Arrogance

Back in 2022 I posted about people showing arrogance - they didn't seem to care about motoring law.

Today, I have two more examples (although the second one isn't strictly illegal - it's more a case of "Rules of the road")

Firstly, M'Lud, I give you these cyclists:

Four people who rather than queue up to turn right, went straight down the straight-ahead lane and then through the red traffic lights.

Unfortunately for them, there was an unmarked police car behind them and they all got fined.

Good.

Here is the full BBC story and the footage.

Meanwhile, don't we all hate BMW drivers who refuse to use their indicators?

Cop Out!

Crime prevention is much better than having to catch criminals.

And while it is a tad harsh to describe people committing certain motoring offences as "criminals", it is better to stop them committing the offences in the first place - hence lots of signs around warning drivers about speed cameras.

So I figured that crime prevention was behind the headline in drive.com.au that reads,

Police thwart speed camera revenue by warning motorists

But when you actually read the story, a very different narrative emerges.

It seems that the local state government enjoy the profits from the speed cameras in question and the Police are happy for motorists to speed because they get caught and pay fines.

Although, at the  moment, they are getting motorists to slow down to cut the income from the fines going to a party that they are in dispute with.  The dispute is, as is often the case, about wage levels and since they can't take strike action, this has proven to work in the past so they are giving it another go.

Apparently, another tactic in the battle is "an automated voice when a police station is phoned" - not sure what the automated voice is going to say but given that the state in question is Victoria, I hope it mentions Victorian Values.

Now, as a bit of a Leftie, I tend to be on the side of the disgruntled employee - and as a motorist, I'm happy to be warned about the presence of speed cameras.  Although, as a Volvo driver, I am concerned about the safety element of wanting people to speed.  Although, if you are going to speed, you need to do it in a safe car like a Volvo.  Although BMWs are safe too - as long as you don't write slogans across the rear window.

Although the biggest take from this story is...

THEY ARE DEFINITLEY SPEED CAMERAS NOT SAFETY CAMERAS.

Why Not to Post Pictures of Your Dinner

That's not my dinner by the way.  I wish it was - I like meatballs.  It was the first picture that came up when I searched for "Dinner" in Google Images.  It's owned by the BBC and I have a TV Licence so I hope they don't mind me using it.

But I digress.

I very rarely go on to the Liverpool Echo Website (or any of the other Trinity Mirror Newspaper ones)  They tend to be unreadable due to the invasive advertising but a particular headline piqued my interest and I've discovered that if you go on there using Internet Explorer, the adverts don't work so you can actually read the stories.  Most of the photos don't work either but I checked on Chrome and there are no gory pictures of the crash in the particular headline I'm on about.

Here's the headline:

'Hungry' police officer crashes after using blue lights to 'get home for tea'

And here is the story.

A 'tired and hungry' police officer put on his blue lights 'without reason' after his wife sent a picture of his tea on the table.  He switched on his emergency lights, drove at speeds up to 80 mph, ran a red light and then crashed into a BMW.

It's a shame because he had had a long day working and he has a distinguished career, first in The RAF  and then in The Police.  It appears to be a one-off mistake, but since he could have killed someone, it is right that he was punished.  He admitted one count of dangerous driving, was disqualified from driving for 12 months and was handed a 12-month community order. He must also carry out 40 hours of unpaid work and must pass an extended driving test before he will be allowed back on the roads. The officer was also ordered to pay the prosecution costs.

His job is on the line - I hope he doesn't lose it.

On top of all this, I bet his tea was cold when he finally got home.

Greater Manchester Police Lamborghini Collection

They've collected three in the last week or so.

This is the latest:

The BBC story is here.

 

The idiot driving it turned up at GMP to pick up an uninsured car that had been seized.  The Police noticed that he wasn't insured to drive it so seized it too.

 

Now it just needs a paint job and some flashing lights and they can be like the Dubai Police: 

Darting About After Criminals

Here is a Daimler Dart Police Pursuit vehicle:

Very useful for car chases in the '60s.

 

But nowadays, cars are faster, crims are meaner and there are a lot more cars on the road.

 

Which is why this looks like such a good idea: 

Autoguide pointed me at it from here.  The official Website is here.

Alternatively, Police Forces could always bring along one of these guys when they have a pursuit:

Hot Wheels

I've never seen Days of Thunder.

So I didn't know who Rowdy Burns was when he was mentioned in this Car+Driver story.

It is about the overnight theft of 192 wheels and tyres from the cars in a Texas car lot:

I guess they aren't big on locking wheelnuts over there.

The article also mentions "Robin Reliants" - I guess I should be impressed that Americans have even heard of the Reliant Robin, even if they can't get the name right. They do some sums in the article too:

Considering the approximately four-hour window that the police figure it took to perpetrate the crime, that’s a theft rate of one wheel every 1.25 minutes. And the thieves removed nearly 1000 lug nuts in the dark. Whoever the perps are, clearly Rowdy Burns needs to hire these guys.

Hence the Rowdy Burns comment - I had already decided Christian Horner would be interested in them.

The article also makes the very good point that they must have been packing plenty of spare battery packs for the cordless impact guns that were used in the heist. Imagine trying to do that using a wheel brace or with cables trailing all over the place.

Now the thieves have to try and sell the wheels on knowing that the Police will be out looking for them:

Oops!

Electric Avenue

There are four Consecutive Electric Car stories in Autoguide at the moment:

1.Thunder Power EV from Taiwan has Impossible 373-Mile Range

The headline sums it up really.  This teaser photo (I hate teaser photos by the way) makes it look a bit TVR Sagaris-ish with 1990s Peugeot back lights.  But surely it has the wrong name?  Thunder is the noisy bit of thunder & lightning, not the electric bit.

2. BMW i3 Undergoes Evaluation with LA Police Department

BMW have loaned the LAPD an i3.  I think it looks like a cow.

3.Announcement on Return of Volkswagen Microbus Coming in 2016

This will be an electric vehicle related to the electric Bulli concept from last year.  There will also be conventionally powered versions.

4.2016 Dodge Charger Pursuit Adds Innovative New Technologies

Another Police car story.  And this one looks tasty - nothing like a cow.  Although I suppose cows are tasty once converted into beef.  But surely this isn't an electric car?

Well, no it isn't.

But all these electric cars will need a charger.

Save The Panda

No, not either of these types of panda.

No, I'm talking about the good old-fashioned Police Panda Car, originally black and white (hence the name) although the ones I remember were always turquoise and white. Some police forces would buy a white car and a turquiose car and simply swap over the doors to get something like this...>Mind you, I always preferred the "Jam Buttie Cars"...These were used for higher-speed work where the pandas stuck to towns. I typed "Jam Buttie Cars" into Google Images and as well as that rather excellent Triumph 2500, up came a picture of Norris from Coronation Street - my favourite Corrie character since Blanche died but probably not relevant to this post.


Anyway, why am I rabbiting on about Police Cars?

Because of this article today from BBC News. It states that all UK Police Forces will now use the same livery and only buy vehicles from Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot or Hyundai for panda-ish work. Then from Volvo, BMW and Audi for high-speed work and finally from "Jaguar, Iveco and VW should forces decide they need other types of vehicles including motorbikes, vans and armoured VIP saloons." This excludes the Japanese and the Italians so I guess there'll never now be a Fiat Panda Panda Car. With the exception of Hyundai, most of these vehicles will be built in the EU so that's a good thing and presumably, these manufacturers have done the best deals to get the sort of mass-volume sales national police vehicles will provide. so it's a win-win.

Well almost.

No Italian choices does prevent us seeing one of these on British roads...