85 in a 70 mobile van - Rant and Questions

[xjay1337]

scorcher said:

I was on cruise control doing a indicated 80/ sat nav 75 on the M5 a couple weeks ago in my works van. Think I caught the attentions of a battenburged X5 who came charging up behind me in lane 3.(no blues) Thought he might have been on a shout so I pulled over to lane 2 once i'd completed my move and flicked the cruise down to 75 expecting him to go on past but he came over behind me. I was coming off at the next junction about 1.5 miles away . He pulled over to Lane 1 and I pulled over to lane 1 a few cars in front of him. He came off at the junction behind me and I was expecting to get lit up, but he went all the way around and back onto the motorway. Think he deployed some scare tactics on me unless he was in a hurry to get somewhere and it was called off.

I was coming back from Newcastle on the A1.
On cruise control about 75mph (indicated).
Slowly creeping up on a marked traffic car doing a strict 68mph. Infront of the police car, clear, open road, behind the police car, must have been 40 cars in my sight, most of which in lane 1, queued up behind. (none of which were doing 70ish before the police car came into view !!!)

Over the course of a few miles I had crept up and was finally was in a position to overtake, having a 600 mile drive to complete any time saved is welcome - so I went into the middle lane. Indicated and all.

The traffic car then accelerated, pulled in front of me into the middle lane, and flashed a 70mph sign at me.

Stupid wker. I've overtaken many police cars in the past without issue by simply being respectful and not being a cock, but this one obviously didn't like it.

[Saudade]

xjay1337 said:

I was coming back from Newcastle on the A1.
On cruise control about 75mph (indicated).
Slowly creeping up on a marked traffic car doing a strict 68mph. Infront of the police car, clear, open road, behind the police car, must have been 40 cars in my sight, most of which in lane 1, queued up behind. (none of which were doing 70ish before the police car came into view !!!)

Over the course of a few miles I had crept up and was finally was in a position to overtake, having a 600 mile drive to complete any time saved is welcome - so I went into the middle lane. Indicated and all.

The traffic car then accelerated, pulled in front of me into the middle lane, and flashed a 70mph sign at me.

Stupid wker. I've overtaken many police cars in the past without issue by simply being respectful and not being a cock, but this one obviously didn't like it.

Can't quite believe this is true... Surely just set cruise at a indicated 75-77mph and carry on. He'll have a hard time proving anything sitting inside his traffic car.

Maybe they were holding up traffic for a reason - but I would have thought they would straddle lanes and display a do not overtake sign.

This is the sort of bizarre instance I see the value of a dash cam for.

[RobbyJ]

I’ve seen this a couple of times on the M5, Police car doing 68-70mph with a huge queue behind and only the odd HGV in front. Anyone who dared go slowly passed immediately was chased and obviously told to slow back down. I’ve got a lot of time and respect for the Police but this is total jobs worth behaviour just causing problems not fixing them IMHO. Not a fan of Avon and Somerset Police and I’ve worked with most forces in the country.

[Heaveho]

Greg66 said:

I'll just leave this here. From 1 March this year.

Andy20vt said:

So I have received a NIP from a police camera van for doing 41 in a 30 limit.

The problem is that I think the camera could well be wrong as I looked at the speedometer immediately after spotting the camera van and remember doing mid 30's. 41mph seems excessive and is the difference between receiving points and being offered a speed awareness course.

There was also another vehicle not too far ahead of me between my vehicle and the camera van at the time, possibly obscuring park of my vehicle from the camera van. Could this have impacted on an accurate speed reading at all? Should I be concerned about this?

Obviously if the camera is accurate and the measurement has been taken correctly then it's a fair cop and I will obviously pay up, but how for my own peace of mind should I go about checking/challenging this and raising these concerns with the police?

In todays news, chickens were at home, roosting.

[mrciarano]

stargazer30 said:

Right brodit kit ordered for the motor and I'll check out Waze.

To clarify I don't cruise at 85. I keep it inside 70 to 80 bananas an hour as a rule, I just screwed up in this instance as I let all 212 ponies in my mountuned fiesta ST loose for a few seconds. (I am actually suprised it hit 85 in such a short sprint, even the missus thought we were going slower).

IIRC the ST has a speed warning chime setting too, might see if I can set that for 78 or the like.

Waze was absolutely useless on my trip through North York when I got clocked for doing 89! Use as an advisory but not a bible.

[RemyMartin81D]

Heaveho said:

Greg66 said:

I'll just leave this here. From 1 March this year.

Andy20vt said:

So I have received a NIP from a police camera van for doing 41 in a 30 limit.

The problem is that I think the camera could well be wrong as I looked at the speedometer immediately after spotting the camera van and remember doing mid 30's. 41mph seems excessive and is the difference between receiving points and being offered a speed awareness course.

There was also another vehicle not too far ahead of me between my vehicle and the camera van at the time, possibly obscuring park of my vehicle from the camera van. Could this have impacted on an accurate speed reading at all? Should I be concerned about this?

Obviously if the camera is accurate and the measurement has been taken correctly then it's a fair cop and I will obviously pay up, but how for my own peace of mind should I go about checking/challenging this and raising these concerns with the police?

In todays news, chickens were at home, roosting.

schadenfreude I know but flol.

[Black_S3]

As boring as it sounds not coming round unsighted bends, towards bridges on the motorway or approaching laybys/parking on single lanes above 10%+2 does the trick pretty well.... certainly never on roads you don’t know.

You’ll be hard pushed to find 2 hours worth of driving at 90mph in the UK these days without hitting a smart motorways and all the cameras so sitting at 6 point plus speeds on the stretches you might get away with it really doesn’t make sense to me.

[JNW1]

mrciarano said:

Waze was absolutely useless on my trip through North York when I got clocked for doing 89! Use as an advisory but not a bible.

This confirms my suspicion about Waze; I can see how it's very useful in some circumstances but from what I understand there's no way it's going to be 100% effective against mobile cameras. The options for defeating those are either a) don't stray more than 10% plus 1mph above the speed limit unless you can see the road's clear or b) fit a jammer and risk an appearance in court for attempting to Pervert the Course of Justice if you're caught. Each to their own but I'm sticking with a).......

[xjay1337]

Saudade said:

xjay1337 said:

I was coming back from Newcastle on the A1.
On cruise control about 75mph (indicated).
Slowly creeping up on a marked traffic car doing a strict 68mph. Infront of the police car, clear, open road, behind the police car, must have been 40 cars in my sight, most of which in lane 1, queued up behind. (none of which were doing 70ish before the police car came into view !!!)

Over the course of a few miles I had crept up and was finally was in a position to overtake, having a 600 mile drive to complete any time saved is welcome - so I went into the middle lane. Indicated and all.

The traffic car then accelerated, pulled in front of me into the middle lane, and flashed a 70mph sign at me.

Stupid wker. I've overtaken many police cars in the past without issue by simply being respectful and not being a cock, but this one obviously didn't like it.

Can't quite believe this is true... Surely just set cruise at a indicated 75-77mph and carry on. He'll have a hard time proving anything sitting inside his traffic car.

Maybe they were holding up traffic for a reason - but I would have thought they would straddle lanes and display a do not overtake sign.

This is the sort of bizarre instance I see the value of a dash cam for.

Honestly, hand on heart that is truth .
I was in my second car as I was delivering an engine.
It didn't have a dash cam. I was very perplexed, coppers in the north are s.

[Black_S3]

xjay1337 said:

Honestly, hand on heart that is truth .
I was in my second car as I was delivering an engine.
It didn't have a dash cam. I was very perplexed, coppers in the north are s.

I think the warning sign for a wker driving a police car is if it’s sitting at near bang on 70 causing needless dangerous bunching behind.

[maccas99]

Saudade said:

I believe Waze gets round this by not showing the cameras exact location, albeit it is pretty accurate, but rather a "danger zone". However, even that is unnecessary.

I assume the people who get prosecuted for flashing is under section 89 of the Police Act 1997 - it is offence to “wilfully obstruct a constable in the execution of his/her duty.” And maybe highway code 110 - do not flash anyone unless to alert other road users of presence.

Unsure how simply using Waze could be illegal, you aren't obstructing them by any means if you don't contribute to the app, and just use it. Even if you do add a speed camera to the app, they can still perform their duties, so not illegal but IANAL.

Edit - On second thoughts, I am unsure how flashing other vehicles actually obstructs the police in checking a vehicles speed and how people have been prosecuted for it. It doesn't make sense - welcome to the UK.

Edited by Saudade on Monday 20th May 11:39

Fail to see how using Waze is illegal given that most mobile speed camera locations are listed on the Safety Partnership websites...? It's just a crowd source/Website data aggregator...

[Heaveho]

xjay1337 said:

coppers in the north are s.

Yep. In the south, where commuting significant distances is the norm, there is a tolerance that simply doesn't exist up here. I fking hate the way the roads are policed in the north.

[JNW1]

maccas99 said:

Saudade said:

I believe Waze gets round this by not showing the cameras exact location, albeit it is pretty accurate, but rather a "danger zone". However, even that is unnecessary.

I assume the people who get prosecuted for flashing is under section 89 of the Police Act 1997 - it is offence to “wilfully obstruct a constable in the execution of his/her duty.” And maybe highway code 110 - do not flash anyone unless to alert other road users of presence.

Unsure how simply using Waze could be illegal, you aren't obstructing them by any means if you don't contribute to the app, and just use it. Even if you do add a speed camera to the app, they can still perform their duties, so not illegal but IANAL.

Edit - On second thoughts, I am unsure how flashing other vehicles actually obstructs the police in checking a vehicles speed and how people have been prosecuted for it. It doesn't make sense - welcome to the UK.

Edited by Saudade on Monday 20th May 11:39

Fail to see how using Waze is illegal given that most mobile speed camera locations are listed on the Safety Partnership websites...? It's just a crowd source/Website data aggregator...

Waze isn't illegal but from what I understand it's far from foolproof where alerting to the presence of a mobile camera is concerned. Listing the potential, known, sites is all well and good but what you really want to know is when a mobile camera is actually there and operating and I'm not convinced you can rely on Waze to tell you that; sometimes it might but not always....

[Funk]

So said:

Having used Waze in Italy last year I do wonder whether some people report cameras where there are none, to slow people down through their villages.

Try this too: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com....