BOSM, EOSM - MOSM?

Back in the 80's and 90's, many plods choose that job to ride: they were
bikers before being cops.
They were often friendly when they caught you speeding, if you were not
riding like a clueless ****. When caught, it was not unusual to chat
about bikes for a quarter of an hour before going without any fine.

It now turned much more repressive and they are under a lot of pressure
to be harsh.

 

Subaru were cheaper.
As they trashed several Impreza (driving like cunts) in less than two
months, it was sensible.

From a taxpayer point of view, Bugatti Veyron in Gendarmerie blue would
not have been a good idea.

 

I remember being pulled by French Plod doing in excess of 180kph in a
120 zone back about 8 years ago. I fully expected to have my bike
impounded and to be beaten to a pulp (well - maybe not the latter..).

We had a good chat about the best roads to ride and how to do them
safely - in flawless English. I did try my (then fairly rusty) French
but his English was far, far better then my French.

We ended the conversation with him hoping that the local bikers would
take more care of wearing stuff like leathers since he didn't enjoy
scraping the end restult off the roads. Which is why he liked British
bikers rather than French - he seemed to think we rode better. I didn't
protest (even though I knew it was probably false..)

I got stopped in Germany once for doing 10kmh over the limit. No fine
but a 15-minute lecture from the copper - spoken *at* me rather than
with me..

Just as well I don't tour much these days then..

Phil

 

That's called "Priority to the right" over here. Brussels is full of the
fucking things.

 

Hmm, I'm not sure. I think the logic is the wrong way round over here. I
think that the government are placing cameras to stop people speeding (dur) and
not to stop accidents.

Heh, I'd like to see what they do with that.

 

Similarly, a few years ago a mate and I were blasting through Belgium
at "Eeek" mph, en-route to Luxembourg. I spotted a couple of bikes
ahead and as we got closer I saw that they were plod, so we slowed down
and tucked in behind them for a bit.

They went off at the next exit, but immediately came down the on-ramp
back onto the autoroute so they were behind us. They caught up and
came along side, made a "slow down" motion with their hands and then
fucked off.

We waited a few miles until we were sure they were really gone and then
got back up to cruising speed.

 

Indeed it is, as is also true in Basel and in many of the French
villages around here. In Brussels, as here, it's the default priority
unless there are road markings showing otherwise. So if you're on what
appears to be a main road you must look at any roads joining from the
right to see if they have white lines across them. If they don'tm
expect cars to pull out without looking, as is their right.

To be fair, in Basel, _most_ of the side roads do have such markings,
but the point is that there's nothing on the 'main' road to tell you
this, so you have to slow down and check anyway, unless you know the
road.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

As the official truth is "speeding= accident", this placement is
logical.

Code de la Route, Article R317-8 : contravention de quatrième classe.
Up to 750 euros


BTW, Code de la Route, Article L233.
If you try to outrun plods and get caught: up to 3 months jail and 3750
Euros...

Speeding:
+50 kmh : 1500 euros and 6 points (total of 12), 3000 euros second time.
Possible consequences: suspension of driving licence up to 3 years and
"confiscation" of the vehicle (Art. R.413-14).

You could end in really deep shit.

 

No white and yellow diamonds either?

 

depends on whether you're looking where you're going.

 

one time crossing the border from France into Italy (on the Med road
with all the tunnels/bridges), and the border-plod mimed the "waving
the flag at the start of the race" thing, and gave us the "go on hoist
a minger" gesture.

 

He was referring to the 'take away your licence' bit. Now ask yourself
why they might find that problematic.


--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

Clearly a Belgian with a confused understanding of right and left then,
as she came out blind from my left. I think she went for the 'if I boot
it out of here, then I'm exposed for a shorter time' strategy.

 

*Lovely*
--
Champ

ZX10R | GPz750turbo | GSX-R 600 racer
My advice as your attorney is to buy a motorcycle
To email me, neal at my domain should work.

 

IANAL, but if you refer to the legal difficulty to retain UK driving
licence for a road offence in France, I think that *AT THE MOMENT*, you
seems to be right.
I am not 100% sure, because the 2004 law permit to pursue foreign
offenders for road offences in France, at least for the fines.

But your licence will be nonetheless suspended in France...

http://www.anglophone-direct.com/Speed-restrictions-how-fast-NOT-to

Several countries (Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Germany?) have already
modified their respective legislations to allow reciprocity for road
offences.

 

This is the bit I don't agree with. Speeding != accident. Even if it is
the "official truth".

 

Not at individual junctions, no. In France they're usually visible
(crossed-out) as you enter a village where the PaD applies and
reapplied on exit, but the assumption is that unless you're on a road
clearly marked with the diamond as being the priority one you give way
to the right, i.e. the existance of a diamond means you have priority,
but the lack of a crossed-out one doesn't necessarily mean the same.

Within PaD areas, _some_ of the individual junctions may have an X
sign before them, but it's not guaranteed or required. And it's not
used in CH at all, AFAIAA.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

But how can you disagree? If stopping people speeding saves the life
of just one small child it will all have been worth it.

 

I crashed 4 times in more than 25 years riding.
Two times shot by a car driver, one time by a scoot driver, last time by
a car driver on a 125.

Every time, speed was less than 40 kmh (urban riding).

 

I've mentioned it before, but this type of thing is in no way
restricted to forn parts. I was riding up the A5 towards MK one day
when a trio of bike-plod came up behind as I filtered towards the
traffic lights at Hockliffe; I duly pulled in a few cars' length from
the front, not wanting to take the piss, but then they all filtered
past me, so I followed them to the front of the queue. One of them
paddled backwards and lifted his visor, so I thought I must be going
to get a bollocking for something I'd done earlier, but he just said
to me "We're out on a trinaing ride - keep up with us if you can".

Well needless to say I took them up on this, and certainly had no
problems so doing (I was on the 955 Sprint ST, they were on ST1200s),
and indeed I felt they were holding back on a couple of the overtakes,
but we swept up and past everything on the road at speeds up to around
130, until one of them blew his motor up just as we hit the dual
carriageway at Fenny Stratford. Reliable Hondas, eh?


--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`