Motorist prosecuted for flashing lights

Just do as Winnie Madikizela Mandela does. Drive with bodyguards and then have the cops arrested.

Two South African cops who stopped a speeding car that was taking the ex-wife of former president Nelson Mandela to a funeral are facing criminal and disciplinary charges, police said Thursday.

The incident involving Winnie Madikizela-Mandela apparently resulted in a scuffle between her bodyguards and two traffic officers — one black and one white — when the car was stopped on December 30, according to media reports.

The white officer was quoted as saying he was being victimised “for doing his job” and because he spoke to the media about the incident involving Mandela’s former wife who is a member of parliament.

“They are facing criminal charges of pointing a firearm, intimidation and internal charges… Madikizela-Mandela’s driver and bodyguard laid the charges,” police spokesman Colonel Neville Malila told AFP.
It was reported that Jannie Odendaal and his colleague stopped the car on a highway north of Johannesburg for speeding at about 150 kilometres (93 miles) per hour).

A bodyguard got out of the car and told Odendaal that Madikizela-Mandela was inside, after which both parties offered different accounts of what happened.

Odendaal claimed he was pushed by the bodyguard and verbally insulted.

However the bodyguard said he tried to explain Madikizela-Mandela was late for a funeral in Pretoria and they accepted they had been speeding, according to the report.

The bodyguard said Odendaal swore at both him and Madikizela-Mandela when she got out of the car.

She then instructed her staff to drive off because the situation was getting ugly, the report said.

Malila said the two officers had been transferred to other stations because they face an internal disciplinary process as well as criminal charges.

Ignore speed limits and you deserve whatever you get- same with using phones/ radio mics etc. while driving.

Words from a C W McCall song …

“If Speed don’t kill then CB will”….for CB substitute mobile phones/satnav etc.

Turns out that flashing your lights to warn other motorists about speed cameras is illegal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-12115179

I don’t support speeding, but this seems a bit far. Whatever next? If a policeman overhears you telling someone about the location of a fixed camera, you get arrested? What about the warnings that come with sat navs?

Just wanted to put it out there….

a pity the police have nothing better to do ,what a jobsworth the police officer who turned to catch the bloke, well , theres another word which springs to mind eh

I have read elsewhere that the guy was to be cautioned, but cut up rough and got really bolshie with the officers.

Basically he talked himself into the prosecution,

when if he’d stuck to the golden rule – smile and say nothing – he’d have walked (driven) away.

Basically, the fine was for stupidity.

Moggy

`

Jeez, are we talking one & the same man here ? (Micheal Thompson)

The poor guy can barely string two words together…….his appearance on film hardly suggests someone who would fly off the handle, never mind get ‘Bolshie’ with the Police ?

If he’s like that (seated & ‘calm’) in front of a camera crew I’d LOVE to see what he’s like verbally “kicking-off” !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Strikes me that the Police Officer was indeed (as ‘repco’ said) a “Jobsworth”

Have certainly met a few during my 35 years on the road (driving/riding Lorries/Cars/Bikes, not to mention the hundreds of serving Police-Officers that I’ve trained to ride Motorcycles & pass their Direct-Access & D.S.A. test to gain their Full-licence)……..most are good, but you’ll always get the odd one or two ‘busybody'(s) in a bunch :rolleyes:

.

I neither had the time or inclination to do anything about two shoplifters…….

Well if you’re ever attacked/burgled/have your car stolen let’s hope that anyone who witnesses the incident is a little more public spirited than your good self.

Regards,

kev35

Well there’s speeding and there’s speeding isn’t there?? With a clear wide open road, not a soul insight and some crafty copper stood halfway in a bus stop catches you doing 35mph what the hell difference does it make !! As for coppers getting killed in the line of their duty….no-one forced them to join.. Well obviously the two coppers a few hundred yards away couldn’t see what’s going on in the shop. Had they been on FOOT patrol they may well have been around that area. I neither had the time or inclination to do anything about two shoplifters, that’s why we have CAMERA’S in shops. If I had stopped to inform the two coppers no-doubt they would have nicked me for stopping where I could and obstructing them in their duty to nick people for going 5mph too fast.

Kev, your last point.
Yes, tell the coppers…only if you are not seen to do so. The scumbag element of todays youth carry more vendettas than we ever could think. If you try and tackle them, you’d better knock them clean out first blow because highly likely they will be tooled up with a blade or a firearm…and they will get a gang trophy for killing you.
And, the repercussions on your family after the event too. So, tell the law. However, our great law….shoplifting versus possible income…no contest as you say.

bookman.

“What a nice safe easy job….

Indeed. A quick Google shows a rough average of 6 to 10 Police Officers being killed each year in the course of their duties. (That’s not including those officers who died of natural causes or in accidents on their way to, or returning from, their place of duty.)

“Far better than catching real law-breakers where there maybe an element of danger involved.”

So there’s no danger in speeding? No chance that if a person is speeding that they may also be driving without a license? Or insurance? Or tax? Or an MOT? Or that the car may be stolen?

“Two young lads in my local off licence were hiding cans of beer in their baggy summer clothes, two hundred yards down the road stood two coppers”

And from their position two hundred yards down the road they could see the shoplifting going on? Did you not think it your civic duty to apprehend these criminals yourself? Did you identify these criminals to the two Officers standing 200 yards down the road? Did you even tell the shopkeeper?

Regards,

kev35

It’s simple really though isn’t it? Risk breaking the speed limit, however it is set and however it is enforced, and face the consequences.

He was done for interfering with the actions of a Police Officer whilst lawfully carrying out his duty.

Regards,

kev35

What a nice safe easy job, and they can get money from you. Far better than catching real law-breakers where there maybe an element of danger involved. Two young lads in my local off licence were hiding cans of beer in their baggy summer clothes, two hundred yards down the road stood two coppers, the young-un being shown by the elder how to Nick people for going 3mph too fast. And they were just 100yards from a fixed camera.

Country lanes with 60. 60 / 65.
Towny roads with 30. 30.
Urbans with 40 / 50. 40 and 50.
Motorways with 70. 80 and 85 if everybody else is. Truthfully, my car is uneconomical at 70. 60 or 80 is best with CC on (I can just see the Police having that one!!! LoL). Sorry officer, I get 32mpg at 80 but only 29 at 70 LoL.
Motorway roadworks with 50. 50, and I really don’t care who I annoy behind me. Lorries are the worst.

Autobahn. I tried for my limited speed of 155 but bottled it at 140 – very VERY scary. My pal with same car has had his limiter illegally removed and he bottled out ay 180 with a theoretical 185 as max.

So the motorists themselves should set the speed limit?

Well, all motorists do set the speed limit at which they drive don’t they?

On a country road with a sixty limit what speed do you drive, sixty? Or do you drive at a ‘safe’ speed taking into consideration the corners you can (or can’t) see, the gradient, the camber, the road conditions (water, mud, snow, ice, darkness, fog), the behaviour of other road users, the condition of your vehicle and the chances of being able to prevent an accident should the unexpected happen?

And, yes, I know that the speed-limit is the maximum speed at which it is legal to drive but the demonising of ‘excessive’ (above to legal limit) speed, as opposed to much more significant factors, has got a lot more to do with the introduction of speed-cameras (and possibly a reduction of the number of traffic police) that it has to do with actually preventing accidents and saving lives. IMHO of course.

No Kev he was done because he argued with the police when (allegedly) they were just going to caution him !
I do not have a problem with cameras in certain areas,but in the last 10 years or so some speed limits and the rate at which they keep varying for no apparent logical reason (on same stretch of road !) has got truly bizarre.
Some cameras are sited in areas where they know people will have a hard time spotting them for various reasons,all well and good to say ‘stay within the limits and you will be ok’ but personally I think it is safer to keep looking at the traffic ahead than constantly looking down at the speedo,especially on dual carriageways/motorways (one cannot always use cruise control !)

It’s simple really though isn’t it? Risk breaking the speed limit, however it is set and however it is enforced, and face the consequences.

He was done for interfering with the actions of a Police Officer whilst lawfully carrying out his duty.

Regards,

kev35

Depends where the cameras are really Kev…some are in areas where they have a perfect right to be…many others are in blatant cash raising positions !

…..which is not the same as stopping you breaching some arbitrary speed limit.

So the motorists themselves should set the speed limit?

Regards,

kev35

I don’t think anyone believes that that was the reason for their existence nor that they have achieved the stated aim. Better motorists make the roads safer, not cameras in metal boxes by the side of the road.

If I’m stupid enough, or want to run the risk of speeding through a certain limit area, then I should run the risk of getting a fine.

Fair enough…..but if it gets to that point the camera has surely failed in its prime mission…

…which is to make the roads safer…..which is not the same as stopping you breaching some arbitrary speed limit.

In a word then he failed the attitude test.

That’s a very good way of putting it! 😀

If I’m stupid enough, or want to run the risk of speeding through a certain limit area, then I should run the risk of getting a fine.

You saying your truck could break the speed limit??!:p

That’s four words 😀 But ‘yes’

Moggy

In a word then he failed the attitude test.