Last week I have seen a police car on the M6 doing probably somewhere near 80-85mph with no lights flashing or sirens sounding. Then this week I have seen another police car overtaking a van on an A road. At the time I was following the police who was doing 60mph before overtaking. Again, no lights flashing or sirens sounding. Is it one rule for the Police and one rule for the rest of us??? :evil: :evil:
Can the Police do that?
- Thread starter Wippers
- Start date
No they can't as far as I know unless in pursuit, blue light run, etc.
I'm always delighted when they are just over or well under limit, as it keeps traffic flowing.
I'm always delighted when they are just over or well under limit, as it keeps traffic flowing.
cj10jeeper said:
Last year I was heading up the M6 to Scotland. There was a marked Police car Subaru Impreza sitting at 70 mph (no more) for about 20 miles. The queue behind him was getting bigger by the mile. No-one could overtake through fear of getting nicked so everyone just sat there. All of a sudden he slowed down to about 60mph and everyone having sat there for miles decided to make a break for it and get past. Then just around the next bend was a bank of speed cameras lined up across the bridge! A complete trap set-up!
Any they wonder why they are disliked! :evil: :evil:
I'm a pretty conscious driver especially on motorways, but a bit of common sense on clear open motorways would do them a world of good on the public relations front. tail-gating on Motorways is more likely to cause a crash than a safe distance at 80mph in my opinion.
OK, rant over.
At pistonheads:
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There's always someone who wonders why the Police have just gone past over the speed limit with no lights or sirens.
So I figured it would be a good idea, in a bid to avoid numerous threads asking the same questions, to start this Wiki and have asked mods if it could be made sticky.
If the Bib would like to pop in the official lines it would be a useful tool. I'll start with a few cut and paste quotes which you are welcome to edit.
The BiB line:
The speed limits can be 'ignored' if to adhere to them would hinder the use of the vehicle for a police purpose. Police officers in marked cars on duty have been given speeding tickets and paid them when shown to not be legally using the exemption.
There is no requirement to use blue lights and sirens to take advantage of exemptions. As such no laws have been broken.
They shouldn't be travelling dangerously at any time.
There is no requirement for them to have warning lights or horns on in order to avail themselves of the exemption. It is a decision for the driver on whether they consider it appropriate or not in the individual circumstances.
Some times they'll use them because they deem it appropriate, some times they won't because they deem that most appropriate. There is nothing in law that requires them to ever use blue lights & two tones, it's down to their discretion.
If I don't want to alert the burglar in a house, I won't use them.
If I want to catch up with a car I want observe without alerting them, I won't use them.
Putting the blue lights on doesn't validate the use of the exemption it's the purpose that does.
If an officer wants a thrill & drives quickly, putting the blue lights on doesn't make what he is doing right.
If an officer is going to a burglary & doesn't use blue lights, that doesn't make what he is doing wrong.
The purpose defines whether the use of the exemption was appropriate in each case, not the use (or lack of) of blue lights.
In poor weather, especially at night, blue lights can be a distraction. I only use them at junctions and hazards but not on straight main roads in these circumstances.
The law says that the vehicle must be being used for police purposes. Therefore it does not have to be:
a, Driven by a police officer
b, A police vehicle.
A commandeered taxi would be a good example - however it would have be driven by a fully trained police driver. NO. As long as the vehicle is being used 'for police purposes' whether or not the driver is a police officer is immaterial.
By virtue of Section 87 Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (as amended by Section 19 Road Safety Act 2006),
(1) No statutory provision imposing a speed limit on motor vehicles shall apply to any vehicle on an occasion when–
(a) it is being used for fire and rescue authority purposes or for or in connection with the exercise of any function of a relevant authority as defined in section 6 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, for Ambulance purposes or for Police or Serious Organised Crime Agency purposes,(b) it is being used for other prescribed purposes in such circumstances as may be prescribed, or
(c) it is being used for training persons to drive vehicles for use for any of the purposes mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) above, if the observance of that provision would be likely to hinder the use of the vehicle for the purpose for which it was being used on that occasion.
A police driver is able to make use of their exemptions at any time and for any length so long as they are able to justify their use. The justification for their use rests solely with the driver and if a legal dispute ever arose it would for the courts to decide whether or not the justification was appropriate. A police driver is still liable to be prosecuted for any road traffic offence outside of their exemptions if their driving falls below the standard expected. This is even if they are making legitimate use of exemption, for example when legitimatley negotiating a red traffic light junction on route to a call with bluea and twos, if the police car is not driven through at speed and without treating the red light as a "give way", the driver may be liable to a Sec 2 or Sec 3 traffic offence.
>>
>>
There's always someone who wonders why the Police have just gone past over the speed limit with no lights or sirens.
So I figured it would be a good idea, in a bid to avoid numerous threads asking the same questions, to start this Wiki and have asked mods if it could be made sticky.
If the Bib would like to pop in the official lines it would be a useful tool. I'll start with a few cut and paste quotes which you are welcome to edit.
The BiB line:
The speed limits can be 'ignored' if to adhere to them would hinder the use of the vehicle for a police purpose. Police officers in marked cars on duty have been given speeding tickets and paid them when shown to not be legally using the exemption.
There is no requirement to use blue lights and sirens to take advantage of exemptions. As such no laws have been broken.
They shouldn't be travelling dangerously at any time.
There is no requirement for them to have warning lights or horns on in order to avail themselves of the exemption. It is a decision for the driver on whether they consider it appropriate or not in the individual circumstances.
Some times they'll use them because they deem it appropriate, some times they won't because they deem that most appropriate. There is nothing in law that requires them to ever use blue lights & two tones, it's down to their discretion.
If I don't want to alert the burglar in a house, I won't use them.
If I want to catch up with a car I want observe without alerting them, I won't use them.
Putting the blue lights on doesn't validate the use of the exemption it's the purpose that does.
If an officer wants a thrill & drives quickly, putting the blue lights on doesn't make what he is doing right.
If an officer is going to a burglary & doesn't use blue lights, that doesn't make what he is doing wrong.
The purpose defines whether the use of the exemption was appropriate in each case, not the use (or lack of) of blue lights.
In poor weather, especially at night, blue lights can be a distraction. I only use them at junctions and hazards but not on straight main roads in these circumstances.
The law says that the vehicle must be being used for police purposes. Therefore it does not have to be:
a, Driven by a police officer
b, A police vehicle.
A commandeered taxi would be a good example - however it would have be driven by a fully trained police driver. NO. As long as the vehicle is being used 'for police purposes' whether or not the driver is a police officer is immaterial.
By virtue of Section 87 Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (as amended by Section 19 Road Safety Act 2006),
(1) No statutory provision imposing a speed limit on motor vehicles shall apply to any vehicle on an occasion when–
(a) it is being used for fire and rescue authority purposes or for or in connection with the exercise of any function of a relevant authority as defined in section 6 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, for Ambulance purposes or for Police or Serious Organised Crime Agency purposes,(b) it is being used for other prescribed purposes in such circumstances as may be prescribed, or
(c) it is being used for training persons to drive vehicles for use for any of the purposes mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) above, if the observance of that provision would be likely to hinder the use of the vehicle for the purpose for which it was being used on that occasion.
A police driver is able to make use of their exemptions at any time and for any length so long as they are able to justify their use. The justification for their use rests solely with the driver and if a legal dispute ever arose it would for the courts to decide whether or not the justification was appropriate. A police driver is still liable to be prosecuted for any road traffic offence outside of their exemptions if their driving falls below the standard expected. This is even if they are making legitimate use of exemption, for example when legitimatley negotiating a red traffic light junction on route to a call with bluea and twos, if the police car is not driven through at speed and without treating the red light as a "give way", the driver may be liable to a Sec 2 or Sec 3 traffic offence.
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Neat pvr - that covers it
Liverpool
Wippers said:
of course they can, i think the other post sums it up well but if the copper see's someone up ahead who is, for example, under taking drivers who are driving at the correct and safe speed, surely its ok for them to speed up above the limit in a safe manor to catch up with the driver who is undertaking. why do people in this country get so scared of police, they are doing a job and if your not doing anything wrong youll be fine, ive passed plenty of police at 80 - 85 on the M6, they are usually in the slow lane and have never pulled me over. just never be at the end of line of cars breaking the speed limit, my dear old mum has been done twice for keeping up with the flow of traffic, but was picked off by police as she was at the end of the line and the easiest to stop.