Safe Speed Forums

Just thought I'd post a thread about something that happened to me on the weekend.

I was taking it easy on my way home when a silver Volvo suddenly pulled in behind me and started tailgating me. After about 10 minutes of him being way too close for comfort, I thought who the the hell is this idiot right up my backside, whats his problem? Anyway to cut a long story short I made the mistake of going 50 through a 40 limit with this guy still tailgating me.

Next thing I know on come the blue lights and it turns out to be an unmarked police car. I stepped out of the car and basically admitted my error, explained that its not really a valid excuse for speeding but pointed out that it was a pretty intimidating thing what he'd just done.

The policeman then said that he thought he saw me using my mobile 10 minutes early(not true in the slightest) and thats why he was on my case.

hmmnnn... I intend to pay the fine as I was technically speeding,(my first points in 15 years od driving) but I'm a bit annoyed how this has all come about as I assumed the vehicle was either being driven by a loon/ boy racer or it was some kind of emergency.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of policing?
cheers and congrats on the great info here

Had a similar thing happen to me many years ago with a marked police car on an unlit street. Ended up coming into a 40mph then 30mph in a lit area. I didn't see the 30mph because I was looking in my rear-view too much and it was overgrown.

Got pulled over and the car checked, tyres and lights, etc., ended up getting off because I pointed out that he was driving dangerously by sitting on my back bumper after he'd followed me through the 40mph in excess of the limit with no lights/siren going then sat right on my back bumper.

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Prepare to be Judged

Well done for getting off, maybe I should of been a bit less of a push-over with him.

I really thought he was gonna let me off as well, and after he had done a complete check of the car and found no faults said " have you got any points?" I said no, and then he replied "you have now"...great, thanks a bunch! I would of been better off to be incorrectly prosecuted for using an imaginary mobile and getting the current £30 fine with no points!

As stated, it was many years ago. Well before a speed camera had ever been heard of, when coppers had respect and used their judgement, when crime "targets" were unheard of and when we had dedicated traffic officers.

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Prepare to be Judged

oh yeah just to add to this,
like most caught speeding I was more concerned about my insurance premium going up now I have 3 points, rather than the £60 fine, so when I got home I went through a few insurance quotes to see how much its going to cost me in the long run.

Something that surprised me was that the quote including my new little fella's on my licence was actually £20 cheaper than my current insurance policy...quite surprised by that! so suppose its not all bad news.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I got my first speeding ticket that way back in 2002 on the A50. L1 full of trucks, L2 consisting of me with a huge gap in front as everyone else sped off and I stuck to 70, oh and a reg R reg Vauxhall Chavalier tailgating me.

When I sped up the Chavalier switched on it's blues.


On a lighter note, I had a very ironic tailgater the other week. It was a blue Pug 307 with an orange lightbar that was right up my arse all the way down the A34 in L2 (with a big queue of traffic in front of me. As we approached the M4 exit, I stuck my left signal on at which point the Pug undertook me and took the same exit I wanted.

I ended up alongside the Pug at the junction and happened to notice. a) that he was on his mobile phone and b) that the orange lightbar had "Traffic Safety Officer" on the front and "P B Traffic Safety Ltd" on the back.

*sigh*

It seems to me you should fight this in court as it was intimidatory behaviour and also entrapment; what a CRETIN the constabulary have employed !!

I have to say that if anybody comes up behind me like this I always pull over and wave/signal them past. "Let the fast man through" my father always said. Mind you that was in the unrestricted roads era !!

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Good manners maketh a good motorist

"let the fast man through" is very wise advice.

It's ironic that the traffic officer was meant to be trying to discourage drivers from speeding, not intimidating people and therefore causing a problem that wouldnt of happened if they weren't there!

One positive thing that they have taught me from this incident though... dont let other drivers who are speeding have an effect on my own driving habits. (including coppers!)

This is a whole different subject...but I AM grateful that the police in the U.K are "generally" un-corrupted, even if they do sometimes do dodgy things like this. I spend a lot of time in Lithuania and speeding tickets there basically dont exist. Its simply a cash bribe arranged by the traffic cop straight into his wallet.

Now that really is the root of a serious problem that thankfully we dont have to post threads about on here, or at least I hope not!

I believe that there is an allowance in law that if you fear for your life your actions can be justified. I would definitely get legal advice.

Mind you what should you do to try and stop a tailgater. Does the slowing down and then resuming normal speed approach work.

There is some good stuff on tailgating on the main website. Have a look at http://www.safespeed.org.uk/tailgate.html

If I was you I would ask to see the video aas 99.9% of unmarked traffic cars these days, have provida fitted and recording,did you sit in the police vehicle and did you see it. It would always be recording too then perhaps when shown they werent as close as you make out.

This will either assist you or hinder you as people have said, if he was hassling you like you said then perhaps you should have been challenging him a bit more.
Stephen

Yes, I assumed that they would have the incident all on video, but was thinking all it would prove was that I 'was' speeding.

He basically said that it doesnt matter what the driver is doing behind you, if you speed then your breaking the law. I dont think I'm going to go down the route of taking this to court as I'm not confident enough that the 'entrapment' angle would stick as he has the excuse that he 'thought I was on my mobile' and therefore a reason to justify his actions? Wish he'd of pulled me straight away, rather than harrass me for 10 minutes though.

If you were/weren't on your mobile he'll have that on video too...

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Smokebelching,CO2 making,child murdering planet raping,granny mugging,politically incorrect globally warming (or is it climate changing now it's getting colder?)thug.
That's what the government want you to believe of me. If they get back in I'm emigrating.

thats a good point actually...at least I know that is definately not on the video!

thanks for all the replies by the way...its good to get a few opinions beforehand.

TBH he's booked you for speeding anyway. At least if you persue it he might (althought I doubt it...) get a dressing down for apauling driving assuming he really was that close.

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

I think that before he started on me, I would have got out, gone to his car and asked for his details since you were considering reporting him for driving without due care and attention due to his closeness to your bumper. You could have pointed out that, should you have had to stop in an emergency, there would have been a very large dent in the back of your car and in the front of his. A result of which his Guv would have taken a dim view.
Years ago I was stopped for doing 70 in a 60 on a 'B-Road' at night by a marked Vauxhall Viva (yes, a long time ago). He said that he had stopped me for speeding and, before he could caution me, I asked him if he realised that his l.h. headlight was way, way out of adjustment and was set too hig, contrary to the C & U regulations. I suggested that he take a look at the dazzle caused on dip from the height of my wing mirror. He did, apologised for it, asked me to just check my speed a bit more closely and went on his way.

I would be arguing that slowing down with him that close would have been extremely dangerous...

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Smokebelching,CO2 making,child murdering planet raping,granny mugging,politically incorrect globally warming (or is it climate changing now it's getting colder?)thug.
That's what the government want you to believe of me. If they get back in I'm emigrating.

Gotta be honest, if he was that close, I'd slow down first of all to see if he took the hint, failing that, touch my brake pedal for lights to go on, failing that, brake heavily.

*sigh* I know I shouldn't do it - but it works for me.

edit to add - I only do this in my car - never on the bike!

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

Yeah, then you'd get pulled for DWDCA...

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.