Safe Speed Forums

Hi all

Has respect for the (small amount of) trafpols diminished since the camera era? I notice drivers now seem to be as brazen as ever when a traffic motor is about, I have seen people tailgate, speed, overtake and just generally ignore their presence. When I passed my test (1993) I remember the 2 traf motors in my area always kept most drivers on the straight and narrow as you were guaranteed to see them every night but not now so I would guess people don't have as much respect for their presence anymore-or is it because drivers associate them with scams that they don't get as much respect?

Andrew

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It's a scam........or possibly a scamola


Homer Simpson

Certainly respect for Police has been badly affected. I'm not so sure that this loss of respect shows much in behaviour around Police cars.

Far too many people believe that speed cameras are a tax and the Police are reduced to the social status of tax collectors.

These effects are very very bad for Policing and very very bad for Britain.

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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

Little more than a uniformed branch of tax collectors.

I must admit over the past couple of years my respect for the police has plumited to al all time low.

Since comming on here though this is getting restored slowly, mainly due to the "positive" input of the members here who (or were) police officers.

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Speed camera policy Kills

When I was a teenage menace I never liked the trafpols but I had a respect for them more than the ordinary bobby.

Safespeed wrote:

Certainly respect for Police has been badly affected. I'm not so sure that this loss of respect shows much in behaviour around Police cars.

I don't know about you Paul or any others but I have definetly noticed drivers being more inclined towards pushing their luck in the vicinity of any form of police presence on the road-as if showing off or a lack of respect.

Andrew

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It's a scam........or possibly a scamola


Homer Simpson

Pre-camera era i used to see Traffic Police patrolling, parking up in clear view of traffic when doing speed checks, generally making their presence felt. Now i only tend to see traffic cars responding to a call.

I stilll have respect for traffic officers, and police in general - it is the higher ranks who make the policy decisions that i have little time for.

I think sites like this one and PistonHeads do a lot to help the police.

I understand from reading here and elsewhere that it's not the fault of the cops I encounter that our roads are infested with cameras instead of real cops.

I know that many (most?) cops out doing the job every day want to spend their time dealing with the real menaces on the road and don't think hiding behind a tree or sitting on a motorway overbridge is a good use of their time.

I'd like to think that, if I am ever pulled over by trafpol or any other cops for that matter, I'll treat them with respect, the same way as I would expect to be treated myself. It's just a shame that good officers find themselves tarred with the scamerati brush. It's not doing them or us any good at all

There is definately a serious problem woth the current police image in the wake of cameras. Normal law abiding people who would never normally come into contact with the courts now find themselves being punished for daring to do 34mph in a 30 zone. They automatically link their punishment to the police, and that's how the rot started. There are certainly less traffic officers around, and at the moment our division is considering the abolishment of our traffic department, to put the officers on the traffic unit back on the streets as normal response officers.

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'Detritus, get yer stoney arse over ere'