Fitted up by Plod
Discussion
Ive just discovered this site and its mega!!!
Last April i was gunning along the new A130 in essex at about 100-110mph. I spotted in a layby a grey BMW 5 series with what looked like a rep sitting in having a break, being suspicius i slow off a bit and kept my eye on it till it was out of site (about half mile). It stayed there so i continued at about 100mph when out of nowhere this BM appeard in my mirror with its lights behind the grill going ten to the dozen (doh!!).
To cut a long story, plod said he clocked me with VASCAR at 129.1mph, ill be the first to admit i was doing an easy 100 but when you are going as fast as that you do know it. I got £200 fine and 2mth ban, Any one else been wrongly accused of excessive speed by plod????
Last April i was gunning along the new A130 in essex at about 100-110mph. I spotted in a layby a grey BMW 5 series with what looked like a rep sitting in having a break, being suspicius i slow off a bit and kept my eye on it till it was out of site (about half mile). It stayed there so i continued at about 100mph when out of nowhere this BM appeard in my mirror with its lights behind the grill going ten to the dozen (doh!!).
To cut a long story, plod said he clocked me with VASCAR at 129.1mph, ill be the first to admit i was doing an easy 100 but when you are going as fast as that you do know it. I got £200 fine and 2mth ban, Any one else been wrongly accused of excessive speed by plod????
hmmm that does sound suspicious.
Vascar is an average speed measurement system.
They simply time you between two know points a set distance apart.
If you were sure you never went beyond 110 then I don't see how they could have nailed you for 130ish.
I've always been suspicious of Vascar as it relys on an officer pressing buttons when you go past the two fixed points.
If an officer reckons you're speeding but you see him before the second point you can stand on the brakes and go below the speed limit to try and average out your speed.
However the officer could just press the button early thus get a higher speed reading.
When you get pulled over and told you were doing xxx speed, you tend to take the rap cos you know you were speeding when you got to the first point. And besides do you really want to take on Plod in court? Not really.
It sounds like the officer in question has been a bit "enthusiastic" when pressing the buttons in this instance, hence the high reading.
Unfortunatley there is nothing you can do about it now.
But it does highlight the inherant problem with Vascar. Get a bent Plod and you're in trouble.
Andy
Vascar is an average speed measurement system.
They simply time you between two know points a set distance apart.
If you were sure you never went beyond 110 then I don't see how they could have nailed you for 130ish.
I've always been suspicious of Vascar as it relys on an officer pressing buttons when you go past the two fixed points.
If an officer reckons you're speeding but you see him before the second point you can stand on the brakes and go below the speed limit to try and average out your speed.
However the officer could just press the button early thus get a higher speed reading.
When you get pulled over and told you were doing xxx speed, you tend to take the rap cos you know you were speeding when you got to the first point. And besides do you really want to take on Plod in court? Not really.
It sounds like the officer in question has been a bit "enthusiastic" when pressing the buttons in this instance, hence the high reading.
Unfortunatley there is nothing you can do about it now.
But it does highlight the inherant problem with Vascar. Get a bent Plod and you're in trouble.
Andy
Re the plod pressing the buttons a bit early/late on the vascar, shirley the results of the are on the monitor and that is recorderd on VTR 
, in which case it should be obvious on the play back. Either way, as you said you where doing a ton plus even after having seen a 'suspicious' car in a layby 
, I think you still got of lightly all things considered.
Harry
, in which case it should be obvious on the play back. Either way, as you said you where doing a ton plus even after having seen a 'suspicious' car in a layby , I think you still got of lightly all things considered. Harry
Elm is right.
I was pulled recently by a Vascar unit and there was no video or playback unit. (this was a marked car)
When they showed me my speed it was just a little calculator type thing embedded on the dash with my speed reading on it.
They could have pressed the buttons whenever they liked.
In my case it was accurate so no complaints.
But in Elm's case? 130mph?? A difference of 20mph.
Andy
I was pulled recently by a Vascar unit and there was no video or playback unit. (this was a marked car)
When they showed me my speed it was just a little calculator type thing embedded on the dash with my speed reading on it.
They could have pressed the buttons whenever they liked.
In my case it was accurate so no complaints.
But in Elm's case? 130mph?? A difference of 20mph.
Andy
This is something I've always wondered about. The cop has to use it between two points, right? So if he sees you go by and doesn't get a reading, and pulls out to follow you, isn't it then sensible to put your toe down a bit to get some clear ground between the two of you while he gets up to speed, before slowing down enough to let him catch up?
Of course, this depends on him not having been using a laser/radar, and you driving something pretty quick.
Last time I was pulled for speeding, the lone cop sat me in his passenger seat. 'Here we go,' I thought,' I get to see my car on TV.'
But no, he didn't show me any pretty pictures or even suggest what speed I'd been doing. All I could assume was that he'd not had chance to get a reading.
Does this make sense, or am I talking complete crap? Hmm, probably.
Of course, this depends on him not having been using a laser/radar, and you driving something pretty quick.
Last time I was pulled for speeding, the lone cop sat me in his passenger seat. 'Here we go,' I thought,' I get to see my car on TV.'
But no, he didn't show me any pretty pictures or even suggest what speed I'd been doing. All I could assume was that he'd not had chance to get a reading.
Does this make sense, or am I talking complete crap? Hmm, probably.
I've been fitted up by the same plod. They got me by stopping at a roundabout for no reason, as if broken down, then accelerating to block my exit when I got bored sitting behind them. I defended myself in court (no legal aid available) and they lied under oath, said they never stopped etc. etc. now I have 4 points for careless.
During researching my defence I discovered that when the new A130 was built (for those who don't know, it's a very long wide straight road) they introduced the unmarked BMW for 'safety' reasons. It normally parks in the layby just as the road goes downhill where you saw it. Its got tinted windows so you can't be sure if its plod or rep.
During researching my defence I discovered that when the new A130 was built (for those who don't know, it's a very long wide straight road) they introduced the unmarked BMW for 'safety' reasons. It normally parks in the layby just as the road goes downhill where you saw it. Its got tinted windows so you can't be sure if its plod or rep.
Can you be jailed for doing 129 mph, presumably well away from urban areas, with bugger all other traffic on the road?
Quite frankly, this is what's so outrageous about 'total' speed enforcement (yes, I know it's another rant against the system but hey, this is PistonHeads and I believe in the creed, i.e. speed matters).
There you are, working your Goddam ass off all friggin' week to keep a bunch of credit card fraudster bastard scumbags in benefit, dutifully being sh@gged by The Chancery, grimacing under the strain of one socialist freedom-sapping dictat after another and just occasionally, when it's no harm to any other bugger and in an overtly cautious manner, you squeeze the throttle some.
Ok, so it's illegal. But the fact of it's prevalence is, like many previously held societal tendancies historically decried as 'ills,' a weighty argument for it's 'decriminalisation.'
We have a ridiculous obsession with 'health & safety' and 'danger' in this country which makes such re-empasis difficult but it should not deter the conviction.
At a time when so many dreadful oinks are running riot in our midst, it really is high time the police stopped pontificating about speed restriction 'per se' and, as has been done to death with much eloquence and intelligence throughout these hallowed forae before, were retasked to bring their powers to bear not on a speeding Overfinch, M3 or Speed Six but the unconscionable tw@t in a Micra driving like a flacid human trifle and the irredeemable armies of scum we continue to finance and seek to apologise via ill-advised liberalism when in truth, either a bullet or a one-way ticket to a small hut on Table Top Mountain would be far more desirable and effective.
as hell, not to mention 
and in a 
but ultimately resigned to 
Quite frankly, this is what's so outrageous about 'total' speed enforcement (yes, I know it's another rant against the system but hey, this is PistonHeads and I believe in the creed, i.e. speed matters).
There you are, working your Goddam ass off all friggin' week to keep a bunch of credit card fraudster bastard scumbags in benefit, dutifully being sh@gged by The Chancery, grimacing under the strain of one socialist freedom-sapping dictat after another and just occasionally, when it's no harm to any other bugger and in an overtly cautious manner, you squeeze the throttle some.
Ok, so it's illegal. But the fact of it's prevalence is, like many previously held societal tendancies historically decried as 'ills,' a weighty argument for it's 'decriminalisation.'
We have a ridiculous obsession with 'health & safety' and 'danger' in this country which makes such re-empasis difficult but it should not deter the conviction.
At a time when so many dreadful oinks are running riot in our midst, it really is high time the police stopped pontificating about speed restriction 'per se' and, as has been done to death with much eloquence and intelligence throughout these hallowed forae before, were retasked to bring their powers to bear not on a speeding Overfinch, M3 or Speed Six but the unconscionable tw@t in a Micra driving like a flacid human trifle and the irredeemable armies of scum we continue to finance and seek to apologise via ill-advised liberalism when in truth, either a bullet or a one-way ticket to a small hut on Table Top Mountain would be far more desirable and effective.
as hell, not to mention and in a but ultimately resigned to 
Well said Der. I have kept out of the speeding forums for a bit now as it just gets me more infuriated. I always thought that there was supposed to be no such thing as victimless crime. Unfortunately it appears that there is just no such thing as crime that is difficult to catch people at (burglary, car theft etc.)
I wondered what everybody was going on about when they were talking about the end of the NSL, until that was I went to the PH Karting a couple of weekends ago. Wide open roads, no street lighting, 40 mph limit
. So, thanks to the powers that be, I have been properly converted into the I don't care what the signs say camp. Hopefully I drive very responsibly, but the more people that we get into ignoring the limits, the more chance of a speed related accident actually being caused - chances are outside a school.
For a free country, I don't see how the most enthusiastically enforced laws can be so far out of step with public opinion. I pay the majority of my earnings to the Government (about 57% I reckon for just tax, VAT and employers NI, if not buying luxuary goods like beer and petrol, where it increases to about 80%/90%). Doesn't this entitle me to a little decision making in my own destiny, provided that those decisions don't adversely affect others.
/rant.
Cheers Ricardo and nice to have you on board.
You've walloped the nail right on the head - the whole thing stinks to high heaven.
But you know, the venerable Don is correct on this subject; it is vital that our voice IS heard and for that, consolidation via organisations like The ABD remains the only valid outlet. Join it immediately!
Remember, most of the people in favour of blanket speed limits and worse still, their blind enforcement are communists and believe in high taxation.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to drive massively quickly. It's a human desire, a genetic reality. Ferroucio Lamborghini thought it a good plan, so that'll do pour moi; it's part of man's make up, if you will: it's what put us in space.
Only our pitiful concessions to the feeble minded socialist hoardes has prevented Martian penal settlements and wormhole penetration, etc, etc.
I've said it before but the morons who mindlessly peddle the anti-speed diatribes are the imbecilic descendants from the backward looking drooling vegans who opposed advances in steam powered rail transport because of fears that 'excessive' (which meant over 40 mph 200 years ago) velocities would irreperably damage the human body...
Well listen up...
***K YOU!!!
There, I feel much better now. Where's my knitting needle and thread?
>> Edited by derestrictor on Saturday 19th April 10:27
You've walloped the nail right on the head - the whole thing stinks to high heaven.
But you know, the venerable Don is correct on this subject; it is vital that our voice IS heard and for that, consolidation via organisations like The ABD remains the only valid outlet. Join it immediately!
Remember, most of the people in favour of blanket speed limits and worse still, their blind enforcement are communists and believe in high taxation.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to drive massively quickly. It's a human desire, a genetic reality. Ferroucio Lamborghini thought it a good plan, so that'll do pour moi; it's part of man's make up, if you will: it's what put us in space.
Only our pitiful concessions to the feeble minded socialist hoardes has prevented Martian penal settlements and wormhole penetration, etc, etc.
I've said it before but the morons who mindlessly peddle the anti-speed diatribes are the imbecilic descendants from the backward looking drooling vegans who opposed advances in steam powered rail transport because of fears that 'excessive' (which meant over 40 mph 200 years ago) velocities would irreperably damage the human body...
Well listen up...
***K YOU!!! There, I feel much better now. Where's my knitting needle and thread?
>> Edited by derestrictor on Saturday 19th April 10:27
DayDreamer said : So, thanks to the powers that be, I have been properly converted into the I don't care what the signs say camp.
Ditto. If you read my early PH posts you'd find someone who'd never speed coz it's illegal.
At the time I agreed with most limits as they seemed pretty reasonable, but they've been collapsing on all my favorite roads and it's got to the point now that I only know of about 12 miles of NSL roads in this whole bloody county.
There was a quite definate point where I snapped. Took the convertible out for a final blast before advertising it for sale. Did speeds I'd never have dreamed of before. You can imagine my suprise when I pulled up and looked behind me.
No queue of traffic. More strangely still, no dead children. No wake of carnage.
Just an empty, open and very inviting strip of tarmac.
So I turned round and did it again.
I used to be terrified of a ticket due to my insurers' policies on the matter, but these days even they acknowledge EVERYONE has points, and it's become acceptable.
So that deterrant has been removed.
And I'm looking forward to playing with my newly derestricted roads when I get my other car down here.
Have fun guys, I will be!
You said it, Alan.
I'm praying for a dry, very early Sunday morn on the morrow; the one time of the week when I can with any fair degree of certainty guarantee an hour or so's empty highway and indeed, byway.
And also as you say, Al; you go charging down road 'x' and decide it was so much fun, you'll turn round and do it again. Just for the helluvit.
Only the sheep and cattle could possibly complain.
It's really not a problem and the law should recognise the crack.
>> Edited by derestrictor on Saturday 19th April 11:18
I'm praying for a dry, very early Sunday morn on the morrow; the one time of the week when I can with any fair degree of certainty guarantee an hour or so's empty highway and indeed, byway.
And also as you say, Al; you go charging down road 'x' and decide it was so much fun, you'll turn round and do it again. Just for the helluvit.
Only the sheep and cattle could possibly complain.
It's really not a problem and the law should recognise the crack.
>> Edited by derestrictor on Saturday 19th April 11:18
The strangest thing was that i alledgedly 'passed' plod at 129mph. He then pulled away, caught up with me, sat behind me while i slowed up and pulled over all within 1 and half miles. I was gaing to employ the services of a expert to prove that a 530d BMW cannot catch a car going that fast that quickly. But i decided not to infuriate to godlyness of the magistrates.
PS does any one know what ever happened to those devices that make your car 'invisible to radar etc...do they work????
>> Edited by elms on Saturday 19th April 15:22
PS does any one know what ever happened to those devices that make your car 'invisible to radar etc...do they work????
>> Edited by elms on Saturday 19th April 15:22
God knows, Dion but I'd like to know myself. The problem is, that even if you can block this and that detector, even forgetting the likelihood of possibly being bollocked for 'perverting the course of justice,' if you get two BiB their joint testimony alone of your perceived speed would suffice for a smacked arse.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you, pal - let us know who things progress.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you, pal - let us know who things progress.
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