Drink driver, leaving an accident...
Discussion
So a little drive out turned slightly different.
Sat at a traffic lighted junction, directly behind the car at the front waiting to go with no other cars around, a large van turning right crashes straight into the side of the car in front of me luckily doesn't hit me at all but a loud bang none the less!
It appears to slow down somewhat but then puts his foot down, driving all over the road.
I quickly span around to follow and get the number plate, 999 etc.
The vehicle then drives the worst two miles of uncontrollable driving I had ever seen, by which point the car that got hit was up behind me. It drives into a housing estate and proceeds to stop where the driver of the other vehicle and my friend attempted to confront the driver got the most slurry response before he proceeds to drive over the pavement to get round the car that had been hit. We let the driver know we would follow the vehicle as I'd of been rather distressed in their position.
The van then joins a section of 40 and 50mph dual carriage way which I'd estimate was driving in excess of 80mph all over the road. Failed to stop at the roundabout for an oncoming car, unsurprisingly.
It then heads into a 30mph zone on the wrong side of the road. He then stops and turns all lights off for about 1 minute before then driving off again. This road rejoins the dual carriageway section, so he just done a large circle.
It joins the dual carriageway again in the same manner of driving, before negotiating 3 roundabouts to join a NSL dual carriage way continuing to drive all over both lanes, I drove in the middle of both lanes to stop any vehicles passing, leaving sufficient space should it of crashed. It then exits having completed another loop of the area, this time heading back where we have just come from.
It travels another mile and parks up, we stopped about 30 meters away in a rather dark area but just enough to see clothing etc where he locks the vehicle and disappears.
One of the most adrenaline filled 20 minutes of my life.
The first police vehicle appears 2 minutes later which has come from 20 miles away, give the PC a run down and point to where he went. Has a quick look around to see if he's hiding anywhere shame he didn't have to get one of the dogs out
a couple more cars arrive and 6 of them enter the building, kicking on a door. To no success, they came back after about 10 minutes took some details from me and my friend and gave us a little run down of what was what and we left.
An hour later they called up and asked if I was available for a statement.
They smashed his door in and arrested him, after a 4 page statement and one phone call from custody I overheard the PC, he blew over 110 in both samples of breath.
Said they were very grateful that we followed the vehicle and that our statements would be very beneficial as the driver of the car that got hit was on their own.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to give a good understanding of what happened.
I understand their are a number of variables but what do you think they will receive for:
dangerous driving(?)/leaving an accident(?)/driving over the limit(?)
Sat at a traffic lighted junction, directly behind the car at the front waiting to go with no other cars around, a large van turning right crashes straight into the side of the car in front of me luckily doesn't hit me at all but a loud bang none the less!
It appears to slow down somewhat but then puts his foot down, driving all over the road.
I quickly span around to follow and get the number plate, 999 etc.
The vehicle then drives the worst two miles of uncontrollable driving I had ever seen, by which point the car that got hit was up behind me. It drives into a housing estate and proceeds to stop where the driver of the other vehicle and my friend attempted to confront the driver got the most slurry response before he proceeds to drive over the pavement to get round the car that had been hit. We let the driver know we would follow the vehicle as I'd of been rather distressed in their position.
The van then joins a section of 40 and 50mph dual carriage way which I'd estimate was driving in excess of 80mph all over the road. Failed to stop at the roundabout for an oncoming car, unsurprisingly.
It then heads into a 30mph zone on the wrong side of the road. He then stops and turns all lights off for about 1 minute before then driving off again. This road rejoins the dual carriageway section, so he just done a large circle.
It joins the dual carriageway again in the same manner of driving, before negotiating 3 roundabouts to join a NSL dual carriage way continuing to drive all over both lanes, I drove in the middle of both lanes to stop any vehicles passing, leaving sufficient space should it of crashed. It then exits having completed another loop of the area, this time heading back where we have just come from.
It travels another mile and parks up, we stopped about 30 meters away in a rather dark area but just enough to see clothing etc where he locks the vehicle and disappears.
One of the most adrenaline filled 20 minutes of my life.
The first police vehicle appears 2 minutes later which has come from 20 miles away, give the PC a run down and point to where he went. Has a quick look around to see if he's hiding anywhere shame he didn't have to get one of the dogs out
a couple more cars arrive and 6 of them enter the building, kicking on a door. To no success, they came back after about 10 minutes took some details from me and my friend and gave us a little run down of what was what and we left.An hour later they called up and asked if I was available for a statement.
They smashed his door in and arrested him, after a 4 page statement and one phone call from custody I overheard the PC, he blew over 110 in both samples of breath.
Said they were very grateful that we followed the vehicle and that our statements would be very beneficial as the driver of the car that got hit was on their own.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to give a good understanding of what happened.
I understand their are a number of variables but what do you think they will receive for:
dangerous driving(?)/leaving an accident(?)/driving over the limit(?)
Out of curiosity, how does the courts and police view stuff like this, I can only assume OP broke a couple of traffic laws in his pursuit, and isn't trained to the standard of a traffic officer.
I assume in this circumstance, with the hit driver being 'one of their own', that a fairly large bucketload of digression was used by officers to make sure that the OP didn't come into any bother, but I was always in the mindset that if you phone 999 they advise you not to try and follow, but to stay put and wait for police.
Not to say I don't commend the OPs actions, I would be just too worried myself that I'd get a bit of a jobsworth of a traffic cop that sees the opportunity to throw dangerous driving and other charges at me based on my own testimony against the van driver.
Not to say I don't commend the OPs actions, I would be just too worried myself that I'd get a bit of a jobsworth of a traffic cop that sees the opportunity to throw dangerous driving and other charges at me based on my own testimony against the van driver.
Edited by caelite on Monday 13th November 12:41
Breadvan72 said:
The driver of the car that was hit wasn't a police officer. Re read the opening post.
s
t, just reread that part, miss read on their own as one of their own, my apologies, on my phone in the work break room right now 
.Question still stands though if any of SP&Es legal bods want to answer, is there not a great amount of legal risk present to aiding the police in a pursuit, or is there legal precedence of people being protected in these circumstances, not a stab at the OP in any way, but I am genuinely curious, you do often hear of 'absolute offences' being committed and prosecuted with full force even when the people committing them where within the sprit of the law.
caelite said:
st, just reread that part, miss read on their own as one of their own, my apologies, on my phone in the work break room right now .
Question still stands though if any of SP&Es legal bods want to answer, is there not a great amount of legal risk present to aiding the police in a pursuit, or is there legal precedence of people being protected in these circumstances, not a stab at the OP in any way, but I am genuinely curious, you do often hear of 'absolute offences' being committed and prosecuted with full force even when the people committing them where within the sprit of the law.
I can’t think of one instance where there’s any evidence to prove that has happened, as you were. t, just reread that part, miss read on their own as one of their own, my apologies, on my phone in the work break room right now .Question still stands though if any of SP&Es legal bods want to answer, is there not a great amount of legal risk present to aiding the police in a pursuit, or is there legal precedence of people being protected in these circumstances, not a stab at the OP in any way, but I am genuinely curious, you do often hear of 'absolute offences' being committed and prosecuted with full force even when the people committing them where within the sprit of the law.
NOTE: The difference between “where” and “were”.
Breadvan72 said:
No, you don't often hear that. Can you show me one instance of someone acting as a rescuer or otherwise aiding the law being prosecuted?
You know what, I answered my own question. The situation I was thinking about was more the 'stories' you hear of people sleeping in there cars/vans whilst over the limit, then being woken up and charged with drunk in charge of a vehicle because they had their keys on them, but with no intention to drive, to me that falls under the 'spirit' of the law but outwith the absolute offence.I was under the impression that dangerous/careless driving may fall under the same criteria, whereby admitting to following a van to 80 in a 40 you admit to the offence of speeding and potential DD. However when looking to see if there indeed has been an instance of this I found this: http://www.nopenaltypoints.co.uk/offences-during-e...
The article stating that in an emergency situation mitigating circumstances can be used in court to minimise the punishment of the offence (but would seldom remove it), however it does also state that it falls within the police digression if they deem the driver acted in a correct state of mind in the circumstance, and not inflict any charges on them.
As I said, I answered my own question
, going to bugger off back to work now. Breadvan72 said:
No, you don't often hear that. Can you show me one instance of someone acting as a rescuer or otherwise aiding the law being prosecuted?
If OP had stacked his car during the pursuit, he'd have had the book thrown at him for dangerous driving. If the van driver had stacked, and claimed he was being chased, then OP would be in trouble. The police have enough trouble justifying their own pursuits, let alone justifying one by some random viewer of an incident. Call me cynical, but I'd have checked the person that got hit was OK, and that would be it. Far, far too much to lose, and far too little to gain.
caelite said:
Not to say I don't commend the OPs actions, I would be just too worried myself that I'd get a bit of a jobsworth of a traffic cop that sees the opportunity to throw dangerous driving and other charges at me based on my own testimony against the van driver.
I would bet my driving licence that that would never happen.rxe said:
If OP had stacked his car during the pursuit, he'd have had the book thrown at him for dangerous driving. If the van driver had stacked, and claimed he was being chased, then OP would be in trouble. The police have enough trouble justifying their own pursuits, let alone justifying one by some random viewer of an incident.
Call me cynical, but I'd have checked the person that got hit was OK, and that would be it. Far, far too much to lose, and far too little to gain.
And gone home to whinge about the breakdown of society probably.Call me cynical, but I'd have checked the person that got hit was OK, and that would be it. Far, far too much to lose, and far too little to gain.
Well done OP, it boils my piss when you see hit and run drivers get away so sounds like you made a difference there.
On a vaguely similar note i was on a very busy oxford street last week and just as i was about to walk across a pedestrian crossing, a scooter with a passenger riding pillion saw two policemen approaching them and took off from the red light to get away. The policemen tried to run after them but obviously weren't going to get anywhere near. I'm guessing the moped riders were out trying to snatch some phones or a bike or something along them lines.
I did wonder after the fact whether or not i could have helped at all if i was closer to the bike, however i decided i'd either get my leg broken by kicking the moving wheel or something daft or if i did take them out i could probably be prosecuted (as i don't think solely running a red light on its own is an offence which warrants a dropkicking style of vigilantism). My reaction may have been different if i'd just seen them snatch a phone or handbag.
So in short i commend the OP and i think i'd do the same, but there's always that niggling bit in my head, probably spurred on by a couple of vaguely related news articles, that imagines the do-gooder getting done if they try and help.
On a vaguely similar note i was on a very busy oxford street last week and just as i was about to walk across a pedestrian crossing, a scooter with a passenger riding pillion saw two policemen approaching them and took off from the red light to get away. The policemen tried to run after them but obviously weren't going to get anywhere near. I'm guessing the moped riders were out trying to snatch some phones or a bike or something along them lines.
I did wonder after the fact whether or not i could have helped at all if i was closer to the bike, however i decided i'd either get my leg broken by kicking the moving wheel or something daft or if i did take them out i could probably be prosecuted (as i don't think solely running a red light on its own is an offence which warrants a dropkicking style of vigilantism). My reaction may have been different if i'd just seen them snatch a phone or handbag.
So in short i commend the OP and i think i'd do the same, but there's always that niggling bit in my head, probably spurred on by a couple of vaguely related news articles, that imagines the do-gooder getting done if they try and help.
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