Police Speeding Advice!

Wanderer

Member
Messages
5,791
I never ever move onto a kerb or pavement or into a Bus Lane or across a red light line when the Blue and Two's are egging me on to move out the way. Nope! I just sit and let him manoeuvre around me as cars behind and in front mount the pavement/kerb/enter bus lane and edge forward over the red light stop line and trigger the camera and enter a box junction and get nabbed by a camera surveillance unit out to nab some b4st$rd who enters the box junction when their exit is not clear (except of course when turning right when it is permitted to enter the box junction). The blues and twos guy can jump up and down, can stick two fingers up in the windscreen which I can see in my rear view mirror - but I ain't gonna move pal. The Ambulance guys are the most common blues and twos in my experience and the worst drivers compared to the Police. Fire Crews are not much better than Ambulance drivers - one came tearing out of a side road onto the main road where i had a green light and crashed straight into the near side of my Vauxhall Cavalier SRi company car back in 1986. The hassle between the company insurers and the local government insurer was a nightmare. Lesson learnt. Government vehicles insurance claims can be extremely prolonged bureaucratic nightmares - and they have to remember one simple rule - flashing blues and sounding twos does not give you a right to snow plough vehicles out of your way and must not encourage the driver to flout the law and compromise safety.
They're probs only collecting the pizza order for the station anyway.....
 

Scaf

Member
Messages
6,511
Unless you are a serial offender in that area, chances are you will chance to attend a speed awareness course - well one can always hope
 

Wack61

Member
Messages
8,764
Yup, I've had this too - advanced over the line at a red light to pull to one side to let an ambulance through and got a penalty when the camera was triggered.
The ambulance crews know to wait , I was at a set of lights a few weeks ago , nowhere I could go other than through a red light which in itself could lead to a crash so I just sat there , they had the lights flashing but no sirens on , just waiting , no attempt to influence me into going through

The guy in the car beside me was going nuts , on the horn, pointing at the ambulance , like I couldn't ******* see it, calling me all sorts for not letting it past, lights changed so I went through and pulled over.
 

mjheathcote

Centenary Club
Messages
9,033
Friend of mine got pulled over in his new Porsche 997 C2 a few years ago, passed an unmarked police car on the motorway 'rather fast'.
Was told he would probably lose his licence.
He knee jerked, phoned the Porsche dealer, they collected the car the following day, instantly loosing £8K in 4 weeks.
He never heard anything from the police....
When we questioned him about it (after we noticed the car had gone) they never showed him any evidence in the car of him speeding, never actually asked his name etc!
Basically they didn't have an evidence, and put the ***** up him!
 

Wack61

Member
Messages
8,764
That is an over reaction, losing your licence can be anything from a month to 5 years plus once you get it back while the points will still be there as far as insurance is concerned I believe you're back to a clean licence as far a totting up goes
 

TimR

Member
Messages
2,654
That is an over reaction, losing your licence can be anything from a month to 5 years plus once you get it back while the points will still be there as far as insurance is concerned I believe you're back to a clean licence as far a totting up goes
You are back to a clean licence. Insurers will stack the deck against you for the next five years however..
And even later, some ask if you've been disqualified, regardless it was over 5 years ago; at least, the way they word the instructions regarding declarations as the proposer, it seems clear they want to know ALL THE DIRT. "Tell us everything...just in case.'
If they bothered to speak to each other, theyd already know. Ive had new policies with a crew Im already using, and they dont seem to have much of a clue..?
Pretty **** cheeky if you ask me. Do the crime, done the time...still eating sh1t ! :alan:
 

GeoffCapes

Member
Messages
14,000
You are back to a clean licence. Insurers will stack the deck against you for the next five years however..
And even later, some ask if you've been disqualified, regardless it was over 5 years ago; at least, the way they word the instructions regarding declarations as the proposer, it seems clear they want to know ALL THE DIRT. "Tell us everything...just in case.'
If they bothered to speak to each other, theyd already know. Ive had new policies with a crew Im already using, and they dont seem to have much of a clue..?
Pretty **** cheeky if you ask me. Do the crime, done the time...still eating sh1t ! :alan:

The other one they now ask for is if you have been on a speed awareness course.

However, I checked that there is no legal requirement to own up to that, even if you have!
 
Messages
1,117
Can you confirm if attendance at a SAC is logged on any information database to which the insurers have no accessor means to find out (e.g. by a freedom of information request to a constabulary/ies). I'd be reluctant to not disclose it on this comment for fear that the insurer already knows the answer on their display screen before asking the question.
 

2b1ask1

Special case
Messages
20,220
My eldest is working for a very large Swiss insurance company and is actually working on the algorithms that analyse (in real-time) the answers you give during you phone calls, these repeatedly ask questions they have all the answers to in front of them, this is to allow the system to know truthful answers from 'fudged' ones and outright lies. Basically anything you have done or said to insurance companies in the last 10 years is shared information! It also goes across platforms so your house insurance is also shared with your holiday and motors... George Orwell couldn't have made this stuff up.
 

2b1ask1

Special case
Messages
20,220
Good morning/afternoon this is XYZ insurance how can I help you?
I'd like a quote for my car please?
Yes Sir, can I take your full name please?
Newton Alexander Ford = TRUE
Your DOB?
22/06/**** = TRUE
Etc...

Some time later...

What is the best price you have been quoted so far?
Eeerm, £380.00 = FALSE
 

TimR

Member
Messages
2,654
My eldest is working for a very large Swiss insurance company and is actually working on the algorithms that analyse (in real-time) the answers you give during you phone calls, these repeatedly ask questions they have all the answers to in front of them, this is to allow the system to know truthful answers from 'fudged' ones and outright lies. Basically anything you have done or said to insurance companies in the last 10 years is shared information! It also goes across platforms so your house insurance is also shared with your holiday and motors... George Orwell couldn't have made this stuff up.

That is quite worrying..!
If an insurer "okays" a policy based on what they know to be false information, that they then refuse to pay out on when a claim arises, they are surely not playing fair..?
TBH- It is a bit of a minefield in respect, Im certainly no expert as to the finer details ( eg- i believed I wouldnt have to fess up to a ban after 5 years... )

I also paid way over the odds based on mistaken details (works van...tools inside van at night and so on) Once this was cleared up, my premuims started to come down significantly !
I dont know how true this is but apparently, those who man the calls and talk you through the process, advise and take your details, and money, have one of the highest sense of "value" job satisfaction scores recorded...! :)
 

WaveyDavey

Junior Member
Messages
69
There's nothing particularly conspiratorial about it. An insurance premium reflects the insurer's assessment of the insured's probability of claiming (and the potential size of the claim).

Insurers are on a knife edge. Charge too high a premium and people go elsewhere - many offer the same fundamental service and comparison companies make it easy to, well... compare. Charge too little and you go out of business.

Everyone has an innate probability of claiming and the insurer's algorithms are looking for any data that can inform their estimate of that probability. Sometimes the link can seem tenuous, or even 'unfair'. In the example above, I assume they have established there is some correlation between those who are dishonest and those who are more likely to claim. Similarly, whether there is a 'requirement' for you to declare lapsed SAC attendance or not, it is clearly valuable information to an insurer - there's probably a strong correlation between speeding and crashing.*

* I know speeding does not automatically indicate unsafe driving or guarantee accidents, but nonetheless SAC attendance demonstrates you have sped and may be more likely to do so again. I'm sure if you took the group of non-speeders, and the group of speeders, all else being equal the latter group would probably have a higher instance of accidents.
 

Wack61

Member
Messages
8,764
As an aside I was talking to a guy today , one of his mates works for the police , they work out of a modern office building, all glass , apparently it's like a greenhouse in the summer , dotted around the office they have water coolers so at least they can get a cold drink, or they did , all removed , budget cuts.
Then this week he finds out they've just started someone in a part time position on £48,000 a year to keep their Facebook and twitter feeds updated.
 

Wanderer

Member
Messages
5,791
I attended a SAC once, I was late and had to drive like the clappers to get their on time,

Also I’d just changed my car, mentally aligned the MOT date with my old car, realised when I got home it was three months out of date...

Little victories...
 

sionie1

Member
Messages
1,310
Can you confirm if attendance at a SAC is logged on any information database to which the insurers have no accessor means to find out (e.g. by a freedom of information request to a constabulary/ies). I'd be reluctant to not disclose it on this comment for fear that the insurer already knows the answer on their display screen before asking the question.
"When applying for car insurance, insurers ask if you have any motoring convictions or prosecutions. As neither of these apply to drivers who have attended a speed awareness course, the Financial Ombudsman has confirmed that drivers attending a course can honestly answer 'No' to this question. This is from the Go Compare website. I was also told on a number of occasions whilst on a SAC that the insurance companies have no access to the data.
 

Wack61

Member
Messages
8,764
There's nothing particularly conspiratorial about it. An insurance premium reflects the insurer's assessment of the insured's probability of claiming (and the potential size of the claim).

Insurers are on a knife edge. Charge too high a premium and people go elsewhere - many offer the same fundamental service and comparison companies make it easy to, well... compare. Charge too little and you go out of business.

Everyone has an innate probability of claiming and the insurer's algorithms are looking for any data that can inform their estimate of that probability. Sometimes the link can seem tenuous, or even 'unfair'. In the example above, I assume they have established there is some correlation between those who are dishonest and those who are more likely to claim. Similarly, whether there is a 'requirement' for you to declare lapsed SAC attendance or not, it is clearly valuable information to an insurer - there's probably a strong correlation between speeding and crashing.*

* I know speeding does not automatically indicate unsafe driving or guarantee accidents, but nonetheless SAC attendance demonstrates you have sped and may be more likely to do so again. I'm sure if you took the group of non-speeders, and the group of speeders, all else being equal the latter group would probably have a higher instance of accidents.

I think we're all aware that the authorities consider speeding public enemy number one but as we're using probables not facts they probably do it to justify the millions spent on the speed camera and the speed camera van which leads to the speed awareness course cash cow

Fill a room with 30 people @ £100 , twice a day £6,000 x 5 = £30,000 a week for one course multiplied by the many courses nationwide and it's millions a year

Most of the people on the course will have been driving a few mph over the limit so must be educated to make them safer drivers , oddly enough the serious speeders get points and a fine but apparently they don't need any education so no speed awareness course which further supports the cash cow theory.
 

RSM Masser

Member
Messages
2,437
Got pulled by PC plod after overtaking a fast moving Range Rover, I was doing 130+ at one point.
Whilst sat in the coppers Focus ST getting a royal rifting I asked if he could “just tell me off, because I was sorry”

“ No Sir, you are NOT sorry, you are sorry you have been caught”

After an hour being made to feel about an inch high he sent me on my way leaving me in fear of every brown envolope for the next 3 months.

Never heard anything more about it.
Still can’t believe it!