A post in another thread reminded me of something that I was wondering the other day.
I was stopped at some lights and I noticed that there was a police car driving behind me. The lights changed and I accelerated to an indicated 35 mph (which I reckon is probably just a smidge over 30). Fairly empty, wide road, good conditions etc, so doing 30 seemed reasonable.
However, when I looked back I noticed that I was putting quite a big gap between me and the police car. So, I decided to be cautious and slowed down. A car in front of me had to turn, and I had to stop, and before I started moving again, the police car had caught up with me.
When I set of again, I was doing only very slightly over an indicated 30 (no more than 32), but again I was opening a gap, so I slowed to bang on 30 and then the gap pretty much remained static.
Now, I assume that if they are not driving to some kind of incident, the police have to stick to the speed limit the same as anybody else. But do some, or all, of them really stick to an indicated 30?
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I expect its down to the individual driver as with anything. Ive seen some pretty suspect driving in busy streets but also some 'by the book' driving too.
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It all depends on whether they are heading towards or away from a tea and doughnut break. :-)
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I know they have not got full licenses as the use of indicators is none existant.
And wash your cars we can't see the number plates.
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Friend's ex was a policewoman. Couple of years ago she triggered the local speed camera whilst on duty and yes, got fined/points etc just like anybody else.
Few months later she triggered the same camera whilst not on duty and got fined/points etc again.
She is, for unrelated reasons, no longer in the Police.
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I regularly see the plod cruising along at 80mph on the motorway in my neck of the woods.
Lots of other cars fairly close behind in the fast lane.
Maybe their thinking is that if the police are not going to set an example then why should I.
So one rule for the police then and another rule for everyone else !
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>>
>> So one rule for the police then and another rule for everyone else !
>>
Yep, bang on.
Just like RAF pilots can go supersonic and drop bombs on people and British Airways pilots can't.
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You know when someone puts dropping bombs in an arguement over traffic offences, they know they are backed into a corner.
If someone is arrogant enough to put themselves up to uphold the law of the land, then break it themselves, you know they arent the sort to admit their own wrong-doing, even to themselves.
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Good grief. Get over yourself.
I routinely drive at over 70 on the m/way. There's a reason for it, but I'm far too arrogant to tell you why. You've just reminded me why I don't post on this site anymore.
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Come back mlc. Your carefully-measured arrogance and borderline criminality are needed to enrich the mix here. They act as a counterweight to 'those who have the arrogance to try to tell us how we should behave'.
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I didnt realise the Police were such thin-skinned souls. Man up for goodness sake, you had the opportunity to defend your profession and instead you bring up bombing.
If your right, explain why the law doesnt apply to you or atleast shouldnt.
Id love to know the official line about why the Police shouldnt lead by example.
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OK Stu, why should anyone on here defend their profession? Does anyone ask you to defend yours?
Has it occured to the people who post on here that posting should be a pleasure to enjoy, not a place to visit after a hard shift and have to answer to a load of people who's only aim in life is to publicly be able to criticise someone else?
>>If your right, explain why the law doesnt apply to you or atleast shouldnt<<
This is the sort of demand any flippant reply gets these days and it's detrimental to the whole ambiebce of the forum.
For goodness sake lighten up a bit and get a sense of humour.
Pat
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He made a very flippant comment about the RAF dropping bombs. He set the tone he wanted.
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But that's my point Stu, it's becoming impossible to make a flippant (and humorous) comment on here without someone demands proof and links from you...and usually not in a polite manner.
How long before we all drift away to somewhere where humour is understood?
Pat
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Well hey, if you want me to get lost ya only need to say. I havent had a great deal of politeness from many for a long while, so I gave up trying.
Theres nothing humorous about the RAF bombing anything, sorry, its horrid taste, its Frankie Boyle esq.
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>>Well hey, if you want me to get lost ya only need to say. I havent had a great deal of politeness from many for a long while, so I gave up trying.<<
I've always believed you only get back what you give.
No-one wants anyone to get lost but sadly more and more are doing so, so have you got a better idea to stop it happening?
Any gathering whether online or in person needs a vast array of different of characters to make it interesting.
At the moment only the loudest/thick skinned survive here, giving the overall opinion of a forum full over opinionated twonks, sometimes.
Pat
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>> At the moment only the loudest/thick skinned survive here, giving the overall opinion of a forum full over opinionated twonks, sometimes.
Loud, over-opinionated and thick-skinned as I may be, Pat, I draw the line at accepting the title of 'twonk'.
And I'm not sure you are right. There are a number of well-conducted, retiring posters here whose nerves are steady enough to keep them posting and reading. After all we don't want to find ourselves in a playground full of cry-babies, do we? I'm sure there are lots of harmless little pink websites for people like that.
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>>>I'm sure there are lots of harmless little pink websites for people like that.<<
Of no use whatsoever to me but I'm not sure those who have already left would agree.
Do we really want to lose them?
Pat
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>> Do we really want to lose them?
No. But we wouldn't want people to hang on here if it was making them unhappy.
As a matter of fact there does seem to be an emotional effect from posting on this kind of site that perhaps isn't well understood. It could be that what starts as a pleasant virtual pub or tea shop can sometimes become a sinister place inhabited by hostile monsters.
I notice that Stunorthants thinks he may be getting depressed, and courageously admits that rudeness or badinage here have wound him up a bit lately (my reference above to cry-babies wasn't aimed at him by the way). His is a case in point.
Hands up anyone who hasn't sometimes left the screen scowling, and had to remind yourself several times that this is after all a virtual conversation with a total stranger, that the personal doesn't really come into it except in the form of flourishes. I bet there won't be many apart from the obvious macho braggarts.
Snigger...
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>> >>
>>
>> Hands up anyone who hasn't sometimes left the screen scowling, and had to remind yourself
>> several times that this is after all a virtual conversation with a total stranger, that
>> the personal doesn't really come into it except in the form of flourishes. I bet
>> there won't be many apart from the obvious macho braggarts.
>>
>
>>
>>
All this stuff about the forum is over my head. I don't get wound up by other people's posts, and I don't set out to be rude or offensive. I hope I haven't been, many apologies if I have.
I post and respond to factual points, discussions, advice, and like to try and inject and respond to humour.
Do as you would be done by.
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>> But that's my point Stu, it's becoming impossible to make a flippant (and humorous) comment
>> on here without someone demands proof and links from you...and usually not in a polite
>> manner.
>>
Go on, prove your flippant point with proof and links. Or have you no sense of humour? ;-)
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>> I routinely drive at over 70 on the m/way. There's a reason for it, but
>> I'm far too arrogant to tell you why. You've just reminded me why I don't
>> post on this site anymore.
Do come back and give us Plod's perspective MLC; I for one have found yours and Westpig's explanations interesting.
Why people cannot recognise that you can only tell it like it is and that if your bosses set up a process you follow it is beyond me.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 21 Feb 11 at 20:27
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>> I regularly see the plod cruising along at 80mph on the motorway in my neck of the woods.
Plod play with drivers in my neck of the woods and it's a good sport too. They sit at 65 in the middle lane. That picks up a procession of drivers behind them in the middle and even inside lanes! You've never seen lane discipline like it.
As drivers move out to overtake the strange flotilla - from the back it's just lots of traffic with an empty lane 3 - they fall into 3 categories:
* the chicken sugars (new phrase) that jam on the anchors when they spot plod then fall into lane 1 or 2 to prop up flotilla numbers
* The booked, who don't spot the police car and trigger blue lights as they pass at a speed too fast given the ~65mph heavy traffic on their left
* The normal folks, who pass at 75-ish and enjoy the empty road
They do the runs from Baillieston, depending on where i come across them it can knock 5+ mins off a 30 min journey.
Last edited by: Skoda on Mon 21 Feb 11 at 16:59
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Not just the police: I bet the HA enjoy collecting their rolling accretion of drivers who can't tell black and orange from blue.
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Sometimes they drive very fast indeed. Sometimes they just dawdle.
In 30-limits where the limit ought to be 50 - in other words where safe overtaking is relatively easy - if they dawdle below the limit I overtake. Same thing on motorways.
But I notice a lot of people don't. If I were a rozzer I'd pull them to ask what they were feeling guilty and anxious about.
I agree that if they were doing a speedo 30 one might hesitate to overtake. But one would probably get away with it even then.
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One headlight out is not unusual.
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>> Now, I assume that if they are not driving to some kind of incident, the
>> police have to stick to the speed limit the same as anybody else.
I think you're right there.
>> But do some, or all, of them really stick to an indicated 30?
Hopefully, if the limit's 30. However, they are as likely to speed as anyone else, I should think.
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I wouldn't assume a speedo 35 is much less than a real 35. Speedos in both our cars are pretty much bang on up to 40, but overread progressively from that point upwards. I've measured the Volvo several different ways, and concluded that a speedo 30 is about 29.5
So the reason for the OP's receding PCs is probably that they were travelling at 30 and he wasn't.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Mon 21 Feb 11 at 16:53
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>> So the reason for the OP's receding PCs is probably that they were travelling at
>> 30 and he wasn't.
Well the Sat Nav disagrees with the speedo, and claims that it is 31-32 when the speedo is reading 35.
Now, it seems to me that people who build satellites and launch them into space on rockets and then build things that pick up signals from them, and triangulate positions on-the-fly using computers are smarter than people that stick little red needles into dashboards, and therefore the Sat Nav is guaranteed to be more accurate than the speedo.
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You dont normally see the Old bill doodling along exactly at 70mph, usually its about 60.
I assume its so they don't have a huge wedge of cars behind them. Except of course most don't have the balls to pass them.
I also guess its so they can hide in the inside lane in the lorries and caravans!
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>> You dont normally see the Old bill doodling along exactly at 70mph, usually its about
>> 60.
>>
>> I assume its so they (snip)
I assume it's so that they can observe other traffic without impeding people.
Oh - and so that they don't have to move out of the middle lane too often....
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I'm glad to see the police on the road when I'm driving. If it stops the morons tailgating, undertaking, yapping into their mobile phones, dawdling, cutting you up, wandering all over the road, drinking and reading newspapers e.t.c then so be it. People behave themselves, the traffic flows smoothly and makes progress, which is how it should be all the time.
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Lets have a unlimited speed limit on the motorway on long sections so we can drive our cars like they do in Germany.
Cruising at 140 mph in 6th rev counter at 5000rvs o yes.
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>> Cruising at 140 mph in 6th rev counter at 5000rvs o yes.
Maybe if fuel was half the price :)
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Going back to the OP, maybe the police drive that road every day and realise there is no point going any faster as there will always be cars slowing down to turn?
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Drove back from Chelmsford this afternoon and followed police traffic car down the A12. He maintained constant 70mph made possible by the fact that other drivers pulled over when they saw him in their mirror. Tucked in behind him must have been the quickest I have navigated that road on a weekday afternoon.
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...from Chelmsford this afternoon and followed police traffic car down the A12...
Can you still race/pace the trains?
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You can but not behind a police car
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Hopefully they drive faster than me.
In my neck of the woods there are a couple of A6 & 5 Series estates. Nothing worse than them tootling along behind me at 65 in a NSL. Drop it into 3rd and blast past me...one of the perks of the job surely.
My IAM Observer told me that this is what they do on occasion...when no members of the public are around. I know I would given half a chance.
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You beat me to it BobbyG, not my exact words, but close enough to say ... ditto
.>> Going back to the OP, maybe the police drive that road every day and realise
>> there is no point going any faster as there will always be cars slowing down to turn?
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My Dad's Austin Westminster wouldn't have had these problems.
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>> You beat me to it BobbyG, not my exact words, but close enough to say
>> ... ditto
>>
>> .>> Going back to the OP, maybe the police drive that road every day and
>> realise
>> >> there is no point going any faster as there will always be cars slowing
>> down to turn?
No, it's usually pretty free-flowing and, anyway, why would that make them drive at exactly 30 rather than, say, 32-35?
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Perhaps because they understand why the 30mph limit matters. A vehicle travelling at 35mph has 36% more kinetic energy than at 30. That has a direct effect on the survivability of a collision, especially for pedestrians, who are the group most at risk in towns.
A thoughtful driver knows this and doesn't treat 35 as 'close enough', and a skilled one can use the right gear, engine braking and anticipation to make good, smooth progress without constantly alternating between pedals. I'm sure you're both, SS.
};---)
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I think of the difference between 30 and 35mph as stopping a foot before you hit a kid or a few feet after.......
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I expect this is why they would seek out blanket 20 mph limits, in the hope to keep people to 30 bearing in mind the natural tendancy to speed.
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>>>There are a number of well-conducted, retiring posters here whose nerves are steady enough to keep them posting and reading. After all we don't want to find ourselves in a playground full of cry-babies, do we?
Absolutely AC.... over reaction to stuff that would pass by if ignored clogs up the forum with navel gazing.
Slows the discussion and brings out negative personal stuff to the detriment of real chat.
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>> Perhaps because they understand why the 30mph limit matters. A vehicle travelling at 35mph has
>> 36% more kinetic energy than at 30. That has a direct effect on the survivability
>> of a collision, especially for pedestrians, who are the group most at risk in towns.
Yeah, but a vehicle traveling at 30 mph has 44% more kinetic energy than one traveling at 25 mph.
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Not sure what your point is, SS, but that illustrates mine about using the right gear. At 30 in third, the instinctive lift-off at the first sight of something unexpected starts to retard the car through engine braking before the foot even crosses to the brake pedal, so even if that's all you have time for, some of that damaging kinetic energy has been lost.
At 35 - or even 32 - in fourth, there's much less of this effect. I suspect this is why so many drivers complain that the 30mph limit is difficult to adhere to.
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>> I suspect this is why so many drivers complain that the 30mph limit is difficult
>> to adhere to.
Well, it all depends upon the real speed I'm travelling at. As I mentioned, I reckon that 35 indicated is more like 32 and 32 is actually 29-30. I can't prove that, but I am inclined to try it out in the next few days.
The only problem I have sticking to an indicated 30, is that most other people seem to be doing another 5 mph above that (so likely an indicated 35), with all the associated problems of not travelling at the same speed as people around you.
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Surely there can only be ONE answer!!
At whatever speed the want to.
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Another chance to judge the speed of a police car tonight.
I was driving on a section of dual carriageway, that has a limit of 40 mph.
I was doing an indicated 45 and was catching the police car. I pulled into the right hand lane and pulled almost level with the police car. I put the needle on 40 and our speeds were exactly matched for a good 30 seconds, didn't gain or lose an inch.
I increased to about 43 and passed, and then pulled away from them.
We also passed a speed camera, just as I passed them, but I felt comfortable in the knowledge that it wasn't a real 43, and was actually sub-40. They hadn't just slowed for the camera either because, as I said, they were doing that speed a good while before we reached it.
It seems that it wasn't a one off, and I was surprised just quite how dead on 40 they were.
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Found most coppers to be good drivers and do stick to the law when not on emergency calls.
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What speed do the police drive at? - Stuu
