It's a fair cop... or is it?
Discussion
Finally, after over a decade of tooling around in TVRs, I got a ticket! This is my first 'real' speeding ticket, the only other time I got nicked was a bloody ANPR when I was in the works van (72 in a 60, the van is 2.5 tonne so technically it was a 50... but I digress).
I came up behind a Police van on the motorway. By my speedo it was doing 80-85, sat in the middle lane. I tucked in behind it - actually moving in and out of the vehicles in lane 1 when I could but the van stayed put so I did, although I thought the van might have made more effort to drive by the book.
One of those big Merc 4x4 things came hurtling past me, stood on the brakes then pulled alongside the Police van before picking up speed and disappearing, not too rapidly but obviously at a rate of knots.
So I began to wonder whether, given the middle-lane-hogginess, speeding and failure to respond to speeding Merc, whether it might be a civvy driver.
I pulled up alongside and there's a young lass driving with a black fleece on, no sign of uniform.
Figuring it was a civvy I put my foot down aand squirted away, before slowing to my previous cuise of about 85. I came up behind a couple of cars and duly squirted past them as well before returning to lane 1.
Next thing, van comes hurtling up, swerves in behind me and blue lights come on.
I find a safe place to stop and pull in. It turns out to be a young WPC with a fleece on, no headgear.
Paraphrasing the actual conversation, she claimed I "accelerated at an unnecessary rate and maintained a speed that meant she had to cruise at 100+ for 3 miles to catch me up." Had I trickled past she would have let it go.
I mentioned the Merc and she said that she couldn't catch that but that her colleagues further on would be dealing with it (yeah right).
Hang on... she didn't even attempt to chase the Merc, and if I was supposedly cruising at THAT high a speed, how come she caught me? Ah well, I obviously slowed down because I saw her chasing me
Er no, I squirted away, granted; I admit I was speeding (but so was she) but I did resume a slower cruise - which is why she caught up with me; I think she nearly overshot, not expecting to find me in lane 1 and only decided last-second to put the blues on which is why she swerved in so suddenly. If she had such an issue when I pulled away from her, why not put the blues on straight away?
Now generally I'm a silver-tongued bastard and I've always said that you can reason with Traffic officers far more than with a constable in a Panda (this turned out to be a a dog van, I was thinking civvy SOCO) but it was obvious she wanted to tell her mates down the nick that she'd pulled a TVR.
I'm usually the first to put my hands up and admit I was in the wrong; I'm just a little cynical that this is an appropriate means of a speeding pull (ie no VASCAR, no CCTV that I was made aware of, her word vs. mine etc. (as I say, she was speeding but I can't prove that any more than she can prove otherwise))... my licence is clean so 3 points not really an issue, sold plenty of crap on Ebay this weekend so the fine isn't either, just the principle of the thing. She also requested me to produce docs but again hardly a chew, I pass the Police station on the way to work.
Any BiB care to comment/laugh?
I came up behind a Police van on the motorway. By my speedo it was doing 80-85, sat in the middle lane. I tucked in behind it - actually moving in and out of the vehicles in lane 1 when I could but the van stayed put so I did, although I thought the van might have made more effort to drive by the book.
One of those big Merc 4x4 things came hurtling past me, stood on the brakes then pulled alongside the Police van before picking up speed and disappearing, not too rapidly but obviously at a rate of knots.
So I began to wonder whether, given the middle-lane-hogginess, speeding and failure to respond to speeding Merc, whether it might be a civvy driver.
I pulled up alongside and there's a young lass driving with a black fleece on, no sign of uniform.
Figuring it was a civvy I put my foot down aand squirted away, before slowing to my previous cuise of about 85. I came up behind a couple of cars and duly squirted past them as well before returning to lane 1.
Next thing, van comes hurtling up, swerves in behind me and blue lights come on.
I find a safe place to stop and pull in. It turns out to be a young WPC with a fleece on, no headgear.
Paraphrasing the actual conversation, she claimed I "accelerated at an unnecessary rate and maintained a speed that meant she had to cruise at 100+ for 3 miles to catch me up." Had I trickled past she would have let it go.
I mentioned the Merc and she said that she couldn't catch that but that her colleagues further on would be dealing with it (yeah right).
Hang on... she didn't even attempt to chase the Merc, and if I was supposedly cruising at THAT high a speed, how come she caught me? Ah well, I obviously slowed down because I saw her chasing me
Er no, I squirted away, granted; I admit I was speeding (but so was she) but I did resume a slower cruise - which is why she caught up with me; I think she nearly overshot, not expecting to find me in lane 1 and only decided last-second to put the blues on which is why she swerved in so suddenly. If she had such an issue when I pulled away from her, why not put the blues on straight away?
Now generally I'm a silver-tongued bastard and I've always said that you can reason with Traffic officers far more than with a constable in a Panda (this turned out to be a a dog van, I was thinking civvy SOCO) but it was obvious she wanted to tell her mates down the nick that she'd pulled a TVR.
I'm usually the first to put my hands up and admit I was in the wrong; I'm just a little cynical that this is an appropriate means of a speeding pull (ie no VASCAR, no CCTV that I was made aware of, her word vs. mine etc. (as I say, she was speeding but I can't prove that any more than she can prove otherwise))... my licence is clean so 3 points not really an issue, sold plenty of crap on Ebay this weekend so the fine isn't either, just the principle of the thing. She also requested me to produce docs but again hardly a chew, I pass the Police station on the way to work.
Any BiB care to comment/laugh?
Edited by Wedg1e on Sunday 11th November 23:06
vonhosen said:
What point are you looking for comment on (because it's a lengthy post) ?
She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
She doesn't need VASCAR etc in order to report for the offence.
Really? I though it had to be a blue light job for excess speed to be OK.She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
She doesn't need VASCAR etc in order to report for the offence.
VASCAR, fair point..... but that would suggest calibrated speedo which I doubt Peugeot dog vans have. If her speedo was as innacurate as mine then maybe neither of us was actually speeding...
Wedg1e said:
vonhosen said:
What point are you looking for comment on (because it's a lengthy post) ?
She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
She doesn't need VASCAR etc in order to report for the offence.
Really? I though it had to be a blue light job for excess speed to be OK.She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
She doesn't need VASCAR etc in order to report for the offence.
Wedg1e said:
VASCAR, fair point..... but that would suggest calibrated speedo which I doubt Peugeot dog vans have. If her speedo was as innacurate as mine then maybe neither of us was actually speeding...
As far as the court is concerned, it doesn't even have to be a calibrated speedo, if the margin over the limit is not small.Quinny said:
Sounds like you attracted attention to yourself. You just can't win with these t
ts, so my philosophy is to try and blend in as much as possible, until either you or they turn off.
Then drive like you stole it, but it just ain't worth antaganising the little Hitlers.
Unless of course its a scamera van, then I'll do whatever I can to wind those pricks up
Hey, I drive a TVR, it's impossible NOT to attract attention ts, so my philosophy is to try and blend in as much as possible, until either you or they turn off.Then drive like you stole it, but it just ain't worth antaganising the little Hitlers.
Unless of course its a scamera van, then I'll do whatever I can to wind those pricks up
I would have thought that a bollocking would suffice, she'd made her point, held me up, other traffic saw she'd stopped me, no harm done... ah no wait, the planet was damaged and as she said, I was obviously a statistic waiting to happen. I nearly said that with my driving experience vs. hers she had a damn cheek and I had a good mind to give her a spanking, but luckily I was struck with a sudden coughing fit...
vonhosen said:
Wedg1e said:
vonhosen said:
What point are you looking for comment on (because it's a lengthy post) ?
She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
She doesn't need VASCAR etc in order to report for the offence.
Really? I though it had to be a blue light job for excess speed to be OK.She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
She doesn't need VASCAR etc in order to report for the offence.
Wedg1e said:
VASCAR, fair point..... but that would suggest calibrated speedo which I doubt Peugeot dog vans have. If her speedo was as innacurate as mine then maybe neither of us was actually speeding...
As far as the court is concerned, it doesn't even have to be a calibrated speedo, if the margin over the limit is not small. Thanks.Quinny said:
They don't do em selves any favours do they??
Which is why I make it policy to have all to do with any of em
Seems to work for me
I did think it was amusing to watch all the other speeding motorists hurtling by as we chatted... Which is why I make it policy to have
all to do with any of emSeems to work for me
Don't worry though, it won't be long before the screws tighten and you can't start your engine without satnav clearance from Downing Street.
L14MNV said:
I sympathise with you mate, but it's like showing a red cloth to a bull by overtaking a cop who is already exceeding the limit!
You should know better!!
As I said, I thought it was a civvy. Seen it plenty of times before. I even passed a scamera van at 90 on the M5 once; it was doing 85, sat in the middle lane You should know better!!
OK, not Police, but principle is the same.As far as I'm concerned, unless Police officers are whiter than white 'they' have no right being allowed to pick fault with 'our' driving. So speed, lane discipline, indicators etc. should be spot-on, and it rarely is. Traffic vehicles excepted, of course
vonhosen said:
Wedg1e said:
vonhosen said:
What point are you looking for comment on (because it's a lengthy post) ?
She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
Really? I though it had to be a blue light job for excess speed to be OK.She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
The reason here could be that she was observing and following a car ahead? But why then forget about that car and follow the TVR as soon as it passed?
It does sound that she was plainly speeding as same as the rest of us to me. No problem at all with that, but if so it does make her a hypocrite with no common sense.
You should have nailed it Wedg1e, same as the other driver that she apparently couldn't attempt to up keep with, you couldn't have being going fast if she caught you up!
The annoying thing here is, can't she see the difference between someone driving safely and someone hogging a lane or tailgating etc which would actually warrant a word? Obviously not.
deeps said:
vonhosen said:
Wedg1e said:
vonhosen said:
What point are you looking for comment on (because it's a lengthy post) ?
She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
Really? I though it had to be a blue light job for excess speed to be OK.She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
The reason here could be that she was observing and following a car ahead? But why then forget about that car and follow the TVR as soon as it passed?
It does sound that she was plainly speeding as same as the rest of us to me. No problem at all with that, but if so it does make her a hypocrite with no common sense.
You should have nailed it Wedg1e, same as the other driver that she apparently couldn't attempt to up keep with, you couldn't have being going fast if she caught you up!
The annoying thing here is, can't she see the difference between someone driving safely and someone hogging a lane or tailgating etc which would actually warrant a word? Obviously not.
Safe or not, if you speed you may well get stopped & ticketed. Particularly if you overtake & do it in front of a marked Police vehicle.
Nailing won't necessarily avoid prosecution, with the NIP through the door.
vonhosen said:
What point are you looking for comment on (because it's a lengthy post) ?
She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
She doesn't need VASCAR etc in order to report for the offence.
Why would I want to pay for a police force that behaves as described by the OP?She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
She doesn't need VASCAR etc in order to report for the offence.
What good has been done for me or my fellow citizens by this police action?
Why don't we scrap it all and start again?
The police and state look far to much like oppressors for me to want them to continue in their current form.
Quinny said:
Sounds like you attracted attention to yourself. You just can't win with these tts, so my philosophy is to try and blend in as much as possible, until either you or they turn off.
Then drive like you stole it, but it just ain't worth antaganising the little Hitlers.
Unless of course its a scamera van, then I'll do whatever I can to wind those pricks up
It all needs scrapped.ts, so my philosophy is to try and blend in as much as possible, until either you or they turn off.Then drive like you stole it, but it just ain't worth antaganising the little Hitlers.
Unless of course its a scamera van, then I'll do whatever I can to wind those pricks up
The police should reduce inconvenience, if not they're worse than useless.
TVR moneypit said:
vonhosen said:
What point are you looking for comment on (because it's a lengthy post) ?
She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
Why?She can legally exceed the limit.
You can't.
The law is a demonstration, that it is viewed there is greater benefit than risk, in allowing her to choose the most suitable speed, irrespective of what the limit is, where it is for a Police purpose.
It also demonstrates, that it is viewed there is greater risk than benefit, in allowing you (or her) to choose speed without defined parameters in relation to terminal speed, for general driving purposes.
Edited by vonhosen on Monday 12th November 06:49
so let me get this right...
The OP is doing 85mph alongside plod, gives it a squirt in a TVR, to what 100, 110, and disappears out of sight and then when he is tugged and can't talk his way out of it, everyone is all upset and surprised (well excluding the OP and VH seemingly)?
Why? Because the fabric of society is failing due the the failure of law and order enforcement? Don't think so. Maybe it was because plod was young? Female? Redhead?
Bert
The OP is doing 85mph alongside plod, gives it a squirt in a TVR, to what 100, 110, and disappears out of sight and then when he is tugged and can't talk his way out of it, everyone is all upset and surprised (well excluding the OP and VH seemingly)?
Why? Because the fabric of society is failing due the the failure of law and order enforcement? Don't think so. Maybe it was because plod was young? Female? Redhead?
Bert
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