Speeding On The M4 In Wiltshire !!!!

There's a story of in the paper today which I thought was quite interesting in light of this thread:- a police officer has been shopped by his own colleagues who inspected the black box of a brand new unmarked Vectra police car and found out that he'd been driving it at speeds of up tp 159mph! His excuse? He was just trying to 'familiarise' himself with the car and the way it handled at high speed! A case of 'do as I say, not as I do'......?

Cheers,

Jon

quote:

Originally posted by JonR:
There's a story of in the paper today which I thought was quite interesting in light of this thread:- a police officer has been shopped by his own colleagues who inspected the black box of a brand new unmarked Vectra police car and found out that he'd been driving it at speeds of up tp 159mph! His excuse? He was just trying to 'familiarise' himself with the car and the way it handled at high speed! A case of 'do as I say, not as I do'......?

Cheers,

Jon

And no doubt that will be quietly forgotten.

In recents cases where such speeds have been involved the driver has ended up doing time behind bars and, given this police driver was also doing 60mph+ in 30mph limits, those cases haven't been as bad.

A lot of very good coppers are simply not cut out to be fast traffic Division drivers, and originally their training was of such a high standard (as with all other aspects of their work) barring actual experience naturally, and more importantly the actual SELECTION PROCEEDURE & WEEDING OUT FOR ENTRANCE TO THE RESPECTIVE FORCES IN THE FIRST PLACE, which to my mind is the only CRITERIA WORTH EVEN CONSIDERING, innit ! QUALITY NOT FUCKING QUANTITY³


Fritz Von Nothing new there then

Hey fritz,
totally agree with you, apart from the swearing!

andy c!

quote:

Originally posted by andy c:
Hey fritz,
totally agree with you, apart from the swearing!

andy c!

It's not swearing it's literary licence that's allowed to convey the strength of my argument, innit John !

Fritz.
LOL
Trust me I am time served

But confucius say that 'swearing doesn't strengthen an already valid point, in most cases it weakens it'!

andy von anyone that swears at me may fail the attitude test if you get my meanin, innit!

andy c!

It was mean't in general Sir

I am not Steve, I'm a good friend of his. I am a HGV class 1 driver and have travelled all over Europe with my job over a period of ten years. I can appreciate that there is a valid point to have speed limits, although the case is for higher and lower speed limits. ie: a VARIABLE speed limit.

For example around schools prior to start time in the morning and end of the day the speed limit should be lowered (we don't want our kids run over.) However, during the rest of the day the limit could be increased back to 30mph.

On the other hand motorway limits could be increased or even abolished (take Germany for example - second only after us for its motorway safety record) with lowered speed limits enforced during certain times of the day (rush hour) or in bad weather conditions. The average motorist is not a complete fool and if a VARIABLE speed limit was introduced to take certain situations into account, then drivers would more likely adhere to the limit imposed at any given time.

Regards,

Arfur.

Arfur - c/o Steve

What you did not comment on is that in Germany during the busy hours on the Autobahn (which is most of the day) HGV vehicles are prohibited from overtaking and are limited to crawler lanes when available on uphill sections of the road.

A major cause of frustration and accident in the UK is the battle of the leviathons as one HGV overtakes another with a speed difference of about 1mph. Thereby blocking the highway for a distance of two miles or more.

Then for the next HGV to swing out regardless of the following traffic to overtake the slower vehicle. This reduces the capcity of the road from a two lane 70mph highway to a one lane 40 to 60 mph highway for many miles as the "super hero's" of the road play let's hold up the cars.

I've just been reading about a case which has just gone to trial here in Scotland. A laser based speed trap allegedly caught a BMW driving doing 156mph while using a hand-held mobile phone.

It looks like an interesting case for a couple of reasons:

1) The policeman operating the speed trap initially stated that he had identified the driver from the photographs taken by the speed trap, but admitted under cross examination that in fact that wasn't possible.

2) There is a challenge about the technology used in the speed trap and how reliable it is. Supposedly there was a recent demonstration by an "expert" in the field showing that any movement of the speed trap while the reading was taken could lead to wildly inaccurate results.

HI,
depends which kit they are using.

The LTI 20.20 is self regulating on switch on, and is processor controlled. The device does not allow a speed to be registered unless its happy. What would make it unhappy is sudden movenment of the device, or the beam is not kept steady enough on the target to obtain a reading.

This is unlike the old muniquip, which was basically a radar device so you could only get a conviction if one vehicle was in view in effect.

There are other devices, but I'm not familiar with those...

andy c!

I've just finished watching the Berlin evening news, and guess what ? Two years back the City's police were fitted out (entirely) with spanking brand new BMW estate top of the range patrol cars. Up to now there've been nearly 550 accidents, many written off, and one copper was up before the beak today for croosing a red light on a blue light run., and hittng a pedestrian (not fatally fortunately) he got fined €1500, licence docked a few points (like you and I would be) and put back on non driving duties, as is often the case in UK as well, as I'd previously mentioned some just ain't cut out to be good (more than good) drivers, and all have this bloody Schumacher streak, especially the young ones, innit.

Fritz Von Even Here they're not perfect, though I can't believe that talking rubbish bin is still chatting away to itself (I know the feeling) though it does at least gaurantee educated company I suppose ?

quote:

A laser based speed trap allegedly caught a BMW driving doing 156mph while using a hand-held mobile phone.

now he can sue BMW because they claim they're limited to 155mph.

Hey Fritz,
there are some good ones as well.

What I said earlier ....

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/speed/default.asp?storyId=10408

DS

quote:

Originally posted by andy c:
Hey Fritz,
there are some good ones as well.

I didn't say the're weren't old chap, but you / we're probably slightly biased on the subject, so neutrality can hardly be our position, innit.

Fritz Von Supporting his local Sherrif

quote:

Originally posted by David Slater:
What I said earlier ....

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/speed/default.asp?storyId=10408

DS

More like pissheads.co.uk

pisshead

1.In the hierarchy within the Aggie Corps of Cadets, a Pisshead is higher than a fish, and lower than a sergebutt and zip.

DS

quote:

I didn't say the're weren't old chap, but you / we're probably slightly biased on the subject, so neutrality can hardly be our position, innit.

True, but its always good to see things from others points of view and their side of the pond too, innit!

andy c!

PS I never said i was for speed cameras!

andy von discretion and proportionality are the words of the day...

Derek,

Arfur is off on his holidays to Antigua for a fortnight (jammy git) but he did make one point last night re. keeping lorries on the inside lane during busy periods - it lengthens the tailback of lorries and this actually worsens the congestion.

I'm not sure if I agree with him though

Yeah, Steve, Antigua is very nice indeed and Like Florida the tourists do help along with easing the abject poverty that exists there today, STILL, innit.

Fritz Von Time for a Bud methinks mate

Yeh Right:

159MPH PC 'just testing a new car'

by Oliver Stallwood

A police officer accused of driving at 159mph (256kph) while on duty insisted yesterday he was simply trying to 'familiarise' himself with a new patrol car.

Mark Milton, who is also alleged to have hit 84mph (135kph) in a 30mph zone, told a court he took out the newly commissioned, unmarked, Vauxhall Vectra to assess it capabilities.

'I had taken the opportunity to familiarise myself with this new vehicle and was having to learn straight away the characteristics of it,' he said.

'I increased my speeds appropriately to see how the vehicle handled whilst being driven at various speeds.'

The 38-year-old, qualified as a Grade I advanced driver, added: 'As a student, I was encouraged to drive at speeds greater than 145mph on motorways.'

Milton drove at the breakneck speeds on the M54 and other roads in and around Telford, Shropshire, where he was based as an officer, the court was told.

He was brought to book by colleagues who checked the car's on-board 'black box' camera and computer which clocked his speeds it was claimed. (Home Office Type Approved I wonder? Giles).

The PC said he was surprised charges were brought against him after his 'road test' in the early hours of the morning.

'At no time did I consider that anybody would be at jeopardy,' he told magistrates in Ludlow. 'Speeds are totally open-ended and down to the perception of the officer who is driving.'

Milton, from Telford, denies dangerous driving and five separate speeding charges over the incident in December 2003. The trial continues.

I cannie say too much at this stage, but certain officers (and ex) out their will well know what it's like to be told to hit a corner etc at a certain speed by an instructor sitting next to them and suddenly a foot lands heavily on theirs on the gas, as they're not going fast enough, causing often quite large amounts of fear/ cum shitting ones-self, am I right, or am I right ?

Fritz Von Nothing new there then

159mph in a Vectra?

84mph in a 30mph should get him jail-time. There are very, very few cases when that might be acceptable, but familiarising himself with the car isn't one of them.

BTW my insider info tells me that the driver in question is regarded as an arsehole by his colleagues, hence the reason they shopped him.

For the other recent case (where a senior police officers driver was doing 80mph+ in a 40mph limit because he was late for a meeting) they stopped to help at an accident and the other officers in attendance took the in-car video tape in-case it had useful evidence of it. Unlucky perhaps but it makes you wonder just how cavalier police drivers are with the speed limits generally?