Pulled over by the police with blue lights flashing because I BEEPED at them!

[BeepedAtPoliceCar]

Long but I've tried to make it easy to read!

Tonight, I dropped DS at work and on the way back had just started moving off from a large roundabout to go straight across it. It was 7pm and the road is an A road, not a residential area.

I had noticed a police car coming down from the opposite side of the roundabout (no lights flashing) and assumed it was going straight across as it had no indicators but it turned right towards me so I had to stop.

As I moved onto the roundabout after it passed me. I beeped. A short tap to say where the hell are you going. I had also had to stop. I was moving when I beeped. This is important.

I assumed it was going to take the same exit as me but it It then continued round the roundabout again. Still no indication. So I did another short beep. The direction he was going in was to our local police station about 2 minutes down the road.

Yes it was in frustration as there are many idiots who don't indicate in my area and I've had many near misses. It's pretty shit the police are driving like that as well and it was also a hazard to other road users.

Maybe the driver wasn't aware his indicators weren't working?

Anyway I drive on but see in the my rear mirror a police car speeding up the road behind me, lights flashing, in the bus lane. The speed limit is 40 and I was doing that so he must have been doing 60 at least as he caught up with me in seconds.

I immediately knew he was coming after me.

The car came alongside me and the driver wound his window down, as did I, and shouted at me to pull over now, pull over now. He looked apoplectic with rage!

I pulled over in front of him in the bus lane and he drove behind me, bumper to bumper. I have never been stopped by the police before and got out of my car to go to speak to him (oops lucky it wasn't in the US!).

He's screaming get back in your car now, get back in your car now!

So I get back in and luckily had the presence of mind to start videoing on my phone as he came over. I asked for him name and badge number which he fired off so fast I couldn't catch it. He refused to repeat it. Refused to tell me which police station he was stationed at. He said I had contravened the highway code for beeping inappropriately and would be getting a penalty ticket.

I admit I was a bit argumentative (not rude) and said he only stopped me because he was pissed off I beeped at him and the police should know better.

He then said they were looking for a 'criminal' and were on police business so didn't have to indicate (no lights except when they came for me!) and they also didn't know where they were going. He also said he didn't need to indicate unless he was exiting the roundabout.

I asked him why if he was looking for a criminal, he decided to go after someone who beeped at him for not indicating.

He said I was stationery when I beeped so that is a road traffic contravention. I was moving so I asked him why he was lying. He then stated he'd need to do drug and alcohol tests.

I asked if he was joking and what basis did he have to suspect I was driving under the influence. He said because my behaviour - beeping at him - was 'bizarre' and I was driving dangerously, then asked if I was refusing? So I had to do them. They were clear obviously.

I said I would be making a complaint as I believed he was abusing his power because he was pissed off I beeped at him and 'how dare he bully members of the public'.

He then said MOVE NOW because I was in an active lane (bus lane where he forced me to stop) and if I didn't move now I'd get another ticket for failing to comply with an instruction from a police officer. I said 'who do you think you're talking to'.

I was very WTF and asked him to repeat the law I had broken and told him to give me the ticket so I could challenge it in court, so he said he did and I would get it in the post.

Two tickets - £130 and 3 points.

I then drove off. He didn't come behind me so I can only assume he went back round the next roundabout in the direction of the police station and the looking for a criminal was rubbish. In fact he said it so sarcastically, I think he meant looking for someone to book!

I have video of most of the interaction and he comes across very bullish and rude, especially when he was shouting at me to 'move now'. Literally no more than a minute until I did but he still said he had given me a ticket.

I did tell him I was putting the video on TikTok and would be making a complaint.
Quite shocked about this, and on reading about challenging the tickets in court, it seems that you can end up with a criminal conviction if you lose!

The lie about me being stationery when I beeped (which I have on video) should be easily disproven by their dashcam. Would they have to give me this if I challenge it?

Sadly I don't have my own. I ordered one ages ago, kept forgetting to set it up and it was on top of the bookcase at home!

WIBU?

How much did you get on tiktok?
Do you have a link?

It wasn't legitimate at all.

This is what you wrote in your OP

"As I moved onto the roundabout after it passed me. I beeped. A short tap to say where the hell are you going. I had also had to stop. I was moving when I beeped. This is important.
I assumed it was going to take the same exit as me but it It then continued round the roundabout again. Still no indication. So I did another short beep.

Yes it was in frustration as there are many idiots who don't indicate in my area"

You were not beeping to alert the driver of your presence to prevent an impending collision.
You beeped after the car passed you, to say "where the hell are you going". Then you beeped again.
You did this out of frustration, because you thought he was driving like an idiot.

This is completely unacceptable behaviour; it makes the roads less safe for everyone by startling drivers. It is not an acceptable reason to use your horn. You deserve the ticket and please stop doing this.

No I've since checked it by asking ChapGPT what the distance was between the the roundabout and where I was stopped, my speed and what speed he would have been doing after going round the roundabout again to come after me.

I did that because I put it in my complaint.

AI is great!

Not put it on yet. Waiting for the response to my complaint before it goes on.

I don't have a monetised account and don't post anything apart from comments, but I know quite a few people among friends who have big followings so they are going to post it.

They were of the same opinion as me after viewing it.

AI is great!

Sadly, it cannot impart common sense.

Your complaint is quite rich, given your attitude. You beeped a police car twice out of frustration for not indicating as you deemed fit. You seemed to think the car having lights and sirens was inappropriate, when it is traditional when pulling over a driver, particularly lunatic types. You then didn't stay in your car and wind down your window. You got out. Which would be considered an aggressive move, or the actions of a drunk, drugged, or mentally impaired person. You were, in your own words, argumentative. You then threatened to put the interchange up on Tiktok, like a cranky teenager. Now you feel emboldened and justified in making a complain, when all of this is on you.

You are an idiot.
Own it.

'' who do you think you're talking to '
😂😂😂

You ACTUALLY said that?
Oh dear.
What a nob.

Yes because you know exactly how far he was behind you as you came off the roundabout and I guess SI went out with a tape measure to work it out. They will have a good laugh when they get your complaint

So determined is the Op, in denial, lamenting her case. Reckon in 40 years time she will still be whining and boring grandchildren with this. In fact anyone who she can force to listen.🙄

OP's attitude is not great (particularly "who do you think you're talking to" which is just embarrassing) but the officer definitely overreacted to being "beeped" at.

Some people use their horns constantly to reprimand other drivers. I don't like it and I don't do it myself ever, but it is common practice, like many other things that the Highway Code says not to do (eg flashing your lights to say thank you or as a sign to go).

Most people wouldn't do it to a police car but also wouldn't expect to be pursued and breathalysed etc as a result. It feels very much like an inappropriate use of power.

As for getting out of the car, I can't say I wouldn't have done that myself - never having been pulled over by the police, I wouldn't know that's not the expected thing.

Reflection is appropriate on both sides I think.

Given how the OP comes across I'd reserve judgement on if the officer overreacted. Maybe it was a 60 maybe it was 75. Why wouldn't the officer deal with her for the inappropriate use of the horn. I used to work for the police and I've seen them do it. Doesn't normally result in a ticket as most people accept they shouldn't have done it.

The point of indicators is to given an indication to other drivers as to the direction a vehicle will take next. They can't prevent collisions - the only thing that can do that is paying attention when driving, including not using up headspace giving other drivers a ticking off and expressing your annoyance through erroneous use of the horn. The thing you have flatly refused to accept is you had no business using your horn in the way that you did, especially not twice, and that's what started this whole thing off. I also find it hard to believe you didn't know they wanted you to pull over until they were alongside you. You must have zero situational awareness for them to have had to resort to going alongside you and shouting - it's not for you to decide they have no reason to pull you over. And as for getting out of the car...why?? Especially as he was being so aggressive, why on earth did you do that?

That's the thing.

On reviewing my video footage, initially he said I'd committed a MOVING traffic offence then changed it to beeping my horn while STATIONARY (must have been quickly going through the laws in his head).

When I challenged him and said, 'hang on you just said I was moving, why are you changing it now', he spoke into his radio saying 'right I'm going to need alcohol and drug tests'. Presumably to his colleague who had stayed sitting in the car.

I then said 'oh, you think I'm drunk or on drugs now, on what basis?' and he said 'you're acting a bit bizarre' despite him being the one who had just chased me up the road without deciding what offence I'd committed!

When the tests came back clear, I told him he was a bully and was just pissed off I'd beeped him and then asked for the reg of his police car so I could include it to identify him in my complaint and he said 'Nope, you don't need it, move, move' and I was saying 'wait a minute, I would like to get out the car and get it on video then'. He said 'No, you're not getting out of the car, take it as you move off' (when I'd be driving!).

He had pulled up bumper to bumper with my car and the front of my car was right at the end of the bus lane. There was no safety issue with me getting out. The lanes are wide and both were empty, nothing could get in front of me so it was perfectly reasonable to walk round the front of my car to the path on the other side and take a shot of the car reg.

His face then changed to really angry and he shouted 'Move now or you're getting a ticket for refusing to comply with the instructions of a road traffic officer, you're in a live lane'. I said what have I refused to comply with? He shouted again 'Move Now' so I asked him who did he think he was talking to and then he said the caution - 'anything you say will be taken down in evidence' so I said 'are you arresting me'?

He said do you want a ticket or not. I said 'fine, give it to me then, where is it?' and he said I've given it, you'll get a letter in the post.

Then told me to put my phone down, put my seatbelt on and drive away.

Which I did.

A bus lane is not classed as a live lane btw. A police officer should know that.

At what point did you say "who do you think you're talking to?".

Was your engine running through this encounter?

You just sound worse and worse

Even if you gave it accurate information which I doubt, AI is notoriously bad at maths (and hallucinates in general). What information did you give it, because how would it (or a human) know the driving speed just from the distance?

If you try it, you'll see that AI can calculate distances as maps with scale are on the web which is where it pulls the info from. I know he had just passed round the exit I was taking and it also knew the distance around the roundabout.

It's impressive actually!

The police were going about their job. YOU were the one who beeped at them which is an offence which they decided not to ignore. Not only did you pick the wrong car to beep at you are still indignant that they pulled you up about it and then because of your attitude they then wondered if you had been drinking or on drugs (Reasonable i would say). Whilst yes they are wasting their time, you gave them something to waste it on.

The fact remains someone who is stroppy enough to beep at a police car is more than likely to do it to a grandmother, a daughter or someone else they can bully. They are also likely to make a mistake one day and meet their mirror image who will then stop the car and have a 1-1 set too. I hope you look back on this when it happens and you get hurt. Even worse they may get into a car rage situation where someone else gets hurt. Thats why the police have 'made a point'.

Explain why getting out of my car 'would be considered an aggressive move, or the actions of a drunk, drugged, or mentally impaired person.'

Standard police don't carry guns in the UK so what did I have to be afraid of?

Would you not get out of your car if you had an accident or even a minor bump on the road?

If you would, explain why you would be more afraid of the police than a random member of the public?

His face then changed to really angry and he shouted 'Move now or you're getting a ticket for refusing to comply with the instructions of a road traffic officer, you're in a live lane'. I said what have I refused to comply with? He shouted again 'Move Now' so I asked him who did he think he was talking to and then he said the caution - 'anything you say will be taken down in evidence' so I said 'are you arresting me'?

Who would get in a big ding dong with the Police like this for no reason 😂YABU and sound a bit silly.

I'm out. You cant talk with crazy.

All i ask is for people to imagine trying to communicate in any sensible way with this whilst stood at the side of a road......

Having the op in the car & not on the road sounds like the safest place for her to be in her mental state
Having the OP escalate things at every opportunity makes me wonder if the police officer actually intended anything more than just a quick chat.

I'm sure we'll see when the video is posted to social media.

Imagine honking at a police car? The audacity.