Firefighter prosecutions

[shaggy]

I understand from the national press that a firefighter driver from West Mids Fire Service was prosecuted by police for speeding under a blue light to a fire at a school.Will the FBU be acting on his behalf or will they bury their heads in the sand and claim"its nothing to do with them"?

Cast your mind back a couple of years when a copper was clocked doing over 140mph.....to quote"as part of his training"...good work if your the safety car driver at Silverstone for the british grand prix.....and how many coppers have killed innocent motorists when responding to an "emergency".
Every time a member of the police force kills someone its the same old story...its always an emergency.It seems to me to be a blatant abuse of their occupation,when they can speed .yet a firefighter carrying out his duty is pulled and prosecuted....Ok...maybe they are trained to drive at high speed and we arent.....but on the other hand we're trained at putting out fires and carrying out rescues and they arent.....MAYBE WHY THEY GET TEA AND MEDALS OF THE PM !!!!!!

Feel free to comment

[AnthonyB]

It depends on the speed. IIRC correctly West Mids Fire have a very specific response policy, which reduces the number of vehicles allowed to travel on blues (it depends on the type of call, what the vehice is, etc) & restricts the claiming of speed exmptions to no more than 10mph.

If the driver drove in through a camera at a speed vastly above the limit and when the brigade go the NIP they found that the driver was either (a) exceeding the limit more than 10mph or (b) was not on a call/vehicle combination allowed to use lights, then they will let the prosecution go through.

It's better to arrive a minute or two later than not at all - without the full & complete details of the case it is wrong to assume the driver is in the right (& vice versa)

[kurnal]

Anthony
If you are right about the west mids policy of restricting the claiming of speed exemptions then its a wonder they have any drivers prepared to risk their licences driving the front line vehicles.
Yes it makes sense in principle- for example it could be seen as encouraging drivers to take care, especially in high risk areas, but in practice driving on the blue lights aint as simple as it looks.
You cant start writing additional rules. Either the blue lights apply or they dont. There can be no halfway house - that confuses the public, causes them to act even more irrationally and creates  indecision for the front line driver.  One example of this was a police force that fitted blue lights but no sirens. Their accident rate soared.
To drive safely under blue lights and make progress requires concentration and leadership. You have to be absolutely clear in your intentions and make them clear to other road users. Its not driving agressively- it means driving defensively but decisively. And putting further obstacles in the way such as additional rules on speed cameras can only erode that concentration and decisiveness.

[shaggy]

in responce to my original post,ive seen a blatant abuse of the use of a blue light in my area(Lincolnshire).On more that one occasion ive been sat at a red light.....Police vehicle pulls up behind me,puts blues on....goes through red light.....THEN SWITCHES BLUES OFF ONCE THEY ARE THROUGH RED LIGHT !!!

Not on an emergency responce as theyve sat at the lights for a minute or so....so this will always be a grey area.Guess there will always be a policy where the police can do what the hell they want.Lets face it......whos going to complain

[jokar]

Hasn't it always been the FBU stance to tell Brigade Drivers on the Bell to obey the RTA?  There is too much traffic and too many pedestrians on the road now for Brigade drivers to drive outside of the RTA too any great degree.  Most pedestrians will have earphones in or be talking on mobile phones or to others.  Surely there is too much risk here.  Just driving my own car a week ago a woman walked straight out of a supermarket in a High Street and straight across the road in front of me, fortunately for her and me I was driving slowly.

[maineroad]

give the job there EFAD back ,lots of mither no extra pay maybe a 20% flexi payment might encourage people to bother,others seem to get it for doing v.little FBU over to you!!!!!