I have no idea of the current law, regulation, rules, or customs outside SA, which is why I prefaced my initial comment with how things are here.

My understanding is that it is pretty much the same around the country but I am not in a position to confirm that.

It is also my understanding that the emergency vehicle is only excempt for the road rules when on an emergency response drive.

But my point is that the assumption here is that it was not on an emerg response drive when in fact there is really no evidence for that conclusion. Just becasue the lights and siren may or may not be operating does not mean that they were not on an emergency response at the time they were encountered on the road.

Which brings us back to the imaginary Donuts - surely they had to be just larking about burning up our petrol in the bosses high powered fun machine if they had time to buy petrol and food along the way...... Well no - just another easy assumption to make. It is just as easy that they had been on one tasking at the first sighting, reponding to who knows what - then that task be cancelled [tis a very dynamic world with situations changing by the second] so they pull in for refuel and then shortly after, one of them get another tasking that sends them off in a hurry again.

A lot assume the cops are just hoons and so are guilty by default. I beg to differ and suggest they have a hard enough job as it is without this crap.

We had a case down here recently after the death of a Police officer the driver of the Police car was charged with various offences after he crashed the car at high speed whilst on his way to help a fellow officer make an arrest.
But due to a mistake in paperwork the charges had to be dropped. (like we didn't see that coming)
(The guy that crashed the car was not allowed to take part in high speed chases because he was not actually a duty cop, he was a driving instructor )

dunno why this reminds me of this that i post a while ago that caused a bit of a fight,

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Sir Namibian CAMEL of MONGOLIA !!!
Vrilen Snyson Racing: Finding us all a Vrilen
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That reminds me.... Look at the wheels on the Police car in Camels photo.
Notice anything? They come with big mags not skinny steelies! Go to your local Holden dealer and ask for a V8 Commodore in that spec and those wheels. They will not supply one.
The police use the steel wheels because the tyres are cheaper! Holden has sent out an advisory letter but the forces have ignored it.

back onto watto's thing.... they could've been training...

explains the number of police in the car at the time....

and the fact that they stuck to the 50kph speed limit..

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I really couldn't care less whether they go speeding past me for no apparent reason, I think the possibility that they were doing the speeding for ligitimate reason rather spurious, but can at least entertain the idea. What gets me is the attitude that some cops give me for going 10k over the limit. Either its like I shot their partner or they come with this holier than thou attitude, or they purpose try and wind you up hoping that you'll get pissed off and say or do something stupid. There have been a few cops that have spoken to me and reminded me of what the consequences are and actually seemed to care and that had a lot more impact than the fine! Also you want arrogant etc etc police try the AFP I think they are possibly the worst for this in the whole of Australia.

Cheers

Matt

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225hp atw on 14psi. 1/4 Mile no idea. Take one 1971 Mini Clubman, one Starlet GT Halfcut, Simmer over a warm MIG Welder, and Voila Minstar! www.mpdesign.id.au

WhoDat, you make many blind assumptions in your defence of the officers.

I was there, you were not. I think I am in a better position to judge whether there appeared to be any valid reason for the speed of these two police cars. I didn't mention that there was a third police car at the petrol station, but as I didn't see it on the road, I am in no position to comment on the behavior of the driver.

You make a very implausible hypothesis that the officers might have been on a call that was cancelled, then on another call, with time for petrol in between (I never said anything about donuts - but the officers seemed quite unhurried at the petrol station).

Certainly, in this country we are all innocent until proven guilty, but I was there on the road and was passed on a blind bend over a crest. Even the most urgent responce does not make this a "reasonable" use of speed.

No, sorry, these guys or girls were just plain stupid and irreponsible. End of story. Don't go trying to stick up for them, when you are completely ignorent of the circumstances.

I'm not police bashing, by the way. I have some very good friends who are police officers, and it is a small percentage who are gung-ho cowboys, but these cowboys/cowgirls need to be pulled into line.

Do the laws apply to them? Of course they do. As pointed out, unless it is in the reasonable execution of their duty. In this case, I think not.

I have had a number of cases where I have been passed by a police car, usually on the Hume freeway between Melbourne and Sydney, only to find the same police car parked a few km further on with speed camera in hand.

The motto of the Victorian Police is "Uphold The Right", and it is the responsibility of all police officers to not only be doing the right thing, but to be seen to be doing the right thing. Police officers have a responsibility to lead by example and not to flagrently breach laws which are there for the protection of the public.

Most police do the right thing and should be recognised for it, but some don't and should be canned for that.

Watto

[quote="watto"]WhoDat, you make many blind assumptions in your defence of the officers.

Unless you vehicle is fitted with police communications and/or KAD device that can pick up and decode just what taskings that individual vehicle was assigned at the time then I put that it is you that is jumping to blind [did you mean uninformed] assumtions here.

The only assumption you can accuse me of here is "innocent until proven guilty". If you want to pursue a complaint about a percieved incident involving what you concider to be innapropriate behaviour of police personnel - that is your right and there are channels to do that ...

but to engage in a public flogging of them here is not what I call the expected ethical behaviour of someone of such a high standing in the motoring community as yourself.

You have slipped a couple of cogs in my estimation Bloke.

No need to decode.. it ain't digital..

tis here

They're going digital soon here I think.. We're behind the times though.. I have a cop radio from an old cop car.. Huge fk off antenna out the top of my house.. I can broadcast over all the cops in my area shhh

can we ellect a new idiot of the month this ones getting a littel tense.

Here you go a story, my mates and i were sitting at a raod house looking over a main road with traffic lights on the intersection eating burger and chips, there was a mazda 323 at the intersection waiting to get onto the main rd, not a car in sight but it sat there patiently waiting for the lights to change, when a car appeared along the main rd doing a rate of knots hooning uptowards the lights well (in south africa) the lights flashed orange 3 times (its a warning signal to say the lights are going to change to red and gives you time to slow down on faster moving roads) the car continued but hadnt been seen by the mazda well the mazda waited till it was green and pulled out and bang the collision was not good serious injuries. about 5 mins after we had gone to help etc the speeding car put on a set of police lights to say it was an unmarked police car.
No 5 whitnesses and a the driver of the other car did not see those lights, what gives him the right to jump a red light also waht gives him the right to speed.
Now the woman in the mazda just happened to be the sister of one of the witnesses and guess what she lost her car, weeks off work (no acc over there) and the cops got away with it because they think that we were lieing about the lights not being on.

Since that day i still respect the law and repect the fact that police are here to uphold the law but if they were speeding then an indication that are police would be greatly appreciated so evasive action can be taken.

Only vehicel in south africa that can run a red light is an ambulance if he has all warning lights going. thats the law.

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The idea of taking down rego numbers and handing them to the cops is good but in some areas, like where I live in the base of the Dandenongs, you'd be forever either phoning or visiting a cop shop to hand over these numbers, stupidity is rife when you get weekend drivers, who never see good roads during thier working week, that think the know how to drive.

Also noticed this in other areas of the state, like around Mansfield, Benalla, etc, etc.

Timbo.

Watto,

Did it scare you seeing some of the old faces showing up at Shep?

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If in doubt ask

i spot/notice more unmarked cop cars than marked....

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Down here where I am, you hardly ever see a cop car on the road.. Plenty said in the local paper about the police are going to be out in force and be seen over any holiday time...

Hmmm, they must be hiding behind some big trees then because I never saw and hardly ever see a police car from Pakenham to Morwell (either way) and that is quite a common thing...