Police cars hitting civilians

[frostyfours]

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

@Daysoffarethebest I disagree with you. I don't think it's ok for police cars to endanger members of the public by driving recklessly and flying through busy crossings without slowing down or looking out for cars who may not have seen the blue light (they don't always have the siren on) in order to attend to the cases you mention. It's safer, and ultimately quicker to drive with due care albeit fast where safely possible. They'll be much more delayed if they cause accidents and damage precious police resources and equipment. Why can't they blue light it but be careful when the go through crossings? Can both objectives not be met, attending a call without causing harm? Why are you saying it's one or the other, it makes rather little sense, it just sounds argumentative.

The fault lies entirely with the scum being chased, regardless of the actual logistics.

At no point have I said that anybody should drive recklessly, however to the vast majority of non blue light drivers, any fast driving will look unsafe. Of course progress should be made safely, the number of drivers totally oblivious to what is going on around them is outrageous. This is sometimes the cause of accidents but of course it will be the polices fault if they were going fast, not the driver pulling out in front of them/overtaking a car in front who has pulled over to let the blue lights pass but that second driver has failed to see. Until the facts are known police automatically get the blame.
All blue light drivers in any service should drive safely to the conditions and I’m sure never deliberately set out to cause mayhem and attract more criticism, but due to the regularity of needing to drive at speeds to hit response times/save lives etc unfortunately there will be some occurrences where it goes wrong.

I nearly went head on into a police car in November. Honestly it is ridiculous. Even if they catch up with the supposed criminal the likelihood is still a slap on the wrist. It’s not even worth it half the time.

My dd and I were almost hit by a police car charging through a green (for us) light. The car wasn’t chasing anyone. I’m assuming responding to an emergency but to go through a red light at a blind corner at that speed was so bloody stupid. I’m not surprised there have been fatalities.

^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*

and if they had left it it’s likely someone would have been killed in or by the stolen car.

they don’t chase stolen cars for the fun of it, you’ve got reckless drivers in several tons of metal at high speeds. They need stopping quickly and safely.

while I can’t speak to the manner of the police car on this particular occasion, it does necessitate a blue light response.

I saw a police car put their blue lights on to go through a red light which had a red light camera on it and then turn the lights off once they'd passed the light

I don't know about that. How do you know for a fact that the person being chased had actually done anything?

You don’t. And that’s why you can’t judge properly. But the police chasing will have more information to justify their reasons, none of them will want to cause harm unnecessarily as well as risk prosecution themselves.

www.facebook.com/100064366854133/posts/pfbid026HqmB4i7ttdT3GcKfHjAzNxRKLpwtJ38m5oGJv1wvZg66PntfVDx3U86nfy2ea35l/

Sometimes the need to get somewhere quickly isn’t safe to leave blues on eg in a queue of traffic at a red light where there is no room for anybody to move. Or the job is cancelled shortly after it was given.
Note there are not thousands of observations from the millions of people who have seen a car on blues which has caused no issue whatsoever😉

www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-64080837

"Unmarked police car"

I am a trained blue light driver and have to say that the vast majority of accidents i have attended or witnessed were caused by the pedestrian or another vehicle driver not the blue light driver.

This is tragic but again the full facts are not known.
Unmarked police car hit the poor lady’s car but we don’t know why, whether the unmarked didn’t see her or the other way around😔

Living where I do it’s a regular occurrence to see speeding police cars.
The accidents that happen are tragic and I’m sure no police driver goes out with the intention of killing someone but I do wonder whether what they are being called to justifies them driving in such a way that puts innocent members of the public at risk.
I think it’s naive to assume that they are all chasing criminals and being called to emergencies. You only have to watch the police programmes on TV to see them driving at speed on blue lights only to arrive at incidents where they are not required.

Only in certain scenarios can blue lights be used.
I know for a fact due to a friend being in one of those programs that some of them are not staged but made the most of for viewer entertainment!

Shocking isn't it. That most drivers and pedestrians just aren't better prepared for random cars driving above speed limits, crossing red lights, driving on pavements and generally breaking all accepted road-safe guidance.

It's not fire trucks or ambulance though oddly enough. It's almost always the police who never miss a chance to drive like a lunatics to prevent someone from flushing a spliff down their toilet.

There's no way they put the blues on to run a red light just for the sake of it. If it had a camera on it, when the picture etc is processed they have to be able to justify their use of the blues being on. If they were en route to something they'd usually shout in that they've run a red light & it'll get logged on the incident they're attending.

If they can't show justification they get prosecuted the same as anyone else & the points go on their own licences.

If they're not going to a priority call they, like the rest of us, aren't going to risk their license. As a pp said its more likely they've been cancelled for whatever they were rushing to.

It’s not fire trucks or ambulances because that’s a different job. They also don’t have the vehicles with the power and speed necessary.

response drivers don’t just take it upon themselves to blue light everywhere. That decision is often made by dispatch or the senior officers on the ground. Serious penalties for blue lighting when not required.

I have ridden in the front of an ambulance on blue lights and it's terrifying. Lots of people panic and make strange and dangerous manoeuvres.

I worked in an A and E dept many many years ago and a motorcyclist was killed by an ambulance on blue lights. From what I remember he pulled out at a crossing right in front of them, it was my first ever dead body and the entire event was absolutely harrowing but what I remember most vividly is the absolute devastation and heartbreak on the face of that ambulance driver

@VladmirsPoutine well if you consider walking out from behind parked vehicles ( usually a large parked vehicle that further impinges their view of the road and that of anyone using the roads view of said pedestrian) while ignoring the wailing sirens and flashing blue lights or refusing to pull over to allow a brightly coloured, very noisy speeding emergency service vehicle to pass safely being unprepared then yes i guess they are!

Ambulances and fire engines are an awful lot bigger harder to manuver and stop....police cars get to accidents and emergencies first in most cases and give life preserving assistants whilst waiting for other services.

Since pursuit of motorbikes has been limited theft of motorbikes and crimes on bikes have been given a green light they know they can get away with anything ....and the public say why don't the police do something?

A few years ago ds2 who is profoundly deaf was about to cross the road. He did his usual checks stepped off the pavement and two unmarked police cars with sirens came screaming round the corner.. Scared him half to death and gave me a few more grey hairs when he told me!!