Not often I see driving on the roads worthy of a creditable mention but....
Just drove down the A1 through North Yorkshire tonight, 9pm-ish so fairly dark, traffic light, me pootling along at about 70/75mph.
Pulled out to overtake a couple of lorries and saw a pair of lights appear behind me going considerably faster. Nowhere for me to pull in, and nowhere for the speedy car to overtake me (2 lanes) and given I was in a Clio auto, not much hope of speeding up go get out of the way either.
Much to my surprise, the car slowed down to what seemed a safe distance, matched my speed and then took off mucho rapido when I pulled over. As it passed I could see it was a Volvo patrol car.
Point is, I was expecting to be tailgated to within a few inches of my life, which seems to be the norm these days for idiots speeding on the motorways if you happen to get in their way.
OK, so if (s)he was in a hurry, maybe the blue fairy lights should have been on, but either way the speed seemed to be handled safely.
Sorry if this is a bit rambling, I never could get to the point quickly (especially in the Clio)
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its good to know that there is at least one good patrol car driver, as you keep hearing about the rubbish ones.
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One driver's good experience with a Volvo patrol car is another's near catastrophe. Saturday morning I'm on the M27 coming back from a few days in France. The m'way northbound is very busy with all types of cars, vans and trucks so I am in the middle lane overtaking at 70mph when I see the flashing blue and white lights coming up in the outside lane (no sirens). Peugeot 306 coming abreast with me obviously didn't and with a Volvo patrol car bearing down on him at around 90mph and apparently not going to stop panicked by trying to drive into the side of my car about level with my driver's door. Lots of heavy braking by me and a slight swerve towards the lorry I am overtaking and we just missed a very nasty pile-up.
So the Peugeot driver was at fault for panicking but surely so was the policeman who was now a few feet behind him as it happened. To all intents and purposes the Volvo appeared as if it was not going to stop in time as it approached which was why I was already lifting before he arrived. I would say both drivers were at fault but would expect Hampshire constabulary to stand firmly by their own.
Of course, there was no evidence further up the motorway of anything to justify this aggressive behaviour.
David
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report the copper, nothing would happen, but if we all started doing it they might get the impression we are upset
cc the compaint letter to your mp and press
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I agree with this sentiment - report the officer - but someone I know did this and spent the next 6 months being stopped every other day for 'routine checks'.
Martin.
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It *is* all agression on the roads these days, I think my praise for the police car stems mainly from the safe, non-agressive progress being made.
It's a shame that these days we have to rely so much on ours cars being safer than their drivers.
Glad you were OK, thanks to good observation and reactions on your and the lorry driver's part. To be fair to the 306 though, I'm not sure I'd like to learn to drive now and face the roads without training.
It's a jungle out there!
Lee
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Sounds like my usual experience with TVR drivers on the M6, one minute you're doing 90 in lane 3 with nothing behind you, then a TVR appears at
a rate of knots, slows down to your speed, with more than adequate
space in front, you pull back in - the TVR disappears into the distance.
Why can't your average BMW/Merc driver do that?
/john
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I think it's because the TVR has nothing to prove - it could pass most things all day long with ease.
The BMW/Merc (& repmobile & sprinter van) drivers seem to have some point of principle to prove by forcing you out of the way.
And why do you get more hassle from the rubbish BMWs? I see more 316s, 518s and compacts driving aggressively than any 328, 540 or 7 series.
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