Safe Speed Forums

This enquiry results from a few posts in the M4 protest forum - around http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/viewt ... 5580#25580

Briefly, a member listed his/her interpretation of examples of bad driving, one of which was "Police doing 56 mph on a motorway good for more" or similar, complaining that it caused peristaltic wave braking in the lead up to the police car as trafic cautiously filed past it then picked up to the more comfortable 80 - 90 again. I would not in any way suggest the policeman doing 56 at a safe distance is bad driving - far from it. However, it has got me thinking.

The poll is intended to gauge methods used by car drivers and motorcycle riders when faced with this "hazard" - assuming you are in otherwise open road and not enforced to dawdle past by other roasd users. I have seen all of the options listed, and have yet to see anyone pulled except for a sports car whose driver was either taking the pi$$ or just oblivious, having sailed past the policeman at around 120 and got puilled about 10 miles further along (the police car he passed was a T5).

Voted the 1st option, continue as normal - as my normal driving would mean my cruising speed would be at the limit ( where safe of course ).

If Police car at the speed limit then would follow at safe distance, if they travelling just below ( say 65mph ) then would overtake with brief increase to 75ish before returning to lane at 70mph.

If they going 56mph then there is no problem at all.

Have often overtaken police cars going 50-55 on a single lane road, briefly exceeding speed limit by a small amount, with no problems at all - as long as return to speed limit once past them.

I also voted 1st option - but it was a close call to the option of slow/pass/accelerate gently, simply because that IS my normal style of driving on a motorway if coming across slower moving traffic.

Hypothetically <g> if my cruising speed on an open motorway were three-figures, any traffic up ahead would not realise this as long before I arrived in their zone I would be down to their speed plus only perhaps 10 - 20 mph, and I would go past at the right (for me) speed, which would be a compromise between being able to deal with one pulling out in front of me and the risk of being in someone's blind spot and getting sideswiped. It makews no difference at all if a police car is a part of the vehicles being passed, EXCEPT if the overtaken group is up at 90 already and I happen to spot a plain police car in it, whereupon I file in.

I saw a perfect example of the bizarre effect TrafPols have on the M6 this afternoon.

I was travelling n/bound in fairly sparse traffic and a marked car cruised past at about 90ish, and off he went into the wild blue yonder.

Meanwhile, I am proceeding in the first lane and come across a car in L2 cruising at about 65mph. I'm not going much faster myself, but I do the right thing and go out to L3 to pass him, then back to L1 (didn't cut him up, honest!). He's not happy and starts to speed up, so now he's sitting "on station" in my blind spot, but I suspect he's unable to do much more (it was a Saxo with four or five youngsters crammed in, and we were on the climb up Shap).

Now we start to close on his mate up front, who is in a similar car, and also doing 65mph in L2, despite no traffic in front whatsoever. I'm just considering accelerating clear of "Chav 1" so's I can safely cross over to L3 to overtake "Chav 2", when I see that the TrafPol has now nabbed someone and is in the hard shoulder about 400 yards ahead, with lights going. Ok, he's hardly going to be interested in me speeding up to 80ish, but knowing that the upcoming bridge by Westmorland Services is a favourite haunt of the local talivans I decide to bide my time, and stay at 70ish in L1 for a bit.

So we're still catching the car in front, and I'm now having to lift slightly in order to avoid passing him on the inside, when suddenly he sees the TrafPol (and from no more than 100 yards range I swear!). So he lifts right off and inexplicably reduces his speed to about 50. I have to lift off too, to stay behind him, and now his mate zooms past me, still at about 75mph and then has to brake sharply to avoid running into the back of him.

In the end I had to go down two gears and out two lanes in order to finally get clear of the pair of them. When I did they were both scouring their mirrors to see if TrafPol was chasing them, with the ubiquitous "mate in the back with his head between the front seats" now riding rear gunner.

Not posting this in an "anti-trafpol" way or anything, it's just it caused me no end of amusement to see the panic-stricken reactions of a guilty conscience, and also just how little traffic it takes to bung up a motorway!

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CSCP Latin for beginners...
Ticketo ergo sum : I scam therefore I am!

I'm pleased to say that I don't often encounter marked cars sticking to 70mph. If I did, I would reduce speed to 75ish and resign myself to having to creep past and gradually accelerate back up to cruising speed, keeping a sharp lookout behind.

IMO, it is irresponsible for marked cars to sit on the limit and it is absolutely right that they should cruise at 55ish so as to have the least effect on free flow of traffic. I'm pleased (but not at all suprised) that IanH confirms this view.

Friday night last I was on the M25 at about 1:00 am travelling at around 90 mph on my bike. I could see the police car way in the distance and it was amusing to watch how late all the car drivers clocked it some braking almost as they passed (it was fully marked with the reflective stuff by the way).

Any way i passed it at 90 no change of speed required. To be honest I did have the added "protection" of a reflective "Emergency Blood" jacket and a box full of platelets strapped to the back seat.

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Former Military Police Officer and accident investigator

I think the weird reaction around police cars may be another side effect of the scameras and pratnerships. I think there's a lot of people out there who think that prats=plods and that passing a police car on the m-way at more than 70mph will get 'em tugged. I've never worried about passing trafplods at up to 80 as long as I know I do so safely, maintaining courtesy to other drivers, sufficient gap yadda yadda yadda. I've never attracted more than a long look.

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

The 2nd option is closest.

Round here (W. Yorks) they do tend to cruise at a speed where an indicated 75mph is just crawling past and to be honest it is an unsafe overtake but the alternatives are adding to the traffic sitting behind, or risking spending 10 mins on the hard shoulder for pushing past the +10% with the danger of a sleepy artic driver ploughing into us. Something I am sure trafpol have to weigh up when considering pulling someone.

I have, on occasion, when I have been feeling brave, pushed it to an indicated 80.

Then there is the oh so painful period of waiting until the trafpol is out of sight before reaxing and going back to normal driving.

I chose the 2nd option. I have often passed a Traffic Car on a motorway when the paranoia all around me seems to make other people panic.
I beleive they're not interested in someone driving past safely at a "reasonable speed" 75 - 80. Unless the traffic was dense, I would not hesitate to pass plod. This " " would be me checking my mirror though, for a mile or so.

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Still round the corner there may wait,
A new road or a secret gate. ( Camera )
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973)