So far in Strathclyde (to end of last week) it's 97 this month. Interestingly enough, they also caught 1 stolen car, and 1 no insurance....

I have to say I passed someone on Thursday on the way to work (6pm so pitch black) and he had no lights on. I flashed him, and he simply gave me full beam back! Must have been a fault but how bizzare and dangerous to have no dipped or side lights at all.

completely agree with doing that - I have also phoned the police and tailed an obvious drink driver till they arrived and was very pleased to have got the rsole off the road:) I saw so many near misses while i was following it was only sheer luck and skill from the other drivers that he got that far

I would not complain if i was stopped every journey i made and was checked - i've nothing to hide - I was out with a mate and we were involved in an accident with one of those scum:mad: we were left upsidedown trapped in a car with a ruptured fuel tank and the engine running..... and he ......stopped .... got out.... looked back .....then got back in a drove off - leaving us for dead

The police caught him but due to a technicality he got off:mad:

but he lived about a1 1/2 miles from both me and my mate in the same small village and lets just say that justice was done .... although i lost everything at least we lived albeit with permament injuries:(

as you can imagine i would happily see the death sentance brought in for drinkdriving - after all he almost passed the death sentance on me ..... I I really do bear grudges for an awfully long time

Quite agree with you there, the woman that nearly killed me didn't get away with it fortunately, however I wasn't happy with the 'justice' she recieved, so did a little bit of 'justicising' myself!!

They can stop and breathalyse me anytime when I,m driving.

Anybody who drinks and drives wants banning for life, and then shooting. Anybody who does'nt agree should also be banned for life.

It is not an offence to request a blood test. However if you were arrested for requesting one it would be a good money spinner to recuperate funds collected by scameras......

It is an offence to fail to provide a roadside breath test however, so if you fancy being clever and stuffing up "the system" you can expect up to a

It is an offence to fail to provide a roadside breath test however, so if you fancy being clever and stuffing up "the system" you can expect up to a

Section 6(4) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 says it is...

However the advantage of being the son of a policeman is that you dont need to look up road traffic acts on the internet.

You have only failed to provide a sample for testing after you have refused a blood test as well.

If you had read the earlier posts in the thread you would also be aware there are critera to meet before an officer can demand a sample.

Having said that this is pretty off topic as the actual thread was about whether Neo was being victimised/harrassed not whether its ok to drink drive - which as an aside, I dont recall anyone suggesting this was a good idea.

i don't mean to be pedantic, but I enjoy it so much,

The advantage of actually being a policeman also negates the need for looking up the Road Traffic act on the internet as well.

S6 creates the offence of failing to provide a breath specimen when required to do so, whether this is at the roadside, or the police station.

S7 deals with failing to provide a specimen for lab analysis (blood and urine)

The powers that the police have to request a sample of breath are indeed conditional.

If someone thinks that between dealing with all the ****e that the general public don't even want to think about and dancing a merry jig to conform to the regime of the obsessive government statisticians, that the average bobby has the time to persecute or harass a complete stranger by trying to do their job, then write to Tony Blair and complain. I'm sure he will bring his missus round your house, listen to what you have to say, then take more pro active powers away from the police in order to protect our sacred human rights.

Completely agree with you, lack of respect for the law comes from left wing policies.

Would love the Blairs to visit. Then you could do some proper police work and lock me up for murder.

Completely agree with you' date=' lack of respect for the law comes from left wing policies.

QUOTE']

And nothing to do with a social selfishness typified by the Thatcher years of greed,boom and bust?

I notice no-one else is attempting to justify ways of avoiding a breath test.

i don't mean to be pedantic' date=' but I enjoy it so much,

The advantage of actually being a policeman also negates the need for looking up the Road Traffic act on the internet as well.[/quote']

Funny, that's just what I was about to say

:cop1: :naughty:

Completely agree with you' date=' lack of respect for the law comes from left wing policies.

QUOTE']

And nothing to do with a social selfishness typified by the Thatcher years of greed,boom and bust?

I notice no-one else is attempting to justify ways of avoiding a breath test.

on both comments

they are all coming out of the woodwork now...

Say hi to Monkeyspanker for me.....

I may be wrong, but Colin was highlighting the fact that he felt perhaps with him being stopped twice on the came journey for a breath test, that the local plod were a bit keen. He didn't suggest it was a bad thing.

I wish they would breath test /drug test at random at all times of the year, at all times of the day, and at the same time check insurance, mot, and tax. Get the real criminals off the road that gatso's can't do anything about.

Anpr fitted to every police car too, NOT at the roadside.

Anyway, i'm waffling now.

I may be wrong' date=' but Colin was highlighting the fact that he felt perhaps with him being stopped twice on the came journey for a breath test, that the local plod were a bit keen. He didn't suggest it was a bad thing.

I wish they would breath test /drug test at random at all times of the year, at all times of the day, and at the same time check insurance, mot, and tax. Get the real criminals off the road that gatso's can't do anything about.

Anpr fitted to every police car too, NOT at the roadside.

Anyway, i'm waffling now.[/quote']

I totally agree that there should be more random breath tests all year round - it's not something that people only do around Christmas, that's for sure! I suppose that budgets don't allow for it - they could of course use Specials, a free resource after all!

Out of interest, why not ANPR at the roadside as well as in cars? Or am I misreading that? I've said it before, but ANPR is an utterly fantastic tool!

I may be wrong' date=' but Colin was highlighting the fact that he felt perhaps with him being stopped twice on the came journey for a breath test, that the local plod were a bit keen. He didn't suggest it was a bad thing.

[/quote']

Quite - hence my reaction to it. Holding the local record for 11 producers in 1 week harassment is just a waste of resources.

As for random testing all year round this would not cure the problem. Only 2 things can:

1 sensors in the car which imobilises it when driver shows signs of intoxication (of all kinds - drugs seems more of a problem than booze with the young.)

2 ban the sale of drink

either is fine by me.

Still smoking kills far more innocents than anything else - seems ironic that you can be done for using your phone and yet smoking whilst driving is allowed.

But then tests by TRL and other bodies show that smoking a cigarette doesn't impair driving, using a phone and drinking alcohol does.

I wish they would breath test /drug test at random at all times of the year' date=' at all times of the day, and at the same time check insurance, mot, and tax. Get the real criminals off the road that gatso's can't do anything about.

Anpr fitted to every police car too, NOT at the roadside.

Anyway, i'm waffling now.[/quote']

I can't speak for all the boys in blue, but roadside breath tests are carried out with customary alacrity round our manor all year. I think it's because the figures are recorded for RSBT's during the months of December and January that it seems like the cops are particularly keen round this time of year. (they aren't recorded for the rest of the year) This is providing that the conditions of the conditional powers are met of course.

Whenever a car is stopped, a 'producer' is handed out as a matter of course by the vast majority of cops to check that documents are in order. The Police National Computer now has access to insurance details as well, so a simple check of a registration plate can reveal whether a car is insured or not, provided the system is up to date.

As for ANPR, I totally agree. it is under used. In fact, there is so much technology out there that could revolutionise the way the police work, but is simply too expensive to incorporate into every day use. It's scandalous really, but the government obviously have their priorities......

Out of interest' date=' why not ANPR at the roadside as well as in cars? Or am I misreading that? I've said it before, but ANPR is an utterly fantastic tool![/quote']

Not at the roadside in my opinion as it would only be of any use to record our every movement by car, which an argument of "but if you have nothing to hide" etc could be placed. I'm all for a reduction of crime, and a reduction of road deaths, but a blatant invasion of my privacy in a democratic and "free" country doesn't appeal to me. ANPR mounted in police cars, is of use, as the police person is instantly alerted to a vehicle or indeed a vehicles occupants by this method as and when the system picks up a plate.

@ pittVRS, yes i realise that an hort 2 is usually handed out, but a better way of combatting insurance deficient scum would maybe be to make everyone carry proof of insurance. As you say though, most major insurers use a national database which the police can check at the roadside, which is great. Anyway, thats an aside, my main point was random breath testing in conjunction with document checks should be carried out more frequently, rather than just during the festive season.

Getting back to Colin's original post, it's obvious that traffic cops must do some sort of 'profiling' of cars/drivers as well as looking for those that obviously don't have full control of the car. They call it "sixth sense" - well, they do on BBC1's Traffic Cops, but ultimately it's their way of selecting those cars or individuals that they think are most likely to be breaking the law in some way.

At this time of year I suspect the parameters are changed a little bit, but the excuse of a drink-driving cracjk down does give them a little more latitude to stop a few more cars (at least in their eyes).

Now why Colin should fall in to one of those categories? Well, you'd have to ask the cops that stopped him. I'm sure on a differnt day with different plod it wouldn't have been the same result. A bit like Premiership referees, I suspect.

At the end of the day, this sort of profiling is being used everywhere now - if you have been through customs lately you will also have been profiled, either by someone standing there or on CCTV. And yes, CCTV is also used in the same way. It's part of modern life.

For me, I've never been stopped and only once have I ever driven when I have had a few drinks, and that was many years ago. It frightened the **** out of me and I have never done it again. If plod wants to stop me, they can do - I won't have been drinking and will pass their test. And OK, I'll be a few minutes later that I would have been, but in my eyes that's OK.

I'd be far happier if they tore down all of the speed cameras and put the traffic plod back on the roads - maybe then the death toll would start to go down again.

Getting back to Colin's original post' date=' it's obvious that traffic cops must do some sort of 'profiling' of cars/drivers as well as looking for those that obviously don't have full control of the car. They call it "sixth sense" - well, they do on BBC1's Traffic Cops, but ultimately it's their way of selecting those cars or individuals that they think are most likely to be breaking the law in some way.

At this time of year I suspect the parameters are changed a little bit, but the excuse of a drink-driving cracjk down does give them a little more latitude to stop a few more cars (at least in their eyes)

I'd be far happier if they tore down all of the speed cameras and put the traffic plod back on the roads - maybe then the death toll would start to go down again.[/quote']

I think it's true that most cops operate a "profiling" system when stoppping cars, based on their previous experience and knowledge of the area in which they work. Old cars filled with young men wearing cheap sportswear will be more likely to be stopped than an old dear driving a brand new Doddermobile. (unless of course the old dear chooses to circumnavigate a roundabout in the wrong direction, or tootle through a blatantly red light.)

Stopping cars for breath tests doesn't really require the brain of a rocket scientist. If the driver has just pulled away from a pub carpark and is weaving all over the road for example. I don't think that the general public have a lot to moan about when being stopped and the majority welcome such inconvenience in their daily lives for the purpose of detecting offences.

The ones that moan are usually left wing cardigan wearing, yoghurt swilling Guardian reading types who are so conceited and paranoid that they think the police actually take an interest or objection to their activities and decide to persecute them by denying them 10 minutes out of their hectic schedules by stopping them at the roadside.

(it's true, I have prejudices just like verey other human being)

Not at the roadside in my opinion as it would only be of any use to record our every movement by car' date=' which an argument of "but if you have nothing to hide" etc could be placed. I'm all for a reduction of crime, and a reduction of road deaths, but a blatant invasion of my privacy in a democratic and "free" country doesn't appeal to me. ANPR mounted in police cars, is of use, as the police person is instantly alerted to a vehicle or indeed a vehicles occupants by this method as and when the system picks up a plate.

[/quote']

Ahh, right-o. I thought you were talking about ANPR vans that park up at the side of the road rather than 'fixed' sites

There is a fixed site in a town local to me and it's naturally very little use unless there's a traffic car nearby to stop those that get flagged.

@ pittVRS, yes i realise that an hort 2 is usually handed out, but a better way of combatting insurance deficient scum would maybe be to make everyone carry proof of insurance. As you say though, most major insurers use a national database which the police can check at the roadside, which is great. Anyway, thats an aside, my main point was random breath testing in conjunction with document checks should be carried out more frequently, rather than just during the festive season.

Well, in actual fact it's actually an offence not to carry your insurance certificate in the car! That said, I certainly don't carry my certificate of insurance or the counterpart to my driving license with me and only once has somebody actually produced everything when I've demanded documents from them (infact it was my local GP - random docs check stop, nothing he'd done wrong!). We'll issue a HORT/1 as a matter of courtesy because the Home Office and police service realises that it's unreasonable to expect all documents to be carried at all times, not least because of the worry of theft of certain documents.

I'm not sure which force pittVRS is with but I've not really heard much about anti-drink drive operations during the rest of the year in my force... That said, the traffic guys and girls, as well as any other officers are on the lookout generally throughout the year (of course) and will stop anyone that looks dodgy... Just not heard much about stop checked being setup as sometimes happens around this time of year.