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How often do you see any traffic cops patrolling?
More than once a month 22%  22%  [ 18 ]
More than once a month 22%  22%  [ 18 ]
About once a month 11%  11%  [ 9 ]
About once a month 11%  11%  [ 9 ]
About once every two months 4%  4%  [ 3 ]
About once every two months 4%  4%  [ 3 ]
Between two and four months 6%  6%  [ 5 ]
Between two and four months 6%  6%  [ 5 ]
Between four and six months 1%  1%  [ 1 ]
Between four and six months 1%  1%  [ 1 ]
Six months to a year 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Six months to a year 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Less than once a year / can't remember / traffic cop, what's one of them? 6%  6%  [ 5 ]
Less than once a year / can't remember / traffic cop, what's one of them? 6%  6%  [ 5 ]
Total votes : 82
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 01:43 
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Name: Officerus trafficus
Synonyms: O. vociferus
Common names: Traffic Cop, Trafplod and similar

Recognition: Seen in the wild in various colourings mostly consisting of quite bright colours, often on a white background. Variations of O. trafficus include brightly coloured lines or chessboard patterns down the sides. Bright yellow torsos can normally be seen when in close proximity. Not to be confused with the sometimes similarly coloured Talivan (O. christdiditgetmii).

Behaviour and habitat: Specialist in catching bad drivers (Thiccus aplankii) and drunks (Thiccus yucanget) for which the Traffic Cop has been valued for many years. Will also take chavs and thieves given the opportunity. Can survive short periods on little more than coffee and donuts, but not for prolonged periods. Tends to roam across often quite large territories, often along main roads but not exclusively so. May also been seen lieing in wait in a quiet spot by the roadside. Sadly now in declining numbers, Traffic Cop is an endangered species in the wild. This is partly because of encroachment on their natural habitat by the aforementioned Talivan and also various types of Scamera (Automatus nuisancus sp.), but also due to the increasing number of Traffic Cops now kept in captivity, usually chained to a desk.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Joking aside I can't recall the last time I saw any - probably a year or so ago. What surprises me is that when I first got on the road there was no shortage, especially this time of year. The last few days the missus and I have realised that we haven't seen any recently, and we've been out and about in the evenings when you'd expect to come across the odd one lurking around certain pubs. But not a soul. I'm interested to know if we're just living in an area they don't come through much or if other people see them so rarely as well.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 15:01 
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Certainly more than once a month.

Daily even.

Errmmm....

Sitting in the motorway services does count as patrolling, right?


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 15:29 
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I must admit I have seen a few, and recently seen a number of tugs in unmarked cars. This has been mainly in Manchester city centre and surrounding roads, I've seen them(in livery) very regurlarly on the M60 as well. However I have seen many fewer in Lancashire, probably only every 3 months at best.

Is Manchester known for having more patrols then other places? There does seem a resonably good level of coverage.


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 15:35 
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Homer wrote:
Sitting in the motorway services does count as patrolling, right?

Depends on donut count :wink: Yeah, anywhere but in the car park of their own nick. Okay, if I used the motorways more I'd probably see 'em more often. But much of my motorway travelling at the moment is 2-3 junctions and back off onto A and B roads. Maybe that's why, but like I said, for whatever reason I haven't seen one on the roads round here for so long I can't remember when it was.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 17:53 
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Live in Cleveland area. Do we have any patrol cars? :?

I only ever see them when we go on holiday.

Haven't seen one in my mirrors for about 4 years!!!!! (Yes, I do use them! :lol: )


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 13:59 
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It very much depends on which route I take to work.

If I take the back roads (B class and unclassified ) I could safely say that I've never seen one..

However if I take the A90 (nice piece of dual carriageway) I may well see them as often as once a month or more frequently even.......

Now the cynic in me might ask .... where might pickings be richer for a speed trap?

a) The tight and twisty B roads where sometimes 60 mph is unobtainable..

or

b) The long , straight, smooth piece of dual carriagewy where IMHO 100 mph would be safely achievable ...

:scratchchin: of course , I'm sure that isn't a consideration .


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PostPosted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:07 
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I've seen one, I've seen one! Actually I saw four over the Christmas long weekend, but only one patrolling (the other three were all at crash sites tidying up the mess and putting up with the rubberneckers, but presumably they were patrolling before the crashes). He was following me on the M3 coming back from the west country yesterday. Ironically I felt he was following me a lot closer than I would choose to follow the vehicle in front, though not quite what you'd call tailgating, and I was again moaning to myself that there's never a traffic cop about to deter these muppets. :oops: Turns out the muppet was a traffic cop - I'm so glad I've grwon out of responding agressively to tailgaters because it was too bloody cold to be stood by the side of the road listening to an In Gear type acid lecture.

Not sure how I feel about being followed that closely though. I think I was being checked out because after a few minutes of being followed closely I saw him back right off. Had it been a gatso or a talivan monitoring me at that point I'd be waiting for a £60 bill to arrive over the next few days, but since the blue lights never put in an appearance I have to assume that they felt my driving was safe enough even at 85ish. You'd think that if it was borderline I'd have been tugged, especially given that I may have had the odd glass or two of Christmas cheer over the last couple of days. I suppose I just didn't look like a p :censored: d driver from where they were sitting. I doubt I was left alone simply because they couldn't be bothered, so that just leaves sensible driving as the reason for not getting pulled over, right?

How do I feel about traffic cops now? Same as before. Yesterday's experience re-affirms my belief that they are by far and away a better option than cameras. The sad thing is that on current form I don't expect to see another one for several months, perhaps even around Christmas 06.

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PostPosted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 20:44 
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sort of saw one last saturday. Unmarked Audi A4 (I think) that had pulled someone on the M20. Word of warning for those who are used to a distinct lack of police on that road.


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:39 
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Journey to work has gradually evolved to being 80% minor roads, so only ever see them parked by Wimborne turning off Blandford bypass (WHY do they sit here? They can't see very far in each direction!), and then only once every six months.


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:55 
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This poll might have been better with additional options for

* about once a week, and
* more than once a week

If you do a lot of motorway miles you will still see traffic cars fairly frequently - but you virtually never see them in urban areas.

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:47 
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johnsher wrote:
sort of saw one last saturday. Unmarked Audi A4 (I think) that had pulled someone on the M20. Word of warning for those who are used to a distinct lack of police on that road.


I know it's particularly sad of me in a totally puerile way but I ALWAYS 'P' myself laughing at anybody who gets a 'tug' from the unmarked cars on D/C's and motorways. Priceless!

From past experience, Tayside / Grampian Police are usually pretty fair unless they're bored and want to make up the numbers for traffic stop figures. And I usually see them about once a week (in some guise).

ps. If/when I get pulled over - it'll be my fault as I probably pushed them into it, whether or not a traffic offence was comitted.....or they just fancied a chat. :lol:


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 13:32 
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My old man did the Mille Miglia in Italy a few decades ago (as navigator), and after going through a particularly twisty section of road was pulled over by an Italian police car.

The policeman was so impressed (in an overexcited Italian way) with what he'd seen he asked the driver to do over it again.... Proper traffic cop!


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 15:55 
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Location: Treacletown ( just north of M6 J3),A MILE OR TWO PAST BEDROCK
Apart from motorways ,the sub group Officerus trafficus in 4 wheeled chariotus seems to have become extinct in these parts, with the other subgroup Officerus trafficus on 2 wheeled chariotus becoming a rare site .

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 15:07 
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I Haven't seen one personally for At least A Couple months now. But they are still around as there was a Major RTC On the local Bypass on Boxing day, then there was more Whitecaps at the scene than you could shake a stick at. :roll:

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 15:33 
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Being as I spend a lot of my time on major roads, I do see a lot of traffic plods, and as a Truck driver, I'm more likely to get pulled, hence the reason I keep my driving sensible.

Hows about that for crime prevention then, something a gatso CAN'T do.

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 22:49 
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i'd say daily, if im on 10 / 8 hour shift i liase with the local traf pol i'll tell him which area im covering and he does his speed checks elswhere,

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 23:42 
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I would say about once every 2-3 days, although it does seem odd that if I see one then I will see three or even four.

This is during the week on my usual 20 mile each way commute on the m4 in South Wales.

Always a much more pleasing sight than the scammer at J36 :D


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 15:16 
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hmm. Had cause to remember this thread this morning. On my way to the in-laws place doing about 90 mph along the m20. I was watching other vehicles but not paying attention to what TYPE of vehicles they were so I didn't notice the rather obvious blue lights until I was next to trafpol who was but obscured by cars creeping past.
f* f* f* f* f* f*. So I complete my overtake, back into L2 and ease off to around 80mph (I figured it best not to be too obvious about it). Now getting very worried as trafpol has decided to follow me. She (yes, she) pulls up alongside and the copper in the left looks at me, shakes his head and mouths "SLOW DOWN". They then pull in front and flick on their LED saying "SPEED LIMIT 70" as they slow down to 60 mph.
I waved a thank you on my way back past and trundled in the last 10 miles at a rather pedestrian indicated 70.


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 12:14 
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johnsher wrote:
... She (yes, she) pulls up alongside and the copper in the left looks at me, shakes his head and mouths "SLOW DOWN". ... I waved a thank you on my way back past and trundled in the last 10 miles at a rather pedestrian indicated 70.

Funny you should mention that... I had exactly the same treatment from a French trafpol between Lille and Dunkirque a couple of nights ago - for exactly the same "transgression"... Wagged finger etc etc. Mind you, they might have faught shy of nicking me for speeding because they'd only got one working headlight on the police car! :-)

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 19:04 
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Dratsabasti wrote:
Being as I spend a lot of my time on major roads, I do see a lot of traffic plods, and as a Truck driver, I'm more likely to get pulled, hence the reason I keep my driving sensible.

Hows about that for crime prevention then, something a gatso CAN'T do.


like pinging the old fart crawling along the middle lane at 50. something that causes a greater danger than the rep in the outside lane doing 80 but which one will the scamera get? :roll:

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