Any point in reporting bad driving?

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Mon 13 Nov 2006 10:47
Any point in reporting bad driving? - Roger Jones
Three weeks ago I reported some truly wild driving on the A34 to the Hampshire Constabulary, not expecting anything in return. Today I received a personal letter concerning the "alleged bad driving", the key points being:

* The information has been recorded because I was able to supply the full registration number.

* "Consideration is also being given for intelligence dissemination, depending on the level of intelligence currently logged against this vehicle or driver. Furthermore, if subsequent reports involving the vehicle are received, then consideration will be given to the active targeting of this vehicle by the Roads Policing Unit."

* However, they do of course require an independent witness, and I could provide none.

Nevertheless, I am pleased to have received a response and it does seem that proper reports may be taken seriously.
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Mon 13 Nov 2006 11:31
Any point in reporting bad driving? - Statistical outlier
I dialled 999 to report a lunatic in a 911 on the A5 heading west for Llangollen the other week.

I was expecting no response I have to say, although I'll now watch the post with interest.
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Mon 13 Nov 2006 11:53
Any point in reporting bad driving? - Galaxian
Unless you have a camera crew on standby to record the event, it seems like a bit of a lost cause.

I reported a taxi driver who couldn't be bothered to wait in the queue we were in and drove fully on the pavement round me to join the queue a few cars further up. I reported him to the police, who referred me to the council who referred me to the police and said I also needed a witness!!!

Next time, I'll use my front mounted missile launcher ...
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Mon 13 Nov 2006 12:16
Any point in reporting bad driving? - sierraman
Living not far from a large police station I get the opportunity to see a lot of police driving.Judging from the way they drive I would not think it worth reporting anyone else-not bothering to indicate,parking on pavements,excessive speed with no blue lights(presumably not on an emergency).Once,when on my bike,a police van pulled in front of me from the side of the road ,he had not looked in the mirror,nor indicated of course.
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Mon 13 Nov 2006 12:35
Any point in reporting bad driving? - Happy Blue!
I was driving up the M1 about a year ago and noticed in my mirrors a bright yellow Porsche GT3 (a very rare car I think?). It was making progress, but at the expense of carving up all the other traffic behind me. I was in no position to do anything about it, as I was in our Trajet, but my wife rang the police. He overtook me and continued to weave dangerously over all three lanes until we reached a service station, when a highly visible police car joined the motorway behind him (and seemed to be waiting for him to so do) and followed him for at least ten miles. Thereafter he behaved even when the police car peeled off.

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Tue 14 Nov 2006 16:37
Any point in reporting bad driving? - Westpig
excessive speed with no blue lights(presumably not
on an emergency).


if you want to stop someone up ahead, but not give them any (or too much) warning of your intent (so that they don't have time to disappear) then you'd drive swiflty with no blue light....... as you would do if you are recieveing an emergency message via a radio and do not have a third hand to switch on the blue lamps....... or don't want everyone around you to suddenly react to your blue lamp until you choose a more suitable place to turn it on

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Tue 14 Nov 2006 18:53
Any point in reporting bad driving? - sierraman
Fair enough,but why no indicating?saw a patrol car yesterday waiting to come out of a side road-not indicating.It annoys me enough when civilian motorists don't indicate,surely police drivers should be setting a positive example,not a negative one.
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Mon 13 Nov 2006 22:48
Any point in reporting bad driving? - kithmo
I dialled 999 to report a lunatic in a 911 on
the A5 heading west for Llangollen the other week.
I was expecting no response I have to say, although I'll
now watch the post with interest.

Was it an emergency then ???
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Mon 13 Nov 2006 23:19
Any point in reporting bad driving? - Statistical outlier
IMHO yes it was. Forcing people off the road on both sides, there was real and immenent danger.

There was also at least 1 crime being committed.
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Mon 13 Nov 2006 22:37
Any point in reporting bad driving? - slowdown avenue
a friend jus t recently rang police to warn of a driver who was driving like he was going to kill someone,, ploice responded , but when they found him it was to late he had just ran in to the back of a stationary car, police thanked him for tip off.
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Tue 14 Nov 2006 18:47
Any point in reporting bad driving? - ForumNeedsModerating
If memory serves, in the good ol' days, every station or local area had a dedicated 'collations' officer.

His/her purpose , amongst others, was to take apparently unrelated or 'trivial' pieces
of information & provide any useful links or supporting info to ongoing invg. that could be gleaned thereof.
For example, burglary reported in 'Poshville' at 2am, suspects seen fleeing in dark saloon,logged.
Clever collations officer notices next day that an upright citizen has also reported 'dark saloon being driven
dangerously/erratically in nearby 'Chavton' at approx 2:20am - no action taken, VRM logged.
It may then be useful to locate the owner of logged car to investigate 'Chavton' link etc.

Now I assume the Police National Computer (PNC) does a similar job today , since it's simply
a database which can programmed to generate cross-reference data or 'collations' as per the old method.
So, RJ, there is hope that your info (or data at this point) won't be wasted.

On a personal note, I've reported similar incidents, but have never heard anything subsequently.

cheers
woodbines
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Tue 14 Nov 2006 22:16
Any point in reporting bad driving? - Westpig
sorry woodbines, things have changed a bit

the 2 or 3 people in the 'Collators' office have now changed to nearer 30 and they're called the 'Intelligence Unit'. With things like the National Intelligence Model to comply with there are really good powerpoint presentations for patrolling officers to peruse on tv and projectors when they parade for duty...... and fantastic in depth analysis charts for the senior management...etc

however.......

there is not enough staff left over for the 'sharp end' top do their job properly...........because the above example also applies to other areas such as domestic violence, hate crime, etc,etc.........( all worthy causes in their own right)

end result.........driving stuff is not considered important and is virtually forgotten about.
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Wed 8 Aug 2012 17:40
Any point in reporting bad driving? - Sk19

Which is why

www.baddrivingreport.co.uk

has been written. Partly to show people what other road users think of their driving and help them learn, and partly to collate reports regarding those that need investigating. It

lets you report registrations, details, and also video and pics if you have them which they then use to identify the worst drivers and report them with the list of reports. you can also check your own reg and see what people are saying about you.

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Wed 8 Aug 2012 18:02
Any point in reporting bad driving? - Ethan Edwards

Making a report and having the evidence on video should carry more weigth with the fuzz.

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Wed 8 Aug 2012 19:33
Any point in reporting bad driving? - John Boy

I've reported bad driving twice.

The first time was via the internet to a scheme run by my local police. They emailed me a thankyou and the information that I was the first person to report the car in question. I heard nothing more, but the nature of the scheme is a that policeman calls on the owner of a car which is reported a few times and things progress from there.

The second time I reported a lorry which veered on and off the hard shoulder on a motorway for several miles. I was miles away from home so I did it via a 999 call, expecting to get a telling off. Instead, I got a thankyou. I heard nothing more.

It seems to me that the lack of a non-urgent phone number, other than local ones, is a shortcoming of the policing system in this country.

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Wed 8 Aug 2012 19:46
Any point in reporting bad driving? - daveyjp
National non emergency number is 101.
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Wed 8 Aug 2012 20:17
Any point in reporting bad driving? - injection doc

If you have an in-car camera you stand better chance of result.

Last year I reported a taxi driver that seriously cut me up forcing me off the road ! all caught on camera !

Recived a letter some weeks later to say 3 points had been issued so good result & hopefully a more careful taxi driver

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Wed 8 Aug 2012 20:47
Any point in reporting bad driving? - John Boy

Thanks for the 101 number, daveyjp.

I wonder how many other people shared/share my ignorance.

With regard to the orginal question, if you don't report bad driving, then the powers that be will be able to say that there isn't a problem. Then the reporting systems will be run down.

Don't let apathy rule, okay.

Edited by John Boy on 08/08/2012 at 20:48

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Thu 9 Aug 2012 13:22
Any point in reporting bad driving? - Bobbin Threadbare

I've reported a vehicle to Crimestoppers - it's hard for me to believe that this eejit had never been reported before; I reckon I was just adding to the reports. Very distinctive reg plate (one of those really short 2 or 3 letter ones) on an Audi A6 circa 2001. He did some very stupid behaviour on the M6 a while back. I genuinely considered myself lucky not to be seriously hurt and/or have no car left.

The 'myroadrage' site used to be quite reasonable but now it's full of silly little trolls.

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Thu 9 Aug 2012 13:56
Any point in reporting bad driving? - davecooper

I was going to post this in the recent thread about driver retests and behaviours, however, here is probably better. I car cameras are becoming much more common, I am considering a front and rear facing system myself. Eventually they will become standard fit on all cars. Virtually every peice of bad driving will be caught on someones camera. Whether the Police will welcome the possible deluge of video that they may have sent to them I don't know. However, this technology does have the potential to make people think before they carry out some stupid maneouvre or drive while texting etc.

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