what a shame
 

i've just read in the lincolnshire echo,that the police are miffed because certain speed camera's can't catch speeding motor bikes.
it seems that the plods truevelo cameras take there photographs with the speeder coming towards it,and because a motor bike doesn't have a front number plate they can't identify the biker to nick him.
you know what i say to all the coppers out there.TOUGH you money grabbing s*ds.
and did anybody see tonight with trevor macdonald last night.it seems this lousy government rake in 95 billion pounds a year from motorists in taxes and fines,and only put one fifth of it back into decent roads for the motorist.no wonder this government want to see more speed camera's out there,its daylight robbery.
and before you say don't speed don't get nicked,how many people have followed a cop car doing 29 mph and noticed the cop car in front leaving them behind, ie the cop car is speeding.yet how many times do you hear of a copper getting fined.
THE LAW LOOKS AFTER ITS OWN always has always will.
you've only got to look at that peadophile judge that got let off lightly today.

Re: what a shame
 

But the police are better trained to deal with fast speeds and using there panda cars also i would hope that they are allowed to go fast

Re: what a shame
 

Anyone that goes abroad knows how much motorists get taken up the arse by the government. In southern Spain, the roads are so glorious, so smooth. And the terrain is very difficult. There are loads of long complex bridges to help keep road level. It looks immaculate. Where I am in FL, there is extensive roadwork. We complain about it, but at least it is happening. There has been more roads created, rerouted and repaired in Florida in the last 2 years, than I ever seen or heard about in England, in all my life. You know you have a raw deal, when you see some of the roads in Baghdad and start wondering how come you don't have roads as good as theirs. And i'm talking with Saddam. Some of them were real nice.

Re: what a shame
 

Yeah, but do the Iraquis have speed cameras?

Do they want some? :D

Re: what a shame
 

How much of the balance is put back into other parts of the transport infrastructure, I think the road revenue needs to be looked at as part of the wider transport infrastructure, thats part of living in a democracy.

Panda car drivers and cars are not designed for high speed pursuit, the only need to pass a very basic police drivers test. Police should only be breaking the speed limit if it is absolutely necessary for the safety of whoever they are trying to get to. Unlike ambulances and heart attack victims, excessive speed in a police car usually results in more lives lost or people maimed (ask Mrs McCartney).

Re: what a shame
 

sorry damien,but unless the coppers are on an emergency they are supposed to obey the law just like us mere mortals are.
andy 1
ps if you are the same damien who gave me six lottery numbers last week,sorry only two came out.

Re: what a shame
 

LOL, Dont worry I use those numbers too so i found that out :D

Back on topic, I think the police do do a good job so i usually stick up for them

Re: what a shame
 

Not quite, police may only drive outside the road traffic regulations if their duty requires it, and they have a police driving grade that allows it. Most police vehicles, unless they are using blue lights, should thus normally be driving at no more than the speed limit.

Of course how many flying pigs did I just see :D

Re: what a shame
 

on the tonight program last night they interviewed the chief constable of durham police force.he won't allow any speed camera's in his area,because he says they don't really work.they only cut down accidents where there sited not anywhere else.he prefers the traffic cars.
yet the chief constable of the neighboring county loves speed camera's and loves to catch speeding motorists with a zeal.
even the chief constable who first introduced them to england now says they have been turned into revenue collectors.

Re: what a shame
 

Ah. You've forgotten s1985 paragraph (f) of the Road Traffic Act - "Police may drive at any speed, regardless of road and traffic conditions and the prevailing speed limit, if the chip shop is due to close in half an hour"

:p:

Re: what a shame
 

nice one greencreeper

Re: what a shame
 

To be honest, unless they're using blues and twos, I can't recall being behind a police car that was blatantly speeding. What I have noticed, because you do when a police car is in the vicinity, is that everybody starts obeying the speed limit. Unfortunately, it's a rather expensive way of enforcing it.

Re: what a shame
 

Speed doesn't necessarily kill - it's the inappropriate use of speed that kills. So doing 50 mph in a populated area or, worse still, near a school is madness, but if the speed limit is 40 mph and the area is deserted and the road and traffic conditions favourable, then how is 50 or 60 mph bad?

Re: what a shame
 

correct theodoric everybody starts obeying the speed limit except plod in his police car.more than once i've followed a police car, me doing 30mph and the copper has gradually got further away in front of me.so he must have broken the speed limit or our distances would have remained the same.

Re: what a shame
 

Not necessarily. IIRC, the allowed tolerances on a speedo are -0 +10%, that is the speedo must not give too low a reading but can read up to 10% high. Assuming that a police car has a more accurate speedo and you are at at the top of the tolerance range, then you could think that you are travelling at 30mph, whereas you are actually travelling at about 27mph. The police car could therefore be travelling at an actual speed of 30mph, yet still pulling away from you. Furthermore, there is the widely reported claim (authoritative source, anyone?) that the police allow you to exceed the speed limit by 10% + 2 mph, ie 35mph for a 30 mph limit, so they could, within the rules of the game, be travelling at 35mph whereas you, keeping strictly to the speedo value might only be doing 27mph. So, the police could be travelling at 8mph faster than you, still be more or less within the law, yet be noticeably moving away from you. With higher speed limits the difference in speeds could be even greater.

Re: what a shame
 

I think it is fairly well known that the police (and in general the legal system) are commited to generate as much revenue as possible from the motorist. Not for the auspices of road safety but simply to swell the governments coffers. :rolleyes:

Recently I was caught in a long traffic queue. There is a shortcut through a housing estate which cuts out the traffic lights. There are small signs on the entrance to this estate advising "Access only". The coppers were booking everyone who wasn't visiting an address on the estate @ £30 a shot !! :mad:

They must have made a small fortune that day. They had even 'imported' the policemen from a neighbouring force ! :shrug:

I remember the days when just a warning would have been given. :(

Re: what a shame
 

on the fixed gatso speed traps with rear facing cameras that can photo bike plates the trick is to go thro them faster than the shutter speed of the speed camera and all it takes is a piccy of an empty road (or some poor sod not speeding but unlucky enough to be in the other lane)
apparently a speed of about 126.5mph should just about do it....or so ive heard

Re: what a shame
 

I remember a friend of mine was booked for speeding 42mph in a 40 zone. When the case came to court the judge told the police officer to wise up, and stop wasting the courts time. Case dismissed. Then again the Traffic Branch officer was known for being a real Hitler on that one stretch of road.

Re: what a shame
 

They tried this on Top Gear last year,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/prog1/speedcam.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/prog1/speedcam2.shtml

RESULTS:

Run 1 - Civic Type-R - 129mph - FLASH
Run 2 - Merc CL55 - 148mph - FLASH
Run 3 - TVR Tuscan S - 171+mph...
...no flash. Yes at 171mph you'll beat the camera - but please take our word for it.

So as long as the camera flashes, you will be captured on the film, you really cannot travel over that much road in 1/60 of a second. If you go fast enough the radar does not even see you!

Did you see it last night, testing sideways stability of cars in 38,000 of 747 takeoff thrust. The 2CV looked like a scene from Twister.

Re: what a shame
 

I missed Top Gear last night ....does anyone know if it's repeated during the week, maybe on one of those weirdo bbc 3 or 4 channels that I've heard about but never actually watched..?

Re: what a shame
 

not that *i* know of, but if you give it a few days and have broadband, it usually finds its way to the torrent network...

it wasn't actually that good last night anyway, apart form the end bit with the 747 and 2CV ;)