Police harvesting today

Lucky me.
On the way to work this morning I left the M25 to join the M4 east
bound. On the slip, the outside lane had a red X above it on the
gantry. Being in the outside lane and seeing the problem up ahead [1]
I merged into the inside lane albeit I had gone under the gantry in
the outside lane for a short distance.

I was waved in by plod and told to wait at the side of the road where
he said he was going to bollock me before letting me go. Bugger, but
could be worse thought I. A colleague was writing a ticket for a chap
on a Thundercat. He went over to finish writing a ticket for a car
driver all the while pausing to flag another 3 or 4 miscreants over.

After telling me the errors of my way, and saying that he was letting
me off with a verbal because I only went a short distance under the
cross and wasn't going like the clappers [2] he told me to take care
and sent me on my way.

So I reckon that not being able to help with the clearing up the
thought they'd take some scalps. Quite successfully during the 10
mins I was there anyway.

So, would this have been an endorseable offence or just a fine?



[1] Tons of mashed onions all over the ouside lane
[2] Which I usually do when it's empty as it's one of the few high
speed bends on my whole journey.

 

David Ellis wrote

Neat trick.

It brings the point home nicely that it pays be aware.

 

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember David Ellis

Lucky they didn't skin you.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

 

Bit of a pickle...

 

Sounds like they ran rings around him.

 

In the 3rd Millenium, on Wed, 28 Jul 2004 22:17:36 +0100, Grimly

I thought I was for the chop
In the soup or fried
For a while they let me stew
Not hung out and dried

 

Yup - lucky indeed. A ticking off seems the proper response here, but
depending on how far you went past it, could be considered a bit
harsh.

you might have got an MW10 & three points for "MW10 Contravention of
Special Roads Regulations (excluding speed) " which can be used for
all sorts, the lanes closed you describe, driving on the hard shoulder
etc etc

Cheers

 

Special road regs wouldnt apply - those are for the specific motorway
offences of excluded traffic, direction of travel, stopping on
carriageway, stopping or driving on hard shoulder, driving on verge,
outside lane offences etc etc
It falls under the specific offence of failing to comply to a traffic
sign under section 36 of the RTA 1988 (and hence needs an NIP). Its no
different from failing to comply with any traffic signal (traffic
lights etc). Usually would be an endorseable fixed penalty - 3 points
and £60 fine).
People dont tend to realise that they as soon as they pass under the
cross they have just "jumped a red light". People do tend to think
that as long as its clear they can go (standing working in a live lane
is rather interesting when vehicles are hurtling towards you!) Its
also not obvious where the hazard starts - as the woman on the M25
found out when she went through and found that the crash debris had
been cleared but the huge slick of oil was waiting to be cleared by a
specialist crew. Quite a few spins later and hitting 5 other vehicles
and the central barrier she found out!

 

Thanks- find out something new every day. But the way you explain it
does make perfect sense - it's a red light you jumped it, you're
nicked.

Cheers

 

Is it also the case that the orange matrix sign "11T" in the central
reservation of a motorway is compulsory?
I always comply with that one even though hundreds of company car
drivers don't...

 

Do you mean the central speed limit signs when they display a lane
closed? In which case they arent compulsory in the same way - but you
do lay your self open to a careless driving etc and in the same way as
the red cross - you *never* know what is beyond them!