Safe Speed Forums

It seems that West Mercia plod have been at it again with their heavy right feet while driving. As I've previously posted on this board, I've twice encountered "enthusiastic" driving on their behalf while not driving with the blues and twos on, and both times got very dismissive replies from the force.

It happened again on Saturday, with one of their Astra patrol cars being driven on the M54. They were coming from the direction of Telford Central police station, and judging by their progress through the traffic, weren't exactly in a hurry to get anywhere quickly, or force their way through the traffic. That was until they got onto the M54 at Jct 5, and turned off at Jct 7. I'll be selective in what I write, and shall we say that they comfortably exceeded 94mph in moderate traffic -- the motorway was far from empty, and was reasonably busy.

"Do as we say, not as we do"?

I take it from your post you dont like anyone else being able to do what you cant do. In case you dont know a police vehicle doesnt have to have its blues and twos on when exceeding the speed limit.
As long as the vehicle is being used ofr police purposes and if to use it as such would be hindered then they can use the exemption. Also some forces dont like none advanced drivers to use emergency equipment whilst using the Motorway as they are not trained to deal with the adverse reactions that some of the stupid drivers do whilst in front of them.
If you read this and you are not one of them described above then its not meant for you but if you are then next time in front of an emergency vehicle assist it rather than hinder it.
Stephen

It's not a question of my not liking other people being able to do what I can't. It's the hypocrisy that I can't stand. If the driver was on a non blue-two call, then he wasn't exactly putting much effort into getting past the other traffic, so I very much doubt that it was an inconspicuous emergency callout. From what I could see he wasn't too bothered about being held up by other traffic, but when he had the clear road, he drove at considerable speed. At no point did I hinder him -- indeed, when I joined the motorway, I made sure that he and the other car in front of me were also able to join safely and with plenty of distance between me and them. At no point was he stuck behind me. It was other cars he was stuck behind.

Richard

gog - think Stephen was being polite - BIB have sort of carte blanche to get about a bit more than us -and they've got (usually ) a bit of training to back it up . But in these days of them being thin on ground -they've got to get about a bit .Don't forget that if they get it wrong ,speed wise - they've not just CPS to hit them ,but possibly IPCC ,and a P45 GT .And then ,tonight I can quote as an example - we had a group of yobs around ,kicking gates /looking for a reaction to start something - local lads crept in at high speed -no blues/ on silent mode -they didn't get them ,but the silent approach MIGHT have worked ,and got them -before some ones P & J GOT THE REAR WINDOW STOVED IN .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

I am very familiar too with the Police 'jump the traffic' as they join. They want to observe and see who is paying attention and who are not. So when they join, like you describe they can make enough progress that the traffic coming up to them is less aware of their presence and so are acting 'normally' and then the Trafpol can judge who reacts to them and who doesn't etc etc !

I saw one police car (oncoming) with full B&T's coming up to a massive line of traffic in the M6 Nth roadworks (about Preston area but I have travelled a long way today !) I just hoped they were paying attention and helped him / her get through quickly ...
Another I saw also oncoming was in clear road and the light traffic did not look like he was getting any one in his way.
How anyone can miss the B&T's is frankly hard to comprehend.
I can however understand that people can 'freeze' as too little reminds and clear messages are provided to the public.

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

Ah... what I like to read "all familiar with procedures" yet again. Don't know why they would not be on B&T per the original post - would depend on what was happening inside the car and decision taken

But Claire read the OP .. he's asking a question about lack of B&T .. not about blue light blindness and siren deafness which I know is a huge problem out there .. as folk are .. not that bright really.

My answer is that he does not know what they heard on radio which influenced decisions at that point in time.. which would be the correct one

Do read the post again dear. Just a thought.

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Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

I took Claire's comment to be inclusive of Stephen's reason why they might not use B&Ts

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