[OT] Motorway police and road safety advice

The following has been doing the rounds. I'm taking the OP up on the
advice to "pass onto anyone who you might just need to know". If it
does in fact come from Hants County Council Road Safety Publicity,
Education and Training, it's interesting to see their tone on the matter
of unmarked police cars described in loving detail.

For Information: M3 & M27 Area : "Traffic Cops"


For Information
Hants Police are involved in doing a television programme series from
tomorrow (26th September) for seven weeks.

If you use the M27 or the M3 this potentially affects you so please
proceed with caution and pass onto anyone who you feel might just need
to know.
The program a BBC South commission called "Traffic Cops" will be
filmed covering the area from Ringwood concentrating on Ringwood M27 up
to M3 J9 and a team working the ring road around Southampton (Totton
will have a unit working it alone), Cosham M27 stretch to J5 of the M27
(Southampton Airport turn-off). The fourth concentration is working from
Winchester Services covering M3 to J10 M3 (Winchester South) using five
unmarked cars, two Black Skoda 03 registration Octavias, an 05 plate
dark red Mondeo and two Volvo saloon cars.

The BBC unit are going to be based out of Southampton and will also be
covering the armed police response unit and the Southampton Airport
Police Security / British Transport Police team.

The BBC team are in Citreon Picasso MPVs leased from Arriva.

To make it even more effective the Traffic police have authority from
Chief Constable to "work to rule" So instead of the laid back approach
to the usual Hants traffic police this will be a lot more concentrated
to make it effective filming.

Kristen Allin
Road Safety Publicity, Education & Training
01962 846472

Richard wrote:
The following has been doing the rounds. I'm taking the OP up on the
advice to "pass onto anyone who you might just need to know". If it
does in fact come from Hants County Council Road Safety Publicity,
Education and Training, it's interesting to see their tone on the matter
of unmarked police cars described in loving detail.


How would you tell the real from the fake. Perhaps a few chain letter
duplicates naming our favourite local problem roads might have an impact?


--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

Richard wrote:
The following has been doing the rounds. I'm taking the OP up on the
advice to "pass onto anyone who you might just need to know". If it
does in fact come from Hants County Council Road Safety Publicity,
Education and Training, it's interesting to see their tone on the matter
of unmarked police cars described in loving detail.

All of those described are already known, the VR6 vento (black IIRC),
V70 volvo saloons (burgundy and green, without day running lights) and
several subarus (met blue, red and black) are also known locally, then
there are the *unts in disguise vehicles kept hidden at Tanneries House
for deep cover operations (those I will NOT describe).

The increase in pro-active traffic police has been noted, one regular
M27 user commented she'd seen more this week than in the last two years!
Though another M27 user reports being stuck watching the film unit for 5
minutes at one accident in the pouring rain and dark whilst they got the
footage they required. The increase in police traffic work has to be a
good thing, its not considered a core thing these days, but I suspect as
soon as the cameras have gone it will back to the usual situation.

I have also observed an increase in traffic officers patrolling in
towns, two white top cap'd officers were seen locally today well away
from the motorways, shame they didn't catch the Smart driver driving the
wrong way down a clearly marked one way street we saw this afternoon...

Niel, Hants.