Police car bullying its way through red light.

bingy_burge

Paradigm wrote: »

To be fair I don't think anyone here has an issue with going through a red light to let services through.... the Government do! It wouldn't take any time at all to change the law to allow for this kind of situation.

Takes common sense though so we're stuffed

Why is the light red in the first place. It means danger going back to basics it means unsafe so why should goverment or any emergency service expect you to proceed into a dangerous situation where your life is at risk and lives of any of passengers and other road users. The emergency service receive extra driver training to able to use excemptions such as red light and speed limits why should every driver be excempt in emergency situations.

Lets look at it from another view point you panic and drive through a red light straight into the path of a car the women and youn child are killed. Whos does liablity lie with ? Would you feel not mallace to the driver who went through the red light if that was your wife and child?

Whilst I can see people have their hearts in the right place in trying to help the emergency services risking lives to safe lives is counter productive. They have training to enable them to make the decisions on what is best course of action for the situation.

Its also wise to point out not all emergency services have excemption from red lights and those that do are trained to slow down and giev way. Only when all traffic has stopped should the driver proceed.

keystone

I get seriously mad when I see people ducking, diving, weaving, speeding up, slowing down to "get out of the way" and creating all sorts of other hazards in the process. It actually makes their task more difficult because those doing it are being totally unpredictable. I've even recently seen someone drive right into the side of a police car he was "getting out of the way" for because he misjudged which way he should go to "get out of the way".

Its not our job to get out of their way. Its theirs to go round us when its safe to do so and thats what everyone should understand and be taught.

Cheers

shaun_from_Africa

Its not our job to get out of their way

Maybe not "our job", but I don't consider it unreasonable to expect another driver to move their car to make way for an emergency vehicle to pass providing that they can do so safely and legally.

keystone

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

......... providing that they can do so safely and legally.

Yes - thats exactly my point.

Cheers

bingy_burge

keystone wrote: »

Yes - thats exactly my point.

Cheers

There we have it by making a panic decision to mount a kerb damaging your vehicle and tyres or jumping a red light you could cause another emergency situation so whats the point.

With regard to bus lanes where I live there not camera-ed and so I have on occassion entered one to aid an amubulance at rush hour. If I was in a city such as london I wouldn't because I would most likely be proscuted.

shaun_from_Africa

There we have it by making a panic decision to mount a kerb damaging your vehicle and tyres or jumping a red light you could cause another emergency situation so whats the point

But by making a panic decision and mounting a kerb & damaging your vehicle or tyres, or jumping a red light, you are not doing what was mentioned in the 2 earlier posts which was to move out of the way "providing that they can do so safely and legally"

Surely it comes down to circumstances at the time.
If I was driving on a B road and I saw an emergency vehicle approaching from behind and I knew that it wouldn't be able to pass me, I would find a place to pull over to let it go. I wouldn't slam my brakes on, nor would I go across a junction where I did not have right of way, but I would still do my best to ensure the vehicle could expedite its journey.
It may only save 10 seconds, but if during its journey another 20 drivers also saved it 10 seconds, that 3 minutes may make the difference between a heart attack or stroke victim surviving or ending up dead.

warehouse

Obviously nobody on this thread has seen TV footage from inside an emergency vehicle when on a callout. They all shout, swear and verbally abuse people who don't get out of their way. There is enormous pressure to get out of the way. Something definately needs to be put in concrete regarding this and traffic lights/junctions.

Paradigm

bingy_burge wrote: »

Why is the light red in the first place. It means danger going back to basics it means unsafe so why should goverment or any emergency service expect you to proceed into a dangerous situation where your life is at risk and lives of any of passengers and other road users. The emergency service receive extra driver training to able to use excemptions such as red light and speed limits why should every driver be excempt in emergency situations.

I'm not suggesting we all go charging through a red light into crossing traffic.

Moving forward (& to the side) 4-5 feet can make all the difference & I don't know of any junction where being this distance over the white line would put anyone in danger but it would be enough to trigger the camera!

If it's dangerous then don't do it.... that's where common sense comes in.

muckybutt

Personally I do my best to make way for them IF it is safe to do so !, however I would not and will not cross / go through a red light no matter how much they blast their horn / siren.

I came across the blue light vid on youtube a few weeks back, shame info like this isnt given to new drivers etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btRHvQEIkcU

Also interesting to get the views from a blue light run and how they have to react http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM3GBgNTZxw&feature=related

tbourner

muckybutt wrote: »

I came across the blue light vid on youtube a few weeks back, shame info like this isnt given to new drivers etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btRHvQEIkcU

Repost:

tbourner wrote: »

Most of you people need to watch this:
http://www.beestonmedia.com/screening/BLAproof03
Especially from 1:20.

The other vid's good though.