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.
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
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.