Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Police Victimisation

[Mad Dog Bianchi]

My first post mentioned talking to the police involved. I really doubt that most police in the UK are ditwads or worse as most of them are probably good family folks looking to do a good job like most of us. In my life in the US and abroad I have run into about 1 really nutso officer and I have had a number of occasions to meet officers in the US, Europe, Asia and Russia. UK police were more than friendly at times and seemed pretty professional, US cops have been generally understanding of a situation, letting me off with a warning more times than not. In this particular case a lot of people suggest all kinds of actions such as checking ambient light, looking at sites regarding estimated speeds, etc., but wouldn't it be better to ask the cops what this is all about before jumping into all that. As I said before, we are probably all teenagers at heart (red blooded ones at that) and can probably remember when our hormones got the best of us. The sone involved is probably not too genetically removed from any of us so perhaps approaching the other party may be of value.
Finally, my approach to such situations is honesty. I don't try to wiggle out of the charge, but do try to let the guy know that I was aware of and in control of the situation. Got tagged for doing 122 kmh on an expressway (patrol car reading) but when they started to write the ticket out I laughed at that figure and told them I was doing well over 122 (probably 165). They had 122 on the meter because 130 is automatic license suspension. ANyway, they laughed at my honesty and just gave me a warning. There is a human side to most cops as well. Let us know how it turns out!

[Derek]

I spoke to Niall (my son) over the weekend, now that he has calmed down and is a bit more approachable. He is still absolutely adamant that he was riding at under 30mph. He saw the police immediately upon rounding the bend and continued on at that speed. They flagged him down and said he was doing "nearly 40 mph". Niall wasn't quite clear about what they said next but they asked him about documents and he said he didn't have a V5 (it didn't occur to him to tell him that he'd only had the bike just over a week and he hadn't got it back from DVLA). They then cautioned him, charged him with careless driving, telling him that a report would be issued to the Procurator Fiscal who may decide to carry out proceedings against him, and issued him with a producer for his documents. He was not given a charge sheet. However this is in Scotland and may not be a legal requirement. I still have no idea who the officers were nor what their grounds are for careless driving. Speaking to them may not be a good idea anyway as it might possibly be conceived as "attempting to pervert the course of justice".
As I see it, unless the police have concocted a load of lies, the Procurator Fiscal should just throw this out. "Nearly 40mph" hardly constitutes careless driving! I will let you know any future developments.

[Mad Dog Bianchi]

yep, that does not sound like any kind of glaring dangerous riding to me. Hope this works out for Niall. Cops may have seen something they didn't like in his driving and may have been mistaken. Maybe they were concerned about safety issues in the area. Hard to tell.

[lane748]

I think we're missing the point here- in the original post, it says that the m/c cops guessed he was speeding BUT are doing him for careless driving. That is NOT speeding. & they dont need a radar to observe careless driving. Is it possible he might have done something else to get pulled?

Where I'm based, we prefer to see a moving traffic offence before we pull someone over- we dont simply stop for the sake of it. We cannot do someone for speeding unless we have an approved speed measuring device fitted (i.e: traffic cars)

[Mad Dog Bianchi]

Hmmmm. 17 year old, new bikie, interesting corner. Very possible.....Haven't we all been there before.
Nice to have a coppers point of view on the matter though.

"all coppers are bastids"


hate it when people say that......maybe people should live in avon&somerset....police are much nicer here.

[Mad Dog Bianchi]

To some people they are until they are needed. Most that I have known or have become acquainted with (through not fault of my own, of course) have been regular guys doing what seems to be an important job. A few are bastids, but I've only met a couple like that (even in the wilds of Texas and New Mexico {speed trap heaven})
Does the UK have access to the long running TV program COPS (bad boy, whatya gonna do). People in the UK are lucky in not having to deal with the large population of low lifes that US cops have to.

[Rob748]

you've never been to Dewsbury then?

[Mad Dog Bianchi]

Yep, haven't had the pleasure. Then again, you may not have been to Clovis New Mexico...

[gary888]

Derek,
Don't know if you've seen it, but have a look at www.pepipoo.com It's a website about speeding offences and the police.
You may get some useful information from them, or at least it could point you in the right direction.
Regards, Gary.