H7

From the Inverness Courier, a top police driving instructor has been banned for driving at 121mph when off-duty. Given that this guy is probably one of the most highly trained drivers in the country, what difference does it make whether he was on, or off, duty? Or has he upset someone?

NACRO

He deserves what he got- if he's off duty then he has to be treated the same as anyone else. Might teach some other police officers a lesson.

H7

Fair do's, but how does being off-duty make his driving "dangerous" when he should be one of the safest guys in the country? The implication is that driving at that speed is dangerous, so do all police traffic drivers drive dangerously? Or do they do so only when off-duty?

NACRO

He was breaking the law and I presume at that speed dangerous driving is the most serious offence they can charge you with. If he wasn't on duty it was dangerous- following the letter of the law. I imagine if they'd caught a professional racing driver doing the same speeds he would have been done for the same offence- despite it not being inherently dangerous.

H7

Fair comment.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Of course, that's the whole point - whether a particular driver doing 121mph is actually dangerous or not has nothing whatsoever to do with what the law says or whether he's on duty or not. The only difference is that when he's on duty, the law assumes that the danger to the public is justified and that it is mitigated by the driver's advanced training.

Tiggs

yeah.....and lets let the firearms blokes take their guns to the pub with them

kend

If he had been on duty at this speed, chances are would have had lights and sirens going, so giving everyone else on the road fair warning.

BuRR

We're all assuming he is a police officer here aren't we - West Yorkshire use some civilian instructors.

Scooby96

Civvy or not he was speeding and should be dealt with like anyone else doing that speed!

BuRR

I wan't saying he shouldn't

Scooby96

An 18 month ban does seem excessive though!

jjones

he broke the law, he got punished. simple.

Poor Guy

i must say that from my experience i'd rather have him doing 120mph than me doing 70mph.

If he's one of the top in the UK he's a better driver than anybody here. so no one here can really say whether he was driving dangerously.

Jye.

You might be dangerouse at 70mph but I no Im not, that instructor was driving dangerouse that is a fact.

Katana

Had he been anyone else but a police instructor I bet half of you would be angry of the verdict..

Numptie

Talking of motoring offences in the Inverness area, this is a cracker.

Three-and-a-half times the limit at half past nine in the morning !

scoobynutta555

It would be better if he was banned for life. Anyone driving at those speeds is a danger to life and limb, even if the road is empty.

What utter crap.

And I dont see many posseys of schoolkids walking around on empty motorways when i go OVER 120 mph.

Dazza01

It doesn't matter who the hell he is, what job he does,whether or not he's the best driver in the world the fact remains this guy was doing 121mph , WTF would have happened if some dear old lady had pulled out in front of him ?? at those speeds he wouldn't have been able to do **** all about it and probs would have ended up causing a serious accident maybe even death.

100mph+ = BAN

stormyuklondon1

katana, you couldnt be more correct. how many people that will comment on this saying " ******* good, thats one old bill sorted out,glad they threw the book at him" and yet will bitch n moan when it happens to a civvie?[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]
bloke got what he deserved as far as im concerned, as does anyone else that gets caught doing 50 mph over the speed limit.

Dracoro

Back to the legal point.

Off-duty, he is a civilian and thus cannot exceed the speed limit.
On-duty, he is a policeman who, by law, is allowed to exceed the speed limit (under certain circumstances etc.).

That's my take anyway.

Anyway, without knowing the road in question, which part of it, the road conditions, the visibility, the busy-ness of the road etc. I, and all of you lot, can't really pass judgement on whether is was dangerous or not (although in this case, the courts did find him guilty, but that aside for the moment ). Unless any of you actually believe that it's perfectly safe to drive at 70 and dangerous to drive at 71+ that is!

lmsbman

This situation shows that the law is an ***. As no doubt most of you agree, speed in itself is not necessarily dangerous. There are a lot of other prevailing factors that need to be taken into account. No other factors have been reported here so I presume he was found guilty on the speed alone.How can it be dangerous for this man today because he hasn't got his uniform on, but tomorrow it will be ok?

I think the bloke is a fool for driving at that speed and then trying to claim he was test-driving the car. He gets paid to drive/instruct and has a legal exemption to speed limits when he is at work. Why take the risk when he's off duty?

In my opinion, he should have been done for speeding. At that speed he should receive a hefty ban. I do not think with the evidence thats come to light, that he should have been prosecuted for dangerous driving.

Spoon

Hark at the majority of poncey replies on here.

Forget the fact the guy might have been a Policeman or a civvy.

The speed was excessive but nothing, I repeat nothing extraordinary. Without knowing the road and conditions etc I can't comment on the rights or wrongs but in my opinion he was unlucky.

Had the guy been known to the officers who stopped him then shame on them for not just letting him know it wasn't a wise speed to be travelling at.
This is the big problem will all face today when stopped for breaking the speed limit, NO DISCRETION..

Most posts seem to gloat on the fact he was caught by his own and can't see he is a very experienced driver caught be "programmed" Police officer who isn't allowed or won't apply discretion.

We all as drivers need to fight that.

Edited to say after reading the article it was a Ross conspiracy.


[Edited by Spoon - 1/20/2004 1:30:15 PM]

ajm

Right, firstly to those who havn't read the article - he IS a police officer

Secondly - despite this I think a year and a half ban is outragously over the top, especially as he will most likely lose his job as well. To charge him with *dangerous* driving as opposed to speeding seems wholey inappropriate given his experience.

Thirdly - I guess it does prove that the police don't "look after their own" as much as is commonly thought.

Spoon

It was a woman who stopped him though and maybe it's because he wouldn't do her or maybe he did do her and didn't do it properly, so she was getting revenge?

Still unlucky.

12LEE

@ some of the force on here... I thought it was the case that certain grades of police driving instructors were exempt from speed limits. Can recall reading this somewhere in an interview with some instructor bird.

Diablo

What a bunch of absolute hypocrites [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

There are many bits of the A9 where it is quite safe to all except the driver/passengers and any stray highland coos to exceed 120 mph, assuming fair weather and visibility.

Getting caught was the bloke's crime here...

D

Dazza01

Thats bad luck then,the fool shouldn't have been doing that speed then should he, if ur job relies on your licence then IT'S UR OWN FAULT IF YOU GET BANNED.

HE KNOWS THE LAW, COS IS IS THE LAW 100mph + U GET A BAN

johnfelstead

120MPH is not that quick for a modern car, 150MPH isnt that quick either. To say it is "dangerous" to drive at that speed as fact is rediculous. There are places in Europe where driving at 120MPH would be very slow, it's all about the conditions and circumstances that dictate how "dangerous" speed is.

The guy broke the law for this country though, so he can expect to be prosecuted if caught, but it's a nonsense to asume 120MPH = Dangerous.

Diablo

Its pretty clear to me that many of those posting with criticism have no idea what many of the roads in Scotland are like.

You can go for miles on the A9 without seeing another car/person/house.

I've seen 130 plus on bits of that road and passengered at 160 in perfect safety other than to myself and the aforementioned cows.

D