Shockingly bad police driving

[judas]

Well done to the police van that pulled out from the Shell garage on the A52 between Derby and M1 straight into the path of a another road user. It's just as well the second lane was clear enough for him to brake and swerve or it would have been a very nasty crash.

Is it just me, or are police driving standards not what they used to be?

Edited by judas on Monday 6th February 20:00

[cheddar]

You're not alone:

Christchurch New Zealand,

Central city, 11 in the morning, narrow street with cars parked both sides and all businesses open, I'm walking on the pavement, police car (Commodore SV6) nails it past me, single crewed, kicked down to first gear turning into the road and I heard it redline and change up until it reached 4th - 100mph??? - speed limit was 30mph.

This was the day before a nationwide speeding crackdown with only 2mph tolerance for the month of February.

[Nigel Worc's]

We all make mistakes, they are no different.

[slimtater]

May have been a "civilian" driving but anyway if the outside lane is clear, it is sensible and courteous to move in to it - there a lot of pull outs on that stretch of the A52 with very short slips.

[blueg33]

Nigel Worc's said:

We all make mistakes, they are no different.

Except when they claim on the SP&L forum that they are highly trained and therefore couldn't have made a mistake!

[roger1197]

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s...

[Ace-T]

slimtater said:

May have been a "civilian" driving but anyway if the outside lane is clear, it is sensible and courteous to move in to it - there a lot of pull outs on that stretch of the A52 with very short slips.

The bloke driving the van had a black jumper with epaulettes with silver bits on. Dunno if that was a 'police' jumper or a 'civvi' uniform.

Agree with you on the 52, some dreadful road design along there and most folks pull into the outside lane to help with the exit from the petrol station. However with the Ockbrook turn off just after it, many folk will stay in the inside lane as did the chap who was pulled out on.

It was rush hour and the manoeuvre appeared to be not thought through at all as there was nothing behind the chap for a goodly while and the van could have pulled out after him.

It was clearly a mistake (which I have seen a few people make) but one you would not necessarily expect from a driver of a police van.

[Nigel Worc's]

blueg33 said:

Nigel Worc's said:

We all make mistakes, they are no different.

Except when they claim on the SP&L forum that they are highly trained and therefore couldn't have made a mistake!

The only type of copper who'd ever claim that, would be the type that can't drive.

They are highly trained, the more training they do, the more exemptions they get to enable them to carry out their duties.

You can rest assured that if the driver of that van was in fact a constable, had something occured as a result of his mistake, his punishment would have been more severe, than if you or I made the same mistake with the same consquences.

Try not to be bitter about their exemptions, if you want the exemptions, join and do the job, it's open to us all.

I feel nobody used to care about this stuff, until scameras came along, now we feel we're being watched constantly, we seem to want the Police hammered, well the scammers are not the Police.

[havoc]

I agree with your points Nigel, except the last - the police are the key participants in the SCPs.

The police could / should have advised successive gov'ts that a near-exclusive focus on speed enforcement would have negative consequences for road safety and driving standards. It appears they didn't...probably because senior coppers are too political and too detached from the ones we encounter.

...so we now judge them by the petty standards we are held to. Perhaps not right, but quite understandable.

[blueg33]

havoc said:

I agree with your points Nigel, except the last - the police are the key participants in the SCPs.

The police could / should have advised successive gov'ts that a near-exclusive focus on speed enforcement would have negative consequences for road safety and driving standards. It appears they didn't...probably because senior coppers are too political and too detached from the ones we encounter.

...so we now judge them by the petty standards we are held to. Perhaps not right, but quite understandable.

I would agree with that.

Reap what you sow etc

[rog007]

I wonder if the chap in his marked up 306 but with no blues & twos going who came flying up to within an inch of my backside in a 30 (I was doing 30) is reading this? Why? Not good for the Force's reputation. Had I not had an appointment I may have pulled up and asked you!