“Bad Drivers?”

Hey guys i have a problem. I have never done it but a few times i have seen a sleepy trucker who was all over the road and i had to use *OPP i dont wish to do that to anyone but i think he was endangering his life and others.

Although i see bad drivers everywhere there is one thing that really bothers me.

What do you when its the Provinces own OPP with the poor driving, speeding and aggressive driving? I don't know why everytime though i see an OPP offficer around the GTA he always seems to be speeding unless he is at the side of the road with a customer or checking for speeders with the few exceptions at on ramps for seat belt checks?

Last week i encountered a problem. There was 2 officers that driving was completely unacceptable.

I was going up erin mills pkwy right off the QEW to go north. Although i stopped at the light and to my joy i saw one of those sexy Highway safey division cars. Oh boy!!! not only 1 but 2 of them (best looking police cars in ontario)

I am always thrilled every time i see a HSD officer. After all these guys enforce the rules on our 400 series highways. They must be the authority on proper driving and know the OHTA off by heart.

Anyways i was so joyed to see 2 OPP HSD cars both marked vics going up erin mills pkwy. I wanted to drive beside them and check out their cars and all the cool devices the officers had on the inside. Hell maybee if they were going for a tim horton's break i would have bought a coffee to.

But my joy soon started to piss me off. It was dark outside and raining. People go alot faster then 70 on erin mills but today everyone went the speed limit.

Anyways as the light turned green one of the officers slammed on the gas. He spun his wheels!!!! Stunt driving i thought okay this must just be a mistake. But maybee he forgets that others have been charged for accidently doing this and having their cars towed so no big deal.

I tried to drive behind them but i couldnt. My 4 cylinder could not keep up with their acceleration. They were flooring it. The light turned yellow and they stepped on it and i was so disappointed. I really wanted to check their cars out.

But at the next light i managed to catch up they were there. I was right behind them finally. But again he spun his tires. I tried to keep up but when i was already 20 over the speed limit he was 25-30 over the limit.

I wanted to follow him and just remind him that road has a 70 km/hr speed limit. but as he got up to about 95 i figured he didnt care. I was following them when both these officers cut off everyone and tailgated eachother onto the 403.

Mind you no lights the whole time on and not even on a 400 series highway!!!!!

1. Stunt driving (spinning wheels)

2. Following to close

3. Accelerating at a yellow

4. Exceeding the speed limit about 20-30 over the whole time on a city road with a posted limit of 70 km/hr!!!! In the rain at night in traffic.

Now bear and the rest of you will all tell me what else is new. People drive like this all the time.

I don't know if i said it but these are Police Officers that work for the Highway safety division who were driving marked car's not on an emergency breaking the very laws that they charge us with!.

I mean the HTA can be perceived as many ways. We don't all agree. But OPP officers should be the ones who set the example. Especially the HSD officers they're job is basically enforcing the OHTA.

This sets a terrible example for the public and ruins the image of the OPP in many of us.

I guess OPP many OPP officers seem to know about speeding. I find it funny that every time i see them on a 400 series they are always exceeding the maximum limit. There is officers that follow the rules but many times i see them driving to close sometimes even tailgating their own team mates in the left lane exceeding the limit!

So i guess in Ontario having a smokey the bear hat and driving a crown vic with the letters OPP marked on it is a license to do anything on the roads.

I guess Heidi Fischer and Robert Tapp know all about this.

I have no problem when i see an officer's going 20-30 over the speed limit, just i would hope they have enough ethic's to not charge other's for doing the same thing that they do.

I thought the job of the OPP was to enforce the OHTA. Shouldn't that be the ones setting the example for us and following the rules.???

Anyways i think OPP license plates are as follows.

"OPP 123"

If its 3 digits i have one of the officers license plates i wrote down. Maybee next time i am in the area i should visit his detachment for a friendly visit and just ask him if he knew what the speed limit was.? I also would love to ask him if he has ever charged anyone else for spinning their tires, going 20-30 over the limit, following to close, and making unsafe lane changes.

I remember a guy who got charged in this forum last week he was passing and temporarily exceeded the speed limit. Usually when i see officers driving on our highways they are in the left lane passing everyone.

A few months ago near Mavis rd & 401 i saw 2 officers returning from the scene of an accident going over 130 tailgating eachother along the way. (not even 1 care length between them).

I care. In fact every time i see an OPP officer they are on the side of the road or if i am lucky enough i might be able to see him for a few seconds before he passes me over the speed limit.

They enforce the OHTA so why every time i see an officer moving most of the time they are breaking the laws of it?

Maybee i am wrong but i though that police officers were exempt from the speed limit and ohta when on lawfully on an emergency and need to do so i had no idea being a OPP officer at a HSD division was some sort of license to drive however you want.

Don't paint all HSD officers with that same brush. Just b/c you see a cruiser on/near GTR does not mean it is a local car either.

OPP should be demonstrating and being ambassadors on the highways and that is the message our office goes by and I believe in.

I would suggest you go to the closet OPP office and provide the information with date, time to the "Admin Sgt". He/she can then investigate/talk to the officer(s). You can ask for a follow up phone call if you want.

Police are exempt from the speed limit in their lawful execution of their duties. There is no definition for "lawful execution of duties". Nor does not have to be an emergency, as police would never be able to exceed the speed limit to catch a speeder

Now my turn people complain when police are above the speed limit, when we drive the speed limit and someone passes the marked cruiser and they get stopped people complain.....almost darned if you do, darned if you don't?

I don't complain when an officer is speeding... right on the limit though that's just wrong.....however I did see one of the "ambassadors" reverse on the shoulder of the 407 a few weeks ago.....no lights..... that's not good....had he had lights on to reverse to the turn around I wouldn't have given it a second thought.... and no I didn't call it in. What we see everyday is not recorded though when a civilian is fighting a ticket it seems like it should be. I'll give any officer the benefit of the doubt, seeing as for the most of them traffic enforcement is a time filler. I would sooner have an officer blow by me and think that he is going to break up a domestic, bust a dealer etc. However, at the same point in time I would appriciate not being given "the speech" when I am pulled over. Also, I would like to hear the end of the speed kills Bull$#!t and see S.172 ripped from the pages of the OHTA.

End rant and Happy Easter.

Correct......

it is the change in velocity from a movement to a very abrupt STOP/change in direction that KILLS

Reflections wrote: and see S.172 ripped from the pages of the OHTA.

Had one of those in court this week....went to trial, challenged by a paralegal and I was successful.

hwybear wrote:

Now my turn people complain when police are above the speed limit, when we drive the speed limit and someone passes the marked cruiser and they get stopped people complain.....almost darned if you do, darned if you don't?

Ya, there's been a few discussions lately about how police should set an example and all that. But as bear points out, cops are damned either way - I get really ticked off when a LEO is driving down a 400 series HWY at the exact speed limit. Everyone is afraid to pass and it causes all the lanes to get clogged. Far behind the cruiser, the ego-cases driving their mid life crisis cars can't see that there is a cop ahead that is causing people to drive slow. They get all impatient and start tailgating and making aggressive lane changes, so as to teach us how you're supposed to drive.

When I come across an officer driving down the 404 at 100/kph, I pull off the highway and take another road.

Reflections wrote:However, at the same point in time I would appriciate not being given "the speech" when I am pulled over.

I've been lucky enough to not get "the speech" most of the time when I get stopped, but the two occasions where I did, I just smiled, nodded and bit my tongue, like I'm sure you have.

pinch wrote:Everyone is afraid to pass and it causes all the lanes to get clogged. Far behind the cruiser, the ego-cases driving their mid life crisis cars can't see that there is a cop ahead that is causing people to drive slow.

Shows just how our speed limits really are too low. Police car going the speed limit is causing a traffic jam. Although... I will say that I've seen quite a few cases where people will just pass the cop car. Once someone does it and there is no traffic stop that immediately ensues, everyone else follows suit, usually keeping it within 15 km/h of the limit.

Radar Identified wrote:Shows just how our speed limits really are too low. Police car going the speed limit is causing a traffic jam. Although... I will say that I've seen quite a few cases where people will just pass the cop car. Once someone does it and there is no traffic stop that immediately ensues, everyone else follows suit, usually keeping it within 15 km/h of the limit.

I don't think that has much to do with the speed itself and more to do with tailgating.

Radar Identified wrote: Although... I will say that I've seen quite a few cases where people will just pass the cop car. Once someone does it and there is no traffic stop that immediately ensues, everyone else follows suit, usually keeping it within 15 km/h of the limit.

I used to be the one that would pass.. never thinking a LEO would actually stop me for going 10 over on a 400 series. I now know better and just pull off the road rather than cross a police vehicle. I drive by the book now. Well, at least until I beat my latest ticket. If I beat that, then I'm going back to driving 10 over. Yeah, ten over - I like to live dangerously.

hwybear wrote:

Reflections wrote: and see S.172 ripped from the pages of the OHTA.

Had one of those in court this week....went to trial, challenged by a paralegal and I was successful.

'Bear, with the data you supply us here I wouldn't challenge you. Just pay and go. I might steal your mocha when you weren't watching though....

There is no doubt in my mind that the most dangerous scenarios I face on the 400 series highways is that sudden wall of brake lights ahead that seam to appear for no reason... that is until you get a little further along and see the cruisers running a blitz. The gentle flow of traffic (irregardless of speed) gets thrown completely out of whack and drivers suddenly find that smooth rhythm they've been comfortable with for hours is gone in a chaotic display of "every man for himself".

"Gentle flow of traffic"??!?? In the GTA it starts out with "every man for himself" until they see the cruiser, then it's "Oh please let it be the other guy!"

But I do like your imagery. Next time I go to my "happy place" I'll picture the gentle flow of traffic, like a babbling brook in a pristine amazon forest. The sound of blue and orange macaws feeding in the forest canopy. Pink river dolphins gliding over wading ocelots. Hey, why does that puma have a light deck? DOH!

ticketcombat wrote:"Gentle flow of traffic"??!?? In the GTA it starts out with "every man for himself" until they see the cruiser, then it's "Oh please let it be the other guy!"

But I do like your imagery. Next time I go to my "happy place" I'll picture the gentle flow of traffic, like a babbling brook in a pristine amazon forest. The sound of blue and orange macaws feeding in the forest canopy. Pink river dolphins gliding over wading ocelots. Hey, why does that puma have a light deck? DOH!

Puma.....light deck.......Now there's bar-b-q'ed chicken all over my screen

Reflections wrote:Puma.....light deck.......

Getting stopped by a puma with a light deck...

Officer: "Sir do you know how fast you were going?"

Driver: "Meow?"

Radar Identified wrote:

Reflections wrote:Puma.....light deck.......

Getting stopped by a puma with a light deck...

Officer: "Sir do you know how fast you were going?"

Driver: "Meow?"

Now listen here