Police motorcycles

[Taff107]

Following on from the awful recent fatal accident of a S.Yorks police motorcyclist I was in the Army with, what is the current policy regarding the use of motorcycles in response to vehicular offences such as failure to stop etc? As far as I am aware, due to the riders vulnerability, they aren't to be used for pursuit so why would he be responding? Purely in an attempt to locate the vehicle and call in patrol vehicles to intercept?

[RogueTrooper]

https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/road...


You have my sympathies.

[Taff107]

Thank you Rogue, I'll have to check it out when I get home as our firewall seems to like blocking .gov and other useful, official sites

[R1 Dave]

Sorry for your loss.

Motorcycles can be used in initial phase pursuit and can be used on blue light response. They can't be used in tactical phase (TPAC) for obvious reasons of vulnerability.

[martinbiz]

Such an awful situation, as a motorcyclist of many years experience, you will still get people sat in their little box, totally isolated from the outside world who will still manage not see a motorcycle even with blues and twos going. Personally I don't think bikes should be used for any kind of high speed pursuits, if only to protect the rider from other road users who's minds are elsewhere. So sad.

[R1 Dave]

martinbiz said:

Such an awful situation, as a motorcyclist of many years experience, you will still get people sat in their little box, totally isolated from the outside world who will still manage not see a motorcycle even with blues and twos going. Personally I don't think bikes should be used for any kind of high speed pursuits, if only to protect the rider from other road users who's minds are elsewhere. So sad.

Policing is dangerous, that's just the nature of the job. Police motorcycle roles are amongst the riskiest but police officers, in the main, accept that they put themselves at risk by nature of their role.

[Taff107]

Thank you chaps. I used to assess and instruct advanced riding to qualify guys to ride the ST1100s / ST1300s at the time and have an awful feeling that Matt could have been one of them. Obviously he would have undertaken further training and gained a lot more experience but it still feels, for want of a better word,....odd.
With regard to the danger aspect of the job, I think it's part of the attraction myself. When still in, I volunteered for a role which could involve 'spirited' riding of a ZX10 after the previous guy had also killed in a fatal accident whilst working. You wouldn't believe the number of assessments and disclaimers I had to agree to before even starting any further bike training.

[martinbiz]

R1 Dave said:

martinbiz said:

Such an awful situation, as a motorcyclist of many years experience, you will still get people sat in their little box, totally isolated from the outside world who will still manage not see a motorcycle even with blues and twos going. Personally I don't think bikes should be used for any kind of high speed pursuits, if only to protect the rider from other road users who's minds are elsewhere. So sad.

Policing is dangerous, that's just the nature of the job. Police motorcycle roles are amongst the riskiest but police officers, in the main, accept that they put themselves at risk by nature of their role.

Whilst I don’t disagree with that, I still say using motorcycles for pursuits is putting officers at an even greater and unnecessary risk than they already are. Especially when a car will do a much better and safer job, just my view

[R1 Dave]

martinbiz said:

R1 Dave said:

martinbiz said:

Such an awful situation, as a motorcyclist of many years experience, you will still get people sat in their little box, totally isolated from the outside world who will still manage not see a motorcycle even with blues and twos going. Personally I don't think bikes should be used for any kind of high speed pursuits, if only to protect the rider from other road users who's minds are elsewhere. So sad.

Policing is dangerous, that's just the nature of the job. Police motorcycle roles are amongst the riskiest but police officers, in the main, accept that they put themselves at risk by nature of their role.

Whilst I don’t disagree with that, I still say using motorcycles for pursuits is putting officers at an even greater and unnecessary risk than they already are. Especially when a car will do a much better and safer job, just my view

You're right and a car will always be 1st choice but there might not be a suitable vehicle anywhere near. Pursuits are called off for various reasons, the main one being safety, so if the risk level was raised then the officer or control room can cancel. In some ways a bike lowers the risk - the superior acceleration, braking and manoeuvrability means the rider can keep a view on the subject vehicle from a distance without fear of being baulked by other traffic.

I say that as a trained police motorcyclist though I'll concede I was a very occasional rider (much prefer my own R1!) and I've never been involved in a live pursuit on a bike.