Unmarked police car caught as I was testing my GoPro earlier in London

Enjoy 😆

well I was expecting something exciting so you are spot on with the title. 😀

Well if I had some blue lights Id do the same……….

*searches ebay for blue lights*

I think the police can go though any light in 'the event of a crime', such as a suspected rowdy pensioner in Greggs 😉

I was under the impression that often when making their way to a crime they do not necessarily use the blues and twos, unless in a situation where they need them to be visible/audible. Maybe they were just not using the lights until they reached a point where they might have needed more visibility, turning them off afterwards because you dont always want to arrive with all sirens blazing?

silent approach

such as a suspected rowdy pensioner in Greggs

Especially when they're threatening to buy the last steak slice.

Silent approach my arse! That's where Gracechurch Street becomes Bishopsgate in the City of London. Sirens going off all over place all the time. I suspect it was more to do with knocking off time and the local nick being just up the road!

I once nearly had a head on collision with a police car in a set of temporary lights, I was driving in the single lane section, he was approaching, put blue lights on, no siren, kept on coming, I had to swerve into the area sectioned off with cones to avoid him. Soon as he'd cleared the lights his blue lights turned off. Not happy. Rang the local force about it, never heard any follow up about it.

Soon as he'd cleared the lights his blue lights turned off. Not happy.

It's perfectly acceptable for them to turn their lights off whn there's no-one about to require activity from. Apart from your having to dodge into cones (hard to know if it was a scary dash caused by silent approach of copper, or playing chicken), what's the problem with the lights going off? Would it make you feel better if they left them on?

What is it with the suspicion of the cops? Guilty until proven innocent?

reminds me of this!
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/78499-cops-use-chopper-to-buy-doughnuts

Well, you'd have thought he'd have blues'n'twos going on the approach to the lights, not wait until an approaching car with right of way has entered the single lane. Plenty of police drive like cocks just 'cos they have the lights n'stuff, and arguing won't get you anywhere.

coffeeking – Member

Soon as he'd cleared the lights his blue lights turned off. Not happy.
It's perfectly acceptable for them to turn their lights off whn there's no-one about to require activity from. Apart from your having to dodge into cones (hard to know if it was a scary dash caused by silent approach of copper, or playing chicken), what's the problem with the lights going off? Would it make you feel better if they left them on?

What is it with the suspicion of the cops? Guilty until proven innocent?

Well, I had always been led to believe that driving under blue lights meant that the emergency vehicle had to approach lights & junctions etc as though it was a give way – that the driver does not have automatic right of way, and that the training produces a state of mind that they should "assume" they have not been seen or heard by other road users.

So in the case I describe above, the driver in question bullied his way through in an unsafe manner (I had to take avoiding action), did not treat the lights as a give way, and if he was in a rush to get somewhere why did he not continue with the lights – the area I'd come from being substantially busier than the area I was travelling to.

There may have been a Brazilian electrician in the area…

e mail link to the Chief Constable and ask for his thoughts. I've seen a normal police car do exactly the same to cross a pedestrian crossing.

I was involved in an accident where a police car with blue lights and sirens forced me over on a duel carridgeway as someone pulled out a junction – I ended up in the back of them.

The police driver who came to the accident checked with control and no emergency calls had been put out in the previous hour.

The driver then proceeded to take me home and and used his siren and blue lights to stop traffic and go through a red light. He said "don't worry we're in the sherrif's car as we came up to the lights"…..

Never had any respect for the police since. Like much of the of the "establishment" they seem to think they're about the general population who they're supposed to serve.

So in the case I describe above, the driver in question bullied his way through in an unsafe manner (I had to take avoiding action), did not treat the lights as a give way, and if he was in a rush to get somewhere why did he not continue with the lights – the area I'd come from being substantially busier than the area I was travelling to.

True, but that's down to their judgement, not yours. And to be honest, they're probably better at judging when its needed than you are. You know, experience and all. So you felt intimidated by the flashy lights, fair enough, but don't blame him. Most people would gladly dart out of the way (in fact the police and ambulance currently have an ad out telling people not to do things mad to get out of the way) – you seem to be the opposite! Lets hope they don't sit and wait patiently next time when theyre called to someone kicking ten shades out of you.

Coffeeking, are you "in the job"?? You're coming across as very (overly??) defensive on this issue. Fairy Muff if you are.

As for moving over for emergency vehicles, yep, do that all the time, most "normal" drivers do.