Tonky

This the most misunderstood legislation.

Section 87 Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

No statutory provision imposing a speed limit on a motor vehicle shall apply to any vehicle on an occasion when it is being used for fire brigade, ambulance or police purposes if the observance of that provision would be likely to hinder the use of the vehicle for the purpose for which it is being used on that occasion.

You can see it's pretty wide ranging, it doesn't have to be an emergency call. That's not to say the cops can speed any time they like, but they will always have to justify their use of excess speed in an accident or in the event of a complaint. If it's unjustified, they would face charges like everyone else, as well as being subject to internal discipline

It has been held in a recent case that because the officer was technically on duty whilst in his own car, the provision above provided him an exemption to the speed limit. Nowhere does it say that police have to have blue and twos on to go above the speed limit, and in certain circumstances this would be totally impractical ie surveillance work, and attending burglar alarms etc. where you certainly don't want to advertise your approach. I got roundly bollocked for this once when I was young fuzz.

Remember that lots of police vehicles, CID cars and surveillance cars etc, aren't even fitted with blues and twos but are still operational vehicles and exempt under the same act.

Beardie

So if I were a polis and was using my S2000 as a surveillance car I could exceed the speed limit whenever I wanted to?

I actually have been thinking about a career change.

Tonky

Believe me, answering 999 calls in all weathers loses it's appeal very quickly. The public in this country are generally speaking, fantastic at getting out of your way and making room where there isn't any, but there's always some little old lady or old gent in a moggy 1000 who'll do the craziest thing when you least expect it, despite having all the lights and gongs sounding.

But hey - an S2K police car! Actually, if you could see the amount of gear a motorway patrol car has to carry, youd realise why the T5 estates are such an obvious choice.

Beardie

I've owned a 740 Estate for a number of years and despite the barge handling actually quite like the car
Now a T5 is definitely in the offing finances permitting.

John57

I agree with what Tonky has said - I am a traffic officer in the Met and go to 80% of the calls I attend without using the blue light. I will speed to them where possible to get there as soon as I can so, say, an obstruction can be moved.... its is just that the call though it requires prompt attendance doesn't warrant going through red lights, etc therefore no blue light.

Our calls are graded by our control room based on what it is but it is actually the responsibility of the driver to decide whether the lights and siren get used - if it all goes wrong the driver then has to quantify why he was using them. Our response has to be proportionate otherwise we can loose our own driving licence like anyone else!

One thing about the original post - blue lights on half power ??? There is no such thing as far as I know. They are there to warn people - why would we want them at half power. It makes me wonder if it was actually a police car. We are beginning to have a huge problem in London with kids fitting blue lights on the front of their cars like the neon things. Some flash and they turn them on and off to impress. I have got 2 people to rip them out of their cars to date or get prosecuted as they do look quite real. I wonder ????

There is obviously the possibility that it was just someone in the job that is a complete idiot - they unfortunately do exist. Scotland may well be completely different but someone driving an unmarked Police Focus may well have no more than a normal driving licence with no extra training at all. In London though they are not allowed to use blue lights. If caught using them they get relieved from driving at work by people like me! If they have used lights and siren and gone through red lights, etc they are not authorised to do that therefore are not acting as police officers and can and do get prosecuted as the exemption doesn't apply.

Bada Bing!

Thanks for the reply mate. Yep, they came on for just a second in maybe 10 sec intervals, so perhaps it was just the bulb not getting up to full charge (due to the short duration they were on for) and looking dull. But the driving was very suspect, and I feel they drove deliberately quickly past me so I couldn't get a look inside.

Very strange...

Nick Graves

I thought some plod cars had sort of mini-chav blue lights (sort of sidelights) in the base of the lamp box.

It might have been those.

I used to live close to our local "sty" and used to see some appalling driving as well abuse of blue lights - especially at shift change/tea break time! Well, I suppose you would, wouldn't you?

The area cars were frequently exemplary, the panda cars frequently far from it.