Acceleration ticket?

[masona]

Ah, but the point is, the car is not moving. Thus how can they say you were driving it? You are in control, after all you want the car to remain stationary and there it sits. /

ahh, what if the handbrake failed ?

 

[ohmygodwhathaveyoudone]

Ah, but the point is, the car is not moving. Thus how can they say you were driving it? You are in control, after all you want the car to remain stationary and there it sits. /

ahh, what if the handbrake failed ?

all you have to do is ask an 18yr old with an astra or xr3i with the hat on backwards coz every junction they pull away from recoats the road with more rubber,also its a cool thing to do as you also look well ard' and a proffesional driver.

 

[AdamW]

all you have to do is ask an 18yr old with an astra

Would a 24yr old with an Astra do?

I admit that when I was 17 and new to the pleasures of driving, I used to burn around in a car that didn't go particularly fast. However, like all 17 year olds I was in denial that the reason I was "winning" at traffic light burn-ups was because the person in the car next to me was probably just going to the swimming pool to pick up his kids My mates were all the same, as were my little sister's boyfriends when she was that age. Somehow it seems logical that a 1.2 litre Nova is quicker than a 1.8 litre grown-ups car

The A1(M) north between Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage has some lovely long uphill bits. I have occasionally had fun on this stretch with a teenager in a Nova/Saxo/Clio flashing his lights behind me on the flats leading up to the first hill. Just pull over to the left, let them struggle alongside and then floor it up the hill: their little engines run out of puff up the hills, even with my Astra they end up a way behind you. When you approach the car in front (preferably at the top of the hill), pull back out into the outside lane and slow back to 70 for the downhill. They don't like it, the downhill bits are the only ones they can get any speed up on!

It's especially good if they have a loud exhaust, as you can hear them changing down to 4th, sometimes even 3rd in a bid to get past! Oh the poor headgear on those engines.

I'm such a g*t.

 

[securespark]

It seems to depend on who you talk to. If you are sitting in the vehicle while parked, engine off, you are in charge of it, although if you did the same while under the influence, you would be seen by police as driving (or trying to drive) it. If you sit in a vehicle (even while parked) with the engine running it is deemed to be "driven" for the purposes of the mobile phone law.

Wonder if anyone can clear this up?

 

[AdamW]

I believe in that case the offence is actually being "in charge of a vehicle" rather than driving it.

However there is no law against "reckless being in charge of a vehicle", or "being in charge of a vehicle without due care and attention" as far as I know. How can they prove that you aren't being attentive to the vehicle whilst sitting stationary, otherwise putting the keys in the ignition before putting a seatbelt on would be illegal! They could probably do you with a breach of the peace, or anti-social behaviour, but I can't think of a single traffic law against sitting at traffic lights doing big burnouts on the spot.

It is the same as sitting on the biting point of the clutch, just a bit smokier.

It is a very silly point, granted, but I think I need to know just what the answer is now! Didn't we have a traffic cop here before?

 

[masona]

When I was a young driver, I was at the front traffic light on the left hand side in my 1275 GT Mini and a Mexico Escort was on my right edging me on, both revving the engine sounded like Brand Hatch, traffic light went green the Mexico did an almightly wheel spin and I just turn left

 

[2scoops0406]

but I can't think of a single traffic law against sitting at traffic lights doing big burnouts on the spot.

I think it's called driving like a pr*t! Traffic cop stops you, kicks your rear light in, now lets be avin' you sonny

 

[AdamW]

the Mexico did an almightly wheel spin and I just turn left

Good choice: at 17 I knew someone who had a sporty hatch pull up next to them one night and start revving up. So they raced away from the lights, the car got in front, stopped, a policeman got out and did him for racing on the highway. Dunno if that would count as entrapment, but it is decidedly dodygy in my books!

 

[ohmygodwhathaveyoudone]

the best thing to do is rev your engine & start nudging forward,then when the car next to you pulls away like a loony you just pull away at a sedate pace the other bloke will feel like a right prat ha ha ha.

 

[2scoops0406]

I have to rev the engine of my 1.1 Litre Clio when pulling away, otherwise it stalls I never ever get into a race with anything unless it's a milk float at the end of it's round with discharged batteries going uphill, then maybe just maybe I'll book a convienient slot in my diary for an overtaking manoeuvre. I mean slow does not even come close.

 

[AdamW]

I haven't had a traffic light burn-up in a couple of years, but the last one was quite funny. A woman next to me was revving up in a Saxo VTS and grinning at me. A rather quick car, does 0-60 in under 8 seconds, not bad. Me in my family hatchback Astra, not the quickest of cars, does 0-60 in a bit over 10 seconds. But I thought, "what the hell, I'll lose but who cares?"

Now there is a little shortcoming on the Citroen Saxo VTS that this woman didn't seem to know, but I did... The engine doesn't rev to 15,000 rpm, so it won't do 0-60 in under 8 seconds IF YOU STAY IN FIRST!!! It was rather amusing, me being a car length behind, then at 30mph hearing her rev limiter cut in and seeing the car start to shake itself to bits. At the next set of lights (on a single-lane stretch) she was absolutely fuming that I was in front. She was shouting, gesticulating! But what can you do.

 

[2scoops0406]

Adam, you lout, and I thought i was a bad lad, but yours was premeditated, I think you should own up and join the visa queue.

 

[AdamW]

What's in your wallet?

 

[2scoops0406]

What's in your wallet?

No money, and stressed looking plastic

 

[securespark]

In my Opel Rekord 2.0 Auto (79), I came across a tatty Capri which I beat through the junction. He overtook on a blind bend, slewed across the road and got out. "I'm an off-duty policeman" he said fuming.

"Who is pushing his weight around like a jumped-up p r i c k " I said calmly, before swerving round the C rapri and making for the horizon.....