Police Cars

[User]

 

[Origamist]

By the sounds of it, the Met are reassessing the use of sirens:

Police sirens 'can make areas seem dangerous' says Scotland Yard chief

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...-seem-dangerous-says-Scotland-Yard-chief.html

 

[Bman]

Reading that article it seemed to me that the bloke was riding across a pedestrian crossing!? Neither the driver or rider saw each other coming....

The way that was written immediately suggests it was just a trajic accident.

 

[mr_cellophane]

This crossing
http://tinyurl.com/melpag

Traffic light controlled and hidden by the slight curve in the road, so who was in the wrong ?

 

[Crankarm]

However, a couple of weeks ago as I cycled west along the Bus Lane from The Oval to Stockwell (with the road jam-packed with cars) a silent police-car, lights on, shot past me in the Bus Lane. This was about 5.50pm. About fifty metres further on there was a minor road on the left. The car screeched to a halt half-way across the turning as it nearly crashed into a right-turning car (hidden from view by the traffic jams).

Police car then stopped for a few seconds. Then switched the sirens on and shot off again.

Certainly on my commute home, between the Blackfriars and Clapham section, there are always two or three police-cars bombing by (with lights and sirens). No doubt these are bona fide emergencies. However, it would be useful to know the details of thse emergency call-outs.

Sure the stats must be somewhere.

Proabably a new recruit sent out to get the pizzas.

 

[mr_cellophane]

Proabably a new recruit sent out to get the pizzas.

You should stand outside Bishopsgate Police Station for an hour or two during the day. There are always police cars coming along with their lights and sirens on and then pulling into the laybay outside and just stolling into the station. B)

 

[In trouble]

Reading it, it states that the accident happened in the early hours of the morning. I do know that Police are less inclined to put sirens on at night when travelling to jobs, because its quieter, and so as not to un-necesserily disturb occupants of houses who would be sleeping.

Likewise, noise travels very far at night, and if their heading to a fight/burglary/robbery etc... why give the criminals an advanced warning that the cops are on the way? BUT I accept that if sirens are not used, then the police should be driving with extra caution when exceeding normal traffic regulations.

 

[marinyork]

It's become incredibly unfashionable to use sirens. I'm not particularly bothered if the police use sirens or not but if they don't and they hit someone they should do the time in prison.

 

[FOAD]

It's become incredibly unfashionable to use sirens. I'm not particularly bothered if the police use sirens or not but if they don't and they hit someone they should do the time in prison.

What a stupid comment.

Perhaps had the cyclist actually looked more carefully or waited and used the crossing as intended he would not have been hit!

Heather Mills walked out infront of a Police motorcycle which had blues and two's on and lost a leg, but had she opened her eyes she would have been fine.

As far as I am aware according to law (stated case under s3 RTA 1988) pulling out infront of a car and causing an accident cannot be excused if the approaching vehicle was speeding, unless the vehicle would have been out of sight when the point of no return was reached by the vehicle pulling out (unlikely). What makes it any different for a pedestrian or cyclist?

How many people are run over by police cars and killed each year? Not many. How many police cars razz from a to b (or boy racers or stolen cars for that matter) without their sirens on each day? Probably quite a few.

The upshot is that most people look! Could the cyclist actually be guilty of careless cycling (and Heather Mills careless walking)? I dare say...

 

[ufkacbln]

On the way into work on Friday, massive great fire engine full lights and sirens, sounded additional horn as it approached junction...... and a BMW pulled right out in front ohf hem across the road to take opportunity of the gap the frie engine had created as trafic moved out of its way.

Fire engine slams on anchors and ends up stationary as the BMW now in the yellow box has blocked the road.

There should be a rule that says numpties like this or those who park and restrict access should simply be bulldozed out ofthe way!

 

[D4VOW]

What a stupid comment.

Perhaps had the cyclist actually looked more carefully or waited and used the crossing as intended he would not have been hit!

It's also possible that it was a crossing with a central island, in which case if the Police car was passing on the opposite side of the road to the flow of traffic as they often do the siren should have been turned on. When crossing here the person crossing would never have looked in the direction of the Police car because traffic should not be traveling in that direction on that side of the road.

 

[mr_cellophane]

It's also possible that it was a crossing with a central island, in which case if the Police car was passing on the opposite side of the road to the flow of traffic as they often do the siren should have been turned on. When crossing here the person crossing would never have looked in the direction of the Police car because traffic should not be traveling in that direction on that side of the road.

Look at the tinyurl I posted, it is a street view of the place the accident happened

 

[marinyork]

What a stupid comment.

Perhaps had the cyclist actually looked more carefully or waited and used the crossing as intended he would not have been hit!

Heather Mills walked out infront of a Police motorcycle which had blues and two's on and lost a leg, but had she opened her eyes she would have been fine.

As far as I am aware according to law (stated case under s3 RTA 1988) pulling out infront of a car and causing an accident cannot be excused if the approaching vehicle was speeding, unless the vehicle would have been out of sight when the point of no return was reached by the vehicle pulling out (unlikely). What makes it any different for a pedestrian or cyclist?

I think I'll return the compliment and say what a stupid post. You are the paramedic and I claim my five pounds. If you're going to quote law at least read it! S3 of the RTA 1988 specifically applies to motor vehicles . In anycase you seem to not grasp the principle that pedestrians and cyclists are vurnerable road users and on your point if a pedestrian has an accident with a vehicle it is unfairly classified as pedestrian continues even when it isn't their fault.

How many people are run over by police cars and killed each year? Not many. How many police cars razz from a to b (or boy racers or stolen cars for that matter) without their sirens on each day? Probably quite a few.

The upshot is that most people look! Could the cyclist actually be guilty of careless cycling (and Heather Mills careless walking)? I dare say...

Quite a few people are KSIs from police cars. In anycase we're arguing principle, both the scenarios you describe are dangerous which was why in my first post I said they should be treated the same. You just seem to be excusing it because there are other idiots on the road who behave badly.

 

[FOAD]

S3 applies to cars, and 29 to pedal cycles...

I was implying that the speed of the approaching car was relatively insignificant in relation to the standard of care one should take when pulling out, crossing the road or whatever, ie. you can't just say it was the car's fault because it was going that fast.

I wasn't excusing the police from running people over because other people drive like idiots, I was suggesting that the police should be treated no different to other motorists, if it isn't their fault (and speed alone cannot cause an accident generally) then why should they be put in prison as suggested by the post to which I replied! I was also suggesting that despite the number of cars that drive around at high speed, whether necessary or otherwise, the actual number of people killed is very low, suggesting that when care is taken in crossing roads, accidents are pretty avoidable.

Try reading.

 

[marinyork]

No, you try reading. I am very aware that s29 covers it I've read the whole act, whereas you haven't . I'm not going to do your arguing for you though, why should I? Had I put something along the lines of bother counting higher than 3 it wouldn't have gone down well. My original post didn't refer to speed, it refered to using sirens. Pointlessly bringing up old speed arguments makes you smell like a safespeed troll and so I'm not going to further partake in this debate. If you want a serious debate and actually bother to read things (such as legislation) properly you'll find people quite happy to take part.

P.S. if you're suggesting the police shouldn't be treated any different to motorists I don't understand your umbrage.