Strange encounter with traffic officer this morning
kippeh
Posts: 6,655 Forum Member
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This morning at 6:00am I joined a motorway slip road in the right hand lane, behind a really slow moving car. Traffic joining from the other direction comes around in the left lane from a filter lane much quicker, so almost towards the end of the slip I moved left behind a car just as the two lanes converged to build up some speed to join the motorway a bit of a way up in front of the slow vehicle as he was just joining the motorway. No sooner had I done so, than I saw blue lights in my rear view mirror, and was pulled over onto the hard shoulder by a police officer in his Range Rover. The weird conversation went like this:-
"Morning. What's the problem?" I asked as he came to the passenger window.
"Do you undertake on the slip road?"
"I didn't, the car was joining already?"
"Would you do that on your test?"
"I wouldn't be on the motorway on my test?"
"On a dual carriageway then?"
"Maybe, depending what was happening in the right hand lane, a queue to turn right or something"
"Your problem is that you are in too much of a rush"
"But I - "
"Your problem!!! .....Is that you are in too much of a rush to join the carriageway safely!!"
"But I had only reached 60, on the motorway!"
"That was driving without due care and attention. You want to kill yourself, crack on. Have a good day"
Then he banged the roof of the car a couple of times and just walked off???
What on earth did I do wrong?
"Morning. What's the problem?" I asked as he came to the passenger window.
"Do you undertake on the slip road?"
"I didn't, the car was joining already?"
"Would you do that on your test?"
"I wouldn't be on the motorway on my test?"
"On a dual carriageway then?"
"Maybe, depending what was happening in the right hand lane, a queue to turn right or something"
"Your problem is that you are in too much of a rush"
"But I - "
"Your problem!!! .....Is that you are in too much of a rush to join the carriageway safely!!"
"But I had only reached 60, on the motorway!"
"That was driving without due care and attention. You want to kill yourself, crack on. Have a good day"
Then he banged the roof of the car a couple of times and just walked off???
What on earth did I do wrong?
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I thought that, but the white lines had ended, where the lanes converge into one tapering lane. I was more bothered about having to join a fast moving motorway at around 40mph
You have to match your speed to that of the carriageway, which sounds like what the OP was trying to do. I'd see the officers point if the OP was accelerating at 70 to join traffic that was moving at 40, but that doesn't sound like the case.
This is interesting because in NI new drivers can only go 45 for the first year including on motorways so when joining you are probably going 40-45 but it's supposedly perfectly acceptable. Where as in England it would be a concern and rightly so
It was relatively light traffic, and at that time, the cars already on are moving at around 70mph, so I am usually pretty conscious to try and match speed. I didn't fancy joining behind a slow driver and getting rear ended or something. It's hard to judge how fast traffic really is moving up behind you in the dark.
You can see the policeman's point - what is the point then, as it is not clear to me.
Joining at less than 60 mph is something to avoid in nearly all situations.
OP, I don't get the banging on the roof. Was he pissed?
Not sure about pissed drunk, but he was pissed about something. He gave the double slap thing on the roof, and just walked off. Very weird.
They even get on normal coppers' tits.
You're not supposed to undertake on motorways. I'm guessing that includes slip roads.
That's where i would have gone back, nothing i hate more than answering for me. I also can't stand other people interrupting. Sadly as said some police officers seem to have a massive power trip, i always put it down to they were bullied at school or something.
I'd have done exactly what you did for what it's worth.
Um, except joining at 60 is virtually impossible for lorries, which are a staple of motorway traffic. They are usually limited to a maximum of 56.
I really don't get the fuss here - I would say on average I join motorways at a speed of about 50mph. You aren't supposed to absolutely fly on to the motorway like a bat out of hell - you're supposed to build up your speed gradually.
Having said that, it doesn't sound like the OP was at any fault - but some of you should remember that motorways are for slower moving traffic too, not just your BMW's doing 90mph.
If anyone goes 'into the back of you' in the left hand lane at 50mph who's to say they wouldn't have gone into the back of you if you were doing 60? They clearly weren't looking to have gone into the back of you in the first place! Besides which, when is the flow of traffic in the left hand lane ever greater than the average max speed of a lorry (56mph)?
That sounds to me exactly what the OP did. He was in the right-hand lane of the slip road behind the slower car. As he approached the motorway, he moved into the left-hand lane and went past the slow car to, in his own words, "join the motorway a bit of a way up in front of the slow vehicle". Therefore he undertook the other car either on the slip road or as it was on the the motorway and he was still on the slip road.
I didn't say the OP was driving a lorry, did I?
Did you actually read my post? It would have given you all the context you need to understand my point.
The thread is about motorways, really, not cars.
Lorries travel on motorways too.
The way you and others are carrying on you'd think that the ONLY people with any right to use the motorways are fast cars.
My point is that because slower moving traffic uses the motorway too it's actually perfectly reasonable and safe for a car to join the motorway at 50-60, as many lorries, coaches and the like are doing just the same.
It's really not hard to understand!
You argued with a policeman.
Sorry, that was a bit facetious; but I think this is an area where it's best to smile, apologise and get out of there, however right you might be. There's nothing to gain from arguing, and if you've drawn a policeman from the arsehole pool you're risking a load of avoidable grief. Fight the battles that are worth fighting!