You can IIRC. Special constables have SC on their badges and Police constables have PC.
Lesson in common sense: Emergency Vehicles
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You can IIRC. Special constables have SC on their badges and Police constables have PC.
Dealing with drunk/drugged abusive yobs is the most fun thing you can imagine?
Look at who you're responding to.
He'd 'stand and bang' with a brick wall if it would fight him back
One time I landed up on a narrow twisty road with an ambulance behind me with blue lights on, since there was no where to pull over I sped up a bit, then pulled into a farm entrance letting the ambulance past. Got a wave for doing so. Why hold them up if you can slightly break the speed limit safely saving them time and maybe saving someones life. Don't think i'd try that had it been a police car mind u.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
I did.
Twisty A road, no overtaking spots, nowhere to pull in and a constant stream of traffic coming the other way. Marked traffic car comes flying up behind me sirens going. I nailed it until I reached an area to pull in, where I did so.
Got a thumbs up for that as well
Caporegime
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[TW]Fox;19201734 said:I did.
Twisty A road, no overtaking spots, nowhere to pull in and a constant stream of traffic coming the other way. Marked traffic car comes flying up behind me sirens going. I nailed it until I reached an area to pull in, where I did so.
Got a thumbs up for that as well
Ditto done the same once too. Ironically just after I passed my test which is most likely why it was still fresh in my mind. I even went through a red for a ambulance but i knew the area well and knew it was a long change over at that point. Plus it wasn't that bad as it was just a crossing and there was still a car length before the junction. Just gave him enough to get through. This stretch of road can take 30 minutes during peak time to navigate. He must have done it in 3!
I used to live a few hundred yards from a hospital and I think I lost count how many times I cringed at people mounting kerbs at 30mph. Infact one time a MR2 spun in the wet trying to do the exact same thing but ended up on the other side of the road and crashed into the cars parked there. Missing my car by inches.
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Soldato
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[TW]Fox;19201734 said:I did.
Twisty A road, no overtaking spots, nowhere to pull in and a constant stream of traffic coming the other way. Marked traffic car comes flying up behind me sirens going. I nailed it until I reached an area to pull in, where I did so.
Got a thumbs up for that as well
Still not the right thing to do, specifically to ensure that you don't end up stacking it as a result.
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Good luck with that. Never seen response trained special in my puff. Even specials with basic driving is extremely rare. Why train a special when they are going to be neighbouring up with a regular cop who should take priority over any response courses? It's pointless.
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This is going a bit off topic, so lets not derail this too much.
It's basically has hurfdurf described.
Not in Hampshire. We don't wear the SC crowns.
Basic driving is pretty common here, with other courses becoming more common. Join the Met, they have loads of response trained specials. I know one force did a pilot project for training a few SCs to get advanced driving tickets like RPU.
So do you just volunteer for a living? How does that work? Do you get paid bountys or a salary? Genuinely interested.
It's basically has hurfdurf described.
You can IIRC. Special constables have SC on their badges and Police constables have PC.
Not in Hampshire. We don't wear the SC crowns.
Basic driving is pretty common here, with other courses becoming more common. Join the Met, they have loads of response trained specials. I know one force did a pilot project for training a few SCs to get advanced driving tickets like RPU.
The only exemptions are speed limits, red traffic lights and keep left bollards. However if the circumstances dictated and it was safe to do so I would defend myself at court for crossing a double white.
I would be extremely surprised if a special constable was to gain his/her blue light ticket, especially in the current climate where civilian roles are being terminated across the board. It is a three week course and costs a fortune to train. In our force you are lucky if you get a course within your first 2 years as a regular. Specials do a great job but imo do not need to be level 1 trained.
Emergency vehicles should not get right behind you, they should hold back until the driver in front is aware of your presence unelss it is safe to overtake. On a blue light run I was honestly shocked at how different it was to take your time and hold back. Smoothness is the key
Great video though and thanks for sharing.
I would be extremely surprised if a special constable was to gain his/her blue light ticket, especially in the current climate where civilian roles are being terminated across the board. It is a three week course and costs a fortune to train. In our force you are lucky if you get a course within your first 2 years as a regular. Specials do a great job but imo do not need to be level 1 trained.
Emergency vehicles should not get right behind you, they should hold back until the driver in front is aware of your presence unelss it is safe to overtake. On a blue light run I was honestly shocked at how different it was to take your time and hold back. Smoothness is the key
Great video though and thanks for sharing.
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It varies drastically depending on force. In your force it's a three week course, in others it may only be a week or 10 days. Like I said earlier, the Met, who obviously have more resources than any other HO force regularly train SCs for response. Also, many of the management are seeing specials as more of a strategic resource with the cuts coming in. Without the money to employ PCs, it's becoming more economically viable for SCs who put in the time to be as deployable as a regular unit - which requires a response driving ticket. Whilst not every force does this, I know many are re-evaluating their existing polices.
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Especially as I know some road that seemingly have some very peculiarly placed double whites for long stretches of the road. My commuting route is a very good example. For several miles there aren't any overtaking places at all.
Emergency vehicles should not get right behind you, they should hold back until the driver in front is aware of your presence unelss it is safe to overtake. On a blue light run I was honestly shocked at how different it was to take your time and hold back. Smoothness is the key
I've noticed that some services do this better than others. Some police drivers can be rather 'assertive' and are more stop start than say ambulance drivers who can seem to do a steady 30mph for miles.
taking it to the extreme, you being the law abiding citizen, by sitting at a red light, driving slow untill you can pull over etc could result in whoever is on call being too late to arrive and their destination, which is something I wouldn't want to be accountable for, its an called an 'emergency' for a reason.
Interesting video.
I wonder if they have one aimed @ HGV drivers?
I ask as usually, the only thing you can do with an artic to make space is to either mount the verge / pavement.
Simply stopping the thing creates a 54tf long road block.....
I wonder if they have one aimed @ HGV drivers?
I ask as usually, the only thing you can do with an artic to make space is to either mount the verge / pavement.
Simply stopping the thing creates a 54tf long road block.....
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That said, you'd laugh at what some blue light runs turn out to be.
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Stopping in the wrong place creates a 54ft long road block, stopping in the correct place creates a safe place to pass.
Nathan has used the key word here for all emergency drivers and that is smoothness.
It's no good flooring it to 50 then slamming all on to 20 and back up to 50 again, when a steady 30-35 will suffice.
It's old school to drive like a maniac on blue lights and force others out of the way.
Take for example traffic lights, the old way was to fly up behind cars queuing at a red light, get right behind the last car and bully them out of the way until you've forced your way through.
The correct way is to leave a good space, almost definitely turn the sirens off and wait to see were the gap will appear, as quite often you'll go through on the wrong carriageway. If you'd have now been a foot behind a car and the gap appears somewhere else you wouldn't be able to get into that gap.
