So my daughter was driving ....

Meridian · 9 Apr 2012 at 18:58

You MUST obey the instructions of a police officer in uniform, so if they indicate that you are to break the law, and it is safe to do so, then you must do so. The fact that you are obeying the officer gives you an exemption to the RTA for any instructions carried out. In theory you might be up **** creek if they act was recorded but the car was not. However, if you record the time of the incident then it ought to be pretty straightforward to match it to a call for the police concerned.

M

Skilid · 9 Apr 2012 at 19:24

Was I the only one expecting this thread to have pictures of a big crash or something from the title?

CaptainRAVE · 9 Apr 2012 at 19:28

EliotG said:
Was I the only one expecting this thread to have pictures of a big crash or something from the title?

Nope, not just you

Probably because we get these so often.

ubersonic · 9 Apr 2012 at 19:57

West said:
I am a blue light driver we NEVER expect drivers to do anything illegal or that would cause them to get a ticket, so if she went into a monitored bus lane, it's her fault if she gets a ticket and that will be a courts stance on the matter.

So your opinion is that she should have stayed in lane and had a head on collision with an emergency vehicle travelling at high speed? :confused:

No, that will not be the courts stance.

West · 9 Apr 2012 at 22:11

ubersonic said:
So your opinion is that she should have stayed in lane and had a head on collision with an emergency vehicle travelling at high speed?

No, that will not be the courts stance.

To be honest as no one saw what happened you can't make the assumption that there would have been a collision. I seriously doubt that the officer would have driving into the direct line of oncoming traffic without first looking what was happening.

Fr0dders · 9 Apr 2012 at 23:58

IAmATeaf said:
... down the road which had a bus lane last Thursday and was forced into the bus lane by an oncoming police car in her lane with the blues and twos on.

So if we get a ticket through the post would it worth contesting? and how would you even prove that a police car forced her into the bus lane?

did she do it specifically in front of a bus lane camera ?

There are bus lanes all over the UK, only a minority of them are actually watched 24/7 by bus lane cameras.

Tarqy · 10 Apr 2012 at 07:28

I also see this regularly on the commute home, I've been forced up some rather large kerbs on a few occasions to the detriment of my alloy wheels

Tute · 10 Apr 2012 at 08:31

West said:
Well no it's not.

We are taught to be very selfish in the way we drive (as silly as it sounds) because of the responsibilty we have as emergency drivers. If there is any risk to a menouver you need to make you don't do it.

We want to arrive there as quick as possible granted but YOU are in control of your vehicle not us. We don't expect you to go over stop lines/bus lanes etc.

Don't get me wrong, there are bad blue light drivers out there but Police are some of the finest Emergency drivers out there and i've also been trained by ex Police pursuit drivers so i'm sure that the majority of emergency drivers are similar to me in the way that they do things.

Well i'm not suggesting for a moment that a driver should drive well out into the middle of a busy junction to let an emergency vehicle through - just that in the case of junctions where it is safe to move over the line in order to save a few seconds, it shouldn't be punishable.

Burnsy2023 · 10 Apr 2012 at 10:08

ubersonic said:
So your opinion is that she should have stayed in lane and had a head on collision with an emergency vehicle travelling at high speed?

No, that will not be the courts stance.

She should have slowed and stopped if necessary. If the oncoming Police car is so close she has to take immediate action then she is either going too fast or the Police car is driving very much otherwise in accordance with driving policy and standards.

PMKeates · 10 Apr 2012 at 19:48

I think the fundamental problem with this is that it isn't OK to use a bus lane for a brief moment in an emergency situation. Why does it matter? Because a bus MIGHT be another 10 seconds late? WOE BETIDE

West · 10 Apr 2012 at 23:37

PMKeates said:
I think the fundamental problem with this is that it isn't OK to use a bus lane for a brief moment in an emergency situation. Why does it matter? Because a bus MIGHT be another 10 seconds late? WOE BETIDE

Because that's the law? :confused:

hawker1986 · 11 Apr 2012 at 08:40

PMKeates said:
I think the fundamental problem with this is that it isn't OK to use a bus lane for a brief moment in an emergency situation. Why does it matter? Because a bus MIGHT be another 10 seconds late? WOE BETIDE

+1

West said:
Because that's the law?

God forbid anyone uses their brain to think outside the box to try and help a situation. Fundamentally laws are put in place to protect and help people so we can get on with our lives. But like any set of rules they do not account for all situations, if someone has safely stepped out of "the law" to further that general goal and not harmed anyone why should they be punished.

Hawker

ubersonic · 11 Apr 2012 at 11:12

Burnsy2023 said:
She should have slowed and stopped if necessary. If the oncoming Police car is so close she has to take immediate action then she is either going too fast or the Police car is driving very much otherwise in accordance with driving policy and standards.

That's a bit silly though. I know assumptions are bad but lets assume it was a 30, she is doing 30 and the police car is doing 30 or more, that means a closing speed of at least 60mph. Not being funny but I do not remember the section in the HWC that says what to do if your about to have a 60mph+ head on collision with a cop car.

She had three choices, swerve into oncoming traffic, swerve into a bus lane or attempt an emergency stop. Imo she chose the best option as the oncoming traffic idea is a moot point and the emergency stop still leaves the problem of car headed straight at you. I don't think any court would attempt to argue that what she did was the correct/appropriate decision given the circumstances.

We have this problem a bit round here as one of the major roads in the area is a narrow single carriageway one with ditches on both sides and regularly you will see police cars zig zagging down it at speed leapfrogging concurrent traffic and dodging oncoming traffic, and let me tell you when your doing the speed limit and a police car pops out from behind an oncoming car for what a normal driver would consider a dodgy overtake its quite difficult to think perfectly straight and weigh up your decisions when you have a 2 ton light show bearing down upon you at well over 100 mph. A few times this has lead to people in the ditch and the police have had to pay for it.

TLDR: She did the right thing, any court would agree.