Crackdown in Wiltshire
Discussion
Apparently, yesterday around Warminster, Wiltshire, there were Police everywhere, pulling people in left, right and centre. A colleague was stopped as she completed an overtake on a dual carriageway, and her offside wheel went over the hatchings - she was pulled, no bollocking or words of advice - just £60 and 3 points. Apparently they were pulling loads of people over, and according to my source, they pulled over EVERY single motorbike that went past in the time that he was there - checking for tinted visors and louds cans is my guess.
Mad Dave said:I didn't think it was illegal to use hatchings for overtaking. I do it all the time
A colleague was stopped as she completed an overtake on a dual carriageway, and her offside wheel went over the hatchings - she was pulled, no bollocking or words of advice - just £60 and 3 points.
Oh, and it sounds like Wiltshire police force have turned into the human equivalent of a Gatso with no tolerance! A sad state of affairs....
medicineman said:
Depends on if the lines outlining the hatching are broken or continuous. If the latter then they are treated the same as double whites.
True enough but if there are two continuous white lines either side of the hatchings because the appropriate authority made a mistake - there should be one - this could make the situation unenforceable if somebody took it that far. At least that's according to a talk given by Richard Bentley, traffic management and signs/regulations enforcement specialist, formerly working for the BiB in this area. Worth a check.
Mad Dave said:
Apparently, yesterday around Warminster, Wiltshire, there were Police everywhere, pulling people in left, right and centre. A colleague was stopped as she completed an overtake on a dual carriageway, and her offside wheel went over the hatchings - she was pulled, no bollocking or words of advice - just £60 and 3 points.
At a wild guess they were going for a quota, hitting some kind of target in their cretinous scoring systems.
The "hatchings" thing is absolutely fatuous. Plod should be ashamed of themselves.
autismuk said:
The "hatchings" thing is absolutely fatuous. Plod should be ashamed of themselves.
Sorry Folks, but this kind of irresponsible remark is why we have exceeded last years total Fatal Numbers ... and we are only halfway through this year!
There have been some horrendous double and triple fatals in that area in the last couple of months.
Hatched markings are there for a reason (junction, hazard etc) - to separate traffic. As are solid whites. You have no idea the numpty in front of you isn't going to turn right accross your path without indicating! Or the person coming the other way is thinking the same thing as you..."if I can get just one more overtake in....."!
Wait until you pass the juntion/hazard and then take them when it is safe to do so! Ignore the lines at your cost(financial or worse!)
Medicineman is right about the solid/broken rule.
Mad Dave - there are no dual carriagways around the Warminster By-Pass, just a few triple(2plus1) laners and the hatchings are there to get people back in time before their lane becomes single. There are no nice big barriers to protect you from oncoming traffic!
Come on folks, thought you were keen responsible motorists... some of the threads here make me wonder!
Rgds
P.S. Before you ask..No It wasnt me there! I am on Firearms and have other things to do. Its just that some of the comments amazed me. For what its worth, I dont believe in running stop checks 'for the hell of it' or 'for figures', but some of the above remarks are about road safety - and that involves us all!
Robocop - you're right, no dual carriageways around Warminster. My mistake, sorry.
I don't disagree with what you say about white lanes etc, but from what my colleague tells me, it wasnt a deliberate manouvre, she thought it safer to do that than to try and pull in with someone right up behind her. Also, there was nothing coming towards her in the other lane.
Shes not a girlracer and doesnt keep her foot down everywhere - in fact I dont believe she ever speeds.
A bollocking and a few friendly words of advice would have been sufficient and im sure she would have learned more from it - instead she just got "You performed a white line offence" and was ticketed.
Are you based in this area Robocop? Im between Warminster and Salisbury.
I don't disagree with what you say about white lanes etc, but from what my colleague tells me, it wasnt a deliberate manouvre, she thought it safer to do that than to try and pull in with someone right up behind her. Also, there was nothing coming towards her in the other lane.
Shes not a girlracer and doesnt keep her foot down everywhere - in fact I dont believe she ever speeds.
A bollocking and a few friendly words of advice would have been sufficient and im sure she would have learned more from it - instead she just got "You performed a white line offence" and was ticketed.
Are you based in this area Robocop? Im between Warminster and Salisbury.
medicineman said:Just to clarify, I only drive on hatched sections if I need to overtake a slower car and they are surrounded by a broken white line. I know solid ones are a strict no no
Depends on if the lines outlining the hatching are broken or continuous. If the latter then they are treated the same as double whites.
Is this your patch robocop?
If so it might have been you that lasered me through your windscreen a few years ago. A36 just past the gatso that keeps getting burned out, bottom of the hill in the layby full of cottagers just before Frome?
I've given up driving in that area now, too much hassle, both from yourselves, and joe public.
I'm not bitter, just older, and don't need the aggro.
Phil
If so it might have been you that lasered me through your windscreen a few years ago. A36 just past the gatso that keeps getting burned out, bottom of the hill in the layby full of cottagers just before Frome?
I've given up driving in that area now, too much hassle, both from yourselves, and joe public.
I'm not bitter, just older, and don't need the aggro.
Phil
Mad Dave - I aggree that there are over zealous BiB out there, but its in every Force not just Wilts, as in every walk of life. Tickets and Fines are the nature of the beast I am afraid, and every now and then an operation is mounted (in this case because of all the serious RTC's in that patch) to raise awareness. This often means discretion is dictated by senior officer Policy for the day I am afraid.
Yes to your other question, although I cover the whole of Wilts as an ARV.
On Nights tonight, so dont do any armed robberies as we are trying to keep our Zero Police Fatal Shootings record going!!
Rgds
Yes to your other question, although I cover the whole of Wilts as an ARV.
On Nights tonight, so dont do any armed robberies as we are trying to keep our Zero Police Fatal Shootings record going!!
Rgds
There have been several Fatals around here recently I admit. As youre from this area, you should consider joining us all next time we have have a PH meet nearby. We generally either meetup in Bournemouth or Coombe Bissett. Come to think of it, we've not had a meetup in aaaaaaaaaaages.
philthy said:
Is this your patch robocop?
If so it might have been you that lasered me through your windscreen a few years ago. A36 just past the gatso that keeps getting burned out, bottom of the hill in the layby full of cottagers just before Frome?
No Phil, wont have been me. Never done traffic. Too much of a Petrol Head!!
Sounds like that might just be in A&S's area anyway.
Rgds
robocop said:
Sorry Folks, but this kind of irresponsible remark is why we have exceeded last years total Fatal Numbers ... and we are only halfway through this year! There have been some horrendous double and triple fatals in that area in the last couple of months.
P.S. Before you ask..No It wasnt me there! I am on
No way, road fatalities have stopped declining and started rising because the authorities have increased their focus on speed limits and now look on them as THE ONLY safety issue, when they're not, since only 3% or 4% of all accidents occur above the speed limit - ask cc Garvin. Also because they fund (then rake in the cash from) GATSOs rather than pay for more BiB which I suspect most folk on this forum would welcome. Not to mention bikers who seem to be contributing to the stats. Our record as having the safest roads in the world, not just Europe, is under threat and things won't improve until we start using all of the three E's of road safety not just enforcement.
Could you clarify, are you saying from figures you have access to, that the 2003 UK road fatality number - which saw a rise of about 100 from 2002 - has already been exceeded by August 2004?
Mad Dave said:
There have been several Fatals around here recently I admit. As youre from this area, you should consider joining us all next time we have have a PH meet nearby. We generally either meetup in Bournemouth or Coombe Bissett. Come to think of it, we've not had a meetup in aaaaaaaaaaages.
Up for that mate. Know Combe Biscuit well. Let us know on the E-mail link when you are planning one..shift allowing!
Getting time off on this dept is like waiting for an Chav to insure his car!!
robocop said:
autismuk said:
The "hatchings" thing is absolutely fatuous. Plod should be ashamed of themselves.
Sorry Folks, but this kind of irresponsible remark is why we have exceeded last years total Fatal Numbers ... and we are only halfway through this year!
There have been some horrendous double and triple fatals in that area in the last couple of months.
Hatched markings are there for a reason (junction, hazard etc) - to separate traffic. As are solid whites. You have no idea the numpty in front of you isn't going to turn right accross your path without indicating! Or the person coming the other way is thinking the same thing as you..."if I can get just one more overtake in....."!
Wait until you pass the juntion/hazard and then take them when it is safe to do so! Ignore the lines at your cost(financial or worse!)
Medicineman is right about the solid/broken rule.
Mad Dave - there are no dual carriagways around the Warminster By-Pass, just a few triple(2plus1) laners and the hatchings are there to get people back in time before their lane becomes single. There are no nice big barriers to protect you from oncoming traffic!
Come on folks, thought you were keen responsible motorists... some of the threads here make me wonder!
Rgds
P.S. Before you ask..No It wasnt me there! I am on Firearms and have other things to do. Its just that some of the comments amazed me. For what its worth, I dont believe in running stop checks 'for the hell of it' or 'for figures', but some of the above remarks are about road safety - and that involves us all!
Sorry but I disagree with much of this. Fatalities are rising because of the focus on speed and cameras instead of safety and police.
Attacking the motorist with no discretion applied just reduces respect for the law and encourages people to transgress when they think no-one is looking.
In this example, if someone is not alert enough to spot a marked police car and starts an overtake on the hatchings, sure they deserve to be pulled.
However, if MD's colleague thought that by using the hatchings a bit she was reducing the risk of an accident, surely there is a case for discretion? Which is better - if she had cut straight in to miss the hatchings and caused an accident behind her, would that have been ok then?
Most of us are keen responsible motorists and would welcome a return to keen responsible policing.
A trainee cop of my aquaintance told me they were taken out to police the motorist for training because we were the easiest targets, they were encouraged to ticket everything just to get the feel of "doing" people.
How many more ways can you find to reduce any respect the motorist may still have for the police and the motoring laws?
>> Edited by deeen on Wednesday 18th August 14:33
turbobloke said:
No way, road fatalities have stopped declining and started rising because the authorities have increased their focus on speed limits and now look on them as THE ONLY safety issue, when they're not, since only 3% or 4% of all accidents occur above the speed limit
Havn't got any figures in front of me Turbobloke, but that looks incredibly low?! The accident may well not occur above the speed limit, but I think it is the cause in the majority of cases. What is apparent is that plain 'ol bad driving is on the increase!IMO
turbobloke said:
Could you clarify, are you saying from figures you have access to, that the 2003 UK road fatality number - which saw a rise of about 100 from 2002 - has already been exceeded by August 2004?
No, just talking about that Divisions figures. I was in their office the other day and I think (from memory) they had a total of 24 fatalities last year and they are already up to 21!!
They are just having a really bad run. A36 and A303 are dangerous roads. The layout of them contributes IMO. If they Dualled the whole of the A303 through Wiltshire, our FATACs would half! .. and you would all get to your hols quicker too!!
Rgds
Sorry Folks,
Have got steam coming off the keyboard
and it looks like we are entering a whole new broader topic!
Would love to talk more about 'current policy' and 'policing' in general, but Mrs Robocop has needs(shopping in Salisbury...wish it was the other!) and still got to get booted and spurred in time.
Yes we need more BiB
Yes, some offences are petty
Yes, some officers are petty
...and numerous other things I probably agree with you on, and hopefully get round to gassing about in the coming months.
But gota go
Will check this thread as soon as I can...bloody addictive this, aint it?
Rgds
Have got steam coming off the keyboard
and it looks like we are entering a whole new broader topic! Would love to talk more about 'current policy' and 'policing' in general, but Mrs Robocop has needs(shopping in Salisbury...wish it was the other!) and still got to get booted and spurred in time.
Yes we need more BiB
Yes, some offences are petty
Yes, some officers are petty
...and numerous other things I probably agree with you on, and hopefully get round to gassing about in the coming months.
But gota go
Will check this thread as soon as I can...bloody addictive this, aint it?
Rgds
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