Police on the M4

andy2k

andy2k

andy2k

Associate
Joined
15 Jun 2005
Posts
610
Location
Swindon, UK
About 8am this morning between junctions 16 and 17 heading towards bristol i noticed a police car parked up on a slope on the side of the road. To the side was a big sign saying "Traffic Police only or simular"

The road was dead and i was doing around 85 - 88 indicated MPH untill i saw it from maybe 100 meters then slowed all the way down.

This was completely safe as it was easter sunday and only a few cars on the M4.

Is this just a normal police car looking for people to pull over, or do they run speed checks on all cars passing?

Just want to put my mind at rest really!
 
andy2k said:
About 8am this morning between junctions 16 and 17 heading towards bristol i noticed a police car parked up on a slope on the side of the road. To the side was a big sign saying "Traffic Police only or simular"

The road was dead and i was doing around 85 - 88 indicated MPH untill i saw it from maybe 100 meters then slowed all the way down.

This was completely safe as it was easter sunday and only a few cars on the M4.

Is this just a normal police car looking for people to pull over, or do they run speed checks on all cars passing?

Just want to put my mind at rest really!
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I wouldn't worry.

Police cars often park in strategic places on the motorways and even if you flitted past at 85, I doubt they would have pursued you.

They sit and look for cars worth stopping, wait for calls to come in or perhaps have a sandwich. They certainly don't clock all passing cars for speed.
 
Cheers for the reply, Genreally i just drive at 80 indicated on the motorway, often went near 90 today though as the road was completly dead, and conditions were great.

Out of interest, is it really worth while them parking there at 8am on easter sunday??
 
andy2k said:
Out of interest, is it really worth while them parking there at 8am on easter sunday??
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Yes, they are working.

As you don't appear to know much about the etiquette of UK motorways, I suggest you stick at 80mph indicated max for now. Until your a bit more experienced.
 
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It's ok you don't have to justify your speed to us, you're not a baby killer ;) However after this experience maybe keep the speed a little lower to give you less panics or scares. :)
 
To be honest, unless they chased you, you've nothing to worry about.

What really irritates me on the motorway is people who slow right down to 80% of the limit when they see those floressent yellow and blue cars!! :mad:

Even worse is when a police car has pulled another drive, everyone slams on the brakes. WHATS THE POINT? THEY'VE PULLED SOMEONE ELSE OVER!!!!!!

You'll be fine!
 
85 will normally mean you are in the slow lane on the M4 on a good day, I doubt they gave you a second look.
 
You can get pulled at 85. Its happened to a few people I know. One was on the M4.

Ive gone past police cars at an indicated 90mph and been fine though.
 
skiba said:
85 will normally mean you are in the slow lane on the M4 on a good day, I doubt they gave you a second look.
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There is no such thing as a the "slow" lane...

I find it hillarious how everybody drops to a crawl when there is a police car on the motorway. I often blat past at around 80mph as everybody else is doing 65mph, often get a nod from the cop (when I'm on my bike) and carry on. If you're driving like a lunatic however you are likely to get pulled over. 85 is touching on the "threshold" speed where they start pulling you over for a chat.
 
This reminds me of something that happened when i was travelling on the M4 a few months ago. Driving at about 80ish and suddenly everyone started slowing down, it was on a slightly downhill section so i could see a lot of cars slowing down ahead of me. I slowed to about 55 and after a few seconds i was wondering why i hadn't passed an accident or slowed to a stop.

There was a Police Car in the left hand lane travelling at about 60ish and everyone in front of me thought it would be a good idea to crawl past it....
 
Serj said:
This reminds me of something that happened when i was travelling on the M4 a few months ago. Driving at about 80ish and suddenly everyone started slowing down, it was on a slightly downhill section so i could see a lot of cars slowing down ahead of me. I slowed to about 55 and after a few seconds i was wondering why i hadn't passed an accident or slowed to a stop.

There was a Police Car in the left hand lane travelling at about 60ish and everyone in front of me thought it would be a good idea to crawl past it....
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I *hate* that. :mad:
 
When police officers go along the motorway they usually drive at around 55-60+ This is so that there is plenty of acceleration possible within the legal limits for people to overtake and get out the way without being scared. The reasoning for this tactic is because they don't want to cause tailbacks and want people to make progress.

However some of the new Highways Agency Officers are sitting at speeds like 70mph which cause huge tailbacks as people are too scared to overtake or don't realise what they are. This is really bad practice, and until people know what HAOs are and understand the purpose it will continue to cause tailbacks.

I overtake police cars and HAOs at an indicated 80mph without even worrying, and have overtaken ever faster on occasions. Best one was when I overtook at HAO at about 85mph and got him shaking his head at me and wagging his finger, which is the worse they can do. Wannabe traffic police tbh, dont get me started on the antics of HAOs and what I've seen them doing on the roads.

Things like:
  • Half a mile of cones for a broken down car well on the hard shoulder.
  • HAOs reversing at speed in a service station carpark to block someone in so they could have a "word" with someone.
  • 2 lanes closed for a breakdown on the hard shoulder.
  • The wagging and shaking head incident above.
 
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worse is when your overtaking a slow moving copper (doing near on 70) in the left lane, and some idiot who didnt see the copper goes to over take me in the right lane (hold on, why arent i out there in my bmw!), then sees the copper and pulls infront of me and slams on brakes!

had this happen twice, both times the copper just looked at me and shook his head and smiled, personally i would have liked to see them both pulled over!
 
Morba said:
worse is when your overtaking a slow moving copper (doing near on 70) in the left lane, and some idiot who didnt see the copper goes to over take me in the right lane (hold on, why arent i out there in my bmw!), then sees the copper and pulls infront of me and slams on brakes!

had this happen twice, both times the copper just looked at me and shook his head and smiled, personally i would have liked to see them both pulled over!
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Trouble is it happens all the time to police, regardless of the speed they are doing. If they pulled over everyone who went to pieces near them they wouldnt get far from the police station.

At the end of the day you were the better driver, and managed to brake in sufficent time to avoid an impact. Just enjoy that fact.
 
Normal patrol speed for HATOs is 55mph, in order to avoid causing tailbacks. Obviously some don't obey this and go faster, but its what they should be doing.
 
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