Do police have to use sirens if they are following you?
Discussion
Do police have to use sirens if they are following you?
Long story short I put my foot down the other day and got to a roundabout and got the otherside of the roundabout and saw a BMW patrol car and it had its blue lights on but no siren, but I have no idea if it was following me or if it was going to a callout. Just off the roundabout is the police station and I parked up and it saw it speed past with a volvo patrol car and it looked like it was going off to an accident.
Long story short I put my foot down the other day and got to a roundabout and got the otherside of the roundabout and saw a BMW patrol car and it had its blue lights on but no siren, but I have no idea if it was following me or if it was going to a callout. Just off the roundabout is the police station and I parked up and it saw it speed past with a volvo patrol car and it looked like it was going off to an accident.
EdHall697 said:
Do police have to use sirens if they are following you?
Long story short I put my foot down the other day and got to a roundabout and got the otherside of the roundabout and saw a BMW patrol car and it had its blue lights on but no siren, but I have no idea if it was following me or if it was going to a callout. Just off the roundabout is the police station and I parked up and it saw it speed past with a volvo patrol car and it looked like it was going off to an accident.
It wasn't following you. If it was, it would have stopped when it caught up with you.Long story short I put my foot down the other day and got to a roundabout and got the otherside of the roundabout and saw a BMW patrol car and it had its blue lights on but no siren, but I have no idea if it was following me or if it was going to a callout. Just off the roundabout is the police station and I parked up and it saw it speed past with a volvo patrol car and it looked like it was going off to an accident.
Countdown said:
EdHall697 said:
Do police have to use sirens if they are following you?
Long story short I put my foot down the other day and got to a roundabout and got the otherside of the roundabout and saw a BMW patrol car and it had its blue lights on but no siren, but I have no idea if it was following me or if it was going to a callout. Just off the roundabout is the police station and I parked up and it saw it speed past with a volvo patrol car and it looked like it was going off to an accident.
It wasn't following you. If it was, it would have stopped when it caught up with you.Long story short I put my foot down the other day and got to a roundabout and got the otherside of the roundabout and saw a BMW patrol car and it had its blue lights on but no siren, but I have no idea if it was following me or if it was going to a callout. Just off the roundabout is the police station and I parked up and it saw it speed past with a volvo patrol car and it looked like it was going off to an accident.
They don't have to stop you.
The answer: Police are not obliged to use sirens. They are encouraged to use them when it is necessary to draw attention to their vehicle - e.g. for safety. Ambulances and fire appliances are the same. But it's not mandatory to use the siren.
Even the blue light is optional but it would be frowned upon if the police car was, let's say, utilising their privilege of being able to overlook certain road traffic laws and wasn't using blue lights.
The use of sirens at night is looked upon as "if essential" to avoid noise pollution in domestic environs.
Even the blue light is optional but it would be frowned upon if the police car was, let's say, utilising their privilege of being able to overlook certain road traffic laws and wasn't using blue lights.
The use of sirens at night is looked upon as "if essential" to avoid noise pollution in domestic environs.
GT6k said:
No, but if they are detectives then -
a) they must drive through any piles of cardboard boxes in the road
b) stop by using a handbrake turn
c) jump and roll over their bonnet to get to your car
Yes but that can't be what happened, as they didn't say "you're nicked" at the end of it. a) they must drive through any piles of cardboard boxes in the road
b) stop by using a handbrake turn
c) jump and roll over their bonnet to get to your car
Drumroll said:
GT6k said:
No, but if they are detectives then -
a) they must drive through any piles of cardboard boxes in the road
b) stop by using a handbrake turn
c) jump and roll over their bonnet to get to your car
Yes but that can't be what happened, as they didn't say "you're nicked" at the end of it. a) they must drive through any piles of cardboard boxes in the road
b) stop by using a handbrake turn
c) jump and roll over their bonnet to get to your car
ds” ! Police don't need to use the blue lights or sirens when they're travelling to a job on an emergency grading, or anything else that would allow the use of exemptions. They're simply a way of alerting everyone else that that's what they're doing, and would they move out of the way.
I could in theory respond to a job, travel 100mph down the motorway to get there, use my legal exemptions and suchlike, having never turned them on.
Where the problem lies is if I have an accident because someone didn't notice me or realise I was using exemptions, I'd be heavily criticised for not using my lights and sirens to make them aware of me. At nights when the roads are less busy I'll generally only activate my lights, unless I'm coming to a rare busy junction/roundabout. As I'd rather not wake people if I don't need to when I'm passing residential areas.
What it means in practice is that I can turn the sirens off and maybe the lights when I get close to a job if I don't want to spook the suspects if they're on scene, but I'm still legally allowed to use exemptions. For roads policing they can catch up to cars stealthily without lights and sirens to alert someone they're onto them for example.
I could in theory respond to a job, travel 100mph down the motorway to get there, use my legal exemptions and suchlike, having never turned them on.
Where the problem lies is if I have an accident because someone didn't notice me or realise I was using exemptions, I'd be heavily criticised for not using my lights and sirens to make them aware of me. At nights when the roads are less busy I'll generally only activate my lights, unless I'm coming to a rare busy junction/roundabout. As I'd rather not wake people if I don't need to when I'm passing residential areas.
What it means in practice is that I can turn the sirens off and maybe the lights when I get close to a job if I don't want to spook the suspects if they're on scene, but I'm still legally allowed to use exemptions. For roads policing they can catch up to cars stealthily without lights and sirens to alert someone they're onto them for example.
EdHall697 said:
Do police have to use sirens if they are following you?
Long story short I put my foot down the other day and got to a roundabout and got the otherside of the roundabout and saw a BMW patrol car and it had its blue lights on but no siren, but I have no idea if it was following me or if it was going to a callout. Just off the roundabout is the police station and I parked up and it saw it speed past with a volvo patrol car and it looked like it was going off to an accident.
I cant believe the rest of us have to share the roads (hell, the planet even) with someone so daft! I presume you are, you know, a grown adult and everything? Long story short I put my foot down the other day and got to a roundabout and got the otherside of the roundabout and saw a BMW patrol car and it had its blue lights on but no siren, but I have no idea if it was following me or if it was going to a callout. Just off the roundabout is the police station and I parked up and it saw it speed past with a volvo patrol car and it looked like it was going off to an accident.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff