Guy drives through red light next to police car and they ignore it....

Cartus said:
UK 2.9 road deaths/100,000 inhabitants/year
US 10.9
Spain 3.7
France 5.1
Germany 4.3
Netherlands 3.4

There are very few countries that have lower fatalities on the roads than the UK.

Try living in Thailand with 36.2!

(Figures from Wikipedia)
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I think there are only THREE
 
It is. The ACPO guidelines are just that - guidelines. In theory, 31MPH is speeding in a 30 limit but, as you say, checking devices aren't 100% accurate and speedos can be up to 10% out, although the error is only supposed to be reporting a faster speed than you're actually doing. Worth checking reported speeds against a GPS (which should be much more accurate).
 
Nod said:
It is. The ACPO guidelines are just that - guidelines. In theory, 31MPH is speeding in a 30 limit but, as you say, checking devices aren't 100% accurate and speedos can be up to 10% out, although the error is only supposed to be reporting a faster speed than you're actually doing. Worth checking reported speeds against a GPS (which should be much more accurate).
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yep but that would be far to convenient an excuse.
until British people wake up to speeding being a crime that they commit every day nothing will change.
 
Speeding doesn't bother me too much so long as it's not ridiculous and not in a built up area, especially around schools. There are plenty other driving issues which do bother me and I feel they are considerably more dangerous than speeding. Typically executed by people with an IQ beginning with a decimal point.
 
Mr Bump said:
yep but that would be far to convenient an excuse.
until British people wake up to speeding being a crime that they commit every day nothing will change.
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Anyone would think only the Brits speed!!!

Very little would change if everyone stopped speeding!!
 
Mr Bump said:
yep but that would be far to convenient an excuse.
until British people wake up to speeding being a crime that they commit every day nothing will change.
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It’s not an excuse it’s called tolerance, it’s has to be in place, very few things are black and white, plus, What do you want to change? It’s already been noted that we have the third safest road system on the planet. Your utopia world will simply never exist.
 
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What are people's thoughts on the whole not being allowed to go through a red light for emergency services unless directed to by the police or uniformed officer: should we be allowed to creep through and allow an ambulance etc to get through?
 
Kieranstandishphoto said:
It’s not an excuse it’s called tolerance, it’s has to be in place, very few things are black and white, plus, What do you want to change? It’s already been noted that we have the third safest road system on the planet. Your utopia world will simply never exist.
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Surprised he hasn't suggested firing squads for people doing more than 33 in a 30!
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
When I pulled along side and pointed out the lights were still at red, they weren't interested. They were then more interested in in pointing out to me that the lights had changed to green.
The guy then did it again at a crossing.....

View: https://youtu.be/djeMIlsST4I
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The behaviour at the first set of lights is interesting as they seem to set off after seeing the police car... most bizarre as I'd guess that even if they are hard core crims sitting still until the lights changed to green would get a lot less attention. The behaviour at the second set of lights is just staggering as they seem to slow down and stop at the green light and then go through on red.

I can only assume the driver was either on the phone or just a total and utter muppet.

Either scenario is possible.

As for the cops, it's probably just a case of laziness. Being snotty to you is less work than doing something about the BMW.
 
Even if they weren't traffic cops, stopping the guy and reading the riot act would have been an inconvenience to him, which helps drive the point home. As for the speeding thing, I would suggest that jumping lights is far more dangerous than somebody doing 35 in a 30.

Tailgating is another offence that really needs clamping down on (as well as people pulling into your braking space). The modern motorway speed limit was set over 50 years ago, before virtually all cars had disk brakes, decent suspension and anti lock brakes. Modern cars are more suited to fast motorway speeds than ever before, but most drivers aren't.....
 
gman said:
What are people's thoughts on the whole not being allowed to go through a red light for emergency services unless directed to by the police or uniformed officer: should we be allowed to creep through and allow an ambulance etc to get through?
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I would ALWAYS move through lights, if I get a ticket then so be it, someones life could be at risk, people who refuse to move are idiots in my book.
 
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Kieranstandishphoto said:
There would be no fine, ACPO guidelines state 10% plus 2miles per hour, they may have changed it in 2015 to remove the 10% would need to check, but the idea is the device the police are using to check your speed can be out by 2mph, and your speedo could be 10% but still the point is 30mph is not 30mph.
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Coming to a force near you.... Soon? - Assuming Anthony Bingham he has his way of course.
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news...-over-speed-limit---west-mercia-police-chief/
Anthony Bangham, who is also Britain's roads policing chief
 
Geoff Moore said:
Coming to a force near you.... Soon? - Assuming Anthony Bingham he has his way of course.
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news...-over-speed-limit---west-mercia-police-chief/
Anthony Bangham, who is also Britain's roads policing chief
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What a clown he is, how do these idiots get so high up in the world with the common sense of a pot frog. I would bet anything he drives over the limit all the time, because its impossible not to unless your watching your speedo all the time which is dangerous. And the equipment used to "catch" people needs to be calibrated regularly as it drifts over time. Would love to see his plan on how to actually implement this, I guaranteed he does not have one.
 
Kieranstandishphoto said:
its impossible not to unless your watching your speedo all the time
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It's quite easy. Set the speed limiter to the limit and you'll stay below the speed set. No need to watch the speedo at all.

As for the original point, maybe the offending vehicle is an unmarked police car - plenty of forces use BMWs in that role.
 
Nod said:
As for the original point, maybe the offending vehicle is an unmarked police car - plenty of forces use BMWs in that role.
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Unless the old couple in the car were plain clothes, I doubt it was an unmarked police car, and I've never seen an unmarked car with a private plate
 
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Nod said:
First post states...
which has now grown to...
but I will agree with the private plate point.
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It hasnt "grown" to anything.
It was a guy that was driving and I assume it was his wife that was in the passenger seat. She looked about 60. Couldn't see drivers face clearly, but he was wearing a turban, so assuming it was a man.
 
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What I find strange is, every time you pulled up behind him he drives off,
so its clearly your fault, you must have scared him at some point :D
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
When I pulled along side and pointed out the lights were still at red, they weren't interested. They were then more interested in in pointing out to me that the lights had changed to green.
The guy then did it again at a crossing.....

View: https://youtu.be/djeMIlsST4I
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Agree Robert it looks bad TBH

This does happen quite often though for various reasons;

Level of driving authority held by the Officer driving:
(1) Basic - only allowed to drive from A to B, not allowed to use emergency equipment or contravene any traffic legislation.
(2) Response - allowed to use emergency equipment and can contravene certain traffic legislation when on route to an emergency call.
(3) Advanced - As Response but can 'carry out a safe follow' of a vehicle that is failing to stop for the Police when requested to do so.

In the middle of dealing with another urgent incident

Having a chat and didn't see/notice the Offence being committed.

Couldn't be bothered dealing with it.
 
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Maybe red is the new green ?
 
Kieranstandishphoto said:
Very sad, but without all the facts its hard to see who was at fault, how many times have you seen pedestrians simply walk out onto crossings.
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The Highway Code is clear on this for drivers approaching Zebra Crossings:


  • look out for pedestrians waiting to cross and be ready to slow down or stop to let them cross
  • you MUST give way when a pedestrian has moved onto a crossing
  • allow more time for stopping on wet or icy roads
  • do not wave or use your horn to invite pedestrians across; this could be dangerous if another vehicle is approaching
  • be aware of pedestrians approaching from the side of the crossing.
I’ve emboldened the key bits.
 
Kieranstandishphoto said:
I would bet anything he drives over the limit all the time, because its impossible not to unless your watching your speedo all the time which is dangerous.
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Are you seriously saying that you cannot tell if your car is slowing down or speeding up without staring at your speedometer?
Controlling speed of your vehicle is a fundamental driving skill.
 
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Pound Coin said:
Are you seriously saying that you cannot tell if your car is slowing down or speeding up without staring at your speedometer?
Controlling speed of your vehicle is a fundamental driving skill.
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Unfortunately I encounter an extremely high percentage of motorists who can't maintain a constant speed, so I would say they have no idea or don't care that they are slowing down.
 
nilagin said:
Unfortunately I encounter an extremely high percentage of motorists who can't maintain a constant speed, so I would say they have no idea or don't care that they are slowing down.
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Indeed. It is part of the eroding of responsibility that has happened. Very sad, and leads to things like the death of the 91 year old mentioned above.

It is also sad that, for some, there is an acceptable level of death on the roads. "We're safer than most other places!!" A huge number of deaths on the road are very sad, and very preventable. What is needed is individual drivers to understand what a great responsibility rests on their shoulders. If they were in a work place using heavy machinery like a car, they'd be subject to much more scrutiny, control, training.
 
Pound Coin said:
If they were in a work place using heavy machinery like a car, they'd be subject to much more scrutiny, control, training.
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Even with scrutiny, control and training, people will still take risks.
 
Pound Coin said:
Indeed. It is part of the eroding of responsibility that has happened. Very sad, and leads to things like the death of the 91 year old mentioned above.

It is also sad that, for some, there is an acceptable level of death on the roads. "We're safer than most other places!!" A huge number of deaths on the road are very sad, and very preventable. What is needed is individual drivers to understand what a great responsibility rests on their shoulders. If they were in a work place using heavy machinery like a car, they'd be subject to much more scrutiny, control, training.
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But we will never get it to zero. Everything has a risk, air and train travel for example, sky-diving... we try to reduce risk as much as possible but there will always be road deaths. Getting deaths down is a case of diminishing returns, we have done all the easy and quick wins. Anything else would have a serious negative effect. Like we could probably further halve the death rate but putting in 30mph limits everywhere but is that really feasible?

You also have human nature, we are not perfect and make mistakes. We don't always do the correct processes or get distracted.
 
It’s not about 30mph everywhere though. It’s about drivers realising that whilst driving is ubiquitous, you still have to concentrate, take care, be aware. If they did that, unecessary deaths would plummet.
 
Pound Coin said:
It’s not about 30mph everywhere though. It’s about drivers realising that whilst driving is ubiquitous, you still have to concentrate, take care, be aware. If they did that, unecessary deaths would plummet.
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But as I said, we are humans not robots. We do take care 99% of the time but have you never argued with kids/wife/the radio, or ever been thinking about tonight/dinner/weekend plans/cameras etc.... and not been as alert/focused as you should have been?
 
cambsno said:
But as I said, we are humans not robots. We do take care 99% of the time but have you never argued with kids/wife/the radio, or ever been thinking about tonight/dinner/weekend plans/cameras etc.... and not been as alert/focused as you should have been?
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I'm not sure that killing someone whilst thinking about dinner should be acceptable.
 
Pound Coin said:
I'm not sure that killing someone whilst thinking about dinner should be acceptable.
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I am not saying it is, but until we can be reprogrammed as robots human error will kick in. Think about it, even the best racing drivers in the world, how are giving it 150% focus have accidents, accidents will happen!
 
cambsno said:
I am not saying it is, but until we can be reprogrammed as robots human error will kick in. Think about it, even the best racing drivers in the world, how are giving it 150% focus have accidents, accidents will happen!
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I'm not sure racing driving is an appropriate comparison, they are driving at their limit.

Human error is one thing. Saying it is acceptable to kill someone whilst adjusting the radio, being distracted by others in the car, thinking about dinner is where the problem is. It is not acceptable to be killed by someone doing one of these things.
 
Pound Coin said:
Are you seriously saying that you cannot tell if your car is slowing down or speeding up without staring at your speedometer?
Controlling speed of your vehicle is a fundamental driving skill.
Click to expand...
I am saying that you cannot maintain constant speed within a couple of miles per hour.
 
Pound Coin said:
The Highway Code is clear on this for drivers approaching Zebra Crossings:


  • look out for pedestrians waiting to cross and be ready to slow down or stop to let them cross
  • you MUST give way when a pedestrian has moved onto a crossing
  • allow more time for stopping on wet or icy roads
  • do not wave or use your horn to invite pedestrians across; this could be dangerous if another vehicle is approaching
  • be aware of pedestrians approaching from the side of the crossing.
I’ve emboldened the key bits.
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If you could be bothered reading posts instead of trying to be clever you would actually get a grasp of what is being said, I was referring to pedestrians who simply walk out without stopping, so they are walking down the road and then turn 90 degrees and onto a crossing expecting everything will actually come to a stop.
 
Pound Coin said:
I'm not sure racing driving is an appropriate comparison, they are driving at their limit.

Human error is one thing. Saying it is acceptable to kill someone whilst adjusting the radio, being distracted by others in the car, thinking about dinner is where the problem is. It is not acceptable to be killed by someone doing one of these things.
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Again, putting words in peoples mouths, NOT ONE person has said its acceptable to kill anyone, what was said is that human nature is what it is, a lapse in concentration for whatever reason can result in someone having an accident.
 
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