A wee legal query

[Holloway]

Hi Guys,

I have been told if you are caught speeding, the police have to be on the same road as you, and that it is illegal to use a trap, on a bridge, where they use a speed gun.

I personally think this is untrue.

Any thoughts??

Holloway

[Dot]

I found this which shows vans parked on bridges.

http://www.speedcam.co.uk/van2.htm

[Holloway]

I found this which shows vans parked on bridges.

http://www.speedcam.co.uk/van2.htm

Jings some sneaky bastards in there, is it any wonder traffic cops have such a poor reputation.

[Dave]

is it any wonder traffic cops have such a poor reputation.

Do they, what for?

[Josef]

For attempting to catch people engaged in commiting a potentially fatal crime, obviously. It's just not on.

And even if they do happen to wipe out the odd mother and child crossing the road, the maximum penalty they should be expected to face is a couple of hundred quid fine, because, you know, the memory of it will haunt them all their days, and stuff like that.

[Dave]

Ah, that stuff ey

Damn them for wanting to provide for their families and upholding the law.

[BrigitDoon]

I managed M5 Taunton to Bridgwater in 4.5 minutes one time. 9 miles. Not bad. 120mph average.

Blew the head gasket and serve me right. Expensive, but no driving ban. Never tried it again.

A generation later, a couple of lads didn't heed my advice and went racing. They met my best mate coming the other way and killed him. We packed the largest church in Somerset to send our man into the beyond and filled two pubs to overflowing for the wake.

Yes, sneaky buggers, these boys on the bridge, spoiling our fun.

Get to a day out at Castle Combe, Brands Hatch or wherever.

Motor racing on the highway is dangerous, tragic, and of course, illegal.

[banjo]

aye thats right the speed cops are aw sneaky bastards,until one of your own gets killed and your the first person demanding to know where the polis were.

[TeeHeeHee]

Dec.1996 I was heading for Glasgow airport to start on a 4 year repair contract with British Airways. I was two days under way having set out from the Swiss border and was approaching the Scottish border on the M6. I was doing a comfortable180KpH. My brand new winter tyres, fitted the day before leaving, had a max.speed of 190 and I was purposely keeping under the max. I had a wee sticker placed so I could see it near my speedo.
The Motorway was empty, the afternoon was sunny and dry. I saw the patrol car on his wee raised layby as I passed and looked at my speedometer..180..no prob.
Then he came down onto the motorway and followed me with lights blinking and again I looked at my speedo and thought....SHIT !!...England.
I'm on the "inside" lane and taking it for the "outside" as if I was in Germany because I was the only car for miles and hadn't thought any more about it really. So I pull over.
Had that been Germany, the first thing the officer would have asked to see would be the car papers. Had I been travelling on tyres which were not allowed on the car papers then I would be in trouble. If my Brakes were not those which should be fitted then ditto. The officer would have seen that my car was ok to be safely driven at the recorded speed and had the appropriate winter tyres for such speed fitted. He would have sent me on my way.
But I'm in England ( 10 minutes from the border, which told me he was waiting for unwary Jocks anyway.)
He tells me I have to leave my car where it is and accompany him to a court in Carlyle .I told him I can follow him or drive in front of him whatever, but I'm not leaving my car on the fuckin' M6.
I did. A lovely anthracite coloured Mercedes 190i 2,3 litre with lowered suspension and BRAND NEW tyres which I thought I'd never see again.
I'd spent the previous night with my daughter and her man at their house in Lincolnshire and on leaving that morning her man gave me a nice wee box of grass which I had no chance to ditch and so I went with the copper to court in Carlyle and in ten minutes I'm stood before the judge.
I plead guilty and explained that I wasn't purposely breaking the speed limit to my mind although I was purposely driving at 180KmH etc.. A momentary lack of attention which in all honesty it was.
The Judge promised me that if I had been driving on a British Licence and not the German one that I had , I would have been sitting in a cell for the next 14 to 28 days. As it was I got a fine of 270 pounds. I told the Clerk of The Court I was glad to have fitted my winter tyres. He asked why, I told him with my summer tyres the officer would have clocked me at 240KmH, because their permitted max. is 270.
When I got back to the M6 and not a half hour since I'd been stopped , my car was exactly as I had left it. So I drove on to Scotland thinking I'd just had a day dream.
Of course the grass was greener on the other side.
Funny thing. I stayed over night with a sister in Cambuslang and called my girlfriend in Germany; let her know I'm in Glasgow and she asked me if I would come home ! !
The next morning I called in to the hangar explained I couldn't start then drove to my other sister near the airport who had prepared a room for my stay in Glasgow then I drove all the way back again.
4 days drive, 270 nicker out the window and 6points because people are scared to use a motorway for that for which it is built !!
A hundred an twenty kilometers an hour ? what are you driving over on your motorways, three wheelers, or what ?

[cell]

What speed does the sticker that is stuck to your brain indicate that it is capable of thinking at? Oooops you don't have one, perhaps that explains why we have mandatory speed limits in this country. If we did have stickers, I guess yours would be 30mph because if you can't remember what country you're in, what chance have you with dealing with some deer on the M74.

I wish someone had pinched your car, because that what the punishment should be for excessive speeding.

[Excalibur]

Hi Guys,

I have been told if you are caught speeding, the police have to be on the same road as you, and that it is illegal to use a trap, on a bridge, where they use a speed gun.

I personally think this is untrue.

Any thoughts??

Holloway

If you are talking about speed guns, then no, they don't.

However they can also monitor your speed by following you using their VASCAR system (essentially measures your speed by your distance/time), and would really have to be on the same road. Maybe that's where the confusion arises.

[Holloway]

Just to clarify guys, and those of you who have lost loved ones, my deepest sympathies go out to you.

I was on a motorway, an empty one at that, so no chance of anyone walking across the road in front of me, if they did, then it's their fault.

The road was clear with high visibilty, and it was a long stretch of motorway, no cars to be seen.

It was an honest question and not a speed freak one. This was the first time I have ever been pulled over by any cop in over twenty years of driving.

To get back to my original question, were the police's actions legal?

Hi Guys,

I have been told if you are caught speeding, the police have to be on the same road as you, and that it is illegal to use a trap, on a bridge, where they use a speed gun.

I personally think this is untrue.

Any thoughts??

Holloway

If you are talking about speed guns, then no, they don't.

However they can also monitor your speed by following you using their VASCAR system (essentially measures your speed by your distance/time), and would really have to be on the same road. Maybe that's where the confusion arises.

[Roxburgh]

For Teeheehee ... can't be bothered quoting ....

Just curious ... what speed do you do when in Switzerland? Do you stick to the 120K? What speeds do you do when on the restricted parts of the Autobahn? Or do speed limits not apply to you?

There are good arguments for variable speed limits depending on the type of road, its condition and volume of traffic. There is also an argument that the 70mph limit, which was introduced as a response to the 1970s oil crises, is unsuited to modern cars. But, most British motorways have too much traffic for a high speed limit.

[Alycidon]

.......There is also an argument that the 70mph limit, which was introduced as a response to the 1970s oil crises, is unsuited to modern cars. But, most British motorways have too much traffic for a high speed limit.

Not strictly accurate there Roxburgh. The speed limit for cars in from 1903 until 1930 was a whopping 20mph, but in 1930 speed limits for cars and motorcycles were abolished. In 1934 a general 30mph speed limit was imposed on roads in built up areas (effectively roads with street lighting) which remains to this day, but other roads had no speed limits at all until 1965 when the national upper limit of 70mph was introduced for all roads, including motorways. During the oil crisis of 1973 there was briefly a limit of 50 mph on single carriageways and 60mph on dual carraigeways, the abolition of these limits was done very quietly I remember but since 1977 the speed limit for cars and motorcycles on dual carriageways has been 70mph, with a 60mph speed limit on single carriageways.

[Roxburgh]

.......There is also an argument that the 70mph limit, which was introduced as a response to the 1970s oil crises, is unsuited to modern cars. But, most British motorways have too much traffic for a high speed limit.

Not strictly accurate there Roxburgh. The speed limit for cars in from 1903 until 1930 was a whopping 20mph, but in 1930 speed limits for cars and motorcycles were abolished. In 1934 a general 30mph speed limit was imposed on roads in built up areas (effectively roads with street lighting) which remains to this day, but other roads had no speed limits at all until 1965 when the national upper limit of 70mph was introduced for all roads, including motorways. During the oil crisis of 1973 there was briefly a limit of 50 mph on single carriageways and 60mph on dual carraigeways, the abolition of these limits was done very quietly I remember but since 1977 the speed limit for cars and motorcycles on dual carriageways has been 70mph, with a 60mph speed limit on single carriageways.

I stand corrected

Good info there Alycidon which I shall file away for future reference. My parents had a Riley in the early 1960s (YGG 520) and I do remember my dad doing 100mph on the A74 going south.