Speeding On The M4 In Wiltshire !!!!

will be very very interesting to see how he dodges that, there have been a few stated cases recently re emergency services vehicles in general driving like this - they have only go off when there has been percieved to be a genuine threat to life etc...

andy c!

Heard on radio1 a spokesman re the demo today on the m4 - he mentioned nothing re the speed limit but pleanty re cars having to swerve/brake etc and talked about responsible driving...

Be interesting to see how many crashes there were today whilst they were doing a go-slow

andy c!

Andy

The consensus seems to be that the speed limit is smoothing things out.

I have not been on the Motorway myself so I do not have first hand experience but the locals seem to approve.

I believe a 40 mph blockade is being planned this afternoon.

Another pointless protest, no one is going to take any notice of them.

Regards

Mick

I used to know a Dave Parry from down your way, I wonder if he's related to you in any way ? poor chap.


Fritz Von Put a duck in a microwave oven to get a blues singer (Bill Withers) + Oldies & Goldies

A further news report suggests the vehicle in question were doing 56mph = smaximum speed a hgv can do on the motorway.

This report didn't mention any crashes happening during this protest either.

Strange that, eh?

andy c!

Mick,

Feast on this: Top news on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/4498551.stm

DS

"The Wiltshire Safety Camera Partnership recently introduced marked vans at fixed, permanent sites, along a 40-mile stretch between Bath and Hungerford.

Sgt Nick Blencowe, from the partnership, said: "We have about 12% of all people being killed and seriously injured on Wiltshire roads happening on this stretch of motorway and that's quite unacceptable.

"We are charged with reducing death and injury on the roads. If we ignore the motorway we are ignoring a major part of that problem."

Buggered if I know what they plan to do to address the 88% "minority" of roads then if the 12% is a "major part of the problem" - their words, not mine.

Tank traps, lasers, banks of unused daleks ????

What terrified me about the report was the fact that they drove across 30 miles of motorway! Did they mass-synchronise this dangerous activity via mobile phones? Must have been worth seeing though.

Nime

Tis a great shame that greed also doesn't fall into the non existant man made inventions catagory such as good, evil & time do, innit !!!

Fritz Von Bahn Bahn Auf Die Autobahn: say cheese

quote:

Buggered if I know what they plan to do to address the 88% "minority" of roads then if the 12% is a "major part of the problem" - their words, not mine.

Sorting a motorway is an easy win in some respects - loads of traffic in one place etc. Semi-own goal tho re the sgt's comment.

Something like 'If we can reduce the loss to families and loved ones by use of such technology to assist our finite resources, then we will continue to vigerously deploy such measures of enforcement. As has been seen today, drivers can drive responsibly when asked, so why don't they do it all the time? If drivers did drive responsibly, within appropriate speeds and driving manner for given conditions, then policing units could be deployed elsewhere!'

andy c!

Since when were coppers idealists Andy me old China, I thought they were through and through realists on the whole, innit ?


Fritz Von Clockwork Motors for keystone cops

Andy

The sooner the cops use their motoring resources properly and stop "chav cars" using illegally setup cars and obviously running under "normal" insurance conditions the better for everyone.

Aftermarket alloys, blackened windows, adapted suspension and exhaust systems all invalidate the regular insurance policy.

..... or is it that the police are scared to enforce THAT section of the law ?

I hope the protesters continue and progressively reduce their speed each time they go out.

They could travel at the permitted minimum speed limit of 30 and take turns to overtake each other at 31.

Eventually the message will reach the powers that be.

quote:

or is it that the police are scared to enforce THAT section of the law ?

Not so easy as enforcing an out-dated posted speed limit - nor as lucrative!

quote:

Originally posted by long-time-dead:

Aftermarket alloys, blackened windows, adapted suspension and exhaust systems all invalidate the regular insurance policy.
..... or is it that the police are scared to enforce THAT section of the law ?

I imagine they are too busy laughing!

Is your understanding of vehicle technology so poor that you think any of these mods actually affect performance or safety? Woops.

Nime

Nime

They contravine the T&Cs of insurance. Therefore the car is being driven WITHOUT insurance cover unless the insurance company is notified and premiums recalculated.

Nothing to do with safety, everything to do with legality.

No insurance - road offence.

I can't think of a serious answer that wouldn't appear rude. Of all the things wrong with the roads today your list of minor misdemenours ranks rather lower than not having the legal number of wheel reflectors, on a bicycle, in daylight.

Shall we start talking about all the invisible mods the wealthier (non-chav) members of society consider completely normal? Chips anybody?

If you take your pedantry to the limit then anybody who puts winter tyres on their cars in place of the posh supplied alloys is probably breaking the law. And all in the interests of safety?

I'd just stick to trotting out your elitist, class-conscious, derogatory terms that seem to be the norm round here. "Chavs" and "scumbags"? I mean, really? Is this the stuff of an intelligent online discussion group? Why not pick on the blacks, gypsies, vampires and commy pinko fagots while you're at it?

Eh what, Old Chap? Innit?

Nime

If driving an vehicle on the road without qualifying insurance is a minor issue for you so be it. Have a look at the conditions of your own insurance policy if you need clarification about modifications.

I prefer my car to be standard, fully insured and driven sensibly.

I am neither posh nor a pedant. I just work hard and try to do the best I can for myself and my family.

I’ve been down the corridor of loathing a few times this week. It certainly has changed. Three lanes of closely bunched vehicles all doing the same speed and apparently paying less attention than ever to their surroundings. I’ve seen some truly heroic lane changes into gaps that almost weren’t there, not to mention being chopped off more times than I can could count by cars doing 2mph more than me, pulling into my lane (frequently lane 1) two feet in front of me. Bonkers. It’s like ‘were safe, no harm can come to us’. So it’s got be scored as a big success in limiting speed, which I guess is the primary objective. Oh, come to think of it, that’s wrong isn’t it – it’s about safety – no wrong again - making money. It’s definitely not improved safety or driving behaviour. Multiple around Swindon on Wednesday morning which was obviously a graceful, slow motion pile up at a nice safe speed – although the half length Peugeot and half width Mini (pointing in the wrong direction) could hardly be described as lightly scuffed. I wonder if the HGV on the hard shoulder (Police taking details from driver) was in any way involved? Because they belt along at 120 don’t they?

I heard that on the first or second day of the All Seeing Eye the M4 was closed West bound due to a big one, smack in the middle of the ‘safe section’. Installation glitch? From the speeds I’ve seen, they don’t appear to be making much money. I wonder how long it will be sustained for? I haven’t seen any vans yet. Why? Could it be that they will only be deployed randomly and that the ‘threat’ is enough? Could it possibly be that they will allow the speed to creep back up and then come down hard? I don’t see how this type of logic can possibly be related to safety. And no, I’m not condoning excessive speed or breaking the limit. I’m questioning motives of the all Seeing Eye – again. I don’t see it as a personal imposition that I am forcibly reminded of the speed limit – but where’s the safety? Surely that’s more important?

Cheers

Harry

quote:

The sooner the cops use their motoring resources properly and stop "chav cars" using illegally setup cars and obviously running under "normal" insurance conditions the better for everyone.

Aftermarket alloys, blackened windows, adapted suspension and exhaust systems all invalidate the regular insurance policy.

..... or is it that the police are scared to enforce THAT section of the law ?

To blanket tar a person with the above comments is a bit unfair. Do you know they are illegaly set up? Are you certain the persons driving them have not reported the updates to their vehicles to relevant ins companies? Are you sure that the relevant forces finite resources are not being diverted elsewhere?

Also you need to check with your Ins company, as dependant on whether the mod is contributory Ins companies will still pay out. I don't dispute the need to be legal, with regard to the Construction & Use regulations or the Lighting Regs, but more general offences of driving manner need addressing first in my view. Also if some parents insisted that their youngsters took out their own insurance, what kind of vehicles would they get then? Policies have sky-rocketed due to crashes/claims by under 25's. Why is that?

It should be pointed out that the speed enforcement reported on the M4 is not actually staffed by police officers, too.

quote:

Since when were coppers idealists Andy me old China, I thought they were through and through realists on the whole, innit ?

Just goes to show...

quote:

Not so easy as enforcing an out-dated posted speed limit - nor as lucrative!

Steve, nor a government priority either!

andy c!

Good point Andy. Who's to say that because a car is tricked out it's illegal? Can some people tell just by looking at them? The love and resources that self evidently go into many of these yoof roler skates leads me to suspect that they're just as likely to be diligently covered. Unlike the hundreds of innocent bland boxes that you wouldn't give a second glance to, running on illegal tyres, nine months overdue for a service and possibly in need of an MOT. But they're driven by older, decent people, so I guess we can let them off?

Nobody picked up on my chip-tuning comment.
A very high proportion of modern diesels are chip-tuned to give much higher performance while still affording cheap fuel to the user.
How can you recognise chip-tuning? You can't. Not even at the MOT station.

Nime

Nime,
You may find that altering an engines performace by tampering with the engine managment is illegal, but in my experience it only happens in a small minority of cases.

More relevant to this topic is whether what you are on about contributes to injury crashes and to speeding?

I find it more galling that some folk are not discussing drivers who drive with out due care/dangerously/under the influnece of drink or drugs. All of these need policing resources to detect etc, and ALL of these factors contribute far more to crashes that MaxPower customised cars.

Those who subscribe to such spending on their vehicles have, after being initially very wary, entered in to conversation re their vehicles, and seem very proud of the pristine condition their vehicles are in. They seem to acknowledge the attention they are given by the police, and yes some of them do break the law at such gatherings. IME they are dealt with accordingly.

Provided they dont break the law, let people spend money on their cars - they are not doing what some other youngsters are doing with a similar amount of cash, are they?

andy c!

quote:

Originally posted by HTK:
Who's to say that because a car is tricked out it's illegal?...The love and resources that self evidently go into many of these yoof roler skates leads me to suspect that they're just as likely to be diligently covered.

I would imagine that (mostly) they are driven well - given the large amounts of cash poured into their vehicles the last thing they would want to do is to get into a scrape.

quote:

Originally posted by andy c:
You may find that altering an engines performace by tampering with the engine managment is illegal,

Why would it be illegal? I understand why it might contravene the insurance agreement if not reported to the insurer, but I'm not sure why changing the engine management by itself should be illegal.