The fuzz - don't you just love them...

[Skii]

I got to the Western International Roundabout off the M4 on my way to work this morning, as per usual it was choppy as some great spark decided it would be a fab idea to put traffic lights all the way around it, meaning if any HGV tries to get around it, the whole thing snarls up.

Anyway, as I queue to get cross I hear a police siren, and see an unmarked vauxhall vectra weaving around the cars behind me, I stop and he drives around the front of me, totally disrupting the only bit of flowing traffic , and across onto the other side.

I get across as well, and see him up in the distance, cruising along, siren off. Suddenly he's not in a rush anymore.

To55er.

[Konan555]

NOTHING will beat the time we saw the riot van drive through the pedestrian zone of derby with it's sirens on. Pulled alongside KFC and one 'officer of the law' hopped out and went to place a KFC order.

[Rave]

I'm sure I've recounted this tale before, but when I was 18 I was driving down the A303 on a dual carriagway section fairly near Stonehenge. I was doing about 70 and suddenly Boom! the whole car shook and was blown slightly off course, and I got a fright. A police T5-R estate had just overtaken me doing about 150, no lights, no sirens, no reason at all to be going that fast.

Edit: and for that matter my parents house is on a road that leads away from a police vehicle depot. They were by far the worst offenders for speeding down our residential street at 50-60.

[headbrace]

Now this is the thing that changes all our attitudes to the police. I think that it is great in this country that nearly everyone gets out the way of an emergency vehicle with sirens on. As it should be. But, next time we see one coming towards a busy junction, we will be more likely to think they may be flashing their lights to their own ends.

[Atomic]

The police are breaking the law if they are using the lights and/or siren when not attending an urgent incident.

Short blasts are acceptable if they are trying to get attention/gain access to somewhere.

[5lab]

tbh you cant tell if there was 'no need' for a cop car to be going along at high speed.. perhaps he was on his way to something important? as for the other car, perhaps their call got cancelled?

[Konan555]

Deepends how needy they are of KFC.

[Skii]

tbh you cant tell if there was 'no need' for a cop car to be going along at high speed.. perhaps he was on his way to something important? as for the other car, perhaps their call got cancelled?

Yeah I'm sure his emergency got cancelled the moment he got through the congestion

[BenW]

My dad works with an ex policeman, says he used to put the sirens on when driving for fun just as the other policemen did. If they've got nothing else to do or get bored they just stick them on a race down the the road.

Seems it is/was a common thing to do

[TiG]

I'd like all police cars to have GPS stuffs fitted to them, that logs centrally (not even in the local police station but government centrally) where the police car is. This log could show speed travelled at etc. It could work out if the police where speeding, using sirens/lights without need etc etc.

It is these types of petty misuse of responsibilities that wind most people up.

TiG

[Konan555]

Afterall, the people that enforce gatsos make the NHS fill paperwork out when an ambulance gets flashed, blue lights flashing or not.

[BenW]

Are police/ambulance etc actually allowed to speed? I always thought that if they were speeding with sirens they were just as illegal as everyone else who is caught speeding

[herulach]

Are police/ambulance etc actually allowed to speed? I always thought that if they were speeding with sirens they were just as illegal as everyone else who is caught speeding

I dont know, but whos gonna stop them? Another police cars not gonna chase them down, and i think the gatso people will let them off.

[Konan555]

Are police/ambulance etc actually allowed to speed? I always thought that if they were speeding with sirens they were just as illegal as everyone else who is caught speeding

They are quite entitled to excersise controlled speed if they are on an emergency call.

[Gr44]

I'd like all police cars to have GPS stuffs fitted to them, that logs centrally (not even in the local police station but government centrally) where the police car is. This log could show speed travelled at etc. It could work out if the police where speeding, using sirens/lights without need etc etc.

It is these types of petty misuse of responsibilities that wind most people up.

TiG

I kind of agree, but imho the police already face so much stick if something goes wrong, eg they injure someone while putting handcuffs on, or the person makes a complaint against them about nothing.. taking a little bit of fun away from them when their driving, as long as their not taking the piss - would dent the moral and numbers of our police force... just my thoughts.

baring in mind most people do speed anyway, and all police drivers have been on advanced driving courses etc... i think it's abit harsh to completly kill anykind of enjoyment they get from driving slightly outside of the limits ( assuming like I said, they're not just taking the piss all the time )

[Tumble]

Are police/ambulance etc actually allowed to speed? I always thought that if they were speeding with sirens they were just as illegal as everyone else who is caught speeding

Well..... toughie tbh. There's the Ambulance driver that was clocked at 104 on the motorway, with his lights and sirens on, transporting a heart for an urgent transplant operation - loses his licence.. and the copper who went out for a 165mph jolly through town etc in his new car "Just to try it out" who doesn't even get convicted of speeding.

hmmmm.