Big Police Speed Trap

jonbeeza

jonbeeza

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Driving past our local park today, and I came upon a massive police speeding trap. Must have been about 40 or more Police they were pretty well organised, they had police in un marked cars and high powered traffic cars waiting along the road, presumably to go after people who refused to stop. I am so glad I was not speeding, plenty of people lined up getting processed. It was in a 20mph zone, and most do about 40mph along that road, it is a deceiving road because it is so big, but it is still only 20mph...
 
On the road off the A13 into Lakeside Shopping Centre at Thurrock, there is always a heavy police presence, it's not just speeding motorists, there will also be on the hunt of those with no insurance, no tax, or no MOT. They even find many cars overladen with passengers. Hopefully they'll get a few on their phones or smoking with kids in the car too.
 
nilagin said:
On the road off the A13 into Lakeside Shopping Centre at Thurrock, there is always a heavy police presence, it's not just speeding motorists, there will also be on the hunt of those with no insurance, no tax, or no MOT. They even find many cars overladen with passengers. Hopefully they'll get a few on their phones or smoking with kids in the car too.
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Looked like they had a good result on one motorist, as he was surrounded by about six police and his car was getting very well scrutinised.

Just wonder why people still choose to drive illegally, there is so much tec to catch you at any time.
 
I find all these 20 mph zones quite confusing, not least by the inconsistency of the actual signs. :mad:

I cannot recall where I was, but saw signs which consisted of a circular green border within which were displayed the figures '20' - looking it up later it appears the green circles has no legal standing, but merely stating an advisory speed. I am probably mistaken with my memory, but thought I did see a Red Circled 20 mph sign with a supplementary sign underneath stating that the speed limit is 'advised'.

Our local school (assume the council) put up some signs a few years ago declaring a 20mph School Zone, but these were subsequently replaced just warning a school was present, presumably as they were found to be unenforceable.

I drove through Oxford recently and found the whole city is a 20mph zone! I have been told that any new traffic calming measures there (roundabouts instead of traffic lights etc) encourages a slow and smooth traffic flow(12-15mph); so that the majority of cyclists will feel comfortable joining the main flow of traffic.
 
I'll never forget the first time I was pulled over in a "control" (a police checkpoint) in Spain. Being flagged down by the National Police (they look much more serious than the Local Police) bearing shotguns as well as their usual side-arms was an experience!
 
jonbeeza said:
Driving past our local park today, and I came upon a massive police speeding trap. Must have been about 40 or more Police they were pretty well organised, they had police in un marked cars and high powered traffic cars waiting along the road, presumably to go after people who refused to stop. I am so glad I was not speeding, plenty of people lined up getting processed. It was in a 20mph zone, and most do about 40mph along that road, it is a deceiving road because it is so big, but it is still only 20mph...
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Id imagine this was a random drink drive stop exercise too
 
Ricardodaforce said:
I'll never forget the first time I was pulled over in a "control" (a police checkpoint) in Spain. Being flagged down by the National Police (they look much more serious than the Local Police) bearing shotguns as well as their usual side-arms was an experience!
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You should try it in Mozambique. No shotguns there. AK-47s and RPGs are the order one day.

Always good to carry a few cartons of cigarettes and some bottles of whiskey for bribes :)
 
ecoleman said:
You should try it in Mozambique. No shotguns there. AK-47s and RPGs are the order one day.

Always good to carry a few cartons of cigarettes and some bottles of whiskey for bribes :)
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Nah, just simpler to not speed :)
 
ecoleman said:
You should try it in Mozambique. No shotguns there. AK-47s and RPGs are the order one day.

Always good to carry a few cartons of cigarettes and some bottles of whiskey for bribes :)
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That reminds me of P. J. O'Rourke's third world driving tips in his excellent book "Holidays In Hell". There are two types of military roadblock you can encounter in Africa, he says. There's the kind where you slow down so they can look you over, and the kind where you come to a full stop so they can steal your luggage. The important thing is that you must *never* stop at the slow-down mind of roadblock. If you stop, they'll think you're a terrorist about to attack them, and they'll shoot you. And you must *always* stop at the full-stop kind of roadblock. If you just slow down, they'll think you're a terrorist about to attack them, and they'll shoot you. How do you tell the difference between the two types of roadblock? Here's the fun part: You can't!
 
StewartR said:
That reminds me of P. J. O'Rourke's third world driving tips in his excellent book "Holidays In Hell". There are two types of military roadblock you can encounter in Africa, he says. There's the kind where you slow down so they can look you over, and the kind where you come to a full stop so they can steal your luggage. The important thing is that you must *never* stop at the slow-down mind of roadblock. If you stop, they'll think you're a terrorist about to attack them, and they'll shoot you. And you must *always* stop at the full-stop kind of roadblock. If you just slow down, they'll think you're a terrorist about to attack them, and they'll shoot you. How do you tell the difference between the two types of roadblock? Here's the fun part: You can't!
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The first time I went to Mozambique was shortly after they had re-opened the borders with SA. I had to go as a Mozambique driver had written off my car in a Mozambican hire car. I had to go to collect a cheque for 33 million Metical.

Every few hundred yards there were soldiers patrolling on foot, heavily armed. I was crapping myself but took my friend / insurance broker with me who was Portugese so could at least speak the language. On the way in we were pulled over for allegedly overtaking a truck on a blind bend. The truck was crawling along and was about to pull over (or probably just stop in the middle of the road as they do) so we went past. Thank God somebody could speak their language or I'd have been up the creek without a paddle. A little bribe here and there and we were on our way.

On the way back out, we came across a road block, but the soldier was just waving his arm slowly up and down, which in South Africa would have meant slow down. We slowed down and drove slowly past. The next thing I knew I had a rocket propelled grenade launcher pointing at the rear of the car. Well, you've never seen somebody stop, put a car in to reverse and reverse back 100 meters to a road block so fast in your life. Again, some apologies a few packets of cigarettes and we were on our way again.

It was about 8 years before I ventured back to Moz for a holiday.
 
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Good!
 
ecoleman said:
You should try it in Mozambique. No shotguns there. AK-47s and RPGs are the order one day.

Always good to carry a few cartons of cigarettes and some bottles of whiskey for bribes :)
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In Zimbabwe it's just a normal way way to collect their salary. :(
 
trevormc said:
They must be short of funds for Christmas.
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You missed the word "party" :D
But that was exactly the thought that ran through my mind.
Can you imagine the cost of that operation? it must have been extremely viable ;)
 
Cobra said:
You missed the word "party" :D
But that was exactly the thought that ran through my mind.
Can you imagine the cost of that operation? it must have been extremely viable ;)
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I have not seen that size of operation in a long time, it was massive. As I said, they had high powered police cars at certain points along the road, to catch people refusing to stop probably. Loads of Police on both sides of the road, catching people going both ways.
 
jonbeeza said:
I have not seen that size of operation in a long time, it was massive. As I said, they had high powered police cars at certain points along the road, to catch people refusing to stop probably. Loads of Police on both sides of the road, catching people going both ways.
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Its also possible they were "looking" for someone or something specific.
And the others were just a bonus :D
 
Cobra said:
Its also possible they were "looking" for someone or something specific.
And the others were just a bonus :D
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They had speed guns pointing at vehicles, so I assume it was just a massive speeding clamp down. It was on a newly assigned 20mph road, previously a 30mph zone. Most would do 40mph or more on that road, so hard for people to drop down to 20mph.
 
The frustrating thing here is that if they really wanted to turn a 30mph road into a 20mph road, put speed bumps all the way down. More importantly, you should be able to drive over the bumps at 20mph with no discomfort or problems or having to brake.
 
omens said:
The frustrating thing here is that if they really wanted to turn a 30mph road into a 20mph road, put speed bumps all the way down. More importantly, you should be able to drive over the bumps at 20mph with no discomfort or problems or having to brake.
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If that were the case you could still travel at 30mph over them. There is a residential road near me that gets used as a rat run to avoid the town centre. The speed bumps are so smooth, not only do you not have to slow down for them, many cars still exceed the speed limit over them.
 
jonbeeza said:
Driving past our local park today, and I came upon a massive police speeding trap. Must have been about 40 or more Police they were pretty well organised, they had police in un marked cars and high powered traffic cars waiting along the road, presumably to go after people who refused to stop. I am so glad I was not speeding, plenty of people lined up getting processed. It was in a 20mph zone, and most do about 40mph along that road, it is a deceiving road because it is so big, but it is still only 20mph...
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And 20mph because it's a build up area with a park where kids play. No doubt the speed is indicated by a 20mph road sign. Many motorists fail to see them, or have the arrogance and ignorance to completely ignore them. It's good to see the police cracking down in your area. I hope they managed to also catch a few mobile phone users, non seatbelt wearers and drinkers too.
 
omens said:
The frustrating thing here is that if they really wanted to turn a 30mph road into a 20mph road, put speed bumps all the way down. More importantly, you should be able to drive over the bumps at 20mph with no discomfort or problems or having to brake.
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But no money to be made doing it that way :rolleyes:
 
nilagin said:
No money to be made at all if people obey the speed limits. ;)
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But people will never obey the law, would the police really want everyone to obey the law? If we all behaved there would be no crime to solve, the police would be out of work.

As was Sergeant Samuel Dudfoot and his men, the local police of Turnbotham Round, Ask a policeman 1939. One of my favourite films
 
jonbeeza said:
But people will never obey the law, would the police really want everyone to obey the law? If we all behaved there would be no crime to solve, the police would be out of work.

As was Sergeant Samuel Dudfoot and his men, the local police of Turnbotham Round, Ask a policeman 1939. One of my favourite films
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The police don't have to want, because they know many wont. Everyone chances their arm and breaks the law somewhere sometime to one degree or another, it's just how you do it or whether you are careful enough not to get caught.
 
neil_g said:
most likely, they always go for the throat of those drinking at the festive period.
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Nope, just those driving afterwards.
 
nilagin said:
If that were the case you could still travel at 30mph over them. There is a residential road near me that gets used as a rat run to avoid the town centre. The speed bumps are so smooth, not only do you not have to slow down for them, many cars still exceed the speed limit over them.
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There are speed ramps on a road close to me, they only cover part of the road and can be easilly straddled at 30mph in your average size car.
There are also some full width ones that are quite vicious, and I crawl over those even in the 4x4.
A Golf shot out on a roundabout, right in front of me trying to be clever, he tore off down the 30mph road, straddled the part width ones with ease,
how ever the full width ones are block paved, and as I said, quite vicious.
He did bounce well, and there as a sickening crunch from the underside of his car.
Not sure if Golfs have a sump guard or not, I hope so for his sake!
 
Straddling speed pillows will f*** the inside walls of your tyres. Much better to go over the middles of 2 if possible (or take a detour to avoid the bloody things!) I have no objection to speed humps - they work well at reducing speed - but the pillows are often used on bus routes so busses don't need to slow down for them... Oddly, I have no objection to speed cameras either. If you're not speeding, you won't get a ticket!
 
Nod said:
Straddling speed pillows will f*** the inside walls of your tyres
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Not if you drive something wide, besides these go down to "Nothing" on the outer edges
 
Cobra said:
Not sure if Golfs have a sump guard or not, I hope so for his sake!
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OT I know, but speaking of sump guards, when we got our present car a year ago (Outlander) & rang the insurance to change cover over, they asked if there were any mods. to basic factory specs etc. I said it had the `protection pack` (factory fitted)
She asked what was included, but tbh wasn't sure & while telling what I DID know, just happened to mention possibly a sump-guard? Crikey, I could almost hear the warning siren on her PC :wideyed: :LOL:

Turns out they wouldn't insure if it did have one as they have to be specified. I went outside to check..........it doesn't, so was fine. :cool:

Just thought I'd mention it in case anyone had one fitted as an undeclared `extra`. Claims may be null & void if they find out. ;)
 
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Just thinking, there are not very many speed bumps where I live. I think they favour the speed trap method :)
 
At our local PLG meetings the topic of speeding comes up a lot. I discovered that 20 mph limits are only enforceable in Royal Parks and where there are speed calming measures, otherwise you could only be done if you are going well over 30mph.

We could have done with some traffic polive on the North orbital and A40/M40 for the Middle lane drivers last night
 
welshwizard645 said:
At our local PLG meetings the topic of speeding comes up a lot. I discovered that 20 mph limits are only enforceable in Royal Parks and where there are speed calming measures, otherwise you could only be done if you are going well over 30mph.

We could have done with some traffic polive on the North orbital and A40/M40 for the Middle lane drivers last night
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You've been had I'm afraid. Clearly whoever told you that hasn't got a clue. 20mph indicated on a white background with a red circle is compulsory on public roads. The speed is set by the council and enforced by the Police..You would do well to buy a copy of the Highway Code and get the PLG one too !
 
Blank_Canvas said:
You've been had I'm afraid. Clearly whoever told you that hasn't got a clue. 20mph indicated on a white background with a red circle is compulsory on public roads. The speed is set by the council and enforced by the Police..You would do well to buy a copy of the Highway Code and get the PLG one too !
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Told to me by the......Police
 
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