159 mph cop back in the dock

Originally Posted by chutz

i hope he gets locked up like the 2 bikers who did a similar thing. He says honing his skills, I say bo****s was he. He was doing what any of us would do, thrashing his new toy and having fun. If it's dangerous and irresponsible for us then it is for them too. He may have judged it as "safe" onempty roads but one can never know what's round the corner and who we may kill if it goes wrong. One rule for us should also apply to them.

I've got to agree. Fast cops have killed before:

As did PC Gerard Sharratt in 1996 when he drove his police car along our 
local winding single carriageway A road and rounded a corner at 116mph 
to find a queue of stationary traffic at roadworks. Twenty seven year 
old nurse, Judith Wood was killed as she sat in her car in the queue, PC 
Sharatt was fined for careless driving.

In 1997, PC Adrian Ward was taking Shelley Simmonite, 15, home to her 
parents after she had been arrested for suspected shoplifting. Driving 
at up to 120mph, he went through a red light and lost control, hitting a 
van. He was estimated to have been travelling at 65-75mph when had 
applied the brakes. Shelley was killed in the crash.

Originally Posted by tricky

They don't use those "stinger" things on bikes do they ?

Maybe that's where the name comes from. Every rider they tried it on complained his **** was "Stinging"

[Red ones]

Originally Posted by jonboy

Ah newly introduced laws have got rid of "double jeopardy" (sadly for us crims ):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4406129.stm


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There was always the opportunity for the prosecution to lodge an appeal, which could, of course, result in overturning the original decision. This relies on appealing on the evidence presented in the original case. "Double jeopardy" relates to holding a second trial with new evidence and does not require the first case to be overturned.

Silly copper had the decision overturned as the courts have decided they made a mistake.

I fail to see how anyone could have argued that 159 mph was safe for one driver. On that basis Michael Schumacher should be allowed to break the limit too, then maybe a Formula Ford driver would be allowed to break it a little bit less etc.
Using this argument I could argue that I speed regularly and dont have many accidents, therefore I can drive to a 95 mph speed limit on motorways, but the man down the street has dozens of accidents and should only be allowed to drive at 40 mph!

Originally Posted by jonboy

Personally I think it's a sad day - if highly trained police drivers can't drive at that speed in good conditions on a totally empty stretch of road, then how are they expected to safely pursue criminals when there's a genuine need to do so? We've had this argument before so I'm not going to bother reiterating what's been said previously.

However on a lighter note:

"The guidelines allow for officers to exceed limits, but never to drive at more than 120mph."

So... good reason to get a much faster bike then .


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you got it in 1

The problem is whatever happens no-one is better off..