The Police and speed limits - how does it work...
 

following along behind two coppers on bikes tonight out of the city and down towards the Lime House Link, they had their blues and twos on and thought they would disappear. Anyway get to the light just before the tunnel and they've turned their lights/sirens off. Anyway I follow them through the tunnel (thought best not to overtake them ;) ) and at the speed camera at the exit to the tunnel they open up and deliberately set off the speed camera and one of them gets flashed.

So why is he exempt? Genuinely interested more than anything, I thought they were bound by speed limits like the rest of us unless they were responding to an emergency call with blues and twos flashing? If they are then he obviously knows there is no film in the camera as he purposely made it flash and they were exceeding the speed limit considerably, did follow after the camera but kept my distance as i've had my fingers burnt for doing that previously and getting too close :D

They were having a 'play' with the camera .... they don't care if its got film or not - the person viewing the film 'dumps' the emergency services photos in the bin.

Pete

We're led to believe that any emergency service vehicle has to fill out a report if caught on camera, which includes details of the emergency to which they were responding, as if there wasn't an emergency then they are bound by the same laws as us. In reality, as Pete says :rolleyes:

This is not the case for many ambulance services who now have to employ admin staff to deal with the paperwork generated by the speed cameras. They have to justify/document each incident where an ambulance is caught on camera. I think the money might be better spent on additional medical staff but that's not how it works any more, accountability to the control systems of the administration is more important than saving lives. Perhaps the best recent example of this is the ambulance driver who was delivering a transplant organ and who was flashed several times on his route. The camera partnership didn't deem this an "emergency" and so took him to court for his "crimes." Some fire services have also issued guidelines to their drivers concerning the speed at which they are allowed to travel to avoid the risk of conviction for speeding.

In theory the police are bound by the same rules as you and I except when they are responding to an emergency and in theory, as per the ambulance service, these emergency calls should have something approximating to an audit trail associated with them so it would be known at any given time which vehicles were involved in responding to an emergency.

As to what you saw happeneing, I really can only guess. Perhaps they were on an emergency call and had just been stood down and so thought to "test" the camera knowing that they would have enough wiggle room to get away with it? In the end they are just human like the rest of us and I might be tempted to do the same myself. Apart from that guess I've no idea.

With the greatest of respect Pete, this is bollocks as well you know. Remember the blood transfusion driver who was summonsed after exceeding the posted limit delivering human organs? A form has to be completed for every emergency vehicle that is recorded.

Simon

They could have turned the sirens off because there was no-one in front of them who they needed to move out of the way.

They probably slowed down for the tunnel as some tunnels are a bit more dangerous than an open road with hard shoulders and grass verges.

Yep - That is what happens in Great Blair country. (or GB) One rule for the rozzers and a different on for the criminal tax contributer motorist

But wasn't that driver using his own vehicle for that trip, not a marked up services vehicle at the time?


Bob

I honestly dont know Bob; I was under the impression that it was a fully liveried vehicle and that the correct forms were filled in by the NHS trust, but disregarded by a Chief Constable with his own agenda.

Simon

They do get done.... a guy in my office got 3 points and £60 for a mobile camera van activation the other week.

Having sirens on in a tunnel holds traffic up more than with them off.

Response driving/riding isn't about flat out everywhere with the sirens on, its about using the equipment to help passage through and slowing down allowing traffic to open up before you get there. Its about maintaining safe pace rather than speed.

Guys they were not on an emergency call, I sat at the traffic lights with them and as far as I know when on an emergency call they don't tend to sit and wait with the other traffic at the lights ;)

I am leaning to the fact there is no film in that camera, i've been flashed by it before and never got done but was never sure as i've got a "reflective plate" ;) and i've been flashed by more than one camera and not been done before but could never tell if it was truly the plate or just damn lucky with no film in the cameras i'd been through :o

GCB,

Yes he has been noticed for posting a load of bollocks before

Les :D