Hitting a police car
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Sump

Original Poster:

5,510 posts

196 months

Monday 5th July 2021
quotequote all
Any guesses how this will play out. I went into a police car that was on blues. He was travelling left to right through a red light and I was going straight on through a green and I made contact with his drivers door.

From my view the police car just went through the reds without looking right after the brickwork to check if the route was clear. Didn't walk the junction or present the vehicle to the junction, just went straight through. Not sure how relevant this is though if they are on a call.




A bt annyoing and they've been very vague other than supplying the sergeants details.

Dynion Araf Uchaf

5,165 posts

252 months

Monday 5th July 2021
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Fairly certain the police driver is guilty until proven innocent if blues and twos and disobeying red lights. If you have an injury it might get a bit tasty however

Sump

Original Poster:

5,510 posts

196 months

Monday 5th July 2021
quotequote all
Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
Fairly certain the police driver is guilty until proven innocent if blues and twos and disobeying red lights. If you have an injury it might get a bit tasty however
No injuries for me other than it just being a farce to deal with all of this rolleyes Policeman was okay too at least, was a decent hit into his door with his airbags going off.

quinny100

1,013 posts

215 months

Monday 5th July 2021
quotequote all
Sump said:
Any guesses how this will play out. I went into a police car that was on blues. He was travelling left to right through a red light and I was going straight on through a green and I made contact with his drivers door.

From my view the police car just went through the reds without looking right after the brickwork to check if the route was clear. Didn't walk the junction or present the vehicle to the junction, just went straight through. Not sure how relevant this is though if they are on a call.




A bt annyoing and they've been very vague other than supplying the sergeants details.
Your light was on amber, you should have stopped!

I thought all accidents involving Police vehicles colliding with the public were subject a collision investigation and would result in a supervising officer attending the scene at the earliest opportunity. My source for that is probably one of the documentaries on TV though.



CloudStuff

4,248 posts

133 months

Monday 5th July 2021
quotequote all
quinny100 said:
Sump said:
Any guesses how this will play out. I went into a police car that was on blues. He was travelling left to right through a red light and I was going straight on through a green and I made contact with his drivers door.

From my view the police car just went through the reds without looking right after the brickwork to check if the route was clear. Didn't walk the junction or present the vehicle to the junction, just went straight through. Not sure how relevant this is though if they are on a call.




A bt annyoing and they've been very vague other than supplying the sergeants details.
Your light was on amber, you should have stopped!

I thought all accidents involving Police vehicles colliding with the public were subject a collision investigation and would result in a supervising officer attending the scene at the earliest opportunity. My source for that is probably one of the documentaries on TV though.
It was green.

Riley Blue

23,205 posts

255 months

Monday 5th July 2021
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Siren on or blues only?

covboy

2,593 posts

203 months

Monday 5th July 2021
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quinny100 said:
Your light was on amber, you should have stopped!

I
Google Street view is not in real time smile

eldrich

97 posts

107 months

Monday 5th July 2021
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Riley Blue said:
Siren on or blues only?
Does it make a difference In my tractor you could use a foghorn and I won't hear it.

Sump

Original Poster:

5,510 posts

196 months

Monday 5th July 2021
quotequote all
quinny100 said:
Sump said:
Any guesses how this will play out. I went into a police car that was on blues. He was travelling left to right through a red light and I was going straight on through a green and I made contact with his drivers door.

From my view the police car just went through the reds without looking right after the brickwork to check if the route was clear. Didn't walk the junction or present the vehicle to the junction, just went straight through. Not sure how relevant this is though if they are on a call.




A bt annyoing and they've been very vague other than supplying the sergeants details.
Your light was on amber, you should have stopped!

I thought all accidents involving Police vehicles colliding with the public were subject a collision investigation and would result in a supervising officer attending the scene at the earliest opportunity. My source for that is probably one of the documentaries on TV though.
It's a street view image.

Seargant did attend and just gave the details. They said they would breathlyse us but they never did to me nor the policeman.

There were sirens and blues but only heard the sirens clearly after he popped out from behind the brickwork.

InitialDave

15,078 posts

148 months

Monday 5th July 2021
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eldrich said:
Does it make a difference In my tractor you could use a foghorn and I won't hear it.
Going to be a bigger problem for them than you if they hit it, though.

FNG

4,740 posts

253 months

Monday 5th July 2021
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Watch out for parrot poo. Flock incoming.

anonymous-user

83 months

Monday 5th July 2021
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quinny100 said:
Your light was on amber, you should have stopped!
I think it's a bit too early in the day for that sort of humour, for a few people on here hehe

anonymous-user

83 months

Monday 5th July 2021
quotequote all
You’re at the mercy of their honesty. If they lie and back each other up, you’re stuffed.

Sump

Original Poster:

5,510 posts

196 months

Monday 5th July 2021
quotequote all
Cliffe60 said:
You’re at the mercy of their honesty. If they lie and back each other up, you’re stuffed.
Oh I have a witness also which would help I guess.

quinny100

1,013 posts

215 months

Monday 5th July 2021
quotequote all
Sump said:
It's a street view image.

Seargant did attend and just gave the details. They said they would breathlyse us but they never did to me nor the policeman.

There were sirens and blues but only heard the sirens clearly after he popped out from behind the brickwork.
yes For the avoidance of doubt, the amber light thing was my attempt at a little light-hearted humour.

If the supervising officer turned out then procedure has been followed. You will probably be asked to make a statement in due course, as will any witnesses.

If it's not majorly inconvenient I would return to the scene and take some photographs showing the visibility into the side road you were in from the route the Police vehicle took along the main road. From the StreetView it looks like visibility into the side road would be somewhere on the spectrum between poor to non-existent. With little or no visibility into a signal controlled junction they should have slowed to a crawl before proceeding across the crossroads.

toon10

7,134 posts

186 months

Monday 5th July 2021
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I'd like to think that whenever emergency vehicles are breaking normal driving rules attending an emergency (running red lights, driving over the speed limit, driving on the wrong side of the road, etc.) that it is completely up to them to judge their manoeuvres safely, taking other road users and pedestrians into account. If there is an accident as a result of their driving, it's unfortunate but ultimately down to them from a blame perspective. It looks like any lights would have been seen late by you and sirens are hard to pinpoint where they are coming from so it's not as if you had a lot of time to see where he was or what manoeuvre he was doing until late. Hard to say exactly without knowing all the factors such as speed of both vehicles, etc. but I think you'll be fine!

105.4

4,214 posts

100 months

Monday 5th July 2021
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Cliffe60 said:
You’re at the mercy of their honesty. If they lie and back each other up, you’re stuffed.
Honesty from the Police when they screw up?

confused

I’m trying to think of any point in history when that has happened.

OP, good luck.

Smurfsarepeopletoo

1,011 posts

86 months

Monday 5th July 2021
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Cliffe60 said:
You’re at the mercy of their honesty. If they lie and back each other up, you’re stuffed.
Everything is recorded on a black box, speed, whether blues and twos were on,

Ultimately it will be down to the insurers to settle, my guess would be 50/50 the police have a duty, but as they have their blues and twos on, you should have been aware of their presence.

Just give your statement to the insurers and go from there.

Dibble

13,276 posts

269 months

Monday 5th July 2021
quotequote all
OP, you should be OK.

If the cops have gone through on red, even on blues and twos, they're liable (with the usual caveat that nothing in life ie ever 100% guaranteed). Red lights should be treated as a give way when police use their exemptions, even on an emergency response, and from your description, it hasn't been. Whether or not they will be prosecuted is impossible to say.

I'm surprised you and they weren't breathalysed, I know I have been when I've had accidents at work.

It sounds trite, but the main thing is that you are ok (as are the officers). Cars are bits of metal that can be repaired. Fixing people is a lot trickier.

If you're not happy about being kept up to date, let them know. You can do it informally via the sergeant you've already dealt with, or you can make a formal complaint (and no, before the usual (and seemingly new) suspects chirp up, you're extremely unlikely to subsequently get targeted by a cop with a grudge). The force will no doubt have a page for complaints/compliments on their website, which should be pretty obvious.

These things usually take time, so I'd advise writing it all down NOW, while it's still fresh in your memory. Start at the beginning, go through it all, what you were doing, what you saw/heard, distances, speeds, weather, road conditions, hazards, everything. You will then have a record of what happened, made as close as possible to the time. If you have a dash cam (I'm assuming not, otherwise I guess you'd have mentioned it), download it NOW and make some copies, either on separate digital media and/or cloud storage.

martinbiz

3,696 posts

174 months

Monday 5th July 2021
quotequote all
Smurfsarepeopletoo said:
Cliffe60 said:
You’re at the mercy of their honesty. If they lie and back each other up, you’re stuffed.
Everything is recorded on a black box, speed, whether blues and twos were on,

Ultimately it will be down to the insurers to settle, my guess would be 50/50 the police have a duty, but as they have their blues and twos on, you should have been aware of their presence.

Just give your statement to the insurers and go from there.
you are just having a guess aren't you?

OP you should be fine, as previously, the police have do have exemptions, but they still have to be safe when exercising them. To them on B's and T's a red light is give way and proceed through as and when safe, not to just jump it and hope, which from your account seems to be what happened. B's and T's does not allow them to drive in a manner that may put the public at risk