A shift with the RPU (aka traffic police)

[waremark]

A couple of days ago I enjoyed the rare for a civilian privilege of a few hours riding with Roads Policing officers. It was a normal shift for them in a fully marked Volvo V90. We spent most of the shift under blues and twos travelling towards incidents none of which turned out to be serious by the time we arrived, so it was the driving (and the demonstration of the equipment carried, first aid and incident management) which was of most interest.

The rate at which we made progress round the county was amazing - 130 mph on the M25, 50 mph on the hard shoulder where traffic was heavy, good progress keeping moving through heavy town traffic. When somebody failed to respond to the warning equipment it was generally a white van - they told me that is typical.

What was most impressive was the lack of drama at any time and the total calmness of the drivers.

My drivers had each had about 8 weeks training - from response to advanced, TPAC and pursuit. They had both been experienced police offices before moving to the Roads Policing Unit and liked being in this unit. I was so impressed by the elements of their driving to which I don't have exposure such as the high speeds on major routes, but they said that the main focus of their training had been on national speed limit single carriageways - so similar to my own training background.

Driving at this level was just a normal part of their everyday job - other aspects of which are probably much more challenging for them, such as dealing with major incidents, notifying families of fatalities, victim support and major incident investigation, all of which are part of the role.

By the way, I never told them and they didn't ask my driving background.

[userLeft1]

How do they avoid traffic moving out in front of them with such large speed differences?

[Stefluc1]

Its called O A P Observations Anticipation and Planning

[martine]

Interesting...and it's quite an eye opener.

I spent a shift with the traffic training team of Bedfordshire police several years ago and really enjoyed watching and listening what was going on. One officer was having an Advanced refresher and the other was new to traffic. It included a fast run on the M25 and many rural and town roads - sometimes at high speed.

More recently (still probably 8 years ago) I spent 2 shifts with Avon & Somerset roads police...just with me in the car and a 'single-crewed' policeman. We picked up a drunk driver and someone else who was driving disqualified - amongst other more minor offences...all dealt with professionally and with politeness.

I would recommend it to anyone interested - the first was courtesy of an ADI organisation who had contacts in the Bedfordshire police. The Avon & Somerset shift was the result of me sending an email as I'd heard they were keen to spread the word.

[waremark]

How do they avoid traffic moving out in front of them with such large speed differences?

The warning equipment is quite effective. They mentioned that they like driving at night because the warning equipment is even more effective in the dark.

I did not mean to imply that we spent the whole time on the motorway at 130 - that was the highest speed I saw when the road was fairly clear. Speed varied from 50 on the hard shoulder to 90ish through normal traffic, and quite a bit over 100. All felt safe and was dealt with calmly.

My wife was out in another car and experienced one incident of what she considered to be emergency braking (and the officers apparently did too) - high speed on a single-carriageway A road, possibly about 90 mph, and a vehicle came out from a minor side road in front of them.

I have had quite a lot of contact with police recently and have generally been most impressed. They put enormous effort into preventing crime and encouraging good relationships, and as individuals they have seemed caring competent and responsible.

[waremark]

Interesting...and it's quite an eye opener.

I spent a shift with the traffic training team of Bedfordshire police several years ago and really enjoyed watching and listening what was going on. One officer was having an Advanced refresher and the other was new to traffic. It included a fast run on the M25 and many rural and town roads - sometimes at high speed.

My experience was in Hertfordshire, but the roads policing unit is combined across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire. One of the drivers had only been in the RPU for a few months, but had held an Advanced Driving qualification for several years in the 'Intervention' team.

Talking about refreshers, interestingly I gathered that they get one day every five years, which they commented was not enough! But clearly in this unit while operational there are always two qualified advanced drivers in the car together so I would expect that as happens in a driving club to which I belong there is a tendency for drivers who regularly practise what they have been taught in front of a critical co-driver to get better over time rather than for their standards to drop off. (If their standards dropped off too far given the operational demands of their job they would be having lots of accidents).