Helicopters To Be Used To Catch Speeding Motorists

Its getting worse…

http://www.pistonheads.com/speed/default.asp?storyId=18582

good luck to them reading my number plate :smiley:

Saw loads of the signs on the way to Finchingfield Monday:( (Either on the B187 or B1057 not sure which now)

But I also heard the Essex chopper is out of commission at the mo:)

Hmmm, maybe once or twice a year just for publicity. But with direct operating cost of what must be circa £3-400/hr I’d guess that is all its going to be. Plus I can’t see that it’ll have much free time for it!

Good luck with getting any message from skyshout into any modern car, especially with the radio, or a helmet of a speeding motorcycle!! :wink:

£1000 an hour actually. Bit of a **** take. Best thing is cops on the roads.

Now thats over the top, and thats not a pun.

Total waste of tax payers money. They should only use the choppers for catching real criminals!

they’ve got far more important things to do with choppers than chase numpties doing 40 in a 30… when they say chase they do mean tonners on the M-Way or people running from the bill…

The resources are thin enough as it is without chasing every pillock that speeds…

It’s a crap attempt at getting some publicity for an issue that they’re not really willing to address properly… If they were really intent on doing something about the ‘problem’ then they would put more money in to roads policing.

The threat of detection is not enough, there needs to be direct intervention and education. Let’s not forget that Essex is the same force that got rid of all their Police bikes not so long ago…

£1,000 an hour probably why they have to do this http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/7585767.stm

First off let me admit to being a member of Her Majesties Constabulary. I am therefore prepared to be shot down over this post.

However I spent 12 years living near Finchingfield and am aware of the amount of serious and fatal bike accidents in the area so tend to support Essex on this. If and it is a big if, their intention is to reduce accidents rather than pander to Mr and Mrs Outraged who don’t like bikes in their quiet country village. Despite the fact the business the pubs and cafes get from bikers keeps them afloat.

The reason I support it is if it saves one life, £1000 an hour is a cheap price to pay. Would you want to be the copper to knock on the door of Mrs Biker, young kids behind her, and tell her that her husband has just died, wrapped around a tree? Disregarding, if you can but cops must, the emotion of a death, the financial cost to the family and society is phenomenal.

Many years ago, when I was going through initial training, I was told the primay object of an efficient Policce Force is the presevation of life. I think that is what Essex is trying to achieve.

It needs to be done face to face, by the police stopping the drivers/riders and speaking to them, educating them, and indeed issuing tickets or reporting them if necessary. So unless the helicopter is going to land, and stop the offending vehicles - whether they be bikes or cars - then I think it’s a waste.

Completely agree with you. It should be done face to face. But unfortunately every Chief Constable, local commander or even the bobby on the beat is under massive pressure caused by conflicting demands. If the Essex Helicopter operation causes just one biker to think ‘F**k there might be a helicopter above me I’ll slow down’ and as a result of this he or she doesn’t go home in a coffin its worth it