Crash with blue light running police car

[gazza285]

Just back from A&E with the missus, she was turning onto the Huddersfield ring road when a police car came through their red light and took the front off of our XC60. Soft tissue damage only thankfully. The police driver was hurt by their airbags activating, but seems otherwise uninjured.



Our Lass was following the blue line, when the police car, in red, came through their red light at speed, not giving Our Lass time to stop.

The stop line in Zetland Street is well back from the junction, so you cannot see the ring road until you have set off, and the buildings also make hearing any sirens harder.

Any idea how much hassle this is going to be, and possible outcomes?

[gazza285]

It was a panda car, rather than traffic, so I’m not sure how much high speed training the driver will have had.

[gazza285]

Rushjob said:

gazza285 said:

It was a panda car, rather than traffic, so I’m not sure how much high speed training the driver will have had.

I'd say that the distinction you mention is irrelevant. If the driver was authorised to respond on blues they will have been given the training relating to safely making use of their exemptions such as crossing the stop line against a red ATS

Fair enough.

Canon_Fodder said:

Ouch that sounds like a big accident OP.

Not that big, luckily. The police car hit forward of the front wheel, it removed the bumper, and damaged the radiator and intercooler, and damaged the bonnet slightly, but as it was an Astra it passed under the headlights.

The Astra had damage to the nearside front, and down the side, but hopefully both are repairable.

[gazza285]

BertBert said:

It's not someone, it was me in the post directly above yours. So not only have we had reports on here, but it happened to my BIL - plod through red light and it went 50/50.

What were the circumstances though? Pulling out of a blind junction, the same as my wife?

[gazza285]

saknog said:

Just looking at it from different angles and not apportioning any blame but did the police car have its siren on, did you wife hear a siren or not?
Should drivers proceed with caution when hearing a siren until the location of the vehicle with the siren on is identified?
I have seen many times driver’s pull out in front of emergency vehicles, even though a siren can be heard long before the vehicle has appeared

My wife did not hear the siren.

As for the comment about not proceeding unless you can see the way is clear, there is no way to see if the way is clear from the stop line, and likewise as the police vehicle approached, they could not see traffic emerging from the side road until too late either.

[gazza285]

Rushjob said:

You seem unable to grasp that there is in fact fault on both sides here.

The police driver bears the majority of the blame, having contravened the red light and failed to anticipate another vehicle entering the junction bringing with it the chance of a conflict or in this case a collision.

HOWEVER, that does not absolve the OP's wife of any blame in this instance, yes she had the green light showing that she could proceed, however that does not preclude her being responsible for making sure it is safe to proceed.

Her level of awareness of what is happening around her isn't brilliant, and I'd pose that an emergency vehicle on blue lights is a far easier target to see entering her intended route than, say, a child running across the road and the failure to recognise what was happening around her suggests that with a little more situational awareness, she might have been able to avoid the police car passing effectively across her bows.

Again, the police driver bears the majority of the responsibility, but, no one comes out of this with a perfect driving record IMHO having investigated RTC's.

In reality, the Police will most likely accept full responsibility for the claim with the OP's wife's insurers

She might be my wife, but you are making assumptions here.

And not many children are traveling through red lights across blind junctions at speeds rendering them unable to stop in time.

I’ll refrain from insulting you though.

[gazza285]

Rushjob said:

Could I ask that you please quote me properly if you're going to take me to task, I said " I'd pose that an emergency vehicle on blue lights is a far easier target to see entering her intended route than, say, a child running across the road" so how you come up with
"children are traveling through red lights across blind junctions at speeds rendering them unable to stop in time" from is bit of a mystery.

Again, as has been repeatedly said by others an myself, the police driver bears the greatest part of the responsibility for the crash, but that does not change the fact that either driver could have done something different leading up to the impact and had one of them done so, it is likely that this thread would not exist.

Were you there?

[gazza285]

MustangGT said:

It would be really easy in Germany, IIRC any collision of this sort is always the fault of the motorist, not the emergency services, based on the fact they should check it was clear.

For example, an emergency services vehicle travelling at 100 km/h (62.5 mph) will travel approximately 30 yards a second. 3 seconds means less than a 100 yards away. Easily spottable if paying attention at most junctions.

This is the view from the direction the police car came.



And this is the view from the stop line in the direction my wife came from. Yes I know it is from the wrong side of the road, but you get the gist.



How much reaction time would you have in this scenario?

[gazza285]

Courtesy car arrived yesterday, we have been given an upgrade apparently, although from what I dread to think. The car is a poverty spec Corsa.

[gazza285]

Insurance paid out today, minus the excess, as there has been no response yet from the police to our insurers.

[gazza285]

The excess has been returned.