overtaking cop car?

mkennedy

hi.
I got stuck behind a traffic corps cop car the other day on a dual carriageway with the right lane clear.

we were doing the limit according to my speedo.
however according to my gps device we were doing a good few kph below the limit- about 92kph iirc.

would you overtake in this situation.
in order to overtake i'd have needed to exceed the speedo's limit but obviously keeping below the actual limit (as per the gps).

in the event I stayed behind them.

if I did overtake though and the lads decided to pull me over could I just say my gps was under the limit all the time?

Vikings

mkennedy wrote:

if I did overtake though and the lads decided to pull me over could I just say my gps was under the limit all the time?

Yes you could, but it wouldn't do you much good

If you are going the limit according to your speedo it will be the same limit in the Garda car, if you go above it and past them then you would probably see flashing lights!

All depends on the situation really, as far as I know unless the Garda has proof i.e speed gun/camera etc. then in order for any offence to stick there must be at least 2 Gardai who can confirm that you were doing the speed that they say you were doing!

So if there is only one of them in the car put the foot down

Drax

Did you ever notice how a lot of people are afraid to overtake a garda car. I remember seeing a few times a garda car doing about 100km/h on a120km/h motorway with a big line of traffic behind it. I'd overtake him no problem.

skibum

Over took a cop car yesterday on the N11 from loughlinstown to silver tassie stretch, they were bang on the limit (according to my speedo), the funny thing was the size of the two inside the car (yaris), they looked so out of place:D

BrianD3

If they are going to pull you for doing a few km/h over teh limit they'll need some instrument to measure your speed with eg laser gun, calibrated speedo. If the traffic corps used the standard speedo in their car I don't believe that would stand up in court and it would be a disgrace IMO if it did.

For cases of gross speeding, the opinion/observation of the Garda may be enough for court.

I quite regularly overtake Garda cars on dual carriageways and my indicated speed would be about 5-8 km/h over the limit, that's about as far as I'd push it though

A lot of the time the Gardai are just driving along (maybe are assigned to duties other than Traffic) and don't appear to be interested in pulling anyone over unless they do something drastic

What is really absurd is when the cops are clearly doing below the limit and people slam on, afraid of their sh1t to overtake. I saw this on the Mullingar bypass one morning. Marked car escorting an Irish Explosives lorry doing about 80 km/h in a 100. Nobody would overtake and quickly a big tailback built up. Eejits

squibs

Years ago, was working as a truck driver's helper. the driver was done for the day, and was close to missing a date with his girlfriend. The ineviteable happens and we come up behind a patrol car doing 50MPH on the nose. It was a rural road which would be rated 80KPH now, but was 60MPH(100KPH) at the time. After 3 miles of this, he went for it and passeds him doing 70MPH in the truck, and got away with it.

Neck like a jockeys.....

michaelanthony

Have you got large tyres? If so, the speedo reading could be skewed.

Henry Ford III

Your speed is your speed. Speedos are seldom accurate.

If you do not break the speed limit overtake away. They cannot pull you for not breaking the law!

Papergirl 1

I'd overtake them no problem....and I'd have a quick glance as I'm passing to check 'em out to see if their hot!

Wishbone Ash

IncredibleBulk wrote:

If you are going the limit according to your speedo it will be the same limit in the Garda car

Not necessarily. Many speedometers are innaccurate and calibrated differently. The size of the tyres and tyre wear would also influence the registered speed.

squibs wrote:

It was a rural road which would be rated 80KPH now, but was 60MPH(100KPH) at the time. After 3 miles of this, he went for it and passeds him doing 70MPH in the truck, and got away with it.

Neck like a jockeys.....

:eek:If he was driving a truck, he would have been legally limited to 50mph (80kph) regardless of the higher displayed road limit!

ctc_celtic

In the UK, police cars have calibrated speedos which are checked for there accuracy regularly, they can follow behind you keeping the same distance from your car and you can be done for speeding by what there car speedo says. Think it also has to be over a set distance, 1.5 miles or similar.

It probably wouldn't stand up in court over here, but it is possible garda traffic cars have calibrated speedos.

My speedo is way out, on the gps i will be doing 100kph but my speedo reads 114kph (on standard wheels) I bought a Apexi speed meter and calibrated it with the GPS, so now i never look at my speedo and just go by it.
I've went through a few speed traps doing the speed limit and have never been pulled.

fozzle

mkennedy wrote:

hi.
I got stuck behind a traffic corps cop car the other day on a dual carriageway with the right lane clear.

we were doing the limit according to my speedo.

If you were doing the limit why would you want to overtake You're not going to be able to go (legally) any faster in front of the cop car than behind, is it so difficult to not be the lead car? :rolleyes:

Stephen

Because he wasn't actually doing the limit?

Nephew

I saw a guy get pulled over for overtaking a cop car at 60k/h in a 50 zone, a pretty stupid thing to do nonetheless. I hope he likes penalty points.

Wishbone Ash

fozzle wrote:

If you were doing the limit why would you want to overtake

Please re-read the OP's post. :rolleyes:

llester

BrianD3 wrote:

What is really absurd is when the cops are clearly doing below the limit and people slam on, afraid of their sh1t to overtake. I saw this on the Mullingar bypass one morning. Marked car escorting an Irish Explosives lorry doing about 80 km/h in a 100. Nobody would overtake and quickly a big tailback built up. Eejits

I hope for your sake, you never get stuck behind me....I'm hopeless at overtaking at the best of times, but never in a million years would I ever overtake a police car!!! :eek:

Stark

I'd much prefer to overtake a police car than a normal car. You shouldn't have to worry about them slamming on the accelerator as soon as they see what you're doing.

llester

Stark wrote:

I'd much prefer to overtake a police car than a normal car. You shouldn't have to worry about them slamming on the accelerator as soon as they see what you're doing.

LOL!!! Very true!!:D

fozzle

mkennedy wrote:

we were doing the limit according to my speedo.
however according to my gps device we were doing a good few kph below the limit- about 92kph iirc.

See Wishbone Ash? I did read the OP's post. Speed limits are maximum limits, you don't have to go at that speed. Most GPS systems are only acurate to a couple of meters, even the more accurate ones are not without their flaws, it depends on the number of satellites they're recieving data from at any one time. Given that speedometers are also liable to innaccuracies then if in doubt why not split the differenece or (shock horror) drive according to the lower speed (ie the one on the cars speedometer) It's only a couple of kms an hour less speed, what harm?

nastysimon

I had a similar dilemma a few days ago, but it was on a single carriageway. I had caught up with an unmarked car (which was obviously so) and when it was safe to pass, I did so. At no time did I exceed the limit Anyway, after about a mile he turns on his lights and I pull over. One of the occupants walks up to me and tell me that I was going pretty quick back there and asks for my details. He asks if I know how fast I was going, and I said that I do, 100km/h at which point he asks me how I know, since my car is so old (1974 car). It has km/h markings on the speedo, so he hadn't a leg to stand on. Anyway, after a bit of a discussion and him taking down all my details, he says that he doesn't see any reason to delay me any longer, and that I wasn't doing anything dangerous or speeding or anything and lets me on my way. What really gets me is that he had no reason to pull me over except that I had passed him, that my car was a little old (but in fine shape, even according to him) and that it's hardly a quiet machine (it's 3.0L V6 and sporty, so what do you expect). All he ended up doing was wasting my time and his time.

bringoutthegimp

Stark wrote:

I'd much prefer to overtake a police car than a normal car. You shouldn't have to worry about them slamming on the accelerator as soon as they see what you're doing.

Yeah cos everyone knows the Gardai are in general such courteous, professional and good all round people to deal with. :rolleyes:

Overtaking a cop car you run the risk of being pulled over and harrassed. I personally wouldn't do it.

Stark

bringoutthegimp wrote:

Yeah cos everyone knows the Gardai are in general such courteous, professional and good all round people to deal with. :rolleyes:

Most Gardaí are. (barring a few gob****es).

bringoutthegimp

Stark wrote:

Most Gardaí are. (barring a few gob****es).

If you wanna piss off one of the gob****es by overtaking them, be my guest.

nastysimon

Stark wrote:

Most Gardaí are. (barring a few gob****es).

I'd love to agree, but my poll of one (the total number of Garda cars I have passed in the last few years) suggests otherwise. So do other experiences I have of them, so while I hate to bash the Gardaí as there are so many fine upstanding examples, I think that it is fair to say that they have more than just a few gobsheens and unfortunately they have authority.

Chef1976

most of the time their never too anxious to get out of their car anyway so you prob would have been ok

Wazdakka

I have no problem overtaking gardai if they are going below the speed limit and it is safe to do so.

The problem is that they tend to try and make me speed..

It happens to me about once a week, I'm driving along on the N11, normally around laughlinstown, I pass out a garda car (Making sure that i dont break the limit) and before i can pull back into the laft lane, i look over and there is mr garda car shadowing my wingmirror, if i slow down a bit theyll match my speed. I've even been undertaken a few times, after they realise that i wont go over the limit.

Now i dont drive a boy racer car. I think a SAAB is as far as you can get from one , but i do have the music a bit loud on occasion, so mabey that gives them a reason.

I dont think gardai like or are used to being overtaken, but dont break the limit, and drive safe and i think it really p1sses them off when they cant do anything