Nearly wiped out by traffic car
Discussion
I was driving on an A road this morning at about 60 mph in my Defender. It can't have been much more because it's an utter horror at more than 60 and I wasn't in a hurry. I came round a gentle right hand bend with a mild blind summit only to find a marked traffic car driving straight at me at 80+ mph on my side of the road (with blue lights on) overtaking a Golf. I braked very heavily which is a scary thing in a non-ABS Defender and managed only to clip the side of the road mildly while holding on for dear life. It missed me by a small margin - no idea how far off as I was concentrating on not skidding and holding the steering wheel tight.
I was quite shaken and wondered whether to dial 101 and raise some kind of objection. I decided against it as I don't want some kind of marker on my car. I have a (perhaps unfair?) view that the police tend to look after themselves and they would have found some kind of excuse to have a go at me.
Should I have done anything differently?
I was quite shaken and wondered whether to dial 101 and raise some kind of objection. I decided against it as I don't want some kind of marker on my car. I have a (perhaps unfair?) view that the police tend to look after themselves and they would have found some kind of excuse to have a go at me.
Should I have done anything differently?
If a traffic car is overtaking on a blind bend forcing oncoming traffic off the road I'd suggest a complaint wouldn't be unreasonable.
They aren't gods and it isn't unknown for individuals to drive outside of their capabilities. A complaint might be all it needs to ask uncomfortable questions of the officer involved and cause a change of attitude which might well prevent an accident in the future.
If they were on call it shouldn't be hard for the force involved to find out who it was.
They aren't gods and it isn't unknown for individuals to drive outside of their capabilities. A complaint might be all it needs to ask uncomfortable questions of the officer involved and cause a change of attitude which might well prevent an accident in the future.
If they were on call it shouldn't be hard for the force involved to find out who it was.
Thanks. There's an added complication that I changed the body type 10 days ago from a pick-up to a utility station wagon and changed the colour. I informed my insurance company and the DVLA but have not yet had the new V5 back from the DVLA. So they might have a police in-car camera shot of a vehicle for which the DVLA has not yet processed, hence the worry about them finding something to have a go back at me. Tin foil hat anyone?
First thoughts would be let it go, they could have been racing to save someone.
But then I’ve got a vague memory of a couple of young teenagers being killed in the back of a police car. The police car had been giving them a lift home after some minor issue. For reasons no one will ever know the police car was speeding with blues on through junctions and was wiped out. All on board were killed. Speculation was a male police officer showing off to two teenage girls in the back.
I’m not saying any such thing was going on here, but a quick chat with the driver will confirm. Either a risky overtake that was felt justified and luckily no harm done on this occasion. Or a stupid unjustified manoeuvre that might be in a long line of stupid risks by this driver.
In terms of a marker against you, Im sure one of the police regulars will say that’s highly unlikely. If it was me, I would probably let it go.
But then I’ve got a vague memory of a couple of young teenagers being killed in the back of a police car. The police car had been giving them a lift home after some minor issue. For reasons no one will ever know the police car was speeding with blues on through junctions and was wiped out. All on board were killed. Speculation was a male police officer showing off to two teenage girls in the back.
I’m not saying any such thing was going on here, but a quick chat with the driver will confirm. Either a risky overtake that was felt justified and luckily no harm done on this occasion. Or a stupid unjustified manoeuvre that might be in a long line of stupid risks by this driver.
In terms of a marker against you, Im sure one of the police regulars will say that’s highly unlikely. If it was me, I would probably let it go.
Why would they put a marker on your car if you report a near Miss with a pollce car? Markers are for drug runners, firearms, wanted criminals and stolen cars. Everything is heavily audited so if the driver of said car did something like that out of spite they’d get hauled over the coals.
Flumpo said:
Or a stupid unjustified manoeuvre that might be in a long line of stupid risks by this driver.
This - If people don't report then the bad/incompetent get away with this until someone is seriously hurt. If yours is the 4th or 5th complaint it might get them taken off the road.Hi OP,
FWIW I'd be inclined to just let it go. From your description, it sounds like it was not the best driving from the Officer but you don't know where they were off too, why they were taking (on the face of it) such risks etc, etc...
If there was contact, or their action caused you to have an accident I would be inclined to think differently.
Ps...I'd love and old Land Rover one day but not whilst I live in SW London :-)
FWIW I'd be inclined to just let it go. From your description, it sounds like it was not the best driving from the Officer but you don't know where they were off too, why they were taking (on the face of it) such risks etc, etc...
If there was contact, or their action caused you to have an accident I would be inclined to think differently.
Ps...I'd love and old Land Rover one day but not whilst I live in SW London :-)
There are tens of thousands of complaints against the police every year. Enough for 1 in 3 IIRC.
That’s a lot of ‘markers’ which don’t exist...
If it’s a traffic car it should have video footage. This will eventually be over-written so if you’re going to act you need to do it quickly as it’ll provide the best evidence as to what happened.
That’s a lot of ‘markers’ which don’t exist...
If it’s a traffic car it should have video footage. This will eventually be over-written so if you’re going to act you need to do it quickly as it’ll provide the best evidence as to what happened.
Riley Blue said:
Blue lights but with no siren? Overtaking on a bend at a blind summit? I'd report it.
I wondered, if the siren is implied by the blue lights being on?Maybe the OP can indulge us by confirming one way or t'other.
Without knowing, what emergency they were on call to, its very difficult for anyone without any prior Police prejudice to opine on whether the overtake was worth the seconds saved.
Personally, I would let it go as it wont change history but will deliberately waste already scare resources and money.
The use of blue lights and sirens are at the discretion of the Police driver.
Unless you are an absolute serial complainer about anything and everything to your local Police, they certainly aren't going to be carrying out in depth investigations in to you; never mind putting a marker on your vehicle. There has to be a legitimate and lawful reason for this and all transactions are monitored, any of these can be questioned at any time.
Your local force will undoubtedly have an online form to make a complaint, which is your right to do. If it is as described, there can be learning points for the driver. Ultimately, it is the Police officers licence at risk each time they activate their blue lights and attend an emergency, along with the control room operators, they will make a decision on whether or not that response is proportionate. Is the nature of the incident of sufficient serious nature to a) risk their licence, b) risk their life & c) risk the life of other road users/members of the public.
Perhaps see it as offering some feedback on a near miss, rather than a complaint against Police, or the individual.
Unless you are an absolute serial complainer about anything and everything to your local Police, they certainly aren't going to be carrying out in depth investigations in to you; never mind putting a marker on your vehicle. There has to be a legitimate and lawful reason for this and all transactions are monitored, any of these can be questioned at any time.
Your local force will undoubtedly have an online form to make a complaint, which is your right to do. If it is as described, there can be learning points for the driver. Ultimately, it is the Police officers licence at risk each time they activate their blue lights and attend an emergency, along with the control room operators, they will make a decision on whether or not that response is proportionate. Is the nature of the incident of sufficient serious nature to a) risk their licence, b) risk their life & c) risk the life of other road users/members of the public.
Perhaps see it as offering some feedback on a near miss, rather than a complaint against Police, or the individual.
Turfy said:
Hi OP,
FWIW I'd be inclined to just let it go. From your description, it sounds like it was not the best driving from the Officer but you don't know where they were off too, why they were taking (on the face of it) such risks etc, etc...
If there was contact, or their action caused you to have an accident I would be inclined to think differently.
Ps...I'd love and old Land Rover one day but not whilst I live in SW London :-)
Does not matter where they were off to, they still have to drive in a manner so as not to endanger other road users, clearly overtaking on the approach to a bend while overtaking at high speed does not fall into that category. OP l would report it promptly, even if their is no dash footage, there could be previous with the officer concerned, which may show the are not suited to the job or need some serious retraining FWIW I'd be inclined to just let it go. From your description, it sounds like it was not the best driving from the Officer but you don't know where they were off too, why they were taking (on the face of it) such risks etc, etc...
If there was contact, or their action caused you to have an accident I would be inclined to think differently.
Ps...I'd love and old Land Rover one day but not whilst I live in SW London :-)
The question I ask myself is what would be the reaction of the police if the vehicles had been reversed, the OP had been overtaking on bend over a blind summit and it had been the police car that had needed to brake sharply in avoidance.
If you think no action would result because it was a 'near miss', ignore it and move on. On the other hand...
If you think no action would result because it was a 'near miss', ignore it and move on. On the other hand...
Mandalore said:
Personally, I would let it go as it wont change history but will deliberately waste already scare resources and money.
Determining what happened and seeing if steps need to be taken to avoid a reoccurrence is not a waste of time and money.Next time it might not be Defender. It might be a young lad on a motorbike, for example. Or an artic.
carboy2017 said:
Ignore and move on OP as we cant be sure as to why they were driving like that as it could have been to save someone in danger/distress
Don’t be daft, why are people thinking it makes it any better/ safer depending on the level of the emergency. It won’t help anyone if they don’t ever get there will it?carboy2017 said:
Ignore and move on OP as we cant be sure as to why they were driving like that as it could have been to save someone in danger/distress
Agreed - I'll just chalk it up to experience. Too much else going in life to offer feedback. I'm sure they realised that they'd had a close call and I don't need to reinforce that.Cheers everyone.
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