Whose fault????
Discussion
A friend of mine was at a cross road and the traffic lights were on green at the same time a police car with its sirens on went through the red light and hit the side of the car. The lad has only Third party on his car and its a right off. The police insurance say its more his fault than theres even though they went through the red light and hit him.
plotloss said:
Well I thought jumping a red light was a no no strictly speaking for all emergency vehicles.
Well you thought wrong plotless
Red lights can be passed when attending emergency incidents but the driver must give way to any traffic entering the area on a green light if that vehilce does not stop.
plotless said:
Go to court, theres sure to be a precedent and I imagine it will be in your friends favour...
Very possibly it will be! However with the original content of the thread there is not enough to give an opinion.
>> Edited by gone on Tuesday 20th July 09:47
Unfortunately there ia blame on both side, the amount is really immaterial. If both drivers had been driving with the required amount of concentration at that moment, the collision would not have occurred.
Your friend should see a solicitor who will make any case out for him in his favour. The Police insurance will obviously try to shift the blame onto your friend because they are just the same as any other insurance company who will fight to the death on paying out claims.
One thing you can be sure of though is that the Police driver will not be driving Police vehicles for some considerable time to come because of the incident
Your friend should see a solicitor who will make any case out for him in his favour. The Police insurance will obviously try to shift the blame onto your friend because they are just the same as any other insurance company who will fight to the death on paying out claims.
One thing you can be sure of though is that the Police driver will not be driving Police vehicles for some considerable time to come because of the incident
plotloss said:
So if you go through a red light and legally have to give right of way to the opposing flow of traffic then surely thats the same thing?
Just better explained...
Look at the highway code and see what it says about emergency vehicles approaching with warning equipment being used
>> Edited by gone on Tuesday 20th July 10:03
One of the first programmes in the 'Traffic Cops' series showed a pursuit in Sheffield during the hours of darkness. It looked to me like either the Hillsborough area or West Street up towards the University, though I'm not sure.
Anyhow there was PC Andy Brown of South Yorkshire Police giving a commentary as he pursued the target vehicle. He said something along the lines of:
'The criminal will go through red traffic lights at 70 mph, but we have to slow down and make sure it's clear'.
It was nicely done in a proper orderly manner, but police drivers do have to get it right - or else!
Best wishes all,
Dave.
Anyhow there was PC Andy Brown of South Yorkshire Police giving a commentary as he pursued the target vehicle. He said something along the lines of:
'The criminal will go through red traffic lights at 70 mph, but we have to slow down and make sure it's clear'.
It was nicely done in a proper orderly manner, but police drivers do have to get it right - or else!
Best wishes all,
Dave.
I thought that emergency services had to treat red lights as "give way" signs when on red. The other guy had a green light, so IMHO it was the police driver at fault. Since he only had 3rd party insurance I assume the car wasn't worth a great deal. In that case it may be cheaper for the police insurance to write it off and payout, rather than going to court.
Kerching, my 2 pence.
Kerching, my 2 pence.
mcflurry said:
I thought that emergency services had to treat red lights as "give way" signs when on red. The other guy had a green light, so IMHO it was the police driver at fault.
All true. Vehicles used for police, fire, ambulance, and HMCG purposes may treat a stop sign/red ATS as a give way sign if the observance of the stop sign/red ATS would hinder the purpose for which the vehicle was being used on that occasion - but 'give way' means 'proceed if safe to do so' which it sounds like it wasn't...ergo Plod is probably at fault. Might be mitigating circumstances if the guy with the green ATS was speeding/driving like a nob/DUI etc but it don't look good for the copper's continued driving privileges...
like I said before, the fact a collision occurred is all we know. There are no other facts available to tell us what exactly happened.
Highway code advice states that drivers should give way to emergency vehicles using blue lights and sirens.
Emergency vehicles must use red traffic lights as give way signs when they proceed through them.
Somewhere, someone failed
Highway code advice states that drivers should give way to emergency vehicles using blue lights and sirens.
Emergency vehicles must use red traffic lights as give way signs when they proceed through them.
Somewhere, someone failed
I seem to remember reading on this forum, perhaps about a year ago, that there was either some particular body, or Act of Law or fund or something specifically regarding anything to do with an emergency vehicle attending an emergency.
IIRC the post was something to do with an accident slightly after a police car with blues & twos went past.
IIRC the post was something to do with an accident slightly after a police car with blues & twos went past.
kevinday said:
Does anybody else think, like me, that it is high time the Road Traffic Act included a requirement for everybody to give way to an emergency vehicle on 'a shout'. I believe this to be a rule in Germany and seems eminently sensible to me?
Not me... i think that would just be a license for emergency vehicle drivers to drive like tw@ts whenever they felt like it, cos if they hit someone else, it would always be the other guy's fault.
deeen said:
Does anybody else think, like me, that it is high time the Road Traffic Act included a requirement for everybody to give way to an emergency vehicle on 'a shout'. I believe this to be a rule in Germany and seems eminently sensible to me?
Not me... i think that would just be a license for emergency vehicle drivers to drive like tw@ts whenever they felt like it, cos if they hit someone else, it would always be the other guy's fault.
Isn't that what happens now anyway?
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