advertisement


Speeding Offences

Woodface said:
How many drivers are actually capable of driving at high speed safely?
Click to expand...

It's also not really easy to train for, from a road use perspective. I've raced (and had a fair amount of training in both riding motorcycles and driving cars at race speeds) and also had some on-road advanced driving training (both from a military perspective as well as some civilian advanced driver stuff) however only some of it (where I was being trained by the police) was done both on-road and at speeds above the UK speed limits. That's one big difference about police advanced driving & riding training in fact i.e. that they can train on the roads and in excess of the limits.

Basically what I'm saying is that even if you have training and/or experience of driving fast it's not necessarily that applicable to on-road situations so not necessarily a justification for it being ok to drive fast. In fact my experience with a lot of advanced drivers (especially the IAM ones) is they're possibly the last group of drivers you'd want driving in excess of the speed limits. In fact quite a few of the police motorcyclists I've ridden with didn't overly impress me either.

BTW I'm not saying I don't speed - just that I wouldn't say that the advanced training or race experience I have had is any kind of justification for it being ok for me to speed but not others!
 
Woodface said:
Really? Is that the sum total of your considered opinion?

Look at the accident stats by age group, it is generally the young & stupid.

People who speed excessively on the motorway will have a strong cross over into the badly maintained/non insured category. The way people drive just reflects the type of person they are.

How many drivers are actually capable of driving at high speed safely?
Click to expand...

Utter bollox and I have huge antagonism against your type of driver. The worst are the elderly and especially women who have immaculately maintained vehicles (usually a less than 3 year old Honda with a tartan rug over the back seat. Tip 1. Know your enemy) that they lack the skill, reaction times, observation etc to properly control. They are a ****ing menace and the worst on the road with their drifting from lane to lane without looking for other road users or indicating. Then theres the dick heads who sit in an empty lane at 69.99mph blocking it to all the faster drivers. Pull into the inside lane FFS! They will be undertaken after being flashed and probably get the V's from me as well if they don't do the right thing and pull into the lane on the left when they see a faster vehicle wanting to be past.
 
Woodface said:
You have just perfectly illustrated how personal judgement is flawed. Pretty much all your speed bands are excessive.

I would be doing 50-60 in a car in very heavy rain where there is a risk of aquaplaning. On a bike? Really?
Click to expand...

That just shows your lack of knowledge and experience.
 
awkwardbydesign said:
I spoke to a police rider (the rule may or may not be different for 4 wheels) once, and he told me that he didn't have to abide by the speed limit, even if not on a call. As he pointed out, stuck behind the same car (or whatever) for miles would not allow him to do his job of looking for offending motorists.
Click to expand...

Well this guy wasn't stuck behind anyone, he was just tootling along at ~40-45mph through 30/40/60 zones. And they might want to consider that speeding through 30mph zones with no apparent reason really doesn't set a good example for Joe Public :)
 
calorgas said:
Well this guy wasn't stuck behind anyone, he was just tootling along at ~40-45mph through 30/40/60 zones. And they might want to consider that speeding through 30mph zones with no apparent reason really doesn't set a good example for Joe Public
Click to expand...

I've only had involvement with the police folks that go through their advanced driving course (and some of them were bad enough) as we used their facility for some stuff, however I didn't get the impression that police drivers that hadn't had that sort of training were allowed to break the limits, or at least - not without good reason.
 
TBH I can't recall seeing a police vehicle do this before or since, so my guess is that this particular guy/gal was just a bit of a dick.
 
awkwardbydesign said:
I spoke to a police rider (the rule may or may not be different for 4 wheels) once, and he told me that he didn't have to abide by the speed limit, even if not on a call. As he pointed out, stuck behind the same car (or whatever) for miles would not allow him to do his job of looking for offending motorists.
Click to expand...
Not true. They are subject to the same rules as the rest of us, even on a blue light run. Now if they can justify the speed, they are in the clear, but if not they will still get done. I know at first hand a copper who was stopped for driving at speed down the hard shoulder on a BLR, another copper, a trafpol, stopped him and it ended up as an internal disciplinary. By the same token I know of a Chief Fire Officer who has an unmarked car with blue lights etc, he was on a run to a fire and snapped at 100++ on the A1. This resulted in a phone call directly from the county's Chief Constable saying "Listen, we're on the same side and a BLR is a BLR, but don't take the mick. On this occasion it's just a conversation between equals, but your card is marked. Next time I may be less reasonable."

A motorcycle cop following another motorcycle at 100++ without his blue lights running is able to justify his position, but he certainly doesn't have carte blanche to breeze around as he likes.
 
I had a copper who was testing a Norton Interpol 2 for police use many years ago wanting to race me! This was in central London traffic when I was a motorcycle courier. I was on a CB250RS and had the advantage in fitting between cars etc but come a rare bit of empty road he was obviously off like a rat up a drainpipe....
Police rider uniform and helmet but no service numbers on display anywhere.
 
Speeding and speed limits are a hugely complex discussion and there is not easy answer as to what is right and what is wrong. While one driver might be capable of driving safely at 100mph on a clear motorway and have the machinery available the next might well not. At the end of the day the speed limits are risk mitigation levels for those unable to apply common sense and without them the risk level acceptable to one person might well not be to another.

I am a member of the IAM and like to think I am a good driver, but I also think that I keep learning year on year... I try to pay attention to all around me whenever I am behind the wheel and I know that has saved me on a few occasions over the years. I like speed and do track days to get that rush, but on the road I think it's best to stick to the speed limits give or take a few mph. Put simply there are so many cars on the road these days that it doesn't matter how good a driver you are, others will probably not be paying the same level of attention. Specifically on speed it is amazing how many people cannot judge speeds of approaching vehicles. Some of the overtakes I have seen people go for over the years beggar belief and are all down to people's inability to realise how much ground a car coming towards them is covering.

I totally get why sometimes the speed limits seem draconian and I guess there is an argument for raising the limits on motorways in some conditions but overall and given the general driving standard on display I think we have it about right on motorways and A roads. Cities going for blanket 20 mph (and 15mph limits in some parts of London very soon) irritate me as some roads do not warrant such a low limit, but it ain't going to change so I have to suck it up.
 
SteveG said:
It does indeed sound stupid but does appear to be the case i.e. 20mph over the limit in a 30mph zone gets treated in a similar way to 20mph over the motorway speed limit.
Click to expand...
20mph over in a 30 zone is a much bigger percentage increase though?
Arkless Electronics said:
Utter bollox and I have huge antagonism against your type of driver. The worst are the elderly and especially women who have immaculately maintained vehicles (usually a less than 3 year old Honda with a tartan rug over the back seat. Tip 1. Know your enemy) that they lack the skill, reaction times, observation etc to properly control. They are a ****ing menace and the worst on the road with their drifting from lane to lane without looking for other road users or indicating. Then theres the dick heads who sit in an empty lane at 69.99mph blocking it to all the faster drivers. Pull into the inside lane FFS! They will be undertaken after being flashed and probably get the V's from me as well if they don't do the right thing and pull into the lane on the left when they see a faster vehicle wanting to be past.
Click to expand...
I don’t drive a Honda & am probably younger than you. The speed limit is there for a reason, ok, 75mph at a push but 90+ is reckless.
 
stevec67 said:
Not true. They are subject to the same rules as the rest of us, even on a blue light run. Now if they can justify the speed, they are in the clear, but if not they will still get done. I know at first hand a copper who was stopped for driving at speed down the hard shoulder on a BLR, another copper, a trafpol, stopped him and it ended up as an internal disciplinary. By the same token I know of a Chief Fire Officer who has an unmarked car with blue lights etc, he was on a run to a fire and snapped at 100++ on the A1. This resulted in a phone call directly from the county's Chief Constable saying "Listen, we're on the same side and a BLR is a BLR, but don't take the mick. On this occasion it's just a conversation between equals, but your card is marked. Next time I may be less reasonable."

A motorcycle cop following another motorcycle at 100++ without his blue lights running is able to justify his position, but he certainly doesn't have carte blanche to breeze around as he likes.
Click to expand...

But they do abuse their privilege, I've seen it many times. My route to and from work takes me past the local cop shop. I've seen a cop car with blues and twos on come bombing up to the gates, switch them off and turn in much more than once.

Also your ordinary copper only gets a bit of extra training before they get in their panda cars. It's only the high-speed pursuit / motorway patrol guys who get the advanced training. You might well be a better driver than the copper. Explaining your actions is futile.
 
Arkless Electronics said:
I had a copper who was testing a Norton Interpol 2 for police use many years ago wanting to race me! This was in central London traffic when I was a motorcycle courier. I was on a CB250RS and had the advantage in fitting between cars etc but come a rare bit of empty road he was obviously off like a rat up a drainpipe....
Police rider uniform and helmet but no service numbers on display anywhere.
Click to expand...

I had a mate who had a CB250RS, we loved it.
 
Woodface said:
20mph over in a 30 zone is a much bigger percentage increase though?

I don’t drive a Honda & am probably younger than you. The speed limit is there for a reason, ok, 75mph at a push but 90+ is reckless.
Click to expand...

I couldn't disagree with you more if you said Trump was the best ever world leader!
A quick squirt up to 140+ on straight empty bits just to keep things interesting is great and is far less dangerous than 70 in the rain on greasy roads and poor visibility.
 
Big Tabs said:
I had a mate who had a CB250RS, we loved it.
Click to expand...

One of the best bikes I've ever owned. 6 of us once did Middlesbrough to London and back on 3 250RS's for a big MAG rally in the same day and got back in time for a beer. Cruised at 80 all the way there and back even though 2 up they would only do about 86.
 
Arkless Electronics said:
I couldn't disagree with you more if you said Trump was the best ever world leader!
A quick squirt up to 140+ on straight empty bits just to keep things interesting is great and is far less dangerous than 70 in the rain on greasy roads and poor visibility.
Click to expand...
You are starting to sound like Trump. Spouting ignorance as fact.

How do you know it is far less dangerous?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top