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Usage of "Blues and Twos"


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#21 Guest_E.T._*

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Posted 29 September 2006 - 12:19 pm

I have a lot of respect for the Police trained drivers. My IAM instructor in the car was the retired Essex Police head of their driver training school - ie he trained the police trainers trained the Class 1 dudes.

I learnt loads from him and it was all voluntary on his part. When I did the bike I did it through RoSPA - which I prefer simply because they retest every three years - and because they grade the results.


I followed a local patrol car through Colchester for about 4 miles (just coincidentally on the same route) the driving was diabolical. Tailgating to less then half a car length behind a learner at 20-25mph. Brake light out, not signalling when it was needed, wrong lane etc etc. I could go on.

When he tailgated the learner it was the final straw and I wrote an email to Essex Police - the intonnation was non-agressive and polite. I got a polite response and I had some Chief Inspector rank call me and we had a very amicable conversation. He said that the local beat officer police guys recieve very little training any more (a days worth I think he said)- and that they were just regular licence holders. Just because of funding they cannot afford to train these chaps any further.

I don't think that's fair to the officers, because they still have to respond to emergencies and do things regular drivers don't have to.

What was interesting was the guy that called me asked whether I wanted to take formal action against the officer (I had the reg (index) number so they could trace him). I said no, but rather I would like a memo issued to all officers that their standard of driving is being watched by the public and that it should be to a high standard (at least DOT test standard!).

We were both happy with that, and he said he would arrange that - whether it happened I don't know, but I have no reason to suspect that it didn't.

#22 Difflock

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Posted 29 September 2006 - 12:30 pm

QUOTE(Andy R @ Thu 28th Sep 2006, 08:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Andy R - how do you account for the increasing number of cop collisions? sad.gif

Many years ago (Before I was an advanced driver) I reversed into a post that had been painted black. It was dark at the time. The collision speed was about 2 mph.

This was on private property and no damage was caused to the post, although a small crease was caused in the hatchback of the car.

This by legal definition is not a road traffic accident. Yet it was recorded as a POLACC and I was investigated.


huh.gif Sounds like yet another outcrop of Bureaucratite in our crazy world!

Many thanks to the more learned guys for posting in this thread - interesting stuff! good.gif

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#23 Andy R

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Posted 29 September 2006 - 12:35 pm

QUOTE(E.T. @ Fri 29th Sep 2006, 01:04 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I have a lot of respect for the Police trained drivers. My IAM instructor in the car was the retired Essex Police head of their driver training school - ie he trained the police trainers trained the Class 1 dudes.

I learnt loads from him and it was all voluntary on his part. When I did the bike I did it through RoSPA - which I prefer simply because they retest every three years - and because they grade the results.
I followed a local patrol car through Colchester for about 4 miles (just coincidentally on the same route) the driving was diabolical. Tailgating to less then half a car length behind a learner at 20-25mph. Brake light out, not signalling when it was needed, wrong lane etc etc. I could go on.

When he tailgated the learner it was the final straw and I wrote an email to Essex Police - the intonnation was non-agressive and polite. I got a polite response and I had some Chief Inspector rank call me and we had a very amicable conversation. He said that the local beat officer police guys recieve very little training any more (a days worth I think he said)- and that they were just regular licence holders. Just because of funding they cannot afford to train these chaps any further.

I don't think that's fair to the officers, because they still have to respond to emergencies and do things regular drivers don't have to.

What was interesting was the guy that called me asked whether I wanted to take formal action against the officer (I had the reg (index) number so they could trace him). I said no, but rather I would like a memo issued to all officers that their standard of driving is being watched by the public and that it should be to a high standard (at least DOT test standard!).

We were both happy with that, and he said he would arrange that - whether it happened I don't know, but I have no reason to suspect that it didn't.


I agree with you 100%. In fact your experience has illustrated what I said in my earler post. It is also great that you know and understand the difference between Advanced Police Drivers and the average Panda driver.
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#24 stu

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Posted 29 September 2006 - 02:21 pm

QUOTE(MarkyMark @ Fri 29th Sep 2006, 11:27 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Yes - you can be trained and improve awareness and observation. But it has its limits.

I saw a TV program about training police drivers. It seemed that the instructor did little more than say go faster - but be careful. I wreckon all they were doing was lulling the poor trainee into a false sense of security.

I agree that it is necessary to make rapid progress to attend an emergency, but lets not fool ourselves into believeing the risks are not greatly increased. You just need to weigh them up against the risk of arriving a couple of minutes later and finding a dead casualty, or a missing perpetrator.


Aye, in fact the first part of roadcraft, before it gets on to anything about driving/riding is concerned with attitude, and cautions against justifying taking unnecessary risks for, amongst other things, a noble cause - arriving to find a dead casualty would not be worse than causing one on the way there, or not arriving at all.

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