Safe Speed Forums

Horrified and very annoyed of East Sussex!

Hi all,
I was driving through East Sussex and coming the other way, was a Sussex Police C-class Mercedes estate which is often high profile in this area.
But, i was horrified to see the driver clearly eating a Mars or something with it stuffed in his mouth by one hand (unless it was radio-controlled !) and the other hand on the wheel! You can bet if i had been doing the same driving past them, i would have been pulled over for driving without due care and attention (and quite rightly so).
If i had been quick enough, I should indicated to them to pull over and asked for their numbers and then reported them but i wise after the event and only thought about it when i got home. Also, what would their reaction have been? Even though i know there is nothing wrong with my Porsche, would my car suddenly have been inspected with a fine tooth comb !

Andy

perhaps he was hungry ?

Personally I do not see any thing wrong with that. If the worst happens he can safely drop it. I do have an issue with people drinking hot drinks. I always graze whilst driving long distances. I avoid big meals for a steady supply of low carb food. It keeps me more alert. I avoid motorway service areas as they are a stressfull noisey chaotic place for me. I use the loo and go out to the car for a perfect cup of coffee from my flask.

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

He should be reported and sacked.

Why? Because he was dangerous or being a hypocrite.
Is it due care and attention when you are eating a mars bar but not if you are holding a two way radio?

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

The latter,

sacked forthwith thankyou.

I have to admit that I have no problem with a driver eating a mars bar, but at a time when driver sare being prosecuted for eating whilst the car is stuck in traffic smacks of 'do as I say not as I do' and does little for the police pr.

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Gordon Brown saying I got the country into it's current economic mess so I'll get us out of it is the same as Bomber Harris nipping over to Dresden and offering to repair a few windows.

Chaos, panic and disorder - my work here is done.

http://www.wildcrafts.co.uk

The Hypocryte should be fired. All Police Officers should be beyond reproach. If I could be prosecuted for eating then they should be sacked.

I have no sympathy and make no apology.

I'd happily do the deed myself.

As implied above, the police only have themselves to blame for the kind of "black and white" views expressed here. If, instead of prosecuting people for trivial offences just to achieve targets, they used a bit of sense and just metaphorically wagged a finger at people, for example, eating apples then the public might be a bit more reasonable when the force are themselves observed being a bit slack.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Rather than penalise that driver, the better solution would be to use it as an example as to why, in the right conditions, such activity is neither dangerous nor without due care.

Hmmm! We do tell our teams out there not to do something for which "lectures are usually given"


Now ... as for the "high profile press cases" ....

eating a large apple whilst negotiation a 90 degree turn - and not handling the manoeuvre at all - in fact to the point of dangerous...

Or... eating a huge sandwich - (the extra large "ploughman's" from a dominant supermarket chain as I recall) .. not quite the same as eating a Mars bar in odd discreet bites. If it affected the stanadard of driving - we'd normally stop for "word"

However, my own preference? ... I usually have a small tin of unwrapped chocs or sweeties within easy reach for "emergency hunger pangs" or traffic jams... or an open bag of mini-doughnuts ..


But should the officer have been stuffing his face with a Mars or whatever bar whilst ?

Oddly enough - we do not normally pull for trivials unless there is clearly a problem with the way that person is handling the car. A bar of choc? Do not normally have a problem with a quick bite of a choc bar so long as the driving is not adversely compromised by such action.



Scoffing huge apples,sandwiches and chattering on a hands held (and sometimes a "hands-free") phone can and do affect concentration and anything which affects this and the actual handling of a vehicle are big s

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Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

Its is a poor show by the officer as they should set the example, I dont see it as a serious issue, for one, if he was a traffic officer his level of training is way beyond that of the average driver. This issue is really nothing more than 'HOW VERY DARE HE!'.......When most road users do similar it is normally accompanied with poor driving activity that they themselves dont see, although what he did was wrong and he should be reported for it, its not a big deal is it? My worry is not about a traffic cop eating a mars bar its when the average road user who does'nt drive very well (but doesnt know it)in the first place eats a mars bar at the wheel, but then the average road user wouldnt understand this either.

Cop was wrong so report him if you must, then get on with your life .

I'm sorry,

only dismisal will do.

Nooooooooooo not doughnuts, Pleeeeease

Plods and doughnuts are just so wrong LOLLOLLOL

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Semper in excreta, nur quantitat variat.

hummm
Well if the silly laws, wants to be so petty, then the cops should totally understand that when they choose to flaunt the rules, then the public are going to be pretty upset. No one likes hyprocrisy. But is this hypocritic act correctly placed?

The perception is that when questionable laws are aggressively applied it creates an uncomfortable feeling. We always hope and expect the police to apply their experience and judgement appropriately. If there is a 'real' problem then fair enough, but when there is a ticket issued for an action, that was not resulting in a driving problem, then it is seen as a pointless fine, just to meet targets and does nothing to justify a policeman position of trust. This trust & respect has been seen as misplaced and so then ruined and lost. Hence why the Government needs to scrap these ridiculous, petty, new laws.
No one cares if someone, was eating an apple or a carrot, but whether their driving was affected? That is what matters, and those laws already
exist. Fixing things that 'ain't' broke is not good policy.

The public end up fearing the very people, that they should be able to trust and obtain protection from. It also makes the Government try to remove drivers responsibility, when they try to tell us, what we can, and cannot do. This is met with no respect, we believe it to be non-sense.
It is inattention, leading to potentially bad driving, that is the issue. It is the drivers responsibility to drive their car properly, and the Police are responsible to enforce laws that should help ultimately make the roads safe. Not petty rules that are there just for the sake of some politicians
mis-guided thoughts, and worse when those rules break the public's trust in the Police force.
For most drivers even being stopped by the Police is a frightening experience, and will live with them for years. These nonsense laws make the cops a joke, we want the Police to use their experience and knowledge to apply the Law appropriately, and in a balanced, sensible manner. Anything less,, is petty and damaging, hence the huge rift, that we have now between the Police and the public.

The petty rules are wrong, and make the Police a laughing stock, and that is never good. We want proper sensible rules that are both respected by the public and police. A cop pulling someone over for doing something silly, and pointing out how dangerous it may be, does far more good, but for the government there is no 'result'. However there is, as the accident stats show it, over time. The drop in our position as number 1 is a really serious state, that the government seems not to care about.

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

A similar thing happened to me the other evening, there I was going along a dual in swansea when I saw a police bmw at the traffic lights with the n/s stop light out and the o/s brake light out, so I pulled up next to the car flipped up my lid and said "excuse me mate you got a stoplight out and a tail light out" the response was "what's it got to do with you" so I replied "I just thought you would like to know as I wouldn't want you to get a ticket" I was promptly pulled over down the road and was asked if I was a "smart arse" them had my bike turned over from top to bottom (totally legal) and asked to produce my docs, but it pissed them off as I had them all on me and he had to fill more forms in which held them up even more, so I asked for their numbers so I could have a chat to my mate who is their Chief constable, and their attitude soon changed (tossers), so just goes to show 1 rule for us and anything goes for them..........................

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Better to have ridden and crashed, than never to have ridden at all !!!!!

And of course when you 'split' the police & public, they (may), become 'enemies' and the psychology mindset alters perceptions, and the rot sets in ...
There is a large mountain to climb for the Police / Public relationship, and the younger Police officers will also need learn & understand how to 'not treat' the public. Let's just hope that they had had a bad day and you were just the stick that broke their back, (that day) and, that they do not normally behave in this manner, - although, sadly I know of many incidents where the Police have behaved appallingly - v sad. Still lets hope things are going to change - soon and they are not all bad

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.