Police driver demonstrates the motorists' sense of entitlement

[rick99]

More interesting, in the drunk guy video, is that Richard Osman, tv panel show guest and 'pointless' presenter at the lights with him? Looks just like him.

[mjr]

Do we know if this has been sent to the relevant police force for comment?

I sent them a link. No reply yet https://mobile.twitter.com/mjray/status ... 2237996033

[mjr]

More interesting, in the drunk guy video, is that Richard Osman, tv panel show guest and 'pointless' presenter at the lights with him? Looks just like him.

Because he's white and wears glasses? That's racist.

[Graham]

Here is my pedestrian equivalent :-
I litterpick on the roadside edges of a National Nature Reserve.
Being a derestricted road with bends I now only do this very early on a Sunday morning.

Most of the time I'm on the verge or it is a step away. That is my safe haven.

Occasionally I'm on a section with no verge. Look : Listen : (x3) : I try hard not to be there when there are vehicles approaching.

Very occasionally I get caught out with vehicles approaching from opposite directions ( that would pass me in the same section. i.e. two vehicles alongside a pedestrian ).

In this situation, my traffic management tactic is to stand out from the edge, facing the oncoming and wave my litterpicker to ensure that :-
- I am clearly seen.
- I require a safe pass when the oncoming traffic is clear.
- I'm not going to step back and invite a close/fast path.
EDIT : Also, wearing a hiviz waitcoat and a bulging, RED, litter sack hanging from one shoulder.

This might be considered as the pedestrian equivalent of cycling in primary position.

Mostly this works well and the drivers behave appropriately.

One day I got caught out without refuge.
The approaching vehicle was a Mercedes coupe with a personalised number plate.
The car slowed and stayed safe, but as it pulled alongside the driver leaned over and requested that I "step out of the road".

I cannot remember the exact (polite) exchange, but I suspect that I introduced the "Please go and read the Highway Code." rather too early in the conversation.
The immediate response was a claim that I was speaking to a police officer and he knew the Highway Code very well, but that I was heading towards a charge of obstruction for not getting out of his way.
I decided not to argue further. . . just in case . . .
But his parting comment gave a further clue to his state of mind. "And don't wave that stick at me again."

My Summary. A motorist who considered his convenience of greater importance than the safety of a pedestrian. I am not fully convinced that he was a policeman off-duty. The high cost vehicle with a look-at-me numberplate don't quite add up.

** More related tales in later posts

[old_windbag]

The immediate response was a claim that I was speaking to a police officer and he knew the Highway Code very well, but that I was heading towards a charge of obstruction for not getting out of his way.
I decided not to argue further. . . just in case . . .
But his parting comment gave a further clue to his state of mind. "And don't wave that stick at me again."

My Summary. A policeman who considered his convenience of greater importance than the safety of a pedestrian.

It's a sad state of affairs. When I was a younger man I was perhaps nieve in my thinking that police were fine upstanding honest members of the community. As I got older and had more encounters with people working as police I found to my dismay that too high a proportion did dishonest things, acted byond the law and perhaps only did the job for the wrong reasons. I known an ex traffic cop to take his new car up to 150mph on an a-road and said "it'd not be an issue if he was stopped as he knew the working patrols and they knew he could handle the car", oh really. Also know someone in the police who used their freemason contacts to influence a drink driving stop from being taken further. There are good but the bad sour the trust somewhat and until they are eradicated we have no hope of good policing. Golf clubs and freemasonry should be on the barred qualifications list .

Personally if I did the job it'd be to see people living in peace and harmony together and to reduce criminality to zero( impossible but a good aim ), not solely the good salary and excellent retirement prospects. If the chap in the merc wasn't bluffing about being a policeman then he's another example of the bad that lurk within it.

[pkbicycles]

So he the policeman thinks he's entitled to risk killing or injuring the cyclist would he drive so close to a horse or pedestrian he shouldn't risk life for any reason should on a how to drive safely coarse


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

[Cyril Haearn]

Here is my pedestrian equivalent :-
I litterpick on the roadside edges of a National Nature Reserve. . . . . . . . .

I would protect myself by parking my motor behind where I was collecting, or I would use a big hand trolley like the cleaners have in town

Just collected two beer cans on the way home, there is 25 cents deposit on each. Here in Germany collecting *rubbish* can make one rich

[MikeF]

Police officers should be well trained drivers and as such should be an example to other drivers. The officer in the video appears not to be driving as he should, so was setting a bad example. The fact that the cyclist had filtered past him at the traffic lights and gained position may have irritated him. After all cars are faster than cycles. The fact he stopped the cyclist surely indicated he had time to spare in spite of him wanting to travel faster. The officer claims the cyclist is "close to" obstructing vehicles by riding in the centre of the lane. As far as I can see from the legislation, an obstruction is caused by a "thing" left in or on the road ie a stationary "thing". Can a moving vehicle eg bicycle be classified as an obstruction preventing the free passage along the highway? I wouldn't have thought it could, especially if it's travelling near the speed limit anyway. It seems this is a case of an officer with a personal dislike of cyclists.

Recently I have been passed by several Kent Police cars, and, although they were not ultra close, they were closer than many "ordinary" motorists, and had absolutely no need to be. The fact I had been passed by police cars in this way stuck in my memory, as I would have expected a better standard.

Maybe more bobbies on bicycles is what is needed.

[thirdcrank]

Driving/ cycling in a way that stopped other vehicles overtaking might amount to inconsiderate driving/ cycling, depending on the circumstances. A forum search for <Telford> might be relevant.

For anybody who wants to plough through it, the current professional standards for police drivers are here:-

https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-c ... e-driving/

[Cyril Haearn]

What is the minimum speed limit at the location of the incident?

[thirdcrank]

What is the minimum speed limit at the location of the incident?

I'd be surprised if there was one.

I don't know the location, but from watching the vid, there are 20mph markers early in the footage and nothing obvious showing the end of a 20mph zone but there is a break in continuity when there's the switch to the rear view camera.

PS

If that's irony, it had gone straight over my head when I wrote the above.

[mjr]

The police officer overtakes roughly outside the Michael Faraday primary school in south east London, if you want to find it on maps.

[old_windbag]

The police officer overtakes roughly outside the Michael Faraday primary school in south east London, if you want to find it on maps.

If you're looking at the James Clerk Maxwell Comprehensive then you've gone too far, turn back, and if you're outside the Einstein College of Further Education then you are very lost, must be using satnav.

[Paulatic]

[

Just collected two beer cans on the way home, there is 25 cents deposit on each. Here in Germany collecting *rubbish* can make one rich

Back in the sixties I used to regularly cycle miles and miles of roads picking up refundable bottles. By the age of 13 it felt like I'd made my first million

[MikeF]

The police officer overtakes roughly outside the Michael Faraday primary school in south east London, if you want to find it on maps.

Thanks for that. Checking with Google Maps it looks near here, Portland Street. There are faded cyclists symbols in the middle of each carriageway (route 23) indicating well ... expect cyclists be in the middle of the carriageway! This road appears to be (or will be) part of Quietway 7 so I just don't understand the grounds for the officer's argument and reason for stopping the cyclist. If it's a quietway that cyclists can/will/should use and has a 20mph speed limit what grounds has he for complaining he can't drive pass?