Safe Speed Forums

In my area Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire/south Yorkshire it is common to see police cars travelling in the 1st lane of the M1 at approx 50mph.

Why is this?? should the police not set an example and travel at a reasonable speed for the conditions??
It is also not uncommon to see police vehicles on the other hand without twos and blues travelling at much faster speeds, same question applies.

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Why not put on speed limiters we have the technology only idiots break the speed limit

The answer is very simple.

If they were to travel at the same speed as everybody else, then they would spend all their time looking at the same people.

By travelling at slightly below the average speed, they get the chance to observe numerous road users before coming across schmucks like you (middle lane all the way at 75) who they can then deal with accordingly.

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

A good question at last from you.

Police driving is not about driving or going somewhere it is infact patrolling, this is very different to your driving.

A policeman on patrol is doing many tasks, for example they could be looking for potential hazards on the carriageway, or hard shoulder, they may be running at a slower speed to allow a particular vehicle to catch them that they have had reported on the radios by the CCTV operator.

It is too simple to state that they should be driving at the safe speed.

There is however a downside and this is the morinic people whose confidence in their knowledge of the law is so weak that they can not pass a police car whatever speed it is doing, sometimes leading to grinding queues of traffic behind them, normally though the police car will identify this and after a reasonable amount of laughter time will set off at a fair pace to allow it all to move again.

As for the fast pace without blues and twos, well B&T are about alerting other drivers who need the information they are not the "speeding" devices. Think of it as a "signal" in terms of Roadcraft and the IAM techniques that i am certain you have studied and follow. The instruction is to give signals where they may be of use to other road users. Thus if it is unnecessasry to give the information the police are perfectly correct not to weitch on the blue lights and horns.

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Former Military Police Officer and accident investigator

Maybe it's half day closing at the doughnut shop?

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

I have a beter understanding now, thank-you.

However I would like to point out (my maths been better than my english) that if I travel at 75 mph in the middle lane they will not catch up with me.
Of corse if they are in front I will catch up with them but as pointed out know they are there as all the trafic is slowed down for yards, even the users of this forum dont argue with the TP

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Why not put on speed limiters we have the technology only idiots break the speed limit

No shit!


I have no qualms about overtaking a Trafpol who is sitting at 65 on the motorway, and regularly overtake them at more than 70 (conditions permitting) and have yet to have a tug as a result.

Funnily enough, once the "lemmings" see one person overtake a slow moving Trafpol, then they all slowly but surely follow suit.

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

but there are no TP left if you believe some (unless you live in Ashby)

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now retired

Normal practice. We are not just speed finder generals

You are allowed to overtake us - you know! So long as you keep a safe speed!









Again true. We use on approach to junctions etc or in heavy traffic to warn. If we are approaching crime scene..

Well be honest - if you were robbing a bank or whatever - and heard the whoo- whoos - would you stay put? I think the "sensibler majority" amongst our not very sensible customers would scarper ...

There's method in apparent madness ..

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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.

There’s also the issue of being able to stop well before they pass a stranded vehicle on the hard shoulder such they can make use of their strobes as an advance warning of an obstruction to other motorists.


IIRC, plod can speed without BaTs if they feel that drawing attention to themselves would hinder them in the execution of their duty.

I got caught in a wave of slow, stop-start traffic on the M3 t'other day.

The cause, when I finally got there? A policeman doing 50 in L1.

Rumour round these parts is that years ago a well known pair of plod used to use B&T in the ( rumoured )hope that the numpties would scarper.
Well the scene was deserted any time they arrived.

Nowadays would probably get a commendation for saving the farce money

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

..

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Q. Are you a stupid fascist with limited reading skills or are you just a retard?

The last one I passed, cruise control set at 72 on the GPS decided he didn't like the colour of my jib and followed me quite closely for a few miles. He must eventually have decided I wasn't a threat to national security and left.

Did wonders for the congestion behind him.

OK, typo-boy, let's see how your head works:-

Collisions (that you seem to be infatuated with) are about the dispersal of energy among the involved masses (m) in relation to their relative velocities (v).
How is the momentum (stored potential energy) of a body in motion linked to its kinetic energy (instantaneous stored energy) in a collision scenario?

I'll even give you a clue!

Momentum = mv
Kinetic energy = 1/2mv^2


Go ahead - make my day...

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Aquila



Licat volare si super tergum aquila volat...

pass I presume I cannot ask the audience, te REAL questio though is much simplier, Is everyone stiking to the speed limit safer than some chosing to show of in thier MG's Puma posers ect and the I'M really important and cannot be late brigade etc chosing to ignore the limit.

If we all stick to the limit would the roads not be a safer place.


e+t=y-uix34 is not the answere.

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Why not put on speed limiters we have the technology only idiots break the speed limit

gah.... slightly bizarre m4-m5-m42-m40 route today.... must have seen at least half a dozen of these.. characterised by slowing of traffic..

me spotting hi vis rear end with cries of 'ooooh... it can't be the police surely' .... and it never was .

sunday.. day of rest obviously.

It's not about 'showing off' though, is it? It's about slavish obedience to arbitrary numbers bolted onto posts and the mechanical enforcement of those numbers. One or two mph over the top and you get a NIP. It completely ignores the hopeless drivers that stick to the speed limit, but are dangerous at any speed. On my journey to work each day I will see at least a dozen people using mobiles whilst driving within the speed limit, flagrantly breaking the law. I also see people blocking 'Keep Clear' boxes at junctions, driving without seatbelts and pulling out from the kerb with no signal and no attention to any other traffic passing them. These idiots are not caught with greed scameras, are they? And with so few trafpol to catch and correct them, they just keep on doing it.

I cannot begin to imagine (nor do I want to) what it is like to view the world through your eyes, where there is no passion, only venom and splenetic hatred of anything that contradicts your opinion...

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Aquila



Licat volare si super tergum aquila volat...

If speed were the only variable in safe driving, then I would have to say yes.

However speed is NOT the only variable in the equation, there are numerous variables involved in the job of getting from A to B safely & without incident.

In what I suspect is going to be another vain attempt to bring this to your attention, let me give you this scenario to ponder over....

The road where my youngest sons school is situated is a 30mph zone.
The 30 mph limit is wholly unnapropiate because the road is barely wide enough for 2 cars to pass each other, and there are always parked cars on one side of the road with 2 wheels on the pavement.
Anybody attempting to drive at anywhere near the posted limit on this particular road would not make it to the end in one piece. This wouldn't be because they would crash (although the chances of hitting something or someone at 30 would be incredibly high), but it would be because the parents would have dragged the miscreant out of the offending car & lynched them for their gross stupidity.


Are you starting to understand now?

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

You must have a chip on your shoulder if you consider MGs and Ford Pumas as "show off" cars. Both are great to drive, great handling and have enough power, but neither is a show-off car?????

The fastest of the new MGs does 0-60 in about 7 seconds, with the majoity being closer to 9secs - which is pretty average. The fastest Puma has a little 1.7litre engine and does 0-60 in a shade over 8secs, which is again, nothing special.

Why hold a grudge against these cars? The MGs are comfy and change direction well. The Puma has a fashionable image and changes direction well.

Surely you're not suggesting these owners are showing off their cornering abilities on the motorways??

Perhaps you genuinely don't have a clue about cars or road safety in general, and instead have a chip on your shoulder about anything that doesn't look like it belongs in Postman Pat, or is it anyone with enough power to pass you despite your best efforts to cause a rolling road block?


You can stick to your 1litre engine, sky high CofG and 155mm wide tyres if you want (Just get into L1 where you belong though). Most of us like to have some sort of confidence in our vehicles, however many wheels they have.

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Quite.

Ironic that you think that people here trying to make a point using NUMBERS are missing the point, and yet you think we should drive by numbers.