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I've witnessed 2 police cars driving recklessly, both times The cops put me in danger.
1) I was pulling into a parking lot, obeyeing the speed limit, watching for cars & pedestrians when suddenly a police car peeled out in front of me, flying through his stop sign. If I hadn't put on my brakes he would have hit me. He stopped his car in front of the store, not even in a parking space.
I parked properly and went into the store. The cop went in too and I assumed there was some emergency. Next I noticed him casually standing near the entrance engaged in light, happy conversation with people.
I was so enraged at the fact that he drove so recklessly nearly hitting me, then parked illegally...when there was absolutely no emergency. The look on his face -- he had an air of arrogance.
2) I was stepping into a pedestrian crosswalk with a green light, I had the right of way. Just as I was about to step into the street, a police car came around the corner, turning right in my path. He didn't stop at his red light before proceeding. He didn't look to see if the way was clear. He didn't check for pedestrians. Had I continued with my right of way crossing, he would have hit me.
I've seen too many times where cops have driven very reckless putting many people in danger (with and without lights on). Probably the worst I've seen and it happened twice but this was the worst one. A cop with no lights on (not that it matters) backed up on a major route. The speed limit there is 55 mph and there is basically no shoulder and the exits don't have much of an exit ramp. People were trying to exit the route and the cop was backing up halfway in the right lane and went past the exit where people had to swerve around the cop. Luckily there wasn't a ton of traffic, but there was enough to cause problems.
Just because they are cops, doesn't mean they are good or smart drivers.
Hopefully, when the Elephant is sitting on your chest some night...
That same cop can take a nice leisurely ride to save you life.
I'm amazed at how many are reading this thread as an attack on the police. It is not. There is a difference between getting to a call quickly and not getting to one at all due to a crash or running someone over.
The road in question where this happened is a tight curvy road with limited sight lines and few places to move off the road. The chief agreed that a cruiser traveling at 55 mph through this section that is posted at 35 was a bit fast.
Police are trained to drive fast safely but on this road anything can happen and you have 100 feet or less to stop. The rookie might not have realized this.
It was a dangerous situation that I thought warranted a friendly email to the chief and he thought it important enough to call me back.
Speed limits are set for the lowest common denominator and a trained driver should be able to safely do 25mph over all day long.
That is pretty dangerous thinking. The problem is when you come up on someone who does not adhere to your thinking.
Take racing like Nascar, they are all trained drivers that know what to do and what not to do, they all think as one but there are still accidents.
SO you are cruising at your 25 mph over the limit on a back road and you come across a kid on a bike and you need to slam on your brakes because you can't move over to pass because there is another car coming the other way.
How about the distracted driver who is on drugs, drunk, eating, drinking, texting and they swerve over into your lane and you can't stop? How about adding weather into the mix? It poured rain 20 minutes ago and you come screaming around a blind corner and hydroplane across a big puddle?
There are just so many variables to watch out for and going above the speed limit increases the potential for disaster.
that is the normal course of responding to an emergency call for a police officer, and there's nothing to complain about because the officer was doing his/her job.
Incorrect. They do not have the legal right, lights or not, to force people off the road just to get where they're going. It's called driving with due regard.
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