When a police car reponds to a 999 call, it can legally speed,but must it use a blue light or siren?

Question

let me explain, I have seen many times now, police cars travelling at incredible speeds, at a guess 150mph on motorways, with no blue lights or sirens, to my mind this is dangerous, what i want to know is, are they breaking the law in doing this?

Answer 1

sad these americans only think in usa terms there is a life out side of the usa ,.to answer your question yes and both

Answer 2

When responding to a 999 call the police can exceed the speed limit, providing it is safe to do so but must not drive at excessive speeds, otherwise they are liable for Driving without Due Care and Attention or Dangerous Driving.

The police are expected to show the same level of skill and expertise of all other road users and are only allowed to "bend" the law in an emergency. They may or may not have the lights and sirens on, i.e. they might be approaching the area they were called to and need to approach this without lights and sirens so as not to scare off the "accused". At all other times they must at least use the blue lights in emergency calls.

Answer 3

Police code 999 " Officer needs help fast". This is most serious code an officer can hear.

Since people drive with radio's A/C, and cell phones going, they can't hear or the red lights or hear the siren.
There are times it is faster to go through traffic without using red lights and siren. All police departments state you must use red light and sirens while responding to emergency traffic, however, this policy is in place to cover the department, not the officer or the citizens.
If an officer has an accident while on a emergency call and does not have lights and siren going, that office can be held liable for any damages and lawsuits.

Answer 4

all emergency vehicle are ment to drive within the speed limit thats what there siirens and blue lights are for to make it easier for them to get through traffic. But would you complain about a police car or ambulance doing 100mph if it was going to your house to save you. there was a story in news around 10 to 15 years ago that a driver followed a police along a 30mph road while travelling well over the speed limit the driver was taken to court he won his case apparently because he was following the police car which was over the speed limit but i dont think it would happen now. and as for chickenhounk911 in uk we have 999 and 112 for emergency calls i hope your not the one i have to depend on for an ambulance cos its gonna take a long time to get from the usa

Answer 5

The only vehicles that had the right to ignore any law are Ambulances and Fire engines police are supposed to keep with in the law. Speed is relative and an emergency vehicle with lights and sirens on expects to be given way to. that is why ambulances and fire engines jump red lights. However if your car is blocking a road and you are not to be found then the fire engine driver has the right, in an emergency, to push it out of the way with his vehicle.

Answer 6

i could prefer to be attentive to why ambulance drivers take the piss and use their lights and sirens at each and every threat, I stay in Kingston upon Hull interior the united kingdom and this is going on all day and all evening while that's obvious that there is no emergency, they scream up and down the line each and every 5 to 10 minutes all day long, and by way of the evening, while there is amazingly little site visitors on the line , most of the time using like pass over Daisy, of course they only prefer to get interior the path of the site visitors or are previous due for their tea destroy or cig destroy, that's approximately time those wankers have been fined for misuse of thier sirens and lights and could have factors on their licence and it does no longer take long in the past they lost their licence, probable an afternoon or so, you do no longer see the police each and every 5 to 10 minutes up and down the line or the fire centers, basically the ambulance drivers. stop taking the piss, you be attentive to who you're, stop IT !!!!

Answer 7

It doesn't have to - there's no point if there's no traffic around - but most will have the lights going all the time, and use the sirens when there is more traffic in the way and at junctions.

Answer 8

yes, so other drivers will be aware of a sudden approaching speeding vehicle, and get out way.

(i cant believe someone on here actually just said no such thing as 999, thats made my day pmsl)

Answer 9

I have an uncle who is a police officer, he said that he can break the law to enforce the law.

Answer 10

My dad was a deputy sherriff and he had to go to days of special classes on how to safely drive at 90-120mph.

Also, he was driving a Ford Crown Victoria.