Somewhere on here in the dim distant past I went on record as have never seeing a marked traffic car on the M40 despite regularly using this motorway. Unmarked cars yes, but no marked cars.
Well, I now take this back, I have been up and down between Banbury and up north via the M40 several times in the past fortnight, and am pleased to say that on every single occasion I have seen at least one, sometime 2-3 marked traffic cars usually on the hard shoulder having a talk to a car driver that has recently passed me using excessive speed. (No I wasnt staying exactly to 70mph either).
Nice to see some visible policing. Unmarked car was there as well!
StarGazer
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M40? Banbury? wasnt a filthy Toyota Landbruiser pulled over was it?
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No, mostly small cars with baked bin tin exhausts or mercs with blacked out windows most of which had been tailgating ferociously before proceeding in the outside lane at speeds well exceeding 80mph.
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It was you and I who differed, if I recall. I do it almost every day and its rare that I don't see at least one marked vehicle and fairly frequently that blasted plain Omega. Those two together with a couple of Freelanders with cameras do a pretty thorough job.
There's also a plain Renault, the one with the wedgy bum and a couple of others as well.
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No FM2R, you recall correctly, I drive up every couple of weeks usually, but more frequently during the school holidays. Increased presence particularly on saturdays is very noticable.
Also saw a plain V70 T5...two occupants with light shirts and shoulder tabs. Wondered why the traffic built up behind it at 67mph.
StarGazer
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> Also saw a plain V70 T5...two occupants with light shirts and shoulder tabs. Wondered why the traffic built up behind it at 67mph.
M2 coming back from Dover
Late last Saturday night
Dark burgundy Volvo V70
Speed exactly 68 mph
Driver wearing light coloured shirt with dark patches on the shoulders
Front Seat passenger also in light clothing
Visible mesh grille behind front seats and soft blue glow from non standard paraphenalia on the dash board
I can only imagine that all this made me look like Plod, which would explain why when the Boy Racer Fiesta tanked up in the outside lane, the passenger looked horrified as they drew alongside, the driver frantically shedding speed like a cloak. They then tucked in behind and followed meekly for the next ten miles or so until I turned off the motorway!
The mesh grille was because we had it extended for safety with seats folded flat and loaded just below window height with luggage. The soft blue glow was the GPS in night mode (hence knowing my exact speed).
The only reason I was sat at 68 MPH is because the boost control solenoid of my BSR tuned 2.4T was playing up and 68 MPH gave none of the boost fluctuation surging that other constant throttle speeds did. Out of interest, this is the first fault since the car was new in March 2003. It is apparenently a common failure even in standard tune with Volvo five cylinder petrol turbos (all models), and cost to fix was just £37.40. They 'fail safe' - so no engine damage - but it did strike me as more than coincidental that it should fail when I was in the Czech Republic having cruised through Germany in the 120 mph ballpark (okay, CRAWLED round Munich!) and peaked at 159MPH (GPS speed with a little more to come) out of curiosity.
The drive home from Dover though really put in to contrast how one country can give an advisory limit but allow drivers to accept responsiblity for exceeding it, whilst another can demonise it.
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Don't mention Renaults and bums. I have a SERIOUS thing about that girl in the pink shorts shaking her rear, nurse the screens...
Anyway back to the plot. I have been using the M40 between the M25 and A43 regularly now for about 3 years and thinking about it I have never seen a marked police car on that stretch.
Slightly worried by the tales of unmarked cars as I usually tank it along what is usually a pretty clear road.
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Coming back from Banbury to M25 at 11pm every other sunday night, 80% of the traffic are doing in excess of 90mph, so a marked police presence would probably be a good thing.
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Fortunately Her Majesty's finest are sensible enough to rarely pull you over for doing 80 or so, even though they can. They tend to be on the lookout for more blatant speeding and other forms of dangerous driving.
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>rarely pull you over for doing 80 or so
Agreed, upon meeting the 67mph traffic block with attendant queue behind I simply passed at 75mph quietly mentioning to my wife about the cause of the queue. Unfortunately not quite quietly enough as my five year old heard and proceeded to wave to 'the nice policemen'!
All the instances I witnessed were very much in excess of 90mph
StarGazer
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Never seen the wedgy bum Reynought but at 7:00am tomorrow morning I shall be northbound there in my svelt stylish continental cruiser.
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You've bought a 5 series?
Why wasn't I told?
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Adam
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Thats funny, I dont see any mention Of Panzer Tank in my post?
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I give up then. What is it?
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Adam
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