2 cyclists killed in Bristol hit and run

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Comments

  • redvee
    redvee Posts: 11,922
    Stanley222 wrote:
    Nothing will happen - he will get bailed or remanded for the case to be heard at Crown Court in months time

    The driver is now residing on Cambridge Road, Bristol where he'll do a video link appearance at Bristol Crown Court on Feb 21st.
    I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.
  • CambsNewbie
    CambsNewbie Posts: 564
    Stanley222 wrote:
    The powers that be will only allow officers to pursue if the are pursuit trained and believe it or not there's not that many - it's mainly training for traffic officers not normal uniform 'response' officers.
    Believe it or not there is also a 'manager' in hq that also listens to any pursuit (as a commentary must be given) and dispute the fact they can't see the situation or know the police officer or their standard of driving will call off the pursuit if its deemed dangerous - it's all about the blame game!!!

    Where I work all officers when they do their response training also do pursuit training as part of it. Although we only have 1.3 diesel Astras and struggle to keep up with nearly everything else on the road, it is hoped we will be able to keep the target vehicle in sight until a traffic officer can take over.

    Before a pursuit is authorised the inspector in the control room will want to confirm the driver is pursuit trained, weather and road conditions, volume of traffic and pedestrians around, and whether they are in a suitable vehicle (ie not a van or 4x4). Full commentary is given so other units can plot up, so traffic officers can ultimately take over and it's recorded not just incase you screw up, but in cases of reporting a driver for dangerous driving it will be played in court.

    Another factor taken into account is whether we know who the driver is. If we know who he/she is and where they live authority won't be given as they can be arrested at a later date. And if the vehicle being pursued starts taking too many risks and is putting other road users life at risk, it will be called off.

    What happened in Bristol was tragic and nothing any officer wants to be first on scene for. My thoughts go out to everyone affected by this...
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,462
    Capt Slog wrote:
    mamba80 wrote:
    err... how do you suppose they should stop a car that refuses to stop? Machine gun it and kill a few passers by as well?

    .

    It's hard to say in the circumstances surrounding the tandem riders in the op, we don't know the details such as how far the driver went etc.

    But there are many occasions when they can run them off the road. They manage to do this quite effectively in other countries, it seems to be just the UK that has this strange idea that a criminal's safety is more important than everyone else's on the road.

    How do you run a car off the road in an urban area without increasing the risk to the public? Normal procedure as I understand it is to 'follow' until the officer decides doing so is too dangerous. Fortunately police helicopters often enable a car to be followed with less risk.

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