Police and the law>?

Question

Are the motorway police allow to reverse up the hard shoulder of a motorway for 250yrads, purely to get back to a slip road, no emergency or any other reason that can be seen, they were however using their blue lights.
I thought it was illegal to reverse on the motorway, even for the police.

Yes the blue lights were on, I don't think it was an emergency, just better, safer and quicker way to get back to the slip road, better than driving 20miles done the motorway to turn aground, and for the officers that have answered, thank you, but you know as well as I do they were just cutting corners??

Answer 1

Police are required to adhere to law. Including traffic law. Even speeding - except in emergencies.

As I recall they've been cracking down on cops speeding in L.A. because they've been speeding when it isn't appropriate. Police are not above the law and in fact are supposed to set a good example.

At the same time it isn't easy to nail a cop for moving, traffic or parking violations. :-)

Answer 2

Lets just say you are crushed in your car 10 miles up the motorway as a truck has run over your car. A passing motorist calls the Police and Ambulance. you are glad as you bled out in great pain hoping someone will help you before you bleed to death or the car catches fire. Ever second feels like a year and the Police are driving at 100mph in the wrong direction along the motorway to get to the next exit 20 miles on. That means 12 minutes to the exit and 12 minutes back to where they started. You die they feel bad, but it is OK because some guy in a car can't see the accident and therefore it does not exist...
try another one.
you are in a petrol station when some nut job comes in with a knife / gun and robs you. You just saw the police car leave the services and go onto the motorway, yet 24 minutes later they turn up, what the ---- took so long. Well people complain if I reverse up the slip road so I drove 40 miles to get here.

You OK with this?

you won't believe anything anyone suggests because everyone is out to get you. You are being picked on and bullied because they don't agree with you. Go and spend a night with the cops in your area. You can do ride around with a lot of forces (unless you are a nut or some mad criminal, they are funny like that). See how many officers there are, now many calls for service and how stupid some people can be.

Answer 3

This made me laugh.

If You were fighting with someone trying to Jack your car, would you want them to go the long way round?

Anyone who fails to see flashing police lights on a motorway needs to have their licence revoked, as the lights can be seen for miles.
Depending on what country you are from, as a general rule if police are attending an emergency they are not subject to normal traffic laws.

Im not accusing you personally, but there is a general hypocrasy that is leveled at the police every day. If a police driver has an accident whilst on a blue light run, and someone gets hurt, the public start saying they were going to fast and the officer needs punishing. Yet if someone is being attacked etc, and the police decided that they would drive at legal speed etc because they dont want to get into trouble, then the attack victim files a complaint.
This reminds me of a traffic cop who was zapped going through a speed camera at over 130mph, he was on an empty dual carridgeway at 0300am. His aurgument was that he was testing the limits of a brand new pursuit car that had just been delivered. He got away with it, but the public wanted him lynching. What if he didnt know the limits and crashed at high speed whilst in a pursuit? In the police your dammed if you do and dammed if you dont!
Just what exacly do the public want police to do? Go slow all time exept for when they personally need them?

Answer 4

How do you know it wasn't an emergency?

Were you able to listen to what was happening on their radios?

Its very unlikely that unless it was an emergency that they would reverse back along the motorway to take the exit. If they did then that was clearly wrong and they deserve to be punished.

Answer 5

They could have been going for their tea!. All joking aside they may have been on an emergency that you don't know about, but even so they must abide by the law, unless circumstances dictate that it is safe to break it. This also applies to other emergency vehicles, such as an ambulance, or fire engine going through red lights to attend an emergency.

Answer 6

In this country, even in a blue light situation, police can be prosecuted for breaking the laws of the road as can the fire and ambulance. If they have the blues and twos on, cross a red light and cause an accident they can be done for dangerous/careless driving etc. even for speeding if another officer is brave enough to to follow it up.

Answer 7

And because YOU didn't see an emergency but he had his lights on you thought there was no reason for this.

Did you have a radio scanner and make sure that he may have actually responding to a wreck at the intersection of the slip road that you didn't see?

Don't stir up gossip if you don't know the facts.

Answer 8

"...they were however using their blue lights."

I'm sure the UK law is similar to that of US law in that law enforcement operating with their emergency lighting are exempt from certain traffic laws.

"...no emergency or any other reason that can be seen..."

Of course you don't know what the officer was responding to unless you had a police radio installed in your vehicle. Just because you didn't "see" something yourself doesn't mean there wasn't an urgent call down the road a bit!

Best wishes.

Answer 9

In most states the police are immune to the traffic laws as long as they are responding to an emergency. If their emergency lights were activated, you can assume an emergency existed.

Answer 10

it is NOT lawful for thenm to revese on the motor way, unless it is an emergency