eddie snax:
But how dificult would it be to fit traffic monitoring cameras to your motors, then later on this could be used to follow up bad driving incidents by the police.
It’s not difficult at all, however we carry out no enforcement whatsoever. That’s what the police and VOSA are for. The reason we were introduced was, as I’ve said, for traffic management. If we get involved with enforcement, giving statements etc. It’s going to leave a large area of the network uncovered whilst we’re at court, compiling case files etc. That’s the beauty of our job, apart from a 2 page A4 incident report and a personal notebook entry, we have no paperwork to fill in. The incident report is filled in whilst at the job (if there has been infrastructure damage…barriers, lamp posts etc.) Our notebook, at the time or shortly after, then it’s straight back on patrol. How many police officers can say that? even the smallest of jobs generates a mountain of paperwork for the police
No point wailing to plod, in Chesterfield friday (empty), at 14:15, on d/c inside lane (outside is filter for retail park) I’m approching stationary traffic and I’m travelling with enthusiasm (below speed limit) and start braking (I do this here cos knobs use the filter to cut in, I theorize that my speed will deter that) this time however a knob in a corsa comes up the filter like a bat outta hell and pulls in front, I’m at this point 2 car lengths from the car in front (no exaggeration), stamps on the brakes, ABS cuts in and I’m looking for an escape route but none to be found so I wait for the inevitable smash. Fortunately the car in front had moved forward a little giving the corsa more room. A generous dose of horn and shaking of head from me, the corsa driver flashed hazards and waved an apology out of the window then turned left into the cop shop with his colleagues wondering wtf had been going on. No doubt the ■■■■■■ should’ve been on shift at 14:00. I wonder just exactly how I would’ve been treated if I’d’ve made his hot hatch a little shorter, another point is just how the hell do we trust our police to make rational decisions (whether driving/on the beat) when they make deliberate rash decisions like he did.
MADBAZ:
No point wailing to plod, in Chesterfield friday (empty), at 14:15, on d/c inside lane (outside is filter for retail park) I’m approching stationary traffic and I’m travelling with enthusiasm (below speed limit) and start braking (I do this here cos knobs use the filter to cut in, I theorize that my speed will deter that) this time however a knob in a corsa comes up the filter like a bat outta hell and pulls in front, I’m at this point 2 car lengths from the car in front (no exaggeration), stamps on the brakes, ABS cuts in and I’m looking for an escape route but none to be found so I wait for the inevitable smash. Fortunately the car in front had moved forward a little giving the corsa more room. A generous dose of horn and shaking of head from me, the corsa driver flashed hazards and waved an apology out of the window then turned left into the cop shop with his colleagues wondering wtf had been going on. No doubt the ■■■■■■ should’ve been on shift at 14:00. I wonder just exactly how I would’ve been treated if I’d’ve made his hot hatch a little shorter, another point is just how the hell do we trust our police to make rational decisions (whether driving/on the beat) when they make deliberate rash decisions like he did.
Coppers these days have no idea about traffic in general, never mind HGV`s and the weight aspect. They are spotty little oiks with little education and the usual prevailing ‘attitude’ of someone who has failed in life.
Sad to say but in my experience it is true…
This type of driving is reaching epidemic proportions now. I can’t count the amount of times I come across idiots running up the inside lane of the motorway, and then suddenly trying to dart into a queue of traffic on the slip road.
These fools are only interested in getting where they are going and not in what is happening around them. It is also symptomatic of the selfish dog-eat-dog society in which we live today. The only cure is more motorway police patrols and stiff enforcement of the law.
peteandbrenda:
After loading 26800kg of reels from sheerness today i was making my quite happily round the top side of the M25. things were going well straight through the tunnels no holdups things were looking good, got into a queue just beside the sainsbury distribution center, give a quick shout out on the old c.b. told all clear after holmsdale tunnel just queuing to get off for the A10. ok i thought get out into the middle lane,as i start to enter the tunnel 3 lanes open into 4 all clear so i start to build speed up vehicles queuing in the inside lane. About 30yrs infront a car pulls out of the inside lane i back off and it accelerates away(must of got fedup with waiting)so i thought,right foot down, all of a sudden matey slaps on the anchours and puts his indicator on to pull back in,where there is no gap to get in as its a solid queue. i am how hard on the brakes trying to stop just under 44 tonne i have another artic beside me so no were to go the hands on the horn and my ■■■ is gripping the seat, the load starts to move got some treble stacked its banging the head board, now thats not much of a problem the trailer got solid sides it aint going to come out, we manage to stop with about 6 inchs to spare, the mrs sat beside me is [zb] her self and trying to dive behind the passanger seat
The guy had made about 3 truck lengths and nearly kill himself and possible injured other people as well, why oh why do people do it,if i had hit him i would of been in the wrong the vehicles behind me could of hit me from behind as i had to come to a complete stop,do people not think or are they just plan stupidi would just love to know what goes through there head!!■■ because today it was near 44 tonne of scania
I wouldn’t worry too much about it , you wouldn’t have felt a thing. He would’ve though…
Happy Keith:
For all the good it would do, I’d submit a poll to re-introduce plod’s presence in lieu of toothless/unrespected HATO’s into our highway workplace. But I conclude that there’d be little point.
(No offence to HATO’s …but they simply aint plod)
Quite right we’re not, we were never introduced to replace the police as I have said time and time again! So there is no offence taken. I will be the first to admit that I want to see more not less police, my job is traffic management not crime prevention, so it’s pretty unfair saying we’re toothless when we have all the powers and legislation to allow us to the job we’re trained to do. We haven’t got any more powers than that because hey, we’re not the police!
But how dificult would it be to fit traffic monitoring cameras to your motors, then later on this could be used to follow up bad driving incidents by the police.
Plod has verifiable video evidence, to use to issue fixed penalties or bring prosecutions.
This would help traffic managment, in the long run. Thus fullfilling one of your remets.
Just make sure you erase it if I [zb]up
Buy yourself a HDD video camera, set it up on a tripod and set to record. They have enough memory for a 15hr shift. If anything happens then you have evidence, and not only of an accident, but of car drivers driving dangerously.
Mike-C:
I see a lot of trucks driving a few feet off cars rear bumpers so maybe they all think we can stop that close?
Good point Mike. I had to double man this week and when I commented on the lack of distance between my mate and the vehicle in front, all I got was justification for the action. Bad attitudes affect drivers of all types of vehicles, not just cars.
Layby Larry:
Yesterday evening on my way home I was in a queue just after the Holmesdale tunnel waiting to get onto the A10, I saw the opportunity to overtake a couple of cheap cars in front so I pulled into the other lane to excecute this manouevre, when this complete nobber in a 44 tonne Scania ( who obviously thought he owned the road) not reading the road ahead just stopped in time in a cloud of rubber and smoke, he was easily travelling in excess of 80mph’s. Then the cheeky pie eating, prostitute murdering, greasy Trucker tunc had the audacity to blast his horn at me. They should be banned from the roads.
Happy Keith:
For all the good it would do, I’d submit a poll to re-introduce plod’s presence in lieu of toothless/unrespected HATO’s into our highway workplace. But I conclude that there’d be little point.
(No offence to HATO’s …but they simply aint plod)
Quite right we’re not, we were never introduced to replace the police as I have said time and time again! So there is no offence taken. I will be the first to admit that I want to see more not less police, my job is traffic management not crime prevention, so it’s pretty unfair saying we’re toothless when we have all the powers and legislation to allow us to the job we’re trained to do. We haven’t got any more powers than that because hey, we’re not the police!
But how dificult would it be to fit traffic monitoring cameras to your motors, then later on this could be used to follow up bad driving incidents by the police.
Plod has verifiable video evidence, to use to issue fixed penalties or bring prosecutions.
This would help traffic managment, in the long run. Thus fullfilling one of your remets.
Just make sure you erase it if I [zb]up
There already is one on the market , our 2 vehicles have them fitted .
It’s called X Driven , it records direct on to an SD card , you get about 33 hour before it overwrite’s it’s self.
there all the same have to be that few yards infront, accident on the m6 the other night, and they were actually cutting throuth stafford services just to gain those extra yards,
I would endorse all that THM has said, we are not enforcement.
Whilst I will happily grass up say a drunk driver at a minor bump that has not caused an automatic police response, the bobbie will arrives and gather his own evidence.
If you think about how many examples of stupid illegal driving you see each day and equate them to a day each at Magistrates then you can see why we would never be on the road.
