not good practise

[guysh]

I was happily driving home at a sedate pace on Sunday evening just overtaking another car on the dual carridge way probably touching 75mph (this is about 9pm so pitch black) when all of a sudden a car comes powering up behind me a great rate of knots brakes hard about six feet behind me must of been doing 100 plus before hand. As I pull in after overtaking it pulls up along side me, I then realise it''s a marked volvo police car, it then slows again, drops back then pulls along side and finally accerates away at high speed again 100 plus without any blue lights going until it''s about 1/4 of a mile away when he turns on his blues and disappears. Now tell me if I''m wrong put passing other cars at more than 30 mph faster on a vert twisty stretch of road on a dark night is not very resposible without turning on the blues.

[campbell]

As my police sergeant friend once said to me, "we have different rules to play by than you" that dosen't sound very good to me ?

[Nightmare]

sounds to me like they were baiting you... were you driving something nice? if so, well done for not getting pissed off and thinking 'well sod you then' and powering away....only of course to get pulled 5 minutes later nasty trick

[guysh]

I was driving my exige - there should be a law against this sort of thing, without trying to sound too american - can't I make a citzens arrest? Maybe if I'd had a video camera I could have filmed it....

[smeagol]

As far as I am aware the police are bound by the same traffic laws as we. Except with the use of Blue lights. This means if he didn't have his lights on he should be within the speed limit. (the blue lights and siron are the warnings for other drivers after all). Unfortunatly pulling up a Police car might not be the best idea in the world as they can note your number and pass it round friends. A friend of mine has pulled a police car for having faulty lights. The police were actually very grateful. But in your case I think he was trying to bait you, I've had similar experiences of police cars "playing silly devils" to see how you react. You definately did the right thing. I have heard of police drivers being done for dangerous driving when they have hit people doing this "baiting". Its this kind of policing that makes me mad.

[guysh]

just out of curiosity, If followed them with a video camera and recorded the speed - could I then present this in court? or would I end being in trouble for breaking the limit as well?

[john robson]

Irrespective of what driving authority you have, standard or class 1 you are exempt from certain parts of the highway code if it hinders your progress , ie speed limits red lights etc but we can still be done for dangerous driving/due care etc.( we dont's need to get authorisation to speed, but we would have to notify the control room of a persuit and give a commentary) I do not take this exemption as an excuse to get back for a brew niether do most of my colleagues, we do occasionally get cancelled to jobs in which case we slow down and turn off the lights. As a general rule certainly in my force if you need to exceed the limit you use all of the emergency equipment unless a silent approach is required. We are not just 'civies in uniform' there are other powers exclusive to police officers. Yes I am sure there are examples of bad Police officers. But as a general rule 95% of the ones I come across are hard working people doing a good job. A lot is said about low morale in the Police, with some of the comments on this post are you supprised? If you get done for speeding or bad driving learn from you error, don't try and justify it by finding someone else doing the same thing. If you are not happy with a Police officer's conduct, then complain, but don't complain just because you got caught breaking the law. Edited by john robson on Friday 28th September 10:08

[big rumbly]

John, I agree with most of your comments, below, and in the past. I think there are a lot of people on this site who moan for the hell of it, but are not prepared to do anything about it, meaning campaining, its no use complaining to like minded people, you have to join voices like the ABD to get your voice heard. I agree with you that if you get done for dangerous driving, or driving with undue care, then you deserve it. the point is now that, (perhaps you can correct me if I'm wrong, is it percieved or real) the ratio of convictions for speeding against undue care/dangerous driving has widened dramatically, I am sure that most people, this author most definately, would like to see more enforcement against sheer bad driving, as against mechanical speed devices. I think it is the sheer frustration that the vast majority of reasonable drivers have to pay more attention to keeping an eye out for cameras in my humble opinion, than general all round observation. This can't be right, and I re-iterate the only way to go forward on this matter is to make your voice heard. Keep up the good work John, and your likeminded colleagues. Regards Big Rumbly Edited by big rumbly on Monday 1st October 10:35

[guysh]

I aggree as well, and JR your input is interesting and informative - this group probably would not exist without it. An yes I think the problem lies in bad driving more often than not - it goes back to the idea of making the driving test alot harder - but of that would mean less drivers on the road and less revenue for the goverment - hmm, deja vu....