Conference terri::cars_uk

    They had a similar experiment over here in Holland not so long back
    where they parked a police car at the side of the road, in it they
    placed two tailors' dummies, usually one "male" and one "female"
    dressed in police uniform.
    Someone (a passer-by) thought he/or she'd have a laugh and broke
    into the police car, took out the two dummies and place them in
    a "compromising position" on the bonnet !! much to the hilarity
    of the passers-by.
    That really did slow the traffic down ! :-)
    
    
    Tim

    
    Saw news of this on the TV.
    
    One other thing they'll do is put policeman behind the fake cars with
    detectors, so even though people may get to know where the fake cars
    are, they'll never be able to be sure that there won't be a policeman
    hiding behind it, waiting to report them to a policecar lurking
    somewhere!
    
    Steve.
    

    Makes you wonder what it's all coming to really. I mean, only this week
    they announced a huge rise in reported crime, a massive increase in car
    thefts, all sorts of expensive "cures" for joy-riding, and then this
    shit to catch speeding motorists.
    
    Britain is getting more of a bloody Police state by the day, as I
    cannot fail to notice when I go back there. God help you all, it's
    getting out of hand.
    
    Laurie

>    Makes you wonder what it's all coming to really. I mean, only this week
>    they announced a huge rise in reported crime, a massive increase in car
>    thefts, all sorts of expensive "cures" for joy-riding, and then this
>    shit to catch speeding motorists.
    
Ah, but you see with all other types of crime, the police have to go out and
catch the offender, and then prove that the one they have caught actually
committed the crime, *lots* of hard work !  

With a speeding motorist the police just have to sit there and wait, the
"criminals" come to them, the police don't have to do much to get a 
conviction! 

Keeps their conviction rates up without too much effort required on their part.

:-)

	Dangerous driving, which often involves speeding, kills and maims more 
	people than muggers or house burglers do.  Do we object to the police
	catching speeders because we think that that might be us?  If we are 
	doing criminal things, then we deserve the police's attention.

	The police booking speeding motorists, particularly in built up areas;
	and booking drunk drivers is fine by me.

	Dave

RE:  <<< Note 1632.5 by MARVIN::RUSLING "Hastings Upper Layers Project Leader" >>>

�	Dangerous driving, which often involves speeding, kills and maims more 
�	people than muggers or house burglers do.  Do we object to the police

    You have figures to back this up of course.
    
�    	The police booking speeding motorists, particularly in built up areas;
�	and booking drunk drivers is fine by me.
    
    Pray tell me, how a cardboard car on a motorway bridge will achieve
    this. Pray tell me, how any such "initiative" on motorways will achieve
    this.
    
    Laurie.

>>            <<< Note 1632.6 by PLAYER::BROWNL "Wot's a rathole?" >>>
    
    Ask a randy rat !
    
    J.R.

    The use of a cardboard is not there specifically to help catch and prosecute
    any budding Nigel Mansell's or Terry Fenwick's , but primarily just to
    slow traffic down.
    
    No figures to back this up, but I expect a great majority of motorway
    accidents are caused by excessive speeds. The cut-out is just to make
    motorists take their foot off and hopefully reduce the number of speed 
    related accidents. IMO of course.

>>> Britain is getting more of a bloody Police state by the day, as I
>>>   cannot fail to notice when I go back there. God help you all, it's
>>> getting out of hand.
   

Surrendered your passport, then have you Laurie?


The idea of the imtiation cars is not new, they've been doing it in the
US and even some of the more enlightened European countries for years.

They used to use cardboard cut-out coppers stood at road junctions, to deter 
people from jumping the lights.....and it *worked*.

Anything that worries the nutters into slowing down and being a little
teeny bit careful, even for a mile or so, is fine by me.  Especially if it
frees up the real coppers to do something a little more constructive.


Ian

    
>    No figures to back this up, but I expect a great majority of motorway
>    accidents are caused by excessive speeds. 


This I doubt.  The great majority (IMO) are caused by stupidity, 
thoughtlessness and impatience.     

The cause of accidents on motorways is very rarely to do with just the speed,
it may be a contributory factor in the severity of the end result, but not
the cause.

RE:      <<< Note 1632.9 by SBPEXE::PREECE "Just gimme the VAX, ma'am..." >>>

� Surrendered your passport, then have you Laurie?
    
    No of course not! Nor shall I.

    It's just the concept of cardboard cars, followed by real ones to get
    you when you relax again, or coppers sitting behind them to zap you
    anyway, hit a button in my head. I had visions of committees sitting
    around thinking of new ways to make the motorists life difficult... It
    just all seems so petty, when they could be putting more police on the
    beat etc.
    
    Living in Belgium, the police presence is noticeable by its absence,
    and you get used to it. I just seems that the first thing I see as soon
    as I land is a bloody patrol car! And all that after enduring customs.
    
    Laurie.

    
    Re .3
    
    Agreed.
    
    

    
�	I'm getting fed up with this constant anti- MS driver comments in both
� the press and by the "great driving public". I've had few  moving road 
�    accidents
� and have never been done for speeding in car, yet I'm  painted worse
� than homicidal BMW/Golf Gti/Xr3/GTE drivers who write a car car off every year.
    
    Isn't your comment in itself rac(y)ist ;-) and detremental to drivers
    of those cars, and an exageration.
    
    

    
    They're not all bad these motorway police, the other day I was flagged
    down by a cardboard policeman in a cardboard patrol car. He asked me
    what speed I thought I had been doing & then let me off. He claimed he
    didn't really think he was *cut out* for the job!!!
    
    (Sorry, couldn't help it, the note seemed to need a bit of humour.)
    
    Ian...

    	In the US we call them donut munchers. I think if they tried the
    cardboard thing over here, It wouldn't last very long. They would be
    gone in less than 30 min.
    
    	In the PRM (people's republic of Massachusetts), the donut munchers
    are here strictly for revenue enhancement. They don't want to slow
    traffic down, they want to profit from the speed. You've got to watch
    those end of the month quotas :*)

    	Cary