View Full Version : Police TV prog last night
Not sure if this is the right section of the forum, but I'm sure a mod will be along shortly, thanks in advance mod's :D
I think it was on M&M but I've no idea what channel I was watching.
The point that I thought about the org was when one copper pulled an asian girl over. The reasoning he gave for this on camera was that she undertook a car in a bus lane. Fair play.
My problem was with his wording really. EVERYTHING he said put the message across that undertaking is illegal, which left me screaming obscenities at the TV & calling him names. The act of undertaking itself is not illegal (as everyone keeps saying) but is possible to be charged with the office of "Driving without due care."
Anyway, he eventually "let her off" & gave her a "lesser ticket" of driving in a bus lane. Erm? Perhaps driving in a bus lane is less of an offence than driving without due care, but he never said anything about this offence (on camera), she undertook in a bus lane, and that was all.
Oh yea, he'd also run out of tickets because he'd had a "busy day." Now I sympathise that anyone (even coppers) can make mistakes, but the girl got out of her car with a "I know why you stopped me, I undertook that car, I'm sorry" attitude & had her kids in the car etc. If I were in that situation, after sitting her in the police car to hand out the ticket and realising that I'd run out of tickets, I'd of called it her lucky day & chalked it down to experience. What did this muppet do? He made her wait for another copper to arrive at the scene & give him a new book of tickets. I mean come on! He definately came across as a certain type of "Thanker" for that.
Don't get me wrong, the program in general left me with sympathy for the amount of crap that traffic officers have to deal with day to day, and a certain understanding about the way they work, but it also showed some bad sides to the force.
Anyway, just thought I'd rant. The show was about Cheshire police force, and the Thanker was driving a V70. Just FYI ;)
Carsick
23-11-06, 10:54 AM
Most people think it is illegal, but then, lots of people think filtering is illegal.
Most people think it is illegal, but then, lots of people think filtering is illegal.
But for a copper himself to be 'threatening' to give a ticket for undertaking & not bothering to explain... sounds odd to say the least.
On the filtering thing, i did it in my car the other, is this illegal?
Situation: Tailback of cars waiting to turn left, I wanted a right turn just up the road, saw the road was clear, so sneaked up the middle. My lane was quite wide so I didn't completely cross the central lines, although my drivers side was over. After my cheeky maneuver I thought it through more deeply, although very impatient was it actually legal?
I filter regularly on my bike, is it really any different in my car ? :?
On the filtering thing, i did it in my car the other, is this illegal?
Situation: Tailback of cars waiting to turn left, I wanted a right turn just up the road, saw the road was clear, so sneaked up the middle. My lane was quite wide so I didn't completely cross the central lines, although my drivers side was over. After my cheeky maneuver I thought it through more deeply, although very impatient was it actually legal?
I filter regularly on my bike, is it really any different in my car ? :?
In that situation, I would say that so long as there are no solid white lines, which obviously mean you're not allowed to cross or straddle, you were overtaking a line of stationary traffic. Where's the harm in that?
Of course, if the central lines were solid, then yes, it was illegal.
SoulKiss
23-11-06, 11:11 AM
I would say while not illegal - its still an over-taking maneouver after all - its very ill advised.
In the event of oncoming traffic, at least on the bike you can squeeze in out of the way/between other cars if needs be,
Filtering in cars is bad mkay (listening Joe?)
I knew it was cheeky, but its illegal that counts! Anyway soulkiss I want your 'get out of death squad visit free card' as I have voted for you.... so I should be ok with that maneuver .... hur! :wink:
SoulKiss
23-11-06, 11:22 AM
I knew it was cheeky, but its illegal that counts! Anyway soulkiss I want your 'get out of death squad visit free card' as I have voted for you.... so I should be ok with that maneuver .... hur! :wink:
As long as you didnt cause anyone to get hurt it would be a civil offence, so just a fine/placed in the stocks in the town square for a day or so.
Sorry if I didnt make myself clear on the 'get out of death squad visit free card' issue, the card just means that when I send the Death Squad to your door cos I am bored that you can turn them away - they do however take the card.....
The TRUE BEST way of avoiding the Death Squad is to stop me from getting bored.
Kilted Ginger
23-11-06, 11:35 AM
I was overtaking a line of stationary cars waiting at road works last night, cop car in the queue blipped his siren and flashed his blues as i went past.
The cop shop is only 400yds further on so once through the lights i pulled in there and waited on him.
When he parked and got out of car and looked a bit shocked to see me.
I very politely asked if his blues and siren had been for me, he said "yes",
"why " i asked
"i didn't think you'd seen me" :plod:
I had, but was there a reason that i should have been paying more attention to you than the other vehicles in the queue?"
"well if you'd seen me you wouldn't have filtered like that would you?" :plod:
"yes i would and did, but why would you think i wouldnt?"
"cause its dangerous and illeagal" :plod:
WTF???
I then very calmly and politely explained that it was not illeagal and sited the rules in the highway code covering the manauvre and explaining how i'd done as much as possible to minimise any risk to myself or other road users. Also gave him the name of the bike officer who does the bikesafe courses and trains the new police riders if he required any further clarification on the subject.
"Oh!, i didnt realise that,sorry if i caused you any bother, thanks for clearing that up" :plod:
and we parted on excellent terms
Only posted this as it shows anyone can make a mistake but he was more than willing to listen and was very friendly about it.
Luckypants
23-11-06, 11:42 AM
But it also clearly shows that coppers pull you over based on myth and not on fact or point of law, which is the point of Baph's original post I think.
Unless a cop knows he is correct IN LAW, he should not be giving you grief. That's called harrassment.
Maybe its just that they are only human, and are trying to be efficient in their job, so long as they are happy to accept when they are wrong I think that its ok.
Like everything in life, your get the good and the bad.
There are some top coppers, can have a good natter with them...
BUT
Theres the mini hitlers who think like dugg dredd, "I AM THE LAW!" which winds everyone up with their 'im so powerfull and mighty' approach to policing.
No, I am being too kind...it is their job to know the law! So they should get their facts straight, however, mistakes happen so at least he accepted that! sorry, Miss indecisive had an argument with Miss everyoneisnice! :wink:
Maybe its just that they are only human, and are trying to be efficient in their job, so long as they are happy to accept when they are wrong I think that its ok.
Exactly, if they admit they were wrong that's fine. But for this copper on the TV last night to be saying he could give out a ticket for undertaking is just plain wrong. The least he could of done was to actually explain the situation, and that the ticket would be for driving without due care, which would then let the driver explain her side of the events to him.
I also saw another guy, who got pulled for not having his lights on. His argument was that the copper could of merely flashed his lights to tell him, but pulled him over & the guy saw this as a waste of time. Now, I can see his point, but still, he had no lights on. The copper (different copper) explained this one simply by saying that if he hadn't pulled him over, he wouldn't of had chance to talk to him, to smell his breath etc. Good point fairly made.
During the conversation with the guy with no lights, the copper said that he was going to breathalise him, and duly went to the boot of his car, only to find he had no breath kit as someone else had taken it out. D'oh! So he decided not to inconvience this guy because he couldn't smell alcohol anyway. IMO, if he couldn't smell it, why did he bother going to get the kit out?!?!
good point baph. I watched it also. Their point of these 'petty' pull overs, were that they often lead to further law breaking being caught (sorry not good english but you should get what I am trying to say!). For example the guy with the drugs in his car was actually pulled for
a) no seat belt
b) on the mobile phone
The ironic thing about this was in the end, he got off because they couldn't prove weather he or the owner of the car was responsible for the drugs. (This was a large amount of drugs, they valued at over £6000
However, the girl who did the undertake in the bus lane, was honest, admitted it, apologized, and explained her actions etc got fined £30 quid, WTF
Maybe he altered what he said for the benefit of the TV cameras and the audience?
As pointed out already, there is no offence of "undertaking" (although I do think that the name is appropriate!), but it could be that he chose those that word rather than the less specific "driving without due care and attention" for the benefit of TV viewers to convey the reason why he stopped her.
I have no doubt that if he'd booked the young lady in question it would have been for the correct offence and not for "undertaking".
I was more amazed by the guy who got a bit of an "attitude" when he was stopped for driving at night without his lights on. What a nob.
I thought he was nob too. He'd be the sort that would shout the loudest if he saw someone else driving with no lights! Bet he forgot to put his lights on coz he was on the phone ! :wink:
I thought he was a door handle at first, when he jumped out of the car, but I also understood his point of view. Yes, he'd made a mistake, but that's all he was guilty of (much like some saw the coppers I mentionned above).
Towards the end he did start seeing it as more of a laugh (I thought). He was probably just in a bad mood, and maybe arguing with the wife which is why he didn't put his lights on.
The guy with drugs in the car though was an idiot. Called his boss so the copper could invite him down just to get arrested too. However, we live in a country where you're innocent until the law proves otherwise. All they had to do is deny knolwedge of it, and as the car is borrowed by multiple people, they couldn't prove who was responsible, so couldn't prosecute. The car was howerver, as they said, covered with DR tags, so IMO, it's only a matter of time for them.
i also watched the cop programme on bbc1 and i thought that the asian woman said that the driver infront of her was going slowre than her and undertook to get past, surley that is illegal and nothing to do with filtering, why not overtake instead of undertaking?
i also watched the cop programme on bbc1 and i thought that the asian woman said that the driver infront of her was going slowre than her and undertook to get past, surley that is illegal and nothing to do with filtering, why not overtake instead of undertaking?
That's true, she said that. He was apparently doing 15mph in a 30 (IIRC). He was in the right lane of what was effectively a dual carriageway, the left one being a bus lane. Overtaking would of been more dangerous, as that would of been into on-coming traffic.
Least, that was my interpretation of it all.
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