Motorway patrols
Discussion
Why do Police insist on patrolling the motorways at 69 mph ?
It causes a massive pile up of traffic behind them, as nobody can pass without breaking the speed limit.
Do they never wonder why they cannot see a car for miles in front of them, but have a mirror full of cars ?
Surely it would be more sensible to patrol at 55 mph ish, to allow traffic to slip by and keep the traffic flow running more smoothly.
It causes a massive pile up of traffic behind them, as nobody can pass without breaking the speed limit.
Do they never wonder why they cannot see a car for miles in front of them, but have a mirror full of cars ?
Surely it would be more sensible to patrol at 55 mph ish, to allow traffic to slip by and keep the traffic flow running more smoothly.
But even by patrolling at 55 mph the Police are showing a presence, and everyone in the vicinity will be on their best behaviour.
It will have the same result but without causing the massive back up in traffic.
Surely safety and smooth traffic flow is more important than a couple of mph here or there.
I wonder if forces have an actual official policy on how to patrol.
It will have the same result but without causing the massive back up in traffic.
Surely safety and smooth traffic flow is more important than a couple of mph here or there.
I wonder if forces have an actual official policy on how to patrol.
55 mph is slower than HGV's are limited to. Does that seem sensible to you? Especially given your reason for 69 being no good. There is no official policy (at least in my force) but it is rare that we will run down the motorway at 70. We recognise that people don't pass but you'll get people slowing even if we were at 55.
Cruising at 55 is clever.
It's slow enough that everyone recognises they can pass and get on with it.
Also: it's more visible policing. Cruise at 70 and only about 20 people see the presence -- the 20 stuck immediately behind. Cruise slower --- or -- to an extreme: sit in a van at the side of the road and nearly everyone knows that there's a traffic presence.
It's slow enough that everyone recognises they can pass and get on with it.
Also: it's more visible policing. Cruise at 70 and only about 20 people see the presence -- the 20 stuck immediately behind. Cruise slower --- or -- to an extreme: sit in a van at the side of the road and nearly everyone knows that there's a traffic presence.
7db said:
Cruising at 55 is clever.
It's slow enough that everyone recognises they can pass and get on with it.
Also: it's more visible policing. Cruise at 70 and only about 20 people see the presence -- the 20 stuck immediately behind. Cruise slower --- or -- to an extreme: sit in a van at the side of the road and nearly everyone knows that there's a traffic presence.
Aside from the HGV point, it's not clever because not everybody would recongise as much. Even on here there are people who don't know what the NSL sign means or what the speed limit is on a Dual-Carriageway. Even what constitutes a dual carriageway. Imagine how many people there are who don't routinely visit motoring websites who neither know nor care enough to find out. A Police car could cruise at 40mph on the motorway and there'd be a significant number of people who'd refuse to overtake. Quite often the "presence" results in all lanes doing exactly the same speed and nobody overtaking anything. It's slow enough that everyone recognises they can pass and get on with it.
Also: it's more visible policing. Cruise at 70 and only about 20 people see the presence -- the 20 stuck immediately behind. Cruise slower --- or -- to an extreme: sit in a van at the side of the road and nearly everyone knows that there's a traffic presence.
It's not OB's fault that people are morons, to be fair.
Cheers, Jim
Coming out of the Lake District down towards the M6 on the A590 I was in a line of traffic behind a police car. We came to a little bit of dual carriageway and a couple of young guys in a Peugeot hammered past be before seeing the police car and squeezing between me and the car in front. When we got to the proper stretch of dual carriageway the police officer only accelerated up to 55mph. No one who was behind dared pass him so I just passed the lot, including the guys who'd passed me. Most would have probably set off like nuts if it hadn't been for the police car but because they didn't have a clue what the speed limit was they didn't dare pass it.
On the other hand, I find most police officers cruise on the motorway at around 80mph so they aren't holding up the traffic flow and anyone who tries to pass them is definitely taking the mickey.
On the other hand, I find most police officers cruise on the motorway at around 80mph so they aren't holding up the traffic flow and anyone who tries to pass them is definitely taking the mickey.
SBQuattro said:
Why do Police insist on patrolling the motorways at 69 mph ?
It causes a massive pile up of traffic behind them, as nobody can pass without breaking the speed limit.
Do they never wonder why they cannot see a car for miles in front of them, but have a mirror full of cars ?
Surely it would be more sensible to patrol at 55 mph ish, to allow traffic to slip by and keep the traffic flow running more smoothly.
I usn ally cruise past them a tad over 70, no problems so far. A lot of people are so paranoid at passing a police car.It causes a massive pile up of traffic behind them, as nobody can pass without breaking the speed limit.
Do they never wonder why they cannot see a car for miles in front of them, but have a mirror full of cars ?
Surely it would be more sensible to patrol at 55 mph ish, to allow traffic to slip by and keep the traffic flow running more smoothly.
Happy days in my book - I couldn't care less WHAT speed a Bib is doing on a motorway, it's just nice to actually see a bloody patrol these days...almost a luxury even!
I would rather share the roads with ten million patrol cars doing 69 mph than with the shocking numpties and idiots we have to these days...texting, not paying attention, driving too close to the car in front, sitting in lane 2, changing lanes without looking or indicating...etc...etc...
I would rather share the roads with ten million patrol cars doing 69 mph than with the shocking numpties and idiots we have to these days...texting, not paying attention, driving too close to the car in front, sitting in lane 2, changing lanes without looking or indicating...etc...etc...
Vipers said:
I usn ally cruise past them a tad over 70, no problems so far. A lot of people are so paranoid at passing a police car.
I recall someone on here saying he got pulled over for that by a police officer who said he was basically taking the mickey passing a marked police car travelling at the posted speed limit. You'll get away with it if the police car is unmarked but you'll be lucky with a marked one. Theoretically you should be allowed a 10% grace over the limit to allow for variations in accuracy between speedometers. Blakewater said:
Vipers said:
I usn ally cruise past them a tad over 70, no problems so far. A lot of people are so paranoid at passing a police car.
I recall someone on here saying he got pulled over for that by a police officer who said he was basically taking the mickey passing a marked police car travelling at the posted speed limit. You'll get away with it if the police car is unmarked but you'll be lucky with a marked one. Theoretically you should be allowed a 10% grace over the limit to allow for variations in accuracy between speedometers. 
hole, maybe he had a bad day. No doubt the guy who got pulled wasn't charged with anything, as he didn't do anything wrong.SBQuattro said:
Why do Police insist on patrolling the motorways at 69 mph ?
It causes a massive pile up of traffic behind them, as nobody can pass without breaking the speed limit.
Do they never wonder why they cannot see a car for miles in front of them, but have a mirror full of cars ?
Surely it would be more sensible to patrol at 55 mph ish, to allow traffic to slip by and keep the traffic flow running more smoothly.
Ive overtaken many said patrol cars at a hovering 80mph with no problemIt causes a massive pile up of traffic behind them, as nobody can pass without breaking the speed limit.
Do they never wonder why they cannot see a car for miles in front of them, but have a mirror full of cars ?
Surely it would be more sensible to patrol at 55 mph ish, to allow traffic to slip by and keep the traffic flow running more smoothly.
Gassing Station | Advanced Driving | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff