[Spridgets] Speeding

Robert Bruce Evans b-evans at earthlink.net
Sat Aug 25 09:58:39 MDT 2007


Daniel wrote:  "Well, it is a nice fast stretch of road ............."

When I read about this the other day, I immediately thought of the idiot copper in Shropshire who was caught driving his Vauxhall Vectra police car at the previous record speeds consistently over 100 mph, peaking at 159 mph in the wee hours of the morning.  Caught when other officers saw the tape made by speed cameras in the car itself, charges were filed and the copper hauled into court.  He told the judge he had merely "taken the car out to assess its capabilities."

Although the judge admitted that the bonehead had driven at "eye-watering" speeds, he found him not guilty, and then went on to criticize the police for the investigation!  Not surprisingly there was a public outcry not only from road safety groups, but from the father of a girl who had lost a leg when hit by a speeding police car.  "There was one rule for us and one for them," the father complained.

http://tinyurl.com/yvuyrs

I believe if you check your own state's vehicle code, you will find that police officers are required to observe ALL traffic laws unless in hot pursuit or given an emergency assignment authorizing red light and siren (Code 3).  Personally, I got sufficient adrenaline in the pursuits.  When in the police academy, the CHP traffic instructor told us, "I guarantee that within a year, one of you will be involved in an accident when you did not observe that law."  Sure enough, it happened in five months, and the guy was out of a job.

Buster Evans


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