...to think warning other drivers about police presence is a courtesy not enabling bad drivers?

[Boomerwang]

Yesterday the police were making traffic stops near a school as it was the first day back (Sweden) and I put it out on facebook, reminding people to check over their cars, go another way if they are in a hurry and watch their speed etc. I put it in a local community group. I was roundly chastised and the thread was removed not long after. Coming from England I thought it was normal that people gave a heads up but their argument was that this way the idiot drivers and people with alcohol or drugs in their system were now warned and won't be taken off the road or fined.

I mean, I don't take drugs or drive under the influence or particularly fast over the speed limit so I wasn't considering that, but if this situation occurs again, I'd like to know what the majority think before I try to help again?

@isabellerossignol this is my local dual carriageway

Not sure what to tell you. How many lanes do you think a dual carriageway has it it doesn't have two? Some are of course bigger but mostly it's Two lanes travelling together with a central reservation deciding them from the two lanes going the other way.

Ireland/northern Ireland may be different.

How many lanes do you think a dual carriageway has it it doesn't have two?

It wasn't that I didn't think they have two lanes, it was that I've never thought that the definition of a motorway is having three.

I have no idea if it's different in N Ireland, but it is still the UK. I have driven loads in England and never noticed the roads being different there, except that drivers are less aggressive and drive more slowly. Are there no houses on dual carriageways in England? What happens if you live on a single carriageway road and they turn it into a dual carriageway?

I've fallen down a rabbit hole of googling dual carriageways. I had no idea that roads were different in the rest of the UK, even though I've driven there more times than I can count. When I look at maps of all the places I have driven, they've mostly been motorways or single carriageways which must be why I had never noticed this. My mind is blown at sliproads as standard.

There's a bit of motorway near me with about 5 lanes. Ridiculous.

The motorways near me have four lanes and no hard shoulder. They are definitely not "smart".

@Bwlch

I can't get my head round this. Warning people not to break the law is wrong?

Well no, thats not what the OP was warning against.

What people are talking about is warning people about the fact they might be caught breaking the law.

If it were about warning to not break the law, then the flashing or Facebook posts would happen each time another driver was 'just' breaking the law. (In other words not because there is a police check coming up.)

doesn't a warning also make people do the same thing but without reaching the penalty point?

No, I reckon it makes them slow down for the speed trap and then speed back up again once they are through it. It won't have the same effect as a fine or points.

I went through a red light when I was a young driver (17), thought I could catch it but couldn't. Got a fine and had to go on a driving awareness course. Still to this day I stop if the light is changing and don't rush through like you see a lot doing.

85% if drivers speed through 20mph zones
So proportionally Some mumsnet will alsO be breaking the law & speeding

I get why you did it. I guess the police aren’t doing these checks for the fun of it though, it does genuinely keep people safe. That being said I would tell DH if there were checks being done on a route he was going on- by my own logic I probably should assume he wouldn’t speed and his car should be fine so I shouldn’t really, but I would. It obviously came from a good place but I probably wouldn’t put it on social media again

If your speed keeps creeping up, and bear in mind that enforcement only starts at 10%+2mph to allow for wind, car design, uncalibrated speedometers etc, so 35/30, 46/40, 57/50, 68/60, 79/70. This also allows for speed creep.

Does your car have a speed limiter as this will prevent speeding issues. I suggest getting a car with the feature if yours does not. I've been driving for 25 years and never been caught speeding. Even without a speed limiter, the enforcement allowance for speed creep ensured a safe, competent, driver should never be found speeding.

@MintyMabel

I do it. It slows them down, which, as the police will tell you, is actually the point. They don't want to spend time chasing speeding drivers.

I also do it if cars are whizzing along a road and there aren't police up ahead. Slows them down too.

Might be normal but it's illegal and police have been known to prosecute for it.

I'd love to see the evidence for that.

If drivers are warning others about a speed trap implemented by the police, or general police presence, they could be in breach of section 89 of the Police Act 1997. This law dictates that this offence is when a motorist will “wilfully obstruct a constable in the execution of his/her duty.”

Up to £1,000 fine.

@RoseGoldEagle My DH does that for me. But then, he knows that I don't drive dangerously, otherwise he wouldn't trust me to drive our DDs around in our car. Anyway, warning other drivers in advance about speed checks isn't illegal, and it doesn't cause an immediate hazard on the road unlike flashing at other road users. As others have said, I wouldn't know what they were flashing at me about.

@ivykaty44

85% if drivers speed through 20mph zones So proportionally Some mumsnet will alsO be breaking the law & speeding

Well 20mph zones are the thing now, so they'd better get used to it.

Especially when they start putting cameras at the borders and use average speeds to convict people.

I've rather lost patience with anyone who speeds. They are scum of the earth. If you can't keep to the speed limit you shouldn't be driving.

Imagine if we took the same attitude to red lights ? "I can't always stop for a red light. Sometimes I just go straight over ...."

Imagine if we took the same attitude to red lights ? "I can't always stop for a red light. Sometimes I just go straight over ...."

seems to be the case already in some areas in london

85% if drivers speed through 20mph zones
So proportionally Some mumsnet will also be breaking the law & speeding

Well 20mph zones are the thing now, so they'd better get used to it.

I go at 20 miles an hour around schools; the problem is other drivers tailgating me. So I would be all for speed checks around schools.

I hate people that warn others about speed cameras or police presence.

If they wasn't speeding or driving badly, then there would be no reason to be stopped / caught.

You were in the wrong

@IDontWantToGoToBed

But there are signs warning about speed cameras anyway. Do they annoy you too? Don't you get it that they're placed in accident black spots so that drivers won't speed? Is that so hard for you to understand? They're not just there to catch speeding drivers but to protect the law abiding ones.

And pedestrians too. I don't understand why posters are refusing to take this on board. It's also why there are flashing notices telling drivers to slow down.

@isabellerossignol

Actually, I've just realised, is that a typo from where I said dual carriageways have T junctions?

Every dual carriageway I have ever been on has got minor roads joining it T junction style. Isn't that what differentiates them from motorways?

This is a dual carriageway. It clearly has sliproads. It also has three lanes in some sections. It used to have a 70 mph speed limit - the limit was reduced to 50 mph over 20 years ago, it is unnecessarily slow...... the speed limit returns to 70 at the county border.

@SimplySteveRedux 10% plus 2 isn’t strictly true.

www.roadlawbarristers.co.uk/speeding-what-is-the-10-plus-2-rule-and-what-does-it-mean/

This is a dual carriageway. It clearly has sliproads.

I have already acknowledged that this appears to be a case of the roads differing around the UK. Where I am (still in the UK) one of the defining differences between a motorway and a dual carriageway is that dual carriageways mostly don't have sliproads (although the modern ones being built now sometimes do). People's driveways open onto dual carriageways here.

You are not really doing the public at large a favour though, are you? Those people at risk of being killed or injured by reckless or speeding drivers ... I would never flash anyone to warn them of police and expect the same from others. If I'm doing something wrong then so be it.

[quote Noneformethanks]@SimplySteveRedux 10% plus 2 isn’t strictly true.

www.roadlawbarristers.co.uk/speeding-what-is-the-10-plus-2-rule-and-what-does-it-mean/[/quote]
There was a person on my SAC that was done for 31 in a 30.

The instructors were well up on the changes in speed limit enforcement, and so far everything we were warned was going to happen has. Downward revised speed limits, increased use of average speed cameras, 20 mph zones and reduced tolerance for speeding generally.

None of which I have a problem with. Part of the course showed us a 30 mph stretch of road outside a school that a traffic census (teh headmaster begged for) showed most cars doing over 40 and a couple of stellar cunty bellends doing over 70. Past a school. At 2:30 pm. That was when I pretty much decided that if you speed and aren't concerned about it, then you, my non-friend, are a wanker.

Thank you for that lesson 😂 . I didn't know that. Think you need to chill love @Mittens030869