Jump to content

159mph Officer Cleared


Dave
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 121
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Surely that sets a precedent, so if we all go and have some fantastic advanced driving course and then get nabbed breaking the speed of sound we can then say 'hey! in the case of crown vs pc milton he was just practising having been on a course recently.'

Excellent. 169144-ok.gif

Not that I condone speeding... NONO3.GIF

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think that's saying he's been cleared is it? It just says that he's won the appeal against the nature of his sentence and he will now have to be retried on different guidelines.

If he is eventually cleared then surely it rewrites the law by saying as long as you are trained to a sufficiently high standard the speed limits don't apply.

So any racing driver or off duty policeman etc could go as fast as they like apparently. confused.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[ QUOTE ]

They sent the case back to him to decide whether "PC Milton's unusual driving skills were such as to make a crucial difference to the dangerousness of his driving".

[/ QUOTE ]

So, I can get referred back to court for another go round if my unusual driving skills make a crucial difference, eh?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[ QUOTE ]

I don't think that's saying he's been cleared is it? It just says that he's won the appeal against the nature of his sentence and he will now have to be retried on different guidelines.

[/ QUOTE ]

that's my take on this also - It has been sent back to the court in Ludlow.

What's disturbing about this case is the way in which West Mercia police are fully supportive about what he's done including senior officers saying that that is what they are expected to do in order to be accustomed to their cars.

What's wrong with an airfield etc and more importantly what would have been the outcome if he'd have stacked it into another car and killed someone?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No matter how good your driving skills are, 159mph in a Vectra is definitely dangerous - bad enough at 80mph tongue.gif

The fact he's the law doesn't particularly bother me in terms of the outcome of the case. If the road conditions were totally clear then I'm happy to assume that the correct decision was made on his case. He was (by enlarge) only a danger to himself in those conditions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Several different things you need to consider here, firstly he was a police officer using the car for a police purpose therefore he was exempt from speed limits. That also applies in just the same way for an ambulance or a vehicle being used for ambulannce purpose. The court(s) were all satisfied he was using it for a police purpose. He holds a police qualification to drive which has no equivalent in civilan driving and is so well regarded in other countries that some come here for there training.

As to wheather his speed at that time was 'dangerous', well that is subjective and a normal test would be if the normal person in the street would feel it fell well below what is expected of a normal driver. That would take into account all road conditions and the vehicle but not the quality of the driver. In fact the same test applies to a provisional licence holder.

Now you might argue in this case that because of his driving skills in this case it was not dangerous.

Having said all that I have held a Class 1 Police driving qualification since 1986 and I would not feel comfortable at those speeds. There are to many unknown factors even on a motorway that you percieve as clear. At that speed you will struggle to miss debris even if you see it and when you come across the car on the hard shoulder with driver recovering the contents of his briefcase that he left on the roof at the last service station which is now in lane 3 you will both get a big shock.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[ QUOTE ]

Several different things you need to consider here, firstly he was a police officer using the car for a police purpose therefore he was exempt from speed limits.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's not quite the case though, is it? He took it out for a blast on his own, not on Police business, and he recorded it to show his mates how fast he'd gone.

It's like saying someone in the Army can go around firing guns just because they are trained to do so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...