dailymail.co.uk/news/articl … rs-UK.html
No ■■■■ sherlock. Especially when joining motorways, in roadworks, on fast moving roads, in poor visability…
Anyone who drives regularly could have told you this.
I think that it was slightly unfair of the article to single out elderly drivers as the problem here. In my experience the car drivers I overtake cover a broad spectrum of ages with no particular age group being prevalent. I will defend any drivers decision to travel under the speed limit, but I’d balance that out by saying that a little bit of self preservation is necessary here and travelling in a car on a busy multi lane carriageway at such a speed that lorries are overtaking you is probably not the greatest idea.
As motorways were designed principally for the fast and efficient movement of freight I’d say that if you take your car out for “a bimble” about then perhaps country roads would be a better option? Speaking personally I’d be absolutely mortified if I was driving my car at such a speed that I was causing problems for motorists following me.
For years we have been told that “Speed Kills” now it appears that the opposite is the case, obviously the speed cameras are not making enough money. Just a point, tractors on 70mph roads present a hazard but no one bans them, wouldn’t want to upset the farmers would we? I once made the point about the police and farmers being in the same “Lodge” and there was a deadly silence.
If you speed on your driving test you fail, if you fail to make progress on your test (drive too slowly) you fail. Why do we generally only fine speeding drivers and not slow drivers with no good reason to be driving slow? There has been many drivers out on the roads this week that really should have stayed at home. 
waddy640:
For years we have been told that “Speed Kills” now it appears that the opposite is the case, obviously the speed cameras are not making enough money.
My answer to the ‘‘Speed kills’’ is that it is not entirely true, it’s more of a case of ‘‘Inappropriate speed kills’’
It’s as ‘inappropriate’ to sit on a motorway at say 40 to 50 mph in normal conditions, as it is to teararse through a town at 60mph.
You get oblivious idiots ,… as it says in the article, trundling along at 50 in the middle lane, with maybe a couple more like minded sat behind them, in like a bloody carnival procession.
Then the speeding up behind them and getting baulked up occurs, then the undertaking starts, the dangerous tailgating by ■■■■■■ off truckers who are not allowed to use lane 3 (not condoning it btw, but sometimes you can see why some do it out of frustration if I’m honest)
Then the whole cluster ■■■■ of non lane discipline/free for all scenario starts which very often culminates into an accident of varying degrees of seriousness.
You mention speed cameras, there lies the problem, they are there not alongside the Police to supplement them, but instead of them, which creates many other problems as well as this one.
Here’s a controversial curveball, …if there are no longer any Mway Police to maintain lane discipline and to stop the hogging…give the HATO more powers to issue tickets for it. 
robroy:
waddy640:
For years we have been told that “Speed Kills” now it appears that the opposite is the case, obviously the speed cameras are not making enough money.My answer to the ‘‘Speed kills’’ is that it is not entirely true, it’s more of a case of ‘‘Inappropriate speed kills’’
It’s as ‘inappropriate’ to sit on a motorway at say 40 to 50 mph in normal conditions, as it is to teararse through a town at 60mph.You get oblivious idiots ,… as it says in the article, trundling along at 50 in the middle lane, with maybe a couple more like minded sat behind them, in like a bloody carnival procession.
Then the speeding up behind them and getting baulked up occurs, then the undertaking starts, the dangerous tailgating by ■■■■■■ off truckers who are not allowed to use lane 3 (not condoning it btw, but sometimes you can see why some do it out of frustration if I’m honest)
Then the whole cluster [zb] of non lane discipline/free for all scenario starts which very often culminates into an accident of varying degrees of seriousness.You mention speed cameras, there lies the problem, they are there not alongside the Police to supplement them, but instead of them, which creates many other problems as well as this one.
Here’s a controversial curveball, …if there are no longer any Mway Police to maintain lane discipline and to stop the hogging…give the HATO more powers to issue tickets for it.
As you say “inappropriate” speed causes the problem and in the past the police were there to advise you if you forgot that fact. Now there is no one to give guidance and the problem grows.
waddy640:
For years we have been told that “Speed Kills” now it appears that the opposite is the case, obviously the speed cameras are not making enough money. Just a point, tractors on 70mph roads present a hazard but no one bans them, wouldn’t want to upset the farmers would we? I once made the point about the police and farmers being in the same “Lodge” and there was a deadly silence.
Like it,like it a lot 
Speed has never killed anybody. It’s the stopping that kills.
Just ban all Nissan Micra’s, problem solved 
robroy:
Here’s a controversial curveball, …if there are no longer any Mway Police to maintain lane discipline and to stop the hogging…give the HATO more powers to issue tickets for it.
I would support this idea, there is so many people out there who have become accustomed to their poor driving style as being the norm & they need reeling in.
Dave…
wing-nut:
Just ban all Nissan Micra’s, problem solved
And V8 Tangy things
Of course driving too slowly can be dangerous especially on dual carriageways and motorways but 10 mph (in the correct lane) under the speed limit does not mean a driver is driving too slow as I am sure some on here will disagree.
We see it on motorways when the road is soaking wet and drivers tailgating vehicles that are probably driving at a sensible speed for the conditions ( as long as they are in the correct lane )
But it does not alter the fact that speeding (or inappropriate) as some prefer still causes big problems especially when the speeding driver comes across the slow driver. The faster a vehicle is travelling the more damage it is likely to cause especially a loaded LGV.
In reality if drivers more or less stuck to the limits when appropriate and drove to the conditions the roads would be safer all round.
dave docwra:
robroy:
Here’s a controversial curveball, …if there are no longer any Mway Police to maintain lane discipline and to stop the hogging…give the HATO more powers to issue tickets for it.I would support this idea, there is so many people out there who have become accustomed to their poor driving style as being the norm & they need reeling in.
Dave…
+1
I believe something similar is on the cards.
robroy:
Here’s a controversial curveball, …if there are no longer any Mway Police to maintain lane discipline and to stop the hogging…give the HATO more powers to issue tickets for it.
I believe even HATO rarely patrol the motorways these days, just respond to callouts, I’m sure our resident HATO’s would be able to tell us if that is correct.
Also using HATO’s to give tickets, what level are they going to stop offenders, if somebody is speeding or refuses to stop, will they be able to break the speed limit to catch them?
If so are they going to be trained to the same level as the traffic police of old?
If they are, shouldn’t they then get a pay rise to go with the extra responsibility of their new role?
Will the extra costs mean they spend even less time on patrol, making the whole exercise pointless?
I believe they only patrol Motorways, which I believe are safer per vehicle mile than any other road type, so who is going to sort out all the problems we see on our other roads?
Maybe we could try a radical idea and have dedicated Police officers patrolling all roads, after all the rail network get their own Police force?
muckles:
robroy:
Here’s a controversial curveball, …if there are no longer any Mway Police to maintain lane discipline and to stop the hogging…give the HATO more powers to issue tickets for it.I believe even HATO rarely patrol the motorways these days, just respond to callouts, I’m sure our resident HATO’s would be able to tell us if that is correct.
Also using HATO’s to give tickets, what level are they going to stop offenders, if somebody is speeding or refuses to stop, will they be able to break the speed limit to catch them?
If so are they going to be trained to the same level as the traffic police of old?
If they are, shouldn’t they then get a pay rise to go with the extra responsibility of their new role?
Will the extra costs mean they spend even less time on patrol, making the whole exercise pointless?
I believe they only patrol Motorways, which I believe are safer per vehicle mile than any other road type, so who is going to sort out all the problems we see on our other roads?
Maybe we could try a radical idea and have dedicated Police officers patrolling all roads, after all the rail network get their own Police force?
Of course proper policing by proper Police is a no brainer better option, but how much further does it have to go in terms of ■■■■ poor driving on motorways, before they get off their feckless arses, stop all the coffee/mars bar/banana policing ■■■■■■■■ and get back to basic bread and butter stuff…(and I don’t mean nicking people eating bread and butter while driving to gain even more revenue 
)
We definitely need a proper old style Traffic Division Motorway Patrol force, but all the superiors who run the Police are prioritising on making money, while bleating on about lack of resources when real crime and offences that concern the public most occur.
So as I said, let’s utilise HATO more, and invest whatever is necessary, even on a VOSA style self funding or supplementing basis.
If anybody accuse me of just another excuse to ‘Knock the Police’ post, yeh you’re dead right, because they deserve it.
robroy:
We definitely need a proper old style Traffic Division Motorway Patrol force, but all the superiors who run the Police are prioritising on making money, while bleating on about lack of resources when real crime and offences that concern the public most occur.
So as I said, let’s utilise HATO more, and invest whatever is necessary, even on a VOSA style self funding or supplementing basis.
If anybody accuse me of just another excuse to ‘Knock the Police’ post, yeh you’re dead right, because they deserve it.
“Making money”
“Total police officer strength in the United Kingdom increased year on year between 2003, when there were 155,000 officers, and 2010, when there were just over 171,600. Since 2010 the number of police officers has fallen each year. At 31 March 2018 there were just under 150,000 police officers operating within the United Kingdom. This was a reduction of 3.7% compared to 2003 and a decrease of 12.8% from 2010.”
Speed kills so much that it is only a contributing factor in just 6% of all accidents and 5% of road deaths - this is from the ONS using the Police’s own figures when they were forced to report them a couple of years ago. In fact inappropriate speed (not exceeding limit but too fast for conditions) has a higher percentage but you’d not think that given the amount of time and resources targetted at speeding. By far the largest contributory factor at over 50% is driver error.
RoadsRat:
robroy:
We definitely need a proper old style Traffic Division Motorway Patrol force, but all the superiors who run the Police are prioritising on making money, while bleating on about lack of resources when real crime and offences that concern the public most occur.
So as I said, let’s utilise HATO more, and invest whatever is necessary, even on a VOSA style self funding or supplementing basis.
If anybody accuse me of just another excuse to ‘Knock the Police’ post, yeh you’re dead right, because they deserve it.“Making money”
“Total police officer strength in the United Kingdom increased year on year between 2003, when there were 155,000 officers, and 2010, when there were just over 171,600. Since 2010 the number of police officers has fallen each year. At 31 March 2018 there were just under 150,000 police officers operating within the United Kingdom. This was a reduction of 3.7% compared to 2003 and a decrease of 12.8% from 2010.”
Wtf are the lols about exactly.
Say what you like mate the Police’s priority is all about making money’ revenue raising, uniformed tax collectors.
They bleat on about lack of resources after taking 2 days to turn up with their crime number after your house has been blagged, but those resources are miraculously plentiful with their 3 to a tractor unit and 2 to the following car when they are out to nick you eating your sarnies, or 30 or so stood at a weighbridge on ‘operation whatever’.
The argument on here when anyone points that out is just like yours, chucking stats at me, or the classic…‘‘They are traffic, different department’’
So sort out some proper traffic issues then ffs, this thread subject for example, and leave me alone to drink my coffee with both eyes on the road concentrating.
Ok if the numbers have dwindled prioritise those numbers on to real crime and serious traffic offences.
On the M62 I find the worst snails are the clapped out Jap people carriers full of family and extended family members visiting their other extended family members on the other side of the Pennines
RoadsRat:
“Total police officer strength in the United Kingdom increased year on year between 2003, when there were 155,000 officers, and 2010, when there were just over 171,600. Since 2010 the number of police officers has fallen each year. At 31 March 2018 there were just under 150,000 police officers operating within the United Kingdom. This was a reduction of 3.7% compared to 2003 and a decrease of 12.8% from 2010.”
So if they managed to patrol mways back in 2003 why cant they now with roughly the same manpower ? Maybe they are too busy checking the internet in case someone makes an “offensive” tweet instead