Catch the speeders but ignore the rest

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Tue 27 Jun 2006 20:55
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - BobbyG
This is merely an observation rather than a discussion point , as it has been discussed to death before.

However, coming out of Coatbridge today, on the stretch of 30mph dual carriageway that is renowned for mobile speed trap, all the cars were crawling along at 29mph prompted by the flashes of headlights from the opposing cars.

Now as I approach the fluorescent copper with the hand held gun (noticed they have a red LED that lights up when in use), I realised that around me, without a a word of a lie, there were:

3 drivers not wearing seatbelts
2 cars with kids not strapped in to any seats
1 car with front foglights on (7.30pm, broad daylight)
1 guy on his phone, though he did put it down to below the steering wheel while he passed.
and 2 cars with illegal number plate font.

When I got to the roundabout at the end of the road, 3 cars had defective brakelights as well.

Not a single one of them got stopped by the police..
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Tue 27 Jun 2006 21:13
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - Hamsafar
The government has announced a new 'Respect Squad' to deal with these issues.
www.itv.com/news/index_d04a28b18867a55b2cc8e2d26dc...l
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Tue 27 Jun 2006 21:56
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - autumnboy
The government has announced a new 'Respect Squad' to deal with
these issues.
www.itv.com/news/index_d04a28b18867a55b2cc8e2d26dc...l


Whats this got to do with Motoring offences as mentioned above ????????????
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Tue 27 Jun 2006 22:54
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - eProf
The government has announced a new 'Respect Squad' to deal with
these issues.


All ten of them! Whoopee! Now we can all feel safe again!
--
e Prof
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Tue 27 Jun 2006 21:59
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - Ben79
>
Not a single one of them got stopped by the police..



Points mean prizes!
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Tue 27 Jun 2006 23:28
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - tack
3 drivers not wearing seatbelts
2 cars with kids not strapped in to any seats
1 car with front foglights on (7.30pm, broad daylight)
1 guy on his phone, though he did put it down to below the steering wheel while he passed.
and 2 cars with illegal number plate font.

....and one bloke watching everyone else, but not where he was driving?

(sorry couldn't resist!)
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Tue 27 Jun 2006 23:39
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - Nsar
Obviously he barked orders to his passengers to conduct an immediate and thorough scan of nearby cars for potential offences. Quite a haul for say a 200m stretch of road - sounds like plod was in the the right place at the right time.
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Tue 27 Jun 2006 23:51
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - Lud
While plod lounged yawning and gobbling pies in his cruiser waiting for a really sexy miscreant. Blown bulbs indeed! Rampaging nippers indeed! Tchah! Pfui!
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Tue 27 Jun 2006 23:57
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - Aprilia
This is merely an observation rather than a discussion point ,
as it has been discussed to death before.


That's terrific observation! You'd make a good copper...
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 00:10
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - cheddar
As I have said before a qualified, insured, sober, careful driver driving a new, safe, taxed, well maintained car can get doing for doing 36 in a 30 when there are no other cars on the road and not a pedestrian in sight. However someone who has no licence, is uninsured, drunk, drugged up driving an untaxed, MOT failure with defective brakes, bald tyres and no seat belt can get away with doing 34 because he slowed slightly while making a phone call and eating a sandwich even though he was doing 110 in a 40 less than two mins before hand.

Speed cameras are 1/500 sec snapshots in time and are thus an extremely inefficient targetting of resources, inefficient in catching offenders that is, the are quite efficient at making money though that is another story.
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 00:11
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - Nsar
Yes, I agree but this camera had a copper attached to it.
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 00:16
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - cheddar
Yes, I agree but this camera had a copper attached to
it.


So the copper either investigates untaxed vehicles, breathalises (spellin') outside pubs etc and costs the treasury a fortune or stands at the side of the road nicking the (virtually) innocent and makes a healthy profit.
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 00:26
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - BobbyG
This particular "trap" had the officers on foot - their traffic car was parked in an adjacent street that didn't actually have any access to the main road. Copper is standing on the road side of a layby in his hi-vis pointing the gun. His partner is standing next to him. Traffic is all crawling towards him at 29mph. He could very easily have realised that no one is speeding and changed tact to see if any other laws were being broken.

With hindsight, I am now wondering if he was training his partner on the use of the gun, thats why he didn't take notice of all the other offences?
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 00:44
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - Fullchat
Or the local vocal " Something wants doing about all those speeding cars" brigade where being appeased. Particularly Councillor xxxxxx who is well known for his constant barage of complaints from his local constituants.

"Well we attended on X,Y and Z dates at A,B,and C times and despite your protestations we actually caught err zero speeders. So really you havent got a problem. Now will you let us go and get on with some real Police work?"

Remember there are a number of people pulling the Police's strings.
--
Fullchat
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 00:21
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - Lud
However
someone who has no licence, is uninsured, drunk, drugged up driving
an untaxed, MOT failure with defective brakes, bald tyres and no
seat belt can get away with doing 34 because he slowed
slightly while making a phone call and eating a sandwich even
though he was doing 110 in a 40 less than two
mins before hand.


Sounds like a fairly effective chavmobile I must say. Must have been really something when it was new.
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 09:03
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - L'escargot
1 car with front foglights on (7.30pm, broad daylight)


Cool !
--
L\'escargot.
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 10:25
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - daveyjp
We were in York at the weekend waiting to cross the road. A Ferrari was approaching going particularly slowly and holding up traffic. We crossed and the Ferrari eventually passed us - the driver was of course on the phone and looking for somewhere. Coming the other way was a police car, policeman clocked the guy in the Ferrari on the phone and you could see he was desperate to stop him, but they were going in opposite directions and the police car couldn't turn round, so he was the one who got away. Pity the policeman didn't hang around as the Ferrari went right round the next rounadabout and came back down the road, still on the phone.
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 15:00
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - Group B
A Ferrari was approaching going particularly slowly and holding
up traffic. We crossed and the Ferrari eventually passed us
- the driver was of course on the phone and looking
for somewhere.


That winds me up. People in expensive flash cars who would have no difficulty getting a full phone car kit installed, but think its okay to jabber away with the phone held to their ear. I've got a bluetooth mobile (free upgrade from Orange), a bluetooth hands-free headset (£25 new off eBay but you can get them cheaper, or free with some phones), so for very little outlay I can use my phone legally in the car.
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 15:25
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - Lud
People in expensive flash cars
who would have no difficulty getting a full phone car kit
installed


Slight topic drift here, but can we deal with this question of 'flash' or 'flashy' cars?

I was brought up to think that expensive cars weren't necessarily or even often flashy. Flashy meant something pretending to be more than it was.

Anti-car people in general - of course I don't mean you R9-3 - think anything other than a bread-and-butter saloon is 'flash'. I suppose there have been flash Ferraris but I don't think of Ferraris as flash. I would say a Chrysler Crossfire is flash.
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 17:10
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - Group B
Slight topic drift here, but can we deal with this question
of 'flash' or 'flashy' cars?


Sorry Lud I take your point and have misused the word flash, in relation to expensive cars. Its a description I rarely use and posted it without re-checking what I had typed. What was going through my mind was an expensive car, not necessarily flash, but with a driver who could be described as a flash so-and-so (without wishing to trigger the swear filter).
I certainly wouldn't describe a Ferrari as flash; but picture a top model BMW X5 with blacked out windows, 22 inch chrome wheels, and additional chrome rubbish stuck all over it...

Cheers,

Rich.


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Wed 28 Jun 2006 10:33
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - No FM2R
This morning on the M40, no sun showing, but light and dry., around 9:00am -

A Polo GTI with headlights on dip, fog lights on and the driver wearing sunglasses.

Words fail me. On what planet is this cool ?
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 11:45
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - Falkirk Bairn
>Catch the speeders - ignore the rest

Some of the Money from Speeding, Gatsos, Camera Partnerships (I stand to be corrected) goes to the Police

Money from fines for driving without seatbelts, defective lights goes to the courts after lots of Police Paperwork and possibly a need for the PC to appear in court.

This might explain a lot of the reasons for concentrating on a speed trap.
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 11:48
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - Sofa Spud
They should be catching the speeders AND catching the rest.
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Wed 28 Jun 2006 17:55
Catch the speeders but ignore the rest - madf
A policeman with a speed camera is MEASURED by the number of speeding motorists caught.
He is not measured by the number of other criminals caught even if they are breaking numerous laws.

If you don't measure it, we don't control it is the police motto.

Blame the politicians....who control the police. We taxpayers do not. The Police Authority is of course unlected.

Rant over....

Seriously I was stopped in 1993 with a defective rear light (cracked lens) by a policeman looking out for such incidents at a well nown local problem spot. Never see any police there now as our "local" police are no longer local.

Lorry drivers on phone when driving. 50mph in 30mph zone when passing a car over a zebra crossing with a pedestrian on it?
Police not interested.. Not measured..

The law on mobile phones has been passed making car use when phoning illegal. Enforcement? Whatsthat?

Perhaps fewer laws and enforcement of key existing ones would be a good idea..

(But no we're going to reform the Justice System - again..:-(


madf
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