pbee

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2003 10:27 am

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How common is the use of police helicopters to trap speeding motorists.

Whilst travelling along the m62 I desperatly needed the toilet. I was breaking the speed limit (for a dhort period) before turning off into a services at this point a police helicopter flew over head.

After relieving myself I carried on my journey at the regulation limit. a few miles or so down the road the helicoptor was hovering above the road and turned and flew after I came into view.

am I done for ??

cheers

Peter

pugoetru

doubt it unless you stole the car you were in

or robbed a bank

SiPie

Nope you ain't done

It's hard fo them to see your number plates from abover yer head

PS next time you get chased head for the nearest Airport as they can't fly their chopper into busy Air space

IanW

However it is not impossible!

How long has it been since this happened?

Tiggs

PS next time you get chased head for the nearest Airport as they can't fly their chopper into busy Air space.


pop quiz...whos been watching toooo many movies!

pugoetru

lol

mitch779

Could be done, I know that Dyffdd Powys poilce us their choppper on the weekends to combat speeding motorcyclists in the area.And this is fairly well documented

mitch

SiPie

pugoetru

apart from the target on your roof what makes you think
they were following you
could have been anyone

T.C

Thames Valley regularly use the Parrafin Budgie as part of their speed enforcement campaign on the M4 and M40.

Vehicles are identified quite easily, and many are fitted with Vascar and it is simply a case of passing a message to a nearby colleague on the ground or the usual routine of sending out the NIP within 14 days.

I am not saying it is used all the time, and it is more than likely in your case they were dealing with another job and it just happened to be coincidence, but the budgie can and is used from time to time for speed enforcement.

P1Fanatic

I personally dont see how a chopper is calibrated to track the speed of a car accurately enough to prove it in court. Does anyone on here know of someone whose been done speeding by a chopper - cos I for one havent.

Simon.

IanW

The helicopter (if equipped with it) could use the 'Police Pilot' system using the markings on the road to time the taken to travel a pre determined distance using some markings that the majority of major roads have.

skiddus_markus

It doesn't have to be calibrated(it probably has satnav anyway)as it just has to time you between 2 points-say bridges.The distances between these will be known or easily found out.

P1Fanatic

Hmm there is an article on BBC site that suggests they might, although it does say they monitored driving standards and speed but not that thats what caught them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2898909.stm

Simon.

T.C

There are various ways in which the systems used can be employed for speed enforcement.

As already mentioned the markings on the road, fixed points, Sat/Nav and, and, and.

Once upon a time the observers seat used to be crewed by a Traffic officer and we used to do six months at a time. Because of our status all we had to do was form an opinion that a vehicle was exceeding the speed limit and then use the appropriate equipment to confirm or corroborate the speed. There was never any problem in court and it is now a lot more sophisticated then it was 7 or 8 years ago when I was a regular observer.

P1Fanatic

Well I stand to be corrected then. Makes you wonder how long it is before the name police is abolished and they are called the Speed Regulaters. FFS using a chopper that could be doing other stuff to catch speeders. Some kid involved in an RTA dies because a police chopper that could have helped him was somewhere else catching speeders and couldnt get there in time.

Simon.

AndiThompson

You seriously think they'd stay doing a speed trap if someone was dying and needed their help?

Pete Croney

At around £1000 per hour to put a Police Eurocopter in the air, is this a cost effective way of catching people speeding?

P1Fanatic

Andi - reread my post, thats not what I said. I said what happens if a chopper is in Area 1 busy catching speeders when an accident occurs in Area 2. OK they will get the call but they could be 5 minutes too late due to their position/distance from the accident. Admittedly that could be the case for any callout but I really dont think they should be used to generate the police/govt more money when they can be used to save lives.

Simon.

medders

Course they would Andy. As everyone on here knows thats all every copper does nowadays........

pugoetru

ka ching ka ching

yoza

If when you left the services (Burtonwood I believe), and you returned to your car to find there was a ARV team assembled around it, thats when you know youve been rumbled.

Until then chill, sorry what where you doing again?

pbee

after a dodgy fish supper i was steaming to the services to prevent a brownage disaster before a lunch time meeting.

stupid really I saw the chopper heading the other direction ( I wasnt speeding at this point). and didnt think much of it, got the rumble of potential disaster and headed for the services.

i wouldnt be concerened except for when I resumed driving they were hovering above the central reservation a few miles down the road, pointing in my direction and flew off when I reached them.

damn I have had the scoob 3 months and I dread to think what points / ban will do to the insurance hope this doesnt end the ownership prematurely.

this will mess with my karma for the next 14 days.

what are the fines now for doing between 90-105 mph is a ban on the cards ??. a month or so i can handle any longer could make me unemployed as well.

^Qwerty^

The only place I understand that they can't follow you is in the immediate area around Heathrow, and that will only be down to the volume of traffic, and not the restriction on airspace.

I'm pretty sure the pilot of the police helicopter will have the appropriate rating to enable him/her to fly in Class A airspace. It's down to the ATC unit as to where they can go within that airspace.

yoza

Who mentioned helicopter evasion...........pls discuss.

Ex_Pug

lol @ Parrafin Budgie, not heard that one before!

T.C

Thats years old

^Qwerty^

3rd post

SiPie

Twas me and twas taking the p1ss

I ain't exactly an Einstein but I would figure that if the crime was deemed that serious then Mr Plod would be able to follow you into certain airspace and failing that he would have you pretty well cornered until you dumped yer motor and walked out the other side of the 'no fly zone'

However, on a more serious note.... if chased by a helicopter then just hit it with your 'on board anti - aircraft missile launcher' (located next to your brightness button)

Spoon

Obviously couldn't follow him into the poo house so perhaps that's the best place to head?

Maybe George Michael mis-read that advice and thought it said " the best place to give head".

Seriously though, you see the filled in square boxes painted in the centre of the road that the Budgies use to track your speed.