Need advice,

[adamt]

Hi all,

I am a little bit confused and seeking some clarification from you guys in the "know". So you are stopped by an marked police car doing 95mph. Can you contest this if these variables are present:

There was only one policeman
He used his speedo to work out the speed of the car for 1 1/2 miles.

I always thought that speedos were not accurate and also that two policeman had to present,

thanks for any help

all the best
adam

[7db]

If he swears that his speedo was later calibrated, then he's fine.
Single policeman corroborated by speedometer measure will stand up in court.

How fast were you going?

[adamt]

95mph but i think i was actually going quicker, still he was a nice guy and i showed him round the car afterwards as he had never seen one of those alpinas before lol

all the best
adan

[ya55erm]

as far as i am aware he can if he is qualified to do the speed check using a method where they follow you over a certain distance keeping the same distance from your car to there car and then working out the avarage and they can be on there own.

[justinp1]

adamt said:

95mph but i think i was actually going quicker, still he was a nice guy and i showed him round the car afterwards as he had never seen one of those alpinas before lol all the best adan

What most likely happened is that he may have known you were going quicker. He offered you 95 as at 96 you would have had to go to court, and the magistrates would not have offered you 3 points and £60 quid, it would have been a lot more.

I hope you snapped his hand off and ran!

[anniesdad]

Bummer!

Has he warned you of an intended prosection? Or was it a warning and "on your way"?

[7db]

adamt said:

95mph but i think i was actually going quicker, still he was a nice guy and i showed him round the car afterwards as he had never seen one of those alpinas before lol all the best adan

Of course now you've admitted it in a public forum, he won't need either the speedo or the officer...

[Hollywood Wheels]

adamt said:

stopped by an marked police car doing 95mph

adamt said:

for 1 1/2 miles.

You didn't see him, no??!!!

HW

[turbobloke]

What's the current penalty for failing to look in rear view mirror HW

Hope it goes OK for you on this Adam. If I thought you were likely to be unsafe at that speed, and doubted your judgement as to conditions etc, it would be a different matter.

Were you too relaxed at such a low speed or something like that

[Hollywood Wheels]

turbobloke said:

What's the current penalty for failing to look in rear view mirror HW

It should be a bloody good slap and a serious talking to about being aware of what's going on around you!!

HW

[timsta]

justinp1 said:

adamt said: 95mph but i think i was actually going quicker, still he was a nice guy and i showed him round the car afterwards as he had never seen one of those alpinas before lol all the best adan What most likely happened is that he may have known you were going quicker. He offered you 95 as at 96 you would have had to go to court, and the magistrates would not have offered you 3 points and £60 quid, it would have been a lot more. I hope you snapped his hand off and ran!

I was caught by a Biker PC going flat out on an empty Dual Carriageway, he said the same to me with a sly look on his face, "Recon you were going 97, but I don't have the equipment. Here's an FPN."

"Thank you" Said I.

He did you a favour, be thankful.

[vonhosen]

turbobloke said:

What's the current penalty for failing to look in rear view mirror HW

From this thread it seems like it could be 3 points & a £60 fine.

Are we saying that danger doesn't exist behind you, so to be safe you only need to be aware of what's infront of you ?
That's the actions & thought processes of what you'd consider a safe driver is it ?

[fangio]

So you class a police car BEHIND you as a DANGER? Only to your licence and pocket! (Or did you teach that trafpol how to drive?)

[vonhosen]

fangio said:

So you class a police car BEHIND you as a DANGER? Only to your licence and pocket! (Or did you teach that trafpol how to drive?)

The point is that if you don't check behind, you won't be aware of any dangers, whatever they may be, will you ?
Effective all round observations are a prerequisite of our most basic drivers & the faster you travel the more aware of dangers you have to be. With that it follows that the processes you operate with, within your driving plans, must also be upto the job & not checking your mirrors sufficiently falls short of that standard.

[smeggy]

vonhosen said:

Are we saying that danger doesn't exist behind you, so to be safe you only need to be aware of what's infront of you ? That's the actions & thought processes of what you'd consider a safe driver is it ?

This raises an issue: what dangers can exist behind you when you’re travelling down motorways at decent speeds?
Tailgaters are the only significant hazards I can think of but what could you safely do about them anyway? (apart from keep left when appropriate which everyone should be doing anyway?)

[fangio]

My point exactly, Smeggy.

Shouldn't have been much behind him to worry about at 95?

[7db]

Apart from police cars doing 130.

[smeggy]

7db said:

Apart from police cars doing 130.

Given the number of drivers who still don't move over even when there are blues and twos right behind them, I think it safe to say the police will always assume that drivers in front haven't seen them and mitigate the situation appropriately, thereby ensuring they don’t pose a hazard.

A runaway BMW with a driver who won’t disable the ignition is another matter………

[Yugguy]

justinp1 said:

adamt said: 95mph but i think i was actually going quicker, still he was a nice guy and i showed him round the car afterwards as he had never seen one of those alpinas before lol all the best adan What most likely happened is that he may have known you were going quicker. He offered you 95 as at 96 you would have had to go to court, and the magistrates would not have offered you 3 points and £60 quid, it would have been a lot more. I hope you snapped his hand off and ran!

Yep, this happened to a mate who was doing 98 but driving ok, the bib said he could do him for 96mph which was just the 60 quid and 3 points, or he could contest it in court and likely get really shafted for doing 98.

[vonhosen]

smeggy said:

7db said: Apart from police cars doing 130. Given the number of drivers who still don't move over even when there are blues and twos right behind them, I think it safe to say the police will always assume that drivers in front haven't seen them and mitigate the situation appropriately, thereby ensuring they don’t pose a hazard. A runaway BMW with a driver who won’t disable the ignition is another matter………

Correct although it's a Police car in this case, you don't know who it's going to be. As you've eluded already it could be a runaway driver, a yob high on drugs in a stolen car, absolutely all kinds of variations. The safe thing is to know what is around you at all times, prioritise the riskier elements (where ever they may be) & deal with them on that basis, whilst continually updating your driving plans with that in my mind.