Good News for Cheshire Riders!!!!

Hi,
I was talking to a friend of a friend who is a traffic cop in the Cheshire force.
He told me Cheshire police has just decided to close down its TEU department(Traffic Enforcement Unit).
This unit was the officers who spent there time on enforcement of speed limits, number plate size, tinted windows, visors etc. All the really major crimes .
Included in the unit were numerous marked police cars and bikes but also a couple of plain cars and two plaen Pan Europeans complete with video equipment.
These bikes used to regularly "patrol" the best Cheshire roads including the Cat n Fiddle.
Hopefully these roads will now be a friendlier place for bikers.
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strange - i always considered the police bikers to be one of the good guys - same with the traffic cops.

personally - id prefer to see more of them around.

i dont mind sticking to the speed limit as long as their are coppers keeping an eye on the other majority (of car drivers) being reckless putting me at risk.

I think if you ask the majority people about traffic cops, then they are not viewed as the good guys!
However I understand that speed limits have to be enforced but for me it's the other petty laws that some traffic cops keenly pursue that winds me and a lot of others (including some cops i know) up.
CHOG

Does this include the plane that flys over the Cat 'n' Fiddle? Or those DVLA blokes set up in the van that stop you and check if youe bike complies with MOT rules?

I like traffic cops - does that make me a wierdo?

You can't tell a Gatso that it's 2am, with nothing on the road, full moon, great visability and you just want to get home... but you can give a wave to the bike copper who has just passed you, whilst your doing 10 miles over the limit, who see's you're not riding dangerously.

Neither can Gatso's keep and eye out for erratic drivers, pull 'em over and breathalise them, pursue stolen cars or those driving like a nutter cos they've just pulled off a job. They can't pull you over the just let you know that your taillight is bust so you can get it fixed before someone rearends you.

They also can't pull you over for speeding and look at you in amazement that you managed to get a Yamaha RXS100 to do 82mph... then let you off laughing. (It was my first bike and I'd just run it in!)

Gatso's can't safely pursue a dangerous driver at high speed, and neither can normal copper's - they're not trained for it and aren't allow to do it. Traffic cops have to re-pass their advanced test every 2 years I believe.

Most importantly, traffic cops are nice, helpfull people who are, more often than not, heavily involved in passing on their experience and training to Joe Public.

Um... did I mention that I like traffic cops.

I must be badly mistaken then
I like cops in general as they mostly provide a good service,
however i hate traffic cops with a passion.
I disagree with the comment re the Gatso's, A gatso can't victimise you for having a tinted visor. it can't measure the size of your number plate and then give you the option to have your bike towed away or impounded.
A gatso can't test the noise level of your aftremarket pipe and then give you a £60 ticket.
Finally a gatso can't follow you for miles and miles trying to goad? you into speeding and then when you don't pull you over anyway and give you some fly comments about your bikes indicators etc etc.
CHOG
I HATE TRAFFIC COPS

I'm with K on most of that.

Generally speaking, I find motorcycle cops to be the most human.

I'd rather have more traffic cops and less Gatsos for the reasons that K says, and that they can't detect drink/drug drivers. They a very blunt enforcement option IMHO.

To my subjective eye, the standards of driving on the UK's roads have deteriorated in inverse proportion to the fall in the fall in police traffic patrols.

i dunno, mabe youve just had some bad luck chog and others have had the good.

every traffic cop i have spoken to said that they would only pull someone over regarding a tinted visor if they were acting recklessly or wearing it at the wrong time of day - eg - night.

ive been suprised how many have turned a blind eye to my visor (i carry a spare clear one too) and my race can.

i've been pulled before when i was on a little 50cc for a small L-plate... i had no id on me at all, was wearing a tinted visor and had a small front L-plate... (i didnt cut it down, was done by the dealer that sold it!)
had a chat to the officer about what was wrong and he said that i needed to change the L-plate as some of his fellow officers would happily do me for that one.. nothing about the visor, and i'm the only person i know who didnt get a producer while stopped on a 50cc