Do the police jump gears when driving, like driving with only gears 1,3 etc?

Answer 1

Yes, it's normal driving procedure. It is taught to learners as well as advanced drivers.

It isn't a question of only using certain gears, more like skipping gears which aren't necessary. e.g. if joining a motorway you might just use 1st & 2nd & then go directly to 5th. Modern cars are quite capable of doing this easily.

Answer 2

Maybe, it would hold no acceleration benefit to skip gears when changing up though it is possible with many cars.

A lot of people use the gears to help slow the car (engine braking), jumping a cog when approaching something like a junction, typically skipping from 3rd to 1st, leading to increased resistance which both slows the car and increases fuel consumption. This isn't the right thing to do though, the old rule being "Gears are for going, brakes are for stopping"

By the way I assume this person is asking about UK/European police who will often be driving manuals rather than autos..

Answer 3

The police are trained in the advanced test to skip gears going down, it's not so useful going up though as the ratio would change in proportion to the revs of the engine.

Most driving schools will teach their pupils to skip gears when approaching a junction or a roundabout now as well. It's comon place.

To the person below: 1st to 4th???? I can only hit abuot 15mph in my car in 1st before the engine screams blue murder at me! 15mph in 4th will make it angry too, god knows what vehicle youre driving....

Answer 4

I don't know. But if you find all the police departments that have any vehicles with standard transmissions (the number should be small since most are automatic) and interview all the drivers of those vehicles, you will find out. Express it as a percentage when you know for sure, and then come back and add that information to your question so we will all know for the next time the question is asked.

Of course that begs another question, when will it be asked again, since I'm not young by any stretch of the imagination, and this is the first time I've seen this question.

Answer 5

I don`t know if the police do this however given the right circumstances I often do especially on a downward slope, this is to save wear on the clutch and to limit the time when one hand is off the steering wheel.

Answer 6

Block changing is often used when rapid decelaration or acceleration is beyond the necessity for individual changing.

It is most common during braking ,but often used going up gears when on a downhill gradient.

Block changing reduces clutch wear,driver distraction and unnecessary fuel consumption.

I dont know of specific police driving techniques but block changing is not restricted to them.

Answer 7

This is called block changing.
As a rule it is 1 2 4 or 1 2 3 5

Answer 8

Only when it's appropriate. If you accelerate hard and reach a safe speed, then it's not unusual to go from 1st to 4th if that's a suitable gear. However, under normal circumstances they will shift gear as you're supposed to for smooth and efficient acceleration - 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

When downshifting, they'll do it all the time, just like we do...

Answer 9

You didn't state what country you are referring to. In North America (United States & Canada) the police vehicles have automatic transmissions.

Answer 10

As an advanced driver trained by the military wont say on what area.

Its common to jump from 1st 2nd to 4th then 5th to 6th if it has it. Depending on situation you can start from 2nd as well.

I rarely use 1st in my 4.4 X5.

Most top notch police cars are more than capable if they are manual but since most are auto or semi auto then pointless question