Hello,
So what about Merseyside Police? Normal patrol cars like Fiestas and Focus (whatever the plural of that is!) being driven above the 30mph limit without blue lights and sirens/horns. Should they not be used when the vehicle is being driven in above the speed limits? Some cars have the lights/sirens disabled if the engine is running, mainly because they don't trust the driver - although people offended by that suggestion know it's the ONLY reason. I am talking about when they can NOT justify their speed and are not deployed to a job. We even had cars driving around here at night WITHOUT lights, trying to catch someone - no thought for someone who might be driving along or walking their dog for example. The amount of bad driving I see by police is amazing. It is always the bigger traffic or response cars that seem to be driven with far more care and respect for other drivers. This practice of putting blue lights on to get through red lights and switching them off, then driving along normally is quite annoying too.
I think ALL police should be given some form of advanced driving test before getting to drive a police car in this area. The standard is so poor that police here are not allowed to pursue people, they can only follow at 30mph. I watched a video a few nights ago of two police men in a car that caught a police driving instructor on video driving dangerously on a motorway, putting others in danger in an unmarked car. Anyone else would have been hammered for tailgating, undertaking etc. They turned a blind eye as is usually the case. We all know what goes on, even the police man that posted to the group. I have been in cars with relatives that were stopped, they had a chat and were told to carry on and not to be so naughty.
Maybe it's time to take a video camera out and catch the bad driving by police, I wonder if any production companies would be interested? I also think police vehicles should be subjected to the MOT test that everyone else needs to go through. The excuse for being exempt is that the vehicles are maintained to a high standard - but not all are. It all comes down to money. (Search news archives to see what I mean.)
Properly trained and tested drivers cause no problem to other road users/pedestrians. It's the idiots that get in a panda car in my opinion.