I was on the A4 heading for Marlborough in Wiltshire today when I was overtaken by a police car with lights flashing and certainly not 'hanging about'. Two minutes later a second police vehicle overtook me in a similar fashion. As the police cars overtook, oncoming traffic slowed to allow them to overtake. A few minutes later I came upon the police cars, stopped at a mini roundabout where there had been a minor bump between two cars.
Although as far as I could see, the police cars were being driven in accordance with high-speed emergency driving, such driving is obviously an added risk factor on the roads and I question whether it is really necessary to drive like that on the way to a minor bump in a town street.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 19/07/2009 at 18:56
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Don't be a spoils sport..... they enjoy it. Some one will be along in a moment to tell us they never know if it is a minor bump or something with serious injuries . Odd really because when you ring in an accident on the 999 system, there's 20 questions covering every thing from vehicles involved to your opinion on the state of the casualties and thanks to the mobile phone, most accidents have a good few callers to the system.
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The content of the 999 call that sent them on their way is more relevant than what they found on arrival. Maybe one of the drivers was "tooled up"?
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I appreciate the need for skilled high-speed driving in the police and emergency services and I'm not suggesting that the driving I witnessed was not in accordance with the training. But it still constitutes an additional risk on the roads, which doesn't seem worth it to deal with a minor bump.
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The former chief con of my area told his lot to start grading treble nines more carefully after a police vehicle wiped out a pensioner whilst attending a particularly low level call. He reminded them it was quite possible to get from A to B with out lights and sirens.
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Be fair, somebody would soon be complaining if this minor bump had a knock on effect of a road rage incident resulting in someone being scarred or worse, and Plod just cruised up arm out the window enjoying the sushine.
If the Bill are called it's their duty to get there pronto, too late won't do.
Damned if you do and damned if you dont'.
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The police don't even get called for most minor bumps, but those could still result in a road-rage incident.
Incidentally, I was nearly involved in a bump on a roundabout yesteday because the car approaching from the right was in the left-hand lane and SIGNALLING LEFT. I pulled out but had to slam on my brakes because the driver changed their mind at the last second.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 19/07/2009 at 19:30
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The police respond on the contents of the call received. If the person making the phone call is hysterical and over-reacting (quite common no doubt) they have to assume it is a serious smash and respond accordingly.
They must curse the day mobile phones were invented. Minor prangs warranting no more than an exchange of details invariably now have some retard screaming for the emergency services.
I witnessed a low speed rear ender in Romford a few years ago. A police van came screaming up, lights and sirens going like crazy. A big black copper got out of the passenger door, took one look, waved his arms across his chest in a "no-way" fashion and got back in the van which promptly drove off. The only thing he did wrong in my opinion was in not shoving the phone where the caller would have had a job to find it.
Edited by Robin Reliant on 19/07/2009 at 19:50
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It's a minor bump right up until the deaf Mr Magoo (otherwise known as the standard British motorist) ploughs into the back of the incident, or wipes out the two drivers standing in the middle of the road to exchange details.
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Im with you there MLC, I knew a guy who rear ended a traffic car that was at an accident and lit up better than Blackpool.
Edited by Old Navy on 19/07/2009 at 20:18
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Missed the edit - And one that was killed "assisting" at an accident before the emergency services arrived.
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A lot of variables here.
Depends on what the caller told the control room....the fact that it was at a junction , with increased chance of further collisions and congestion..background on one/either vehicle...officers diverted from another call, seeking to clear this to get back on track.
Control rooms have a real problem judging the severity of incidents from phone calls. Callers are often in shock , hard to understand, etc... you can ask more questions but each question you ask delays the eventual response.
I once sat in on a call in a control room from a driver on the M4. She had stopped to advise
about a car on the central reservation, and the family in it were trying to walk across the carriage way to the hard shoulder. There wasn't a traffic car within 10 miles that was free. The operator had to have great presence of mind to advise the lady while doing what she could to find help elsewher on the system.
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There is a difference between using blues and twos in a car chase or going to robbery in progress etc and blues and twos on a lesser emergency call where you need to get somewhere on the hurry up and want to clear the path ahead of you.
In the 2nd scenario, I expect that the emergency vehicle would wait for vehicles to pull over before overtaking, approach ATS and go across with extreme caution etc.
If that is what happened when they overtook our erstwhile spudiator, can't see the problem.
When I was in the back of an ambulance a couple of years ago after a heart attack, the guys didn't put on blues and twos til they encountered heavy traffic. I wasn't near deaths door, but they still wanted to get me to hospital in case I turned blue or something. There was no mad dash, but nor did they hang about. They overtook lines of traffic using sound judgement, common sense or whatever.
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I was quite surprised to see, on one of those Police Stop type progammes, an accident investigator crossing Sheffield at considerable speed to attend the already secured scene of a fatal accident. Seemed somewhat unneccesary.
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Thank heaven someone is still allowed to go at a decent speed, even if it is just the old bill. At least it means someone can. I'd do it too if I were them.
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I think these idiots who are not injured and who call the POLICE every time they have a fender bender should be fined for their trouble.
It seems these days as soon as someone in a queue bumps the person in front. They leave their cars in the exact positions and get out and jabber on their mobiles to 999.
In the good old days, they used to move to the side of the road and exchange details and be on their way. Now people are like big gormless babies who have to be spoon-fed by the nanny state.
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I'm with you part of the way but when the man behind refuses to give you his address,claiming no damage,then I would call the police.
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In Spain many municipal police forces charge for a non urgent callout if a driver insists on police attending a routine fender bender where there is absolutely nobody the slightest bit injured. (I've heard 75 to 100 Euros is the standard charge.) In other words, when the police are "required" to take statements, measure skids, take photos, etc. - usually in the hope of someone claiming for months and months of sick leave for whiplash (yeah, right...)
When one car rear ends another, drivers fill in a "no fault" claim form, party A on one side, party B on the other, and each driver can draw a diagram on a page of graph paper and fill in all the details in their own language. This is often done over a calm cup of coffee in a nearby bar and drivers don't tend to get aggressive or uptight, since it is the insurance companies who sort it all out in the end.
So we don't see too many police cars "rushing to non-emergencies" here!
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If I was involved in a crash I'd be embarassed to call plod. It'd be like shouting for your mum becasue the kid next door pulled your hair!
The only time I would involve plod is if I suspected drink driving or a car in dangerous condition or the scene of the crash would cause large tailbacks or more dangerous conditions.
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I think that the fact that TWO police cars were en route to this "incident" would suggest that they had good reason to suspect it was serious. Do you honestly think that they would receive a call advising of a minor bump and declare it a Priority One?
The problem, as with most things in this country, is more than likely down to the member of the public who made the emergency call.
The other possibility as has already been suggested is that there was more to the incident than met the eye, possibly a road rage element etc. although I think that my idiot with a mobile scenario is more likely.
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If I were a member of public i'd be more worried about the calls police didn't get too quickly enough, not the other way around...particularly when you consider the increased volume of calls nowadays and things like the civilianisation of police control rooms (staff don't necessarily grade the calls properly due to inexperience and never having done the work on the streets...but hey, it's cheaper so that's alright then)
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But don't forget that the police also have responsibility to other road users - I don't know the road, but maybe as it's on a major road, any interruption to traffic flow could cause major and costly tail-backs. Maybe they thought that the vehicles invovled might be in a dangerous position - there are some people who, when they have a bump, stop where they are instead of moving to somewhere quieter.
Not defending the BiB, but we don't' know what info they were fed -was anyone hurt and an emergency ambulance required? Was there a possiblilty of a vehicle fire?, Was the road obstructed? Were any vehicles or people in a dangerous position?
The BiB are damned if they do and damned if they don't - but methinks better to be on the safe side and have them there, and stand them down if it's not a worst case scenario.
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