Police cars hitting civilians

[frostyfours]

What the hell is going on? Three killed in the space of a week by police cars. Heartbreaking :-(

Any links? Can't see any on my news app

If you're in an overturned car, a Victim of violent crime with a chance of the culprit still being around, a child going through ice, the relative of a jumper on a roof etc....would you be happy at rapid response crawling along at 30 or less and stopping at red lights?

Police are under unreal pressure to redo

Police are under unreal pressure to respond. Endless stabbing, shootings & assaults etc Under resourced. I agree with previous poster that full facts need to be considered. They are trained to blue light but no police officer I know would live easily with killing someone. They be destroyed.

That's usually the main thing id say would be the main cause, a chase is happening and then people randomly j walk, or just randomly cross without looking etc

The amount of people who walk across crossings here with earphones in / looking at phones without looking at what is around them is staggering. I am not aware of the cases you have merited but in the last couple
Of days I have have had to slam the brakes on a zebra crossing, I was already on it, before a woman ran in front of me for a bus. If the person behind me was any closer they would have gone in the back of me.

If I hear a siren when driving I pull over if safe or stop where I as I was taught until it's clear where it is coming from. The trained drivers will work their way around if you stay still.

I would never entertain the idea of crossing at a green man if I heard a siren.

They drive in the middle of the road for visibility. People hear sirens and start pulling over. The last thing they expect is to pull into the left and then crash into an emergency vehicle basically undertaking at speed.

And this is why I won't blue light to anything anymore.

Ill stick the lights and sirens on but go at 30 mph .

Damned if we do damned if we don't .

We either aren't there fast enough to catch people or we should be sacked if an accident happens .

I've refused to do my refresher blue light course .

I'm not being held responsible and risking jail time for trying to break my ne k to get to a
Shed break in .

And I might add the only accidents I've ever ever had driving have been on blue light runs when people have pulled out on me despite lights and sirens blazing .

I refuse to do it anymore .

It's a terrible tragedy and accident for all involved. I'm certain the police or any emergency vehicle driver does not begin their shift thinking it would end in such tragedy.

I don't blame any police officer these days for wanting to quit, not perform certain duties though, they really can't do right from wrong. It's just not worth the pay and worry.

I'm so sorry to read this and wish you every strength as you heal. I take it you're in hospital now- are you getting counselling or MH support as well? And will you be getting legal support at some point? Good luck with it all - what an awful thing to happen to you

It's not just heartbreaking, its infuriating and horrifying. Completely unacceptable. I hope those involved are sacked and held accountable

So you're privvy to all the facts of all 3 incidents & know without question that the drivers were totally in the wrong?? You should pass your findings to the relevant forces because they're still working on investigations to ascertain all the circumstances

Surely there has to be a judgement over when it's necessary to speed in a built up area? Murder/risk to life in progress, yes. But 2 people were killed in my neighbourhood during a chase of a guy who had stolen a car. Did that necessitate blue lighting round the side of a children's playground in the school holidays? Of course not. And a child and adult were killed as a result.

What are the three incidents?
I’m aware of two, plus one in which the death was caused by the offending car or is that deemed to be police fault as if they weren’t pursuing then it wouldn’t have happened…
In general, NOT based on these incidents of which the full facts are not known, standards of driving are very poor everywhere.
I drove two hours mostly on motorway yesterday and it seems very few people actually are aware of how to drive correctly, either flying down the outside lane, hogging the middle lane when the inside lane is empty for miles or just being totally unaware of what’s going on!

There needs to be consequences otherwise the police will begin to accept that civilian deaths are just an occupational hazard. It's such a cruel and horrible way to die I hope all involved are held accountable.

If a blue light driver has an accident it is treated in the same way as anyone else....they are prosecuted if found to be the cause of death or injury like anyone else.....so next time you call an ambulance in an emergency remember the driver racing to you with the lights on going round traffic is risking it to save a life but could be in court as a result.

Too many idiot pedestrians who genuinely can't see big flashing lights and a loud siren. These people are a danger as they hold up emergency services going about their job.

You don't know the facts & seem to be assuming the Police are at fault on each occasion. No police officer would think that about a fatal accident. Those drivers will be devastated.

Also if there's any fault found or any prosecution then the points etc are on the drivers own licence which will have impact on them in the future. That goes for speed cameras or red light cameras too unless they can prove it was necessary because of the call they were going to.

It's heartbreaking for everyone but the crash investigators need to be allowed to do their job to establish the facts. You can't just assume the Police were at fault

Our area is not known for violent crime, I'd love to know what calls these police cars are answering for which they are happy to fly through a busy crossing and endanger the public. Certainly a stolen vehicle is not worth this. Ambulances don't drive in the same reckless manner around here so it's definitely a police thing, again, it's a low crime area. Police cars do not slow down when crossing junction and endanger pedestrians and other vehicles in the process.

I was a special constable for a few years. I would often do shifts with "regular" section patrols and sometimes traffic patrols. I hated them. Far too many times, the driver would "love" a blue lights job for the fun/thrill of it rather than the genuine purpose of getting somewhere quick enough. Far too many arrogant officers who are clearly in the wrong job. They'd drive at a hell of speed, only to saunter out of the car and wander slowly to the address when they got there. No urgency at all once out of the car!

It's very noticeable that fire engines and ambulances often aren't exceeding speed limits - they use their blues & twos to overtake slow traffic, go through red traffic lights, overtake queues etc., which gets them to incidents faster without being dangerous to other road users.

Out of the services, the police are the ones who have less need to get somewhere quicker. Fire engines and ambulances can save lives if they get there quicker, but they're the ones who drive more carefully. The only police who "need" to get somewhere quicker are firearms officers, there's not the same urgency for police to get to a road accident or a burglary - it's not life threatening if they get there a few minutes later, unlike fire and ambulance where every second counts to save lives.

You don't know the facts & seem to be assuming the Police are at fault on each occasion. No police officer would think that about a fatal accident. Those drivers will be devastated.

Unfortunately the default, especially on MN, seems to be it's the fault of the police no matter what.

My husband has never redone his blue light ticket, it's just not worth the risk to his career and lots of Officers dont want to.

Thus has a knock on effect to there not being enough Officers on response for emergencies.

My SIL was in a blue light crash on boxing day in 2009, emergency run for a domestic violence incident in progress. A drunk partygoer stepped out into the road, she swerved to avoid and hit a lamppost, ending her police career due to subsequent injuries and psychological damage.

So, let's all try to remember police offers are hard working, underpaid, under appreciated human beings.

Agree with the comment about too few police. Also too many people given car driving licences.

Excellent post @user1497207191 👏👏👏And thank you for your service as special constable 🙏.

This annoys me so much on MN, I am not anti police, I respect good police officers and am grateful that they would chose such a risky profession.

However, the police blue light nuisance is real, as user1497207191 said, ambulances do not speed in the same way and I have never felt endangered by an ambulance answering a call as they are not reckless like many police drivers. Is it not ok to criticise such unnecessarily dangerous driving without wanting to discredit the police as a whole? Why should we not discuss how things could be improved? Chauvinistic blue light racing while on duty is not on.

Great comments-area with low crime. So no DV or mental health issues which need attendance quickly?
Ambulances and fire engines can’t drive as quick as cars, also are not driving back and forth as much as non stop demand for police. When ambulance response time can be 6 hours who do you think has to attend to provide medical assistance in the mean time? Or responds to a medical issue which ambulance is already at but needs backup for a violent patient?
And no need to get to an RTC quickly? Who do you think would prevent further RTCs when the following traffic needs stopped? Or gives first aid whist waiting for paramedics?
Wonder why the special did two years whilst hating it when they could have stopped any time, maybe trying to join the regulars but not making the cut….