Saturday Morning: I was cruising between 100 and 110 up the M3 past Fleet Service Station, reeling in a dark green Volvo V70 Estate on a "V" plate. It was probably doing around 95.

As I closed on it, I noticed that its brake lights began flashing alternatively. I didn't get chance to slow down much, but luckily for me he was pulling over a yellow transit van AND a car.

I had believed that Police Cars to be up to 3 years old (i.e. no older than a 51 plate). Having a "V" plate almost caught me out. If I'd been a little quicker it would have been me on the hard shoulder. Unfortunately I didn't get it's full plate. I wonder if it is a new car with a private plate to make it look older?!

I also clocked 3 normal Police Volvos between Basingstoke and the M25 junction.

I also know the Police have a dark (black I think) BMW M3 patrolling the M3 area.

Monday Mid-Morning: Travelling up the M3 again, there was a mobile Safety Unit (i.e. speed camera) in a White Van on one of the small bridges over the M3 between Fleet Services and Junction 4a. I think I was doing 80 at the time, but it could be higher. It will take a couple of weeks to process if I was going a tad faster.

Stay Lucky :twisted:

 

It appears the Hampshire tax collectors are out in force. :evil:

 

Thanks for the info. I'll be more careful around there for a while.

 

If I see VOLVOS, VECTRAS,OMEGAS and BMW 5-SERIES unmarked then I always take caution.

 

I always check out Omegas and Volvos etc. for two occupants too, but I was surprised by the age of the number plate. Most Police cars do such high mileage they get replaced after 3 years. [You can often pick up a cheap, well-maintained performance car through an auction this way, if you don't mind the holes drilled in the dash for their comms stuff.]

It seems to me the Police are being crafty. There's no way that a "V"
plated car doing 60-80,000 miles per year would be still be operating for the police - it would have 400,000 miles on the clock!!!

Since they were in stealth mode, the Hants/Surrey police are obviously on a fund raiser.

Had a black Audi S3 in front yesterday and when he moved over at 85ish, I went past him really carefully just in case.

 

:cry: You lucky fellows in the Uk dont know how lucky you really are, we in the Mid West have speeds of 20mph, 30mph,35mph, 40mph,50mph, 60 mph to deal with on just four miles of road, with out a radar detector you'd be nailed very trip. All these guys do is cruise the streets trying to earn revenue..
Recently they started zapping us with lazers,
even on the Interstate its only 70mph, and usually only safe to drive at about 75mph!!

 

I don't know how hard and fast this rule is, but generally unmarked cars have two interior mirrors, one normal one and a stick on job for the passenger. Not too difficult to spot if you're coming up behind them, assuming your rate of overtake is not too great of course!

 

kit and kat
I believe those speeds they are talking about in merry ol' England are in km/hr so 100 over there is really only 62mph

 

No, England is in Miles Per Hour and the speeds referred to above are as well. :-) The flow of the fast lane on our motorways is very fast, even though the national speed limit is 70.

 

boy are you guys lucky. over here on our expressways we have idiots that drive 60mph in the passing lane on a 65 mph road and refuse to get over. The normal here in ohio is to look down a interstate and see forty cars in the left lane going 60-62 in the passing lane and in the same strech of road there will be the 3 or 4 cars in the non-passing lane going 58. the result is the only way you can go 71-72(6-7 over generally won't get you a ticket over here) is to pull into the slow lane and go like hell and then pull in front of someone in the passing lane to get past the occasional car in the slow lane. Unfortunately that gets the finger and the horn most of the time. But the idiots that won't get over are follwed by other idiots that get on there tail and won't pass on the right at all. they are like lemmings they get fixated on the car in front of them and stay there for miles and miles with no one in the slow lane and never pass or make an attempt to get the slow guy to move over. The slow idiots ignore flashing of high beams. The useless state troopers yell about road rage over here but do nothing about getting people to "keep right except to pass" which would get rid of the road rage. if they gave a few tickets for not pulling over maybe traffic would move better. Here in Ohio they can give tickets for not moving over, but whenever they do the judge gennerally throws out the ticket, so the state troopers give up writing them. :x :x

 

I usually don't quote mph or kph just in case a Policeman is browsing the site, but I would normally mean mph.

Since our motorway speed limit is 70mph, it is unlikely I would be concerned at passing a police car at 62mph (100kph). However, if I was travelling hypothetically at 100mph (160kph) I would get stopped.

 

hell if you were travelling at 100mph (hypothetically) over here they would send every cop from 50 miles around after you and throw you in jail overnight. You wouldn't need to pass a cop, some soccer mom or fuddy-duddy would call on her/her cell phone and tell the mile marker you were at (they post the troper cell phone number on signs and it is easy to dial something like *FU ) and you would have enough egomanically state troopers to have a testosterone party within a couple of minutes.

 

Our police are beginning to rely very heavily on camera and radar to catch fast cars, although they blitz a stretch of road from time to time.

It is wise to travel as fast as the fastest car that passes you keeping 1/4 mile distant, and if it brakes then you do the same.

I have a short stretch of two lane road between my house and the motorway and I usually get to 135 before I have to brake hard for the stop sign. My favourite part of the journey each day.

ALSO IN THE UK, IT IS ILLEGAL TO USE YOUR PHONE WHILE DRIVING, so only passengers could report you.

 

Great at least one country is smart enough to outlaw using those things while you are driving. You can't believe what the idiots over here drive like with a cell phone in there ear. I swear one of them is going to kill me yet. Do people over there try to get around it by using a earpiece and small mike?

 

Some people use hands-free kits with speaker and headset.

When I'm in the car, I turn the phone off. Nothing is that important that it can't wait till I get to my destination.

Although it is illegal to hold/use a phone while driving, the fine is only �’30. There are no endorsements to your licence.

 

I knew a traffic copper from Hampshire. He said he would only ever chase a car if the driver was going to lose his licence, i.e. was doing more than 30 mph over the limit (a ton on the M3). He said that for anything less it just wasn't worth the paperwork. However, he gave it up because, "I'm fed-up with being a tax collector". And yes dear friends, that was a quote.

Yrs
Irate of Tunbridge Wells. :evil:

 

Aardvark,

I find it very easy to do 30 over the limit, often without realising it. The XF is so smooth.

Also why irate?

 

bob,

Irate because of, "However, he gave it up because, "I'm fed-up with being a tax collector". And yes dear friends, that was a quote."

Proof that their primary purpose is to collect revenue, not doing anything useful like arresting the entire lane 2 owners club.

Whinge over.
A