Any coppers on here? Is my hi-viz legal?

[Drago]

I think my biggest concern would be that touched on by my esteemed colleague CopperCyclist.

Most dibble go out of their way while off duty to do nothing to mark them out as Feds. Reason being is there is a small but active sector of society that make a sport out of doing nasty things to coppers, ranging from verbal abuse, spitting, up through physical assaults, assaults with weapons, right through to attempts at killing them. If some hoodie sees you going in to your house and thinks youre a copper then you've got serious problems. VWhen you're on duty you got your body armour, spray, peg (In my case I'm still authorised to carry the PR24), and most importantly your Airwaves radio. Off duty you got south of sod all. Sooner or later some nasty sod will have a pop and it won't be nice.

And let's be honest - people don't buy this kit to proclaim to the world what good manners they have, and to highlight this with chequered ciphers. They buy them to convey the impression to other road users that they are coppers, and thus hope to enjoy better treatment from those other road users.

If you feel the need to wear a florrie then go for it, but doing anything to give people the impression you are dibble will sooner or later backfire big time. I really don't care much about the legalities (unless someone complained about it), but to choose to go out in out in public and convey the impression that you a wooden top is something that no off duty copper would consider due to concerns over their own safety.

 

[semislickstick]

Slightly OT..
You need to have BS6102/3 lighting on your bike, the backup lights can be whatever you want.

...or an equivalent EC (like the easier to find B&M German standard!)

 

[GrasB]

Slightly OT..
You need to have BS6102/3 lighting on your bike, the backup lights can be whatever you want.

I have a StVZO rear light, it's not the light that people see however.

...or an equivalent EC (like the easier to find B&M German standard!)

Don't you mean the StVZO German standard? B+M make lights, they aren't the standard

 

[semislickstick]

I have a StVZO rear light, it's not the light that people see however.


Don't you mean the StVZO German standard? B+M make lights, they aren't the standard

When it said EC standard, I take it to mean another countries standard in the EC. Like BS is as good as the German standard if it came down to proving you had ok lights. My B&M lights are the minimum German standard...and some. They are meant for use on the road unlike some uber bright off road lights. Though I don't know if any one has used that against a cyclist in an accident yet...or have they?

 

[GrasB]

Certainly the higher end StVZO front lights are more than up to the job but the but I've not seen a StVZO rear light which was effective in thick mist I deal with at the distances required by high speed roads.

 

[classic33]

Forget a sec about what's being worn. When Drago mentioned 'mens rea' it mean what's in the suspects mind. As project Minority Report is still under development, the only way to find out what is in a suspects mind is to question them about it. This could lead to 'official' questioning at a police station.

What we all agree on though, is that you are very, very unlikely to meet a police officer with a warped enough view on the world to truly believe that mens rea is present and do this!

I'm not sure what you mean by choice of mobile phone? As for helping the BTP officers, fair play to you. I suspect they mistook you for CID mostly due to the fact that we rarely get assistance from the public in that way, so again, fair play!

Intention when wearing it, the Polite Hi-Vis, is to get myself noticed. I have worn works provided ones, to & from work as well as plain Hi-Vis vests. Any with something on the back, in print, seems to cause a person following, in/on any vehicle, to take a second look. In doing so, they are acknowledging my presence. Its not about trying to fool anyone, its to get them to notice me on the road.

The mobile phone side. I have an Ericsson R250 & that gets more questions asked than the Hi-Vis. Bought when its use was required outside, whatever the weather. The BTP & station staff did mistake me for CID. Result of that was a call asking which force I was with. I'd left name & number as requested by them.

Despite what has been said elsewhere, by myself, on here. I'll help if I can which is what was done there, no intention of mis-leading anyone, but it ended up that way.