Alan MaC

I was in South Wales on a job earlier this week and, a couple of things happened that made me more than ever suspicoius of PLOD>


I was coming up to a Round about & spotted in my rear mirror headlights.

It made me notice the car.

It was a Volvo.

It was Joe Public driving it.

A little further on, I noticed another Volvo which I overtook.

I looked into it & there were 2 Plods in it.

Guess what??

No safety Daylights on as per all (or most that I have seen in my travels) Volvo's.

I got to the next Round About & there was a MARKED PLOD VOLVO ESTATE with NO DAYLIGHT HEADLIGHTS ON!!!

You have to ask yourself, why Mr Average JOE BLOGGS VOLVO DRIVER has his SAFETY DAYLIGHT HEADLIGHTS ON AND PLOD doesn't.


I an convinced PLOD doesn't give Jack Sh*T about ROAD SAFETY ANYMORE BUT, hitting Targets & nicking the Motorist> is his/her new ambition in life.

OR have I got it wrong??

Any similar sightings from SN Members gratefully received.

Regards

Alan MaC

LUCKO

iTrader: (3)

do you live in Sweden ?

Volvos a plenty

Alan MaC

Nah.

Worcs.

Point is Plod doesn't want you to notice him.


Regards



Alan MaC

g7prs

iTrader: (5)

Well from what you have posted they are having the opposite effect, we now know if you see a volvo with out lights on during the daytime its the plod.

richs2891

I think that your correct - nothing to do with road safetly now (unless an accident and then its speed related / speeding as the cause) - they just have target to meet and are told what that the weeks / months targets are and they have to fullil them.
Most of them are simply speeding as its the easist to do and least hassle / makes the figures look good.

The amount of times I have been driving and seen clearly un road worthy cars going around or blatent lane hogging and seen plod coming along and pull someone for speeding and ignore the others.

Richard

JRFRACE

anyone can have the lights set so they don't come on all the time, but most volvo owners just have them as per delivery

Luther

iTrader: (13)

Traffic Offences don't count as 'Sanctioned Detections' in plod world so don't earn jack sh*t in terms of figures....

One traffic officer could give out twenty (traffic-related) tickets or nick ten drunk drivers yet he still has a 'lower performance figure' (as defined by Home Office Stats) than a beat officer who nicks a shoplifter.....

Welcome to the world of Government Targets.....

Luther

iTrader: (13)

As for the headlights..... they have to be switched 'off' on normal daytime duty as when the blue lights go on, you get the alternating headlight flash as seen on most police cars....

If the headlights are on the headlight flashers don't work hence why the volvos have to be converted back to an 'off' position....

Take a look at the headlights of marked police cars at night when the drive past on blues.... you'll see what I mean.

GC8

Youd expect drunk drivers to count, considering that theyre arrested and its a criminal offence rather than a traffic offence...

Alan MaC

Luther 999,

Not sure what you mean?

As I said, I saw 2 Plods that day (as I was looking out for them after that).

1 was a marked Car the other unmarked.

Either way, my perception is they don't want to be noticed (Cars are now Silver instead of white, Lorry Drivers in a recent survey said, the colour of cars that were invisible to them wetre slver!)

Are you saying that unmarked ones should have the dayliught lights on then?


Regards.


Alan MaC

GC8

They buy silver cars because the residuals are better (surely silver or white doesnt make much difference when its lit up like a Christmas tree?) and even the few cars with GB plates and Motorway Maintenance stickers are easy to spot if you are observant. I really dont think that turning the day running lights off jeopardises safety: Id certainly do it if I owned a Volvo and Im sure that you would too. Neither of us live in Scandinavia after all.....

Now: I might be missing you point, because neither post is particularly easy to read, But Alan, I think that youre being paranoid!

Alan MaC

Didn't mean to be.

It was something I spotted & was curious about.

The point I was trying to make was, Volvo is marketed as a very safe car.

It has daylight lights on to be noticed in daylight, be it clear or dull.


I'm pretty sure most Volvo drivers keep the lights on here in the UK.

My perception as I said, was I wonder why Plod doesn't want to be seen?

Regards

Alan MaC

Luther

iTrader: (13)

You'd think that wouldn't you.... Sadly not

Luther

iTrader: (13)

Correct. Silver cars have a better resale value.

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

Volvo have in the past 10 years at least, given the driver the option of switching off the sidelights by means of a switch. I switched mine off when I had one, as they are a waste of time in the UK. What exactly are you implying?

Alan MaC

Implying Plod

has switched his off to blend into the background (Both Marked & unmarked cars).

so you don't spot them.

A I have said, I'm pretty sure Civilian Volvo Drivers in the UK leave theirs on, inn the intersts of being highly visible.

Regards



Alan MaC

SmileyScooby

I guess that they are just doing their job but ...on another note....I regularly see plod cars:
-parked on double yellows, with no apparant incident at that position (aren't they double because it is dangerous to park there?)

- going atleast 35/40 in 30 zones and 45/50 in 40 zones.....especially know they are doing it when its a 40 Dual and they go past me and I'm doing 40....no blues&twos....no apparant rush to a scene....just blatant speeding!

- driving whilst one hand on chest mounted talkie(you can even see footage of this on the Police shows, RoadWars/Police Camera Action...etc) and talking aswell! Erm....are they superhuman so laws don't apply to them or are they braking the law?
- driving around(in marked cars) at night with BOTH rear lights broken....see alot with one broken...but have seen a few with BOTH!!!

Am I being picky or is every single point something that we would get pulled for?
Especially the walkie-talkie...I understand that they need to radio in certain vital information...ofcourse they do...they are performing a highly skilled, dangerous and important role in society but its the politics of it that gets me....

'we are told' that driving whilst using one hand to operate a 'mobile communication device' is extremely dangerous and that this, combined with the mental distraction of the communication in question, can lead to loss of vehicle control and can cause serious accidents.

Now, if plod are humans like me and you....if they have equal, slightly more advanced or less advanced brains than me and you.....if they have only two arms and hands like me and you....if they have the same focal span over the road ahead as me and you AND if they are driving on the public highway like me and you.........

HOW are they able to bypass the apparant fatal dangers that entail using such a 'mobile communication device'????

Also, sometimes, they are dicing with death whilst travelling at extremely high speeds!

They can't deny it....its even on the TV!!!

SmileyScooby

I am not knocking what the police do....we do need them around but I despise our government telling us that what we do is dangerous but its maybe not dangerous for everyone?

Also, if there is a plod off duty...can he use a normal mobile whilst driving?
Also, if we mount our 'mobile communication devices' on our chest...is it then safe and legal?

Luther

iTrader: (13)

Can't defend any of these actions.... so I won't....

Any plod on here to 'explain' these?

I was only trying to explain how traffic officers have a role to play in the grand scheme of policing.... traffic offences are just that.....'traffic' offences.... and are considered lesser offences when compared to criminal offences.

Take a look at regular beat or response officers and how, more likely than not, they'd use discretion and words of advice for traffic matters rather than getting the old pen out... These officers are the ones with targets and unfortunately (or fortunately) traffic offences don't earn them points towards there targets...

I've discussed this many times with one of my closest mates who is ex-traffic from Cambridge.... He's now back on a response team and finds the whole target system stifling and stressful compared to his days on traffic....

The above of course is all MY opinion and my perception of things so I stand to be corrected.... Fortunately, I've always been treated well my local officers (Met) so can't complain.

Luther

iTrader: (13)

I just wanna add that with any organisation you'll always get good and bad.... the action of one bad officer doesn't reflect on them all.... Plod are human after all and even they make mistakes....