He is a highly trained and ecperienced police driver. There are special provisions in law that allow police (and other emergency services) to exceed speed limits when necessary. The court accepted that part of this is the need for high speed drivers to understand how their vehicles behave at such speeds.
Police Speeding 831inappropriate Er, no. Inappropriate speed is dangerous no matter whether the speed is inappropriately fast or inappropriately slow for the conditions at the...
Police Speeding 835Pre-speed cameras, the national road rest toll reduced year on year. This was attributed to improvements in vehicle safety and medical advances. Coincident with the widespread introduction of speed cameras in...
And the proof of the pudding? He didn't hit anything and nobody was hurt. So he was driving safely.
Almost certainly not. But then, what reasons would they have to do so? It isn't their job to catch crimials driving high powered cars at illegal speeds.
Yet on Gernan autobahns it is commonplace. And their accident statistics aren't that much worse than ours.
If there is nobody else there it doesn't matter. if there is it is a different matter, but I would expect an advanced police driver to make allowances and slow down if there were other vehicles around.
There is a lot of difference between driving on a race track and dricing on a public road. Criminals in getaway cars are not normally driving on racetracks.
I had driven on racetrack, and indeed won races before I was old enough to drive on public roads, but when I did I basicslly had to start again and learn a whole different technique. Driving on racetracks is totally about getting the best from the vehicle. On public roads it is about making progress safely and without endangering others. The two are very different.
But having now seen photos of the road in question, it looks more like a 50 limit road than a 30 limit (but since I don't know the road I cannot really comment on the reasons for the 30 limit0. It certainly wasn't a city street.
I prefer the alternative approach. That nobody should be sent doen simply for driving at a set speed. Causing an accident by excessive speed (for the conditions) is a different matter though.
Yes, it is difficult because some drivers who don't have the skills to drive safely at high speed s would be tempted to do so. It is all about drivers knowing their limitations, and sadly, many don't.
An aritrary speed limit does nothing to help. Some drivers are dangerous at 20mph. Others are safe at 159mph. Personally i would never attempt to drive at anything like 159mph on a public road, and it is not fear of prosecution that deters me. I could equally well be procsecuted for driving at much lower speeds in a city street. It is knowing that I do not have the skills to drive safely at that speed. Preserving my own life is much more important to me than the fear of prosecution.
There are two ways to deal with dangerous drivers. One is to teach them to drive more safely (and that does not necessarily mean more slowly). The other is to prevent them from driving at all. I infinitely prefer the former apprach, the latter should only be used as a last resort.
Mr Milton is probably one of the best drivers on the British roads. Banning him from driving, when there are so many bumbling idiots about who keep driving simply becuase they stay within the speed limits is not in the best interests of road safety IMO.
Martin
-- Created on the Iyonix PC - the world's fastest RISC OS computer.
