what this interaction could mean. As someone who stays within the legal limit and has a clean license, a lot of thoughts flashed through my head, knowing that I could rightly be facing 6 points and a big fine. I was gutted and quickly resigned myself to the fact I was an idiot for letting a stupid tunnel influence my driving. However, the dread lifted as the passenger continued "...it's an awesome car and sounded lovely coming through that tunnel but slow it down next time, have a good night."
I agreed with them that I was going too quick, that I really appreciated their advice and off I went; the happiest, most relieved and most reformed I'd felt in a while... I will not be taking chances like that again
So, I left with an bigger respect for our Police force than I already had as they'd made a judgement call, for whatever reason to give me a warning. The quick use their discretion in my case is something I'll never forget and it has had a big sway over my driving along with my feelings toward the Police, maybe more so than a fine and points. But it did get me thinking, why me; do they like slightly modified VX220's or people who pass correctly when significantly over the speed limit, or was it that I was clearly a car enthusiast.
But mainly, I keep thinking boy was I lucky...
I learned my lesson.
- This is not a rant
- There will be no swearing
- I was in the wrong
- Some details are purposefully vague
Little did I know, there was an undercover Police car following me...
We pulled up at the next set of lights, cars queuing to my left and diagonal hatchings to my right, a pedestrian crossing just ahead. After a few seconds, to my surprise the car behind me pulls alongside me on the right and the passenger winds his window down and says "Evening, nice car mate." Not realising that I was actually talking to 2 Police officers, I looked at them trying to working out if they were genuine VX220 fans or if I was getting carjacked... crazy, I know but that's what was going through my head ...so, with a confused but enthusiastic nod and a smile, I said "thanks mate!"
The passenger replied "Slow down next time, you were going a little bit quick coming onto that road..." it was then my heart sank briefly; I realised who I was talking to and what this interaction could mean. As someone who stays within the legal limit and has a clean license, a lot of thoughts flashed through my head, knowing that I could rightly be facing 6 points and a big fine. I was gutted and quickly resigned myself to the fact I was an idiot for letting a stupid tunnel influence my driving. However, the dread lifted as the passenger continued "...it's an awesome car and sounded lovely coming through that tunnel but slow it down next time, have a good night."
I agreed with them that I was going too quick, that I really appreciated their advice and off I went; the happiest, most relieved and most reformed I'd felt in a while... I will not be taking chances like that again
So, I left with an bigger respect for our Police force than I already had as they'd made a judgement call, for whatever reason to give me a warning. The quick use their discretion in my case is something I'll never forget and it has had a big sway over my driving along with my feelings toward the Police, maybe more so than a fine and points. But it did get me thinking, why me; do they like slightly modified VX220's or people who pass correctly when significantly over the speed limit, or was it that I was clearly a car enthusiast.
But mainly, I keep thinking boy was I lucky...
I learned my lesson.
This kind of thing is not unheard of and proves that most Police have enough sense to know when to throw the book and when to apply a lighter touch.
I remember my old man being pulled over circa 20 years ago, whilst on our way to Dover for a trip to Le Man. He was going at a 'brisk' pace down the motorway, in his Triumph TR5, when he was pulled by a marked car that appeared from nowhere.
They had him in the back of the car for a good 20 minutes checking his details, but spent most of that time asking about the car. After another 10 minutes having a nose around it, they told him to slow it down and waved us off.
Police are people (surprisingly), some have an interest in cars (like most blokes) and will probably go fairly easy on you if you aren't being a dangerous t
t.
I remember my old man being pulled over circa 20 years ago, whilst on our way to Dover for a trip to Le Man. He was going at a 'brisk' pace down the motorway, in his Triumph TR5, when he was pulled by a marked car that appeared from nowhere.
They had him in the back of the car for a good 20 minutes checking his details, but spent most of that time asking about the car. After another 10 minutes having a nose around it, they told him to slow it down and waved us off.
Police are people (surprisingly), some have an interest in cars (like most blokes) and will probably go fairly easy on you if you aren't being a dangerous t
t.you probably passed the attitude test and being a VX220 and not some chav wagon helped, a lot of coppers do genuinely love their cars.
The times I've been stopped or warned for being "keen" on the throttle has followed a similar flow with them "slow down and nice car" lol.
I suspect, please don't flame me but if your car is special (and I don't mean 3 wheels and light blue!)and you're not a total arse with your driving, I'd say from experience you're likely to get discretion. a big thumbs up to the BiB
The times I've been stopped or warned for being "keen" on the throttle has followed a similar flow with them "slow down and nice car" lol.
I suspect, please don't flame me but if your car is special (and I don't mean 3 wheels and light blue!)and you're not a total arse with your driving, I'd say from experience you're likely to get discretion. a big thumbs up to the BiB
Icehanger said:
you probably passed the attitude test and being a VX220 and not some chav wagon helped, a lot of coppers do genuinely love their cars.
The times I've been stopped or warned for being "keen" on the throttle has followed a similar flow with them "slow down and nice car" lol.
I suspect, please don't flame me but if your car is special (and I don't mean 3 wheels and light blue!)and you're not a total arse with your driving, I'd say from experience you're likely to get discretion. a big thumbs up to the BiB
6 hours after you wrote this I inadvertently put your theory to the test. The times I've been stopped or warned for being "keen" on the throttle has followed a similar flow with them "slow down and nice car" lol.
I suspect, please don't flame me but if your car is special (and I don't mean 3 wheels and light blue!)and you're not a total arse with your driving, I'd say from experience you're likely to get discretion. a big thumbs up to the BiB
Lovely sunny evening and I was driving my 12C with the roof down on a 50mph D/C. I came off a roundabout and gently accelerated away. At the next set of traffic Lights a marked car pulls up alongside me.
"Nice car mate, but keep it down, its a 50 not a 70" the officer said and then drove off.
Here's my nice cop tale: heading south on the M3 one warm summer night about 11:00pm. Very light traffic so I was minding my own business at +/- 80mph (possibly more). Headlights approach from behind - which I ignore - and a car pulls alongside and the blues come on. Car pulls infront and gradually slows to 70, staying there for a short with blues off while I slow to 70 too. Police car (marked) speeds off, I stay at 70 - lesson learnt (for a while anyway...)
Potatoes said:
I agreed with them that I was going too quick, that I really appreciated their advice and off I went; the happiest, most relieved and most reformed I'd felt in a while... I will not be taking chances like that again
I learned my lesson.
Been there, done that, and I agree, it achieves the desired result of slowing you down in a "low impact" manner. I am of the opinion that any reasonable person will react better, and take the lesson to heart more, from this approach than from the punishment they "should" get.I learned my lesson.
Potatoes said:
I will not be taking chances like that again
Let's be honest now, you will.If most people are honest with themselves it's the accumulation of points, commensurate insurance premium increases and - eventually - totting up bans that stops them speeding, not speed limits persay, and certainly not some self-delusion of learning a lesson about speeding from an interaction with the Police which, from a deterrent standpoint, won't have any impact on you the next time you find yourself behind the wheel.
With respect people also say this sort of thing whenever they hear about someone they knew getting badly injured or dying in a car accident caused by excessive speed. "It really opened my eyes", "it's a sobering lesson, you won't catch me speeding again". Eventually, often pretty quickly, that just evaporates and people continue in the manner they're most comfortable with.
If you enjoyed what you did to cause you to get stopped, chances are you'll do it again, particularly as nothing happened to disincentivise you. That stop might be in the back of your mind for the next few days but before long it'll be a distant memory, and since you got no points there won't be anything to remind you of it.
I'm not making any kind of judgement about you beyond the fact that I think you're deluding yourself if you think it's taught you a lesson (unless that lesson is to be more vigilant of unmarked cars).
Edited by Durzel on Friday 10th June 14:29
There are still at least two decent traffic officers in Essex. Last summer I was having a bit of a play with an SL55 in the A130/A13 area and we were snuck up on by an unmarked BMW. The passenger looked at me, suggested that they had noted my plate, made a "naughty boy" gesture, grinned and cupped his ear to suggest he enjoyed the exhaust note and then they pulled away.
Lesson learnt but know I'll be caught again at some point by someone less understanding.
Lesson learnt but know I'll be caught again at some point by someone less understanding.
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