h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Could someone please explain to me why people slam on the anchors and drop to 70mph when they see a Police Range Rover on the hard shoulder of the motorway that has pulled over a car. Do they think that somehow the police officer is going to make it back to his vehicle, accelerate up to 100 mph and catch them up?

Generally - who knows? I have seen a reason to be careful though: the police had one car doing sixty in the inside lane, causing everyone to have to do 70. You get past, accelarate hard to make up time (especially if you are rep man) and get nicked by one of the four unmarked cars (four that I spotted..) a mile further up the motorway.... Bummer!

Because people are panicky. My personal opinion is:

Once you see the flashing lights, it's too late. If you're gonna speed, buy a radar/laser detector. It'll pay for itself in the frist 3 tickets you avoid.

Except they don't work. Take a look at http://www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk for reviews of the various pieces of "defensive" kit. If you detect a laser, it has already detected you.

One technique that I liked to use was to pull up behind another officer who stopped someone, then I'd use a rear facing radar to clock drivers. Some folks just speed up because they think that we're tied up with a violator.

I've also seen officers pull up behind abandoned cars on the side of the road and turn on their lights when they shoot radar. Our state police will hide their cars behind abandoned cars to shoot radar. It's illegal for us to do that.

If anything motorway speed limits are too high now, because the motorways are so crowded. As for ordinary roads cameras have become a real pain, we usually know where they are and can slow down, but the crafty people sneak in extra cameras mounted in vans. I even saw one on my regular route one evening filming out of the rear of the van while it was parked on the verge.

Anyone watch Police Interceptors. Essex police chasing cars, often shows my town, lol.