mainbeam wrote:You didn't find the instruction vague. You understood it to mean "get out of my way!".
The common law duty is not the same as the statutory powers to direct traffic. They have different purposes. The point made in the above case is that if a Police officer instructs you to move your vehicle so as not obstruct him in the course of his duty it is not an offence - in that case - to reverse the wrong way along a one-way street. This has nothing to do with the statutory powers of Police officers to direct traffic. The fact that since then exemptions have been introduced into the legislation for the offences doesn't change the common law position.
The "highly subjective interpretation" you refer to is simply the common sense approach of the common law. Your obsession with clarity is a consequence of your head being filled with strict offences and Police rules, easily found on the internet.
The fact is you understood the instruction clearly. You cannot sensibly argue that the instruction was vague.
To reiterate, if a Police officer instructs you to move out of his way at traffic lights and in order to do so you need to cross the 'stop' line and can do so safely that is what you should do You can be reassured that you are just as likely to be prosecuted for obstructing a Police officer in the course of his duty for not moving as you are to be prosecuted for a red light offence if you do.
The thing is that while you are right in what we should do, this is not strictly an accurate interpretation of the law, so while this might work as a defence in a court of law, a lot would depend on how bloody-minded the magistrate / prosecution / judge might be...
Yes, someone like easyshifter above has a good enough knowledge of driving to understand the likely intention of a police officer in a car behind them, plus the ability / skills / etc. to temper that with checking to see what is safe... but that will not be the case for all drivers...
let us imagine a scenario where there is a nervous driver at the lights, they hear sirens behind them and their knee-jerk reaction is to move forwards and out of the way - they are in a micra the 38-tonner approaching his green light takes them out and they die... who is liable? the lorry driver / the micra driver / the police driver? The point of having laws is that we have to cater for all scenarios if we could anticipate that all drivers had easyshifter's abilities then we could have more relaxed laws, but we can't allow for that - so the law has to be tighter - therefore the law says that you do not jump a red light even if a police car is behind you with horns / sirens / lights going and the officer gesticulating at you out of the window...
A police officer driving a car behind you can not have sufficient control of the setting to give you instruction allowing you to break the law - therefore as a driver you should not take instruction from them - for a police office to give you instructions in this scenario they need to be on foot, have controlled any crossing traffic as well and give clear and obvious instructions telling you which way to move and when - that can not happen from a car behind and that is not the purpose of sirens or lights etc...
So, it is clear as to what the law is.
It is is clear as to why we have that law.
It is clear that this can be by-passed by a police constable in telling you what to do
It is clear that this can not happen when said police constable is still behind the wheel of his car behind you and not in control of the situation
So, there is no time at which you as a driver should jump a red light to move out of the way of an emergency vehicle... absolute - no time, unless a police officer (on foot - or maybe a biker e.g. royal escort etc.) in the junction ahead of you, and fully controlling the junction, gives you clear instruction.
So if there is then a lights camera which leads to a prosecution, the prosecution would be correct in carrying through and fining the driver. Any police driver who tries to bully his / her way through traffic stopped at a red light should also be disciplined...
There is a common understanding in the emergency services that there is never a destination they need to get to so badly that they cause accidents /injuries / death etc. on the way.
Alasdair