No. Don't be silly.
Seconded, I worked closely with the police for three months many years ago and the fastest I have ever travelled on the road was an end of shift transit to base in a traffic car. I woudnt buy an ex police car either !
Edited by Old Navy on 24/03/2009 at 10:22
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at the risk of boring you to death, because this was posted before, this is my tale-
1. Empty motorway, summer evening, M602 into Manchester.
2. About to move into middle lane
3. Police volvo estate wooshes past me, making my car rock in its slipstream. I was doing 75 so he (it seemed) put another 75 on that. No lights or siren. If I'd moved an inch further it would have been ***nasty***
4. Later saw him exit onto roundabout, I followed him, and he went in tesco metro to buy sandwiches. I got a very evil look.
5. Telephone response to complaint started off being reassuring in tone, then patronising, and, when I sounded sceptical over the story of a phantom emergency that never was, it got a bit sinister. Or maybe I was paranoid.
So no, they are not subject to the same rules - on paper maybe, but in life, no.
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I sounded sceptical over the story of a phantom emergency that never was it got a bit sinister.
...and on the other hand, i've forgotten how many times i've been cancelled to a call, then done something mundane right afterwards e.g.
-pull in to fill up with fuel,
-stop at the take-away you've been meaning to attend for the last hour, but every time you've got near, something else has happened
- go back to the police station because you desperately need a call of nature...etc, etc
no doubt to the conspiracy theorists, they were all preceded by unnecessary use of blues and twos to get you there
p.s. as posted before, all marked police cars have the following:
...MDT = Mobile Data Terminal. It can easily be used with a minimum of IT skills by managers to 'snail trail' the past 24 hours, on a map, any where in the UK, giving average speed readouts
... IDR = Incident Data Recorder. Like an aircarft black box to some lesser degree. If there's an accident, or incident, it records the previous 30 seconds of usage, displaying all bulbs, emergency equipment and giving a speed on a graph
who in their right mind would sod about with that lot sat in their car?
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Re my post above:
It was before the days of us all being subjected to 24/7 surveillance.
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p.s. as posted before all marked police cars have the following: ...MDT = Mobile Data Terminal. ... IDR = Incident Data Recorder.
WP, is this true country-wide?
What about unmarked cars used for policing?
who in their right mind would sod about with that lot sat in their car?
Quite.
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WP is this true country-wide? What about unmarked cars used for policing?
1, fairly sure it is..certainly the case in London, for MDT and IDR
2, not sure, i think some do have IDR , but not MDT
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1. Empty motorway summer evening M602 into Manchester. 3. Police volvo estate wooshes past me
So it wasn't an empty motorway then....
All car drivers should be taught the "lifesaver" - second look over your shoulder - that bikers get taught....
Edited by b308 on 24/03/2009 at 14:39
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All car drivers should be taught the "lifesaver" - second look over your shoulder - that bikers get taught....
Agreed!
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To be fair to the OP, though, I've done it myself in the past... been tootling along and assumed, incorrectly, that the outer lane was clear and nearly moved out without double checking... its surprising how many people even do it in heavy (but flowing) traffic, the good old blindspot in their door mirror! Driving in Germany makes you very aware of the need to take care, though, especially using that double check to judge the speed of the overtaking vehicle...
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A good reason for not driving or lingering in someones blind spot, car or truck.
Edited by Old Navy on 24/03/2009 at 16:14
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