Police motorway speed tolerance

[BusaMK]

Sorry guys I've been away with work. Thanks for the replies, I was not using high beam. My car has xenons and I always try to remember to manually lower the setting on low beam to lowest possible range setting to avoid dazzling road users such as plod or those with older cars which obviously don't have dimming mirrors. I wind them up again slightly if there's no one around, in order to see debris in the road further ahead - this prevented me running over a dead horse lying in the outside lane of the A421 a few years ago.

I've never had complaints about using my xenons in this way and I am well aware that there's nothing more infuriating than a Range Rover blinding everyone for 100 miles.

With regard to the speed differential and me spotting them ahead - it's an incredibly long straight stretch of motorway - it makes sense to include the distance you can see in your scan. I coasted up to them with a sensibly respectful speed differential, and didn't think it was a big deal...maybe they were just bored.

Edited by BusaMK on Monday 22 May 19:03

[TooMany2cvs]

frankenstein12 said:

OP lowered his headlight range to pass so as not to dassle the plod for too long which is a perfectly considerate action...

Hold on, and think about that for a moment.

What does that MEAN?

He'd been driving on full beam, and only dipped at the last minute?
Or he knew damn well his dips were adjusted too high, thanks to misuse of the load-compensation, and was correcting them?

[silver1011]

I didn't think cars with factory fitted xenon headlights have the ability to manually adjust the beam height, I thought they were adjusted automatically via sensors mounted on the suspension?

Unless the OP has fitted an aftermarket HD kit to halogen / projector headlights so still has the manual height adjustment knob?

As has been mentioned some modern cars have adaptive headlights which extend and adjust the pattern of the beam automatically depending on speed and conditions (higher speeds result in the beam been extended for improved long distance illumination, if the wipers are on dipped beam is adjusted to prevent scatter and glare etc.).

If the OP has factory fitted xenon's and was still able to manually adjust the headlights then I'm still not exactly sure what has been adjusted!

[frankenstein12]

TooMany2cvs said:

frankenstein12 said:

OP lowered his headlight range to pass so as not to dassle the plod for too long which is a perfectly considerate action...

Hold on, and think about that for a moment.

What does that MEAN?

He'd been driving on full beam, and only dipped at the last minute?
Or he knew damn well his dips were adjusted too high, thanks to misuse of the load-compensation, and was correcting them?

No he had been driving with his headlights on only and had adjusted them down to reduce glare. He did not have dipped beams on.

[TooMany2cvs]

frankenstein12 said:

No he had been driving with his headlights on only and had adjusted them down to reduce glare. He did not have dipped beams on.

That makes zero sense. Do you mean he had main beam on, and dipped them?

[frankenstein12]

TooMany2cvs said:

frankenstein12 said:

No he had been driving with his headlights on only and had adjusted them down to reduce glare. He did not have dipped beams on.

That makes zero sense. Do you mean he had main beam on, and dipped them?

He had dipped beam on as he was driving at night unlike so many people these days who simply seem to drive with their DRLs.

He did not have high beam on which is presumably what you were thinking about. He lowered the dipped beam to reduce dazzle on the car he was closing on.

[TooMany2cvs]

frankenstein12 said:

frankenstein12 said:

He did not have dipped beams on.

He had dipped beam on

frankenstein12 said:

He lowered the dipped beam to reduce dazzle on the car he was closing on.

And that's the point. Why would anybody DO that? Unless, of course, you'd already deliberately misadjusted them, using the load compensator for something it's not intended for?

If there's other traffic about, use dip.
If there's no other traffic about, use main beam.

[cmaguire]

Really? Who cares?
The guy was doing 80mph on a near enough empty Motorway and reckons some coppers might've shown their disapproval.

I'm surprised he even posted it . It's a non-event. Doing 3 figure speeds is a non-event.
But now the real issue is high beam, dipped beam, levelling adjustments?

I need more excitement than this.

[TooMany2cvs]

cmaguire said:

But now the real issue is high beam, dipped beam, levelling adjustments?

Because they were bking him not for 70.5mph, but for blinding them through his inability to use his headlights properly.

[frankenstein12]

TooMany2cvs said:

cmaguire said:

But now the real issue is high beam, dipped beam, levelling adjustments?

Because they were bking him not for 70.5mph, but for blinding them through his inability to use his headlights properly.

Wrong. He had dipped beams on. On modern cars they self level however you can also over ride them I think and raise and lower dipped/main beam. My car is manual only to raise or lower. Mostly I keep them at highest level to light up as much of the road ahead without dazzling other road users rather than using high beam

In the case of the op he used the toggle to lower them and shorten the range so that he wasnt dazzling the police car for too long. Perfectly reasonable and acceptable driving.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wIKCk-V8vE

[cmaguire]

Please stop.

[HTP99]

Don't xenon equipped headlights auto adjust?

[BertBert]

No you can't. If you have any manual adjustment, it's to lower them from normal, not to raise them from normal.

frankenstein12 said:

Wrong. He had dipped beams on. On modern cars they self level however you can also over ride them I think and raise and lower dipped/main beam. My car is manual only to raise or lower. Mostly I keep them at highest level to light up as much of the road ahead without dazzling other road users rather than using high beam

In the case of the op he used the toggle to lower them and shorten the range so that he wasnt dazzling the police car for too long. Perfectly reasonable and acceptable driving.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wIKCk-V8vE

[B'stard Child]

blindswelledrat said:

I also read this as the OP had his full-beam on.
Nobody, ever, in the history of driving has used those load-adjusting buttons as an 'adjustable beam' whilst driving as people are speculating.
That would be mental.

I have for probably 20 years - so don't assume because you don't that no-one does - you are as bad as toomany2cv's

[ashleyman]

Are you sure they weren't telling you to look at the road and not at them? How did you even know to look at them!?

Whenever I see Police on the road if the limit is 40+ you can guarantee the Police will just be under it by between 2-6MPH. If I go past Police at or above the posted speed limit I'm usually looking where I'm going, not at them! Never ever had a problem with that.

[xjay1337]

BusaMK said:

I was not using high beam. My car has xenons and I always try to remember to manually lower the setting on low beam to lowest possible range setting to avoid dazzling road users such as plod or those with older cars which obviously don't have dimming mirrors. I wind them up again slightly if there's no one around, in order to see debris in the road further ahead - this prevented me running over a dead horse lying in the outside lane of the A421 a few years ago.

I don't think any car with Xenons has manually adjustable headlight range.
So I think you are talking horse.

[TwistingMyMelon]

Kids exam leave at the moment isn't it?

[KevinCamaroSS]

TooMany2cvs said:

And that's the point. Why would anybody DO that? Unless, of course, you'd already deliberately misadjusted them, using the load compensator for something it's not intended for?

If there's other traffic about, use dip.
If there's no other traffic about, use main beam.

This. The manual load levelling adjustment should not be available on cars with xenons, they are automated. It should also be set to the highest level at the correct beam angle or it should fail the MoT. Therefore there can be no requirement to use it manually in the circumstances mentioned by the OP because the lights are already set to the correct angle.

[B'stard Child]

KevinCamaroSS said:

TooMany2cvs said:

And that's the point. Why would anybody DO that? Unless, of course, you'd already deliberately misadjusted them, using the load compensator for something it's not intended for?

If there's other traffic about, use dip.
If there's no other traffic about, use main beam.

This. The manual load levelling adjustment should not be available on cars with xenons, they are automated. It should also be set to the highest level at the correct beam angle or it should fail the MoT. Therefore there can be no requirement to use it manually in the circumstances mentioned by the OP because the lights are already set to the correct angle.

Ignoring the xenon aspect, try lowering them in foggy or snowy conditions and see what the effect is