Hoppy

Jeez, what a load of hypocricy.

We are always banging on about how speed does not kill, and only inapproriate speed should be punished, and what great drivers we all are. In this bobby's opinion, in consideration of all the circumstances which none of us is fully aware of, he was not driving inappropriately. This was acknowledged by the court and common sense prevailed for once.

Surely, this is a good result for all of us?

As I write, it is the early hours of the morning, I am not tired, I've had nothing but fruit juice to drink and, if I wanted to, I could replicate all of this driver's actions, in complete safety to me and everybody else, and be back home in ten minutes. I would be the only car on the road, and nobody would ever know.

I honestly believe that to be absolutely true. Perhaps I should be locked up.

Richard.

IbizaFR

My view on his excuse that he was familiarising himself with the vehicle should have had him nailed to the wall for 5 reasons.

1) He has just admitted he is unfamiliar with the vehicle and should not have been doing 159mph

2) If he needed to familiarise himself with the vehicle he should have arranged a track day or similar.

3) How does doing 89mph in a 30 zone teach you how the car handles, as you could do 89mph in more appropriate areas. and again unfamiliar with the stopping power and control of the vehicle, plus blindspots.

4) he is a police driver who should know better, having dealt with accidents regularly

5) He has received advanced driver training and again should know better. Than to be so arrogant.

Sometimes it doesnt matter how good a driver you are, when something unforseen happens, which it can, no matter what you can do and do it is a fatal accident, even with 20-20 hindsight, the only thing that could have been done was not to be pissing around at 80+ in town or 140+ on motorway.

DJ73

What a joke , should have been banned !!!!
Danny B and the rest of you who think this copper was right to speed and get away with it , you try using the "testing the car" **** excuse and see if you'll get away with it !!! don't think so , never mind the bollick's honing his skill's crap there's lot's of exprienced driver's who also can handle that kind of speed but because there not copper's they get done plain and simple !!!!
He was f*cking around plain and simple and got caught , they seem to think they can do what they like just because their police , seen them dodge jam's going down bus lane's , thru jam's , down NO car entries , all while NOT attending NOTHING but if we do anything like that it's a different matter
was or is there no camera's where he was driving or did he also get away with them ???

DJ73

He should have been banned and fined like the rest of us ,no if's and but's
Burr where's this " private road " to " play on "

r32

The law applies to all members of society, to you, me and any one who happens to be a Police Officer. Now if there were extenuating circumstances during the course of his duty that required him to travel at those speed then they can be taken into consideration.
However in this case there was nothing that provoked him to break the law and as such he should be punished in exactly the same way as any other citizen. If any one wants to test out a car then take it to a race track, I know some forces have courses laid out on old airfields, he should have gone to one of those.

Any other person would probably have lost their job as they would have lost their licence for a long time or suffered a jail sentence. So should PC Milton. There is no other words than dangerous driving for this.
The number of innocent members of the public killed by Police drivers each year is rising, the majority of accidents are not caused by the drivers in an emergency situation.

I intend to write some serious letters of complaint over this .........
Tony you have mail..............

wazza2770

I echo those remarks that is absolutely correct.

Leslie

He was not on a duty emergency callout and was not specially authorised to drive at those speeds for training purposes. Going by his own defence he was driving at those speeds off his own bat for his own reasons.

The high speeds in the restricted areas are particularly bad I think.

As an Officer of the Law he should be setting an example for the ordinary motorist and what he was doing cannot be justified.

This business of letting certain people off blatant offences is becoming more prevalent these days and will cause even more bad feeling against the authorities. Since he was prosecuted anyway, his own force must have felt he was in the wrong.

Les

Jaybird-UK

I think you'll find high speeds are nothing for these guys too :

Source here

Richard Burns, who was reigning world champion when the 2002 rally was staged, was caught doing 83mph on a 70mph dual carriageway.

Other drivers who were fined and given penalty points included were twice-world champion Carlos Sainz from Spain

Rioja

All below comments IMHO;
I think the police have shot themselves in the foot with this one, a full prosecution would have appeased the masses (Rodney King anyone?)
Obviously I don't expect riots, but the level of respect has yet again dropped.
I don't think the police care that it has, they have the power; why should they.
They will in 10 years time. the current crop of recruits must be power hungry, NF supporting speed freaks! through natural wastage, the current core of good officers will deminish (leave, retire, etc.) and leave us with a very undisirable situation. Not only from the current yob culture but from a very intimidating type of policeing.
The outcome of all this was correctly predicted in the many threads since this topic came to light. Are any of us surprissed? I'm not, just very disappointed.

Diablo

I can't believe the twattish remaks on here.

Its not HIS fault he got let off.

And the point 99% of you seem to miss (apart from one I saw) is that this Judge's decision now sets a precedent

If you get caught in similar circumstances and can demonstrate that you are a skilled driver, you should be able to argue yourself out of a ban and most certainly out of jail, if it came to that.

Yes its hypocritacal, but its the Judge's fault, not the coppers.

Its bloody great news for the rest of us he got let off absolutely without penalty.

Some of you need to see the bigger picture

jasey

95% (my Guess) of people who are fined / banned / jailed for speeding are done so on the basis that thier actions could cause harm to themselves / others.


I was done for speeding on a road that is perfectly straight and approx 1.5 miles long. It was 6:30 in the morning and I was clocked at 96mph. If I had come off the road I would have killed myself and damaged a field. Points & a hefty fine.

When the copper asked me why I was being such a dangerous criminal I told him that the car was well capable of 140mph+, The road was perfectly straight and (apart from him hiding behind some bushes) there was nothing else on the road. He then lectured me on the hidden hazards on this road (it was all I could do to keep a straight face while he completed his lecture).

Don't get me wrong - I was caught and I deserved my punishment.

Last time I checked there was one law of the land for everyone - maybe that's changed under New Labour too .

Jonty

My concern when trying to justify what's acceptable is assumptions are used, i.e. 84 mph in a 30 mph zone at 3am is fine because most of the country is asleep. Granted, most of society is asleep at that time but not everyone so there's still a risk.

I dread to think of the mess if someone had stepped into the road, no matter who they were (child, man, animal) and why they were there. Let's be honest, he got off because he's a Policeman -- not because he can defy the laws of physics if something had gone horribly wrong.

Of course, we're all entitled to an opinion mind... which makes the World an interesting place.

Jonts.

jasey

Just read this;

"The officer, who is also trained in the use of firearms"

Be careful if you live in Telford

RB170

How was he performing his civil duties ?? If he was then why did he end up in court and if he was 99% of the people on here wouldn't care.

RB170

Hoppy I don't think you get it, it's not the fact that the guy was speeding it's the fact that he got caught doing far more excessive speeds than even the most qualified civilian driver and managed to get away without even 3 points on his license.

If we were all allowed to do 159mph on an empty road and not get prosecuted then it would be ok but you know full well that if anyone of us had been on the same road at the same time and got caught doing 95mph we would have at least 3 points and a £60 fine.

chris's scooby

Most people caught doing that speed would have been sent straight to jail, without passing Go or collecting £200, not just let off.

Wouldn't there be a dreadful sense of irony if it was his wife/child/mother who stepped out in front of him as he travelled at nearly 3 times the 30 mph speed limit.

So, who fancies joining the police and getting trained to their most advanced driver stage? Then once it's dark we can all go out on a seemingly empty motorway and smash the speed limit and bounce off the rev limiter in 6th.

LongTimeLurker

I blame the judge, yes the officer did it and the judge should have punished him but he didn't. If a police officer utters a single racist remark at a member of the public he'll probably get the sack and a criminal record. If he puts members of the public lives at risk by pushing a car he admitted he didn't know to the limit he gets off scot free.

As any copper will tell you when you get pulled, it's the "What if...". What if something had happened, i imagine if this driver had managed to kill himself through the way he was driving his colleages who refused to class what he did as dangerous driving would soon change their tune.

I don't believe testing a new car you are unfamiliar with on the public highway to very possibly an inch of it's life is the right thing to do regardless of the apparant road conditions. Get the thing on a private circuit / track so the driver can get used to the car and it's limits before hitting the roads @ 159mph.

Jap2Scrap

Tough one this isn't it..

I've managed not to post for this long because I'm unsure where I stand on the issue. It could open doors for a fresh look on what is a safe speed to travel and it certainly sets a precedent for future defence when drivers are caught doing 80 at midnight on a deserted motorway.

OTOH I'm sickened that the judge deemed fit to let him off without so much as a reprimand. We all know damn well that any one of us would be residing at her majesty's pleasure for those sorts of numbers had we been caught.

Still the deed is done now, let's hope that as a section of society we can use it to help in the fight against unfair prosecutions.

4X4BOB

#Not read all this thread so may be covering old ground#

He got off . . . So what

No one was killed or injured, no harm done.

Good luck to him I say !

All it does is prove SPEED DOES NOT KILL
its bad drivers that kill!

When I had the scoob I would do speeds up to 160 nearly every day when the motorway was quiet (6am)
Passed a car full of coppers (unmarked car) once at >120 and didn't get stopped.
Drove a courtesy car at 90 down the A1 with a cop car following me, didnt even get stopped 'cos I would slow down when conditions needed it. Only found out it was the police when they over took and I saw the POLICE logo on the side of the otherwise unmarked car.

I have a clean licence, never crashed my car, never caused an accident, and I NEVER speed in built up areas or places where I consider it unsafe to do so.
There are times when I drive well below the speed limit if conditions warrant that, and will then get an @rsehole stuck to my rear bumper, so I then slow down more. If a car wants to over take me, I let it.

Bob - Not wearing a flame suit 'cos I don't care what others say

Ridge Racer

it's a bloody disgrace ! reading about it in the papers today just makes me angrier than i was already !! if that was anyone else it would be jail ! i reckon he knew what the out come would be before he even stepped into court , as i has been said one rule for them and one rule for us , and it's us that get the sh#t* end of the stick ! it makes you wonder how many coppers are getting away with getting caught on camera !

Leslie

Diablo,

You accuse us of not seeing the bigger picture!

Of course we all realise it was the judge who let him off. It was the police who prosecuted him, we realise that. We are not that stupid. Your remarks were inaccurate and unfair.

The real big picture is, he shouild not have been driving at speeds like that for no other reason than the fact that he felt like it. He was not authorised to drive like that if not on an emergency call or in hot pursuit.

Does not matter how well trained he is, the safety margins are cut back to a very low level at three figure speeds and he was endangering the public unecessarily. I say that with a good many years of track racing experience in very fast cars,

The speeds he was travelling at in the 30 mph limits were disgraceful to say the least.

Be honest Diablo, what would you be saying if he had killed or seriously injured an innocent member of the public? Do you say he would still be justified?

Many innocent people get killed in authorised police chases. Whatever you say, it can happen with trained police drivers.

There is no way this decision by a stupid judge can influence what ever happens to any member of the public who is so criminally irresponsible and idiotic to drive at these sorts of speeds on the public roads.

Les

jjones

that's why you have completely missed the point.

99% of people caught speeding (ok i made the percentage up) are not involved in/caused an accident. so why the double standards? if you were caught at those speeds in exact same circumstances (other than you not being a policeman) you would be locked up without a doubt.

do as we say not as we do bullsh!t.

4X4BOB

I have not missed any point, well maybe I did in so much as I DID NOT READ THE THREAD so therefore would not have seen anyones point!

IF has got to be the biggest word used in the world today.

IF I won the lottery . . .
IF I had backed that winning horse . . .
IF I had worn a condom she wouldn't be pregnant . . .
IF I had a big dick . . . ( actually I do )
IF only I had a life . . .
IF I didn't have to go to work every day . . .
IF only I hadn't wasted my time posting on this thread I would be in the pub now getting pished.

C YA

Bob

FB Tuning

iTrader: (30)

...Just don't let him anywhere near me when he's testing out his new gun

MJW

Obviously he'd be let off a charge of letting off 120 rounds of 9mm ammo into milkbottles if he did it at 3am on a deserted street - he's trained after all

gsm1

Not one post blames the copper for being let off. And how could they anyway, how can you blame a defendant when the decision is not in their hands??

Good luck, Diablo. Why don't you try it out and see what happens. If you get let off I'll buy you a Vectra!

MattW

Errr, did he plead guilty then?

Abdabz

I dont blame the copper for getting let off. I blame him for driving irresponsibly and breaking the law. If an upholder of the law can break it and get away with it in our society then we're all fecked.
The judge has set a precedent - legal history - if its early in the morning - you can become acquainted with your car at any speed on any road - that is now the law.... Except it isnt, is it? So the law is an ***...

jasey

Actually - the most annoying thing was seeing the cnutstable on TV last night just after he got off with a huge grin on his face. He clearly thinks there's **** all wrong with driving a car at 159 mph - so why the **** should anyone else not do it ?

Speed Kills my **** - If I see one more chief cnutstable giving us this bollox I'm gonna chin him and then tell him I was simply protecting the public from his lies - I wonder if I'll get charged ???

r32

Doesnt matter how skilled you are, or what your profession is at 159 miles an hour the best stopping distance (even with Michael Schumacher in the car) is around a quarter of a mile. Imagine what it was at 80 odd in the 30 limit. Is that safe or any safer because of who is.

The main issue here is that the law (even if speed limits are dubious) should be applied to all equally.