A friendly warning?
Discussion
Travelling along the M8 towards Edinburgh last night following a car in right lane. When it pulls in I was aware of another car directly behind me that wasn't there before as I accelerate to my orignal pace 90mph+.
As I'm overtaking another vehicle I get a quick flash of the blues which explains who my new friend is. Although my heart rate doubles I decided that a knee jerk reaction could be taken as dangerous (with all the traffic on the left behind me and the Cop on my tail) so I completed my overtaking and moved back left and let the car smoothly return to 70mph.
I was expecting the full blue disco to pull me but the Cop car simply cruised by quietly at about 75mph. IIRC I has a quick glance and there was one guy in the car.
The Cop eventually disappears down a slip road.
So, after that long winded explaination, the question is......
Did I get a friendly warning or might I expect further action?
As I'm overtaking another vehicle I get a quick flash of the blues which explains who my new friend is. Although my heart rate doubles I decided that a knee jerk reaction could be taken as dangerous (with all the traffic on the left behind me and the Cop on my tail) so I completed my overtaking and moved back left and let the car smoothly return to 70mph.
I was expecting the full blue disco to pull me but the Cop car simply cruised by quietly at about 75mph. IIRC I has a quick glance and there was one guy in the car.
The Cop eventually disappears down a slip road.
So, after that long winded explaination, the question is......
Did I get a friendly warning or might I expect further action?
) heading for the airport,this may have helped?. After a wag of the finger, they overtook and continued ahead. I got an even more explicit "warning" when on the M25 between 6 and 5 in my Noble.
Police car and police 4x4 pulls out of the services (at the same time that I am going past) but I am only doing about 75. Coast down to 70 - they both come past me about 75-80 (and therefore would have to do 90+ to catch me up), the police car then puts "limit 70" on his rear facing dot matrix display as he comes past me.
Typical double standards - given he was doing over 70 when he passed me - he wasn't even following his own instructions
. Maybe he just wanted to see what the Noble was 
J
Police car and police 4x4 pulls out of the services (at the same time that I am going past) but I am only doing about 75. Coast down to 70 - they both come past me about 75-80 (and therefore would have to do 90+ to catch me up), the police car then puts "limit 70" on his rear facing dot matrix display as he comes past me.
Typical double standards - given he was doing over 70 when he passed me - he wasn't even following his own instructions
. Maybe he just wanted to see what the Noble was J
Scottish Police cannot prosecute unless there are two of them to witness the offence. The fact he was on his own may have contributed to the fact that you were not stopped. Although he was on his own it may not have stopped him stopping you for a chat about your miscreant behaviour 
I think he probably thought the message was received without any further input from him.
I think he probably thought the message was received without any further input from him.
quote:
Typical double standards - given he was doing over 70 when he passed me - he wasn't even following his own instructions
J
how do you think he would have got in front of you to tell you to slow down if he didn't exceed the limit? It isn't a case of double standards at all. It is one of necessity to achieve an objective which is within the framework of the legislation on speeding.
And quite probably he did want to see what you were driving
quote:
Scottish Police cannot prosecute unless there are two of them to witness the offence. The fact he was on his own may have contributed to the fact that you were not stopped. Although he was on his own it may not have stopped him stopping you for a chat about your miscreant behaviour
I think he probably thought the message was received without any further input from him.
Cheers! I was never really sure about this two Officers rule (Scotland only is it?)
I would have accepted the verbal with my usual good attitude because I was in the wrong but it is possible that he thought that pulling me on a busy dual carriageway in the dark could be endangering us both just for a lecture?
>> Edited by VTECDave on Monday 7th October 11:12
quote:
Cheers! I was never really sure about this two Officers rule (Scotland only is it?)
>> Edited by VTECDave on Monday 7th October 11:12
Yes it is true. In Scotland they have to corroborate anything they do see if it is to be used as evidence.
Not so across the border though, a single Police witness is enough.
quote:
It isn't a case of double standards at all. It is one of necessity to achieve an objective which is within the framework of the legislation on speeding.
Sorry - no bad intention meant - just that it's a little bit of irony that he had to speed to tell me what the limit was - when I was well under that limit anyway.
Now - if I had been exceeding the limit when I went past him, I could see the point, but given that an indicated 75 on my speedo is 68 according to my GPS unit, why did he feel that he needed to tell me what the speed limit was, and speed himself in order to do that???
Add that to the fact that by the time he could even judge what my speed was I was doing 70 indicated (about 65 on the GPS) I couldn't understand why he picked me out (well - I can - but it's fun to act the innocent one in a perfectly "normal" car....)
Couple that with all the others that were in front of him doing 80+ and it all seemed a bit wierd that he came right up beside my car, got just in front of it, and then turned the "limit 70" sign on - certainly wasn't for the person behind him - as that was the other police car (or then - maybe he was telling his mate to slow down
) Just an intersting point, rather than a philosophical discussion area
quote:
And quite probably he did want to see what you were driving
Mmm - much more probably the reason - there's probably not many Nobles that go along that stretch...
J
>> Edited by joust on Monday 7th October 12:01
quote:
Now - if I had been exceeding the limit when I went past him, I could see the point, but given that an indicated 75 on my speedo is 68 according to my GPS unit, why did he feel that he needed to tell me what the speed limit was, and speed himself in order to do that???
You answered yourself obviously, but I have just got used to having fingers wagged at me and traffic cops cruising past and giving me friendly warning stares, matrix signs etc.... I gues it's fair play...after all you didn't buy the BNoble to cruise around everywhere slowly, and the Police aint stupid!!
quote:
Jeez, are speedos out by that much?? Better get a GPS then
Legally AFAIK they can be 10% out at 70 - but I'm not sure if they are allowed to be over and under reading, or just overreading?
Still - the Road Angel (see product reviews on this site) is now my "defacto" speedo as it's actually easier to read I find than the main one (my brain obviously likes digits easier than an analogue dial)
J
They can over-read but not under-read... i.e. you're not allowed a speedo that you can use as an excuse. Naturally, given the law, virtually all speedos will be designed to over-read slightly to be on the safe side. So you probably haven't driven at QUITE the speeds you think you've achieved!
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