Just got pulled over by the Babylon!

[Mk5 GTian]

 

Bloomin' eck, the gadar's going crazy this arvo! 

It's very rare you get a tear-up on this forum. I think it shows that VW generally attracts nice people, which is appropriate given it's history with the hippies! (Let's forget about the Nazi bit!)

[Veee-dubber]

Jumping way back to Robin's comment about boiling with frustration & being patient I found my self in a bit of a tizz wazz last night on the road..

So there I am driving along in a 30 mph zone, heavily built up; parked cars,houses, speed bumps so on and so forth...There was cars behind me and infront was a mondeo (which about sums it up I suppose) anyway this mondeo preceeded to fluctuate in speeds ranging from I'd guess about 40, 30, 15, down to 10 back up to 25, 40, 25 - You get the point. In addition to the rapidly changing speeds there was irratic breaking for no apparant reason, coming to an almost complete halt every time a car passed before resuming the varying speeds once again...

I at one point nearly rear ended him (thats not an inuendo for you either Robin so steady ;)) and the car behind me nearly hit me on a couple of occasions also... Now im a believer of making people aware of their mistakes on the road as half the time I dont think people even realise they have made one so F-ing and blinding  to them in your car doesnt allow them to rectify there mistakes (which we all make) in the future.... So with that opinion in mind and the mondeo driver coming to an almost complete halt supposidly due to the car approaching him on the other side of the road I decided to give him a couple of flashes and a good old fashioned beep of the horn in addition to some F-ing and blinding, of course.

Now on this note, The mondeo stops fully and some old boy jumps (thats generous), clambers out and approaches my window giving me what for.... I unwind my window asking "what the bloody hell you playing at"  his reply is a load of abuse with "your tailgating me" chucked in there for his rationale.  After describing his driving to him and explaining that my "tailgating" was a result of nearly hitting him and vice versa the car behind me hitting me all due to his breaking, the only answer he could give me was that it was a 20MPH Zone. I of course smugly pointed to the big tal post with 30 written in big writing, as they do! I then asked why he was doing 40 odd which he couldnt answer either funnily enough..... despite all this the old boy continued to shout, scream, spit in my face and threaten me stating it was all my fault...

At this point Ive had enough... my patience is depleated and I reach boiling point... So in good old fashioned manner I pull out all the stops and wheel spin off and around his parked mondeo off into the night....

Anyway the point of this is... I think the OP of this post was right to overtake and I would have done the same :)


opinions welcomed :)

[RedRobin]

Jumping way back to Robin's comment about boiling with frustration & being patient I found my self in a bit of a tizz wazz last night on the road..

So there I am driving along in a 30 mph zone, heavily built upl.................................. So with that opinion in mind and the mondeo driver coming to an almost complete halt supposidly due to the car approaching him on the other side of the road I decided to give him a couple of flashes and a good old fashioned beep of the horn in addition to some F-ing and blinding, of course.

Now on this note, The mondeo stops fully and some old boy jumps (thats generous), clambers out and approaches my window giving me what for.... I unwind my window asking "what the bloody hell you playing at"  his reply is a load of abuse with "your tailgating me" chucked in there for his rationale.  After describing his driving to him and explaining that my "tailgating" was a result of nearly hitting him and vice versa the car behind me hitting me all due to his breaking, the only answer he could give me was that it was a 20MPH Zone. I of course smugly pointed to the big tal post with 30 written in big writing, as they do! I then asked why he was doing 40 odd which he couldnt answer either funnily enough..... despite all this the old boy continued to shout, scream, spit in my face and threaten me stating it was all my fault...

opinions welcomed :)

....I once witnessed, in broad daylight in a traffic queue in Fulham Road (Chelsea again, cos I lived there for 25 years), a similar incident where one driver got impatient with another and got out to give him some verbal abuse....  But the other geezer, calm as a cucumber got out of his car, went to his boot and got out a crow bar. The first guy scurried back to his car, got in and locked his car doors. The guy with the crow bar, still as cool as a cucumber, calmly walked around the front of the other car and smashed both headlights with the crow bar. He then walked calmly back to his own car and no more was said or done!

I have witnessed other similar incidents over the years and automatically do not exchange any verbal niceties with other road users even if I think they are a '@*&%!!' - Always best to ignore, especially as there are quite a lot of idiots driving cars out there, well actually, they're not driving but just travelling.

So my opinion is that's it's best to always stay calm and patient on the road, whatever else is going on - You never know who you are dealing with or how they may react.

[JackG]

I couldn't agree more with robins comment on "you don't know who they are and how there react"

we all loose our temper and it's hard to keep it bottled but it is for the best most of the time.
we love our cars and that's half the reason I try to keep cool,  if somone damaged my car due to my temper I'd feel a right fool.
plus you don't know who it is and that's the scary part,  could be a massive MMA cage fighter,  a mental person,  could be anyone
I say this but there does come a point were we just erupt 

[Hedge]

I quite like hurling abuse out of the window in Summer. Quite often they hear you and acknowledge they were in the wrong.

Those that don't either have their window shut or must be deaf. 

[jonnym]

Had a lady yesterday just park her car half in half out a bus stop blocking the road. Traffic is backed up on the other side and gap is pretty small and I don't fancy my chances. Husband gets out to go to the bank, lady puts the hazards on. I shake my head, the guy in his X5 on the opposite side just smiles at me as he knows what's just happened. A big truck behind me pulls up and sounds his loud fog horn type thing after sitting for a few seconds after also realising that she has single-handedly caused a massive traffic jam. I make an attempt to nudge past thinking she may well realise the chaos she has just created, even though there is no way i'll fit though. Then all of a sudden, in stead of making a smooth straight pull away, her wheels are angled to the right and an abrupt pull away occurs for no reason. I guess she realised parking there wasn't a good idea, but in the process nearly collided with me. I was very calm and only raised my arms but she went on as if nothing had happened. The look on the guys face in the X5 was priceless!!

Hey ho. Live and learn.

[Hurdy]

Lol,

I've had a few incidents over the last 25 years driving, but the most recent was a chap who got out of his car in front of me, knocked on the window of my car and asked why I'd been flashing him! I simply replied " it's the automatic lights mate, they come on and go off  whenever they feel like it. He laughed, turned around, got into his car and drove off.

Luckily the MKVI doesn't seem to be so frenetic with the auto lights and they stay on longer before turning off again.

[RedRobin]

^^^^
That's why I never use the auto lights, John - They could easily be misinterpreted by another driver, such as him thinking you are flashing him that it's alright to leave the side road and drive into your path, simply because of continually changing light levels read by the auto lights robot. Not worth trusting IMO. But I don't even trust Cruise Control!

[MightyMullet]

I havent read all of is thread yet, but as far as im aware you do not have to stop for unmarked vehicles until you feel safe to do so, for example if your in the country, then drive to the nearest town and stop there.....dont wanna get your pride and joy stolen!

[RedRobin]

I havent read all of is thread yet, but as far as im aware you do not have to stop for unmarked vehicles until you feel safe to do so, for example if your in the country, then drive to the nearest town and stop there.....dont wanna get your pride and joy stolen!

....Unmarked Police cars still have sirens and flashing blue lights and I think you would be pretty stupid to ignore those. If an officer of the law instructs you to do something it's always best to do your very best to do so.

In my experience of being followed (as far as 10 miles on one occasion) an unmarked Police car won't put on his lights and ask you to stop until there's an obvious safe place for both of you to stop. I've never had the sirens put up on me and I've (so far!!) never been booked after being stopped by an unmarked car.

One unmarked BMW estate overtook me without cutting me up and had a sign in the rear window which said "FOLLOW ME". I gave him a thumbs up to let him know I would and pulled up behind him. He told me not to bother to get out of my car and just said to watch my speed - I had been in the 90's on a 70 dual carriageway.

I think that the unmarked guys are able to exercise more discretion and are also more likely to follow you for longer - A good thing because they can better assess your driving and that's what it should also be about, not just speed. Solo unmarked Police drivers usually are the more experienced guys too.

[Horatio]

SECTION 163 Road Traffic Act state that only an officer in full uniform can stop a vehicle. That is why the legislation has not been changed to protect the likes of diplomats and high value individuals from being targeted by criminals posing as police.

[RedRobin]

SECTION 163 Road Traffic Act state that only an officer in full uniform can stop a vehicle. That is why the legislation has not been changed to protect the likes of diplomats and high value individuals from being targeted by criminals posing as police.

....Okay, but are you advising drivers not to stop when an unmarked Police car being driven, as far as you can see, by a guy in a dark blue woolly jumper, puts on his blues and/or twos?

[Horatio]

Of course not Robin, that would be foolish 

...but I knew it prompt such a response from yourself...I couldnt resist..sorry
 

[jonnym]

SECTION 163 Road Traffic Act state that only an officer in full uniform can stop a vehicle. That is why the legislation has not been changed to protect the likes of diplomats and high value individuals from being targeted by criminals posing as police.

....Okay, but are you advising drivers not to stop when an unmarked Police car being driven, as far as you can see, by a guy in a dark blue woolly jumper, puts on his blues and/or twos?

But what constitutes full uniform! Case law recently has shown that wearing a stab with police on is full uniform - and that is what GMP do. Unmarked vehicles with completed plain clothed officers are different as if you fail to stop for them you actually don't commit any offence.

In practice though, as RR said, *most* unmarked vehicles will indicate for you to stop in a suitable location. If you don't feel happy, don't stop but make it clear you know that their there and phone 999. Or drive to a local busy-ish area. There have been no prosecutions to date of those who fail to stop because they are unsure as to whether said vehicle is actually a police vheicle (again you need to make it clear that you know that they may want to speak to you - so hazards/phone...something). It definately isn't in the public interest to prosecute - even if the officers are in uniform. It would be an offence if you decide to increase your speed and make off!

[RedRobin]

^^^^
Yes, I think it's really all a simple matter of common sense 

Oh, and Horatio....................   

And there I was, trying my best to answer your post with polite respect. I owe you one!