Motoring Discussion > Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? Legal Questions
Thread Author: wazza Replies: 35

 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - wazza
I know that when an emergency vehicle is answering a call they can disobey traffic laws/signs. They can go up the one-way street in the opposite direction, do U-turns when not allowed or ignore no-entry signs etc.

Can the police, if not answering an emergency call, disobey traffic laws?

There is a local magistrate court located on the main road. There is a one-way side street next to it. Just as you enter the side street there is a car park on the right for the court. Numerous times i have seen police cars emerge from the car park, go along the one-way street the wrong way to join the main road. There are not on call, no lights flashing etc etc, no passengers. Are they allowed to do this?
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - swiss tony

>> Can the police, if not answering an emergency call, disobey traffic laws?
>>
>> Numerous times i have seen police cars emerge from the car park, go along the one-way street the wrong way to join the main road. There are not on call, no lights flashing etc etc, no passengers.
>> Are they allowed to do this?

1/ NO, some just think they are above the law.

2/ As above.
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Woodster
Go into the station and complain Wazza. You'll have a wonderful sense of having done something truly good.
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Duncan
Or as I said in wazza's other post - is there something he wants to tell us?
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Iffy
...Numerous times i have seen police cars emerge from the car park, go along the one-way street the wrong way to join the main road...

Use your car to ram the police car as it's going the wrong way.

Get plenty of pics.

Contact the local media.

Then make the complaint at the police station.

 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Tigger
Take a few photos and send them to the local paper. Or to the chief constable.
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Bromptonaut
What is the correct exit route from the magistrates court's car park?
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Zero
Has the police "illegal" action actually caused an issue?


Send us a google streetview link.
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - movilogo
If a police car is not attending emergency (i.e. not with flashing lights and siren), it must obey traffic rules as of normal road users.

 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - wazza
>> What is the correct exit route from the magistrates court's car park?
>>

when exiting you simply follow the one way street.
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - wazza
>> Or as I said in wazza's other post - is there something he wants to
>> tell us?
>>

just cheesed off that they disobey the law for their comfort etc etc and get away with it
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - L'escargot
The majority of cyclists (especially youngsters) disobey road signs and other traffic laws, so I'm not going to be that bothered if I see a few police doing it. It's just part and parcel of the general fall in moral standards. Teach your children to obey road signs and traffic laws and they ought to follow suit when they grow up and, if and when, they become policemen.
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Zero
where do you keep getting on with this "general fall in moral standards"

Do we send children up chimneys any more? do we keep slaves? do women fall out of gin houses dropping thier babies?



 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - CGNorwich
"Do we send children up chimneys any more? do we keep slaves?"

To be fair I doubt L'Es and his generation did those things nor did he run a gin house!
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Wed 11 May 11 at 10:06
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Zero
NOt saying he did, it was merely pointing out how moral standards have not fallen.
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Alanovich
If anything, they've risen. A phenomenon which is often dismissed as "Political Correctness".
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - L'escargot
>> If anything, they've risen.

I don't agree. I can remember the time when outside doors were left unlocked until you went to bed. I can't imagine anyone risking that now.


 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Zero
Oh yes sorry - I forgot the good old days, when you could leave your doors unlocked,


The days when no-one had anything worth stealing.


 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Clk Sec
>>I can remember the time when outside doors were left unlocked until
>> you went to bed.

And keys were left under the front door mat, windows didn't have multi locks, burglar alarms were virtually unheared of etc, etc..
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Alanovich

>> And keys were left under the front door mat, windows didn't have multi locks, burglar
>> alarms were virtually unheared of etc, etc..
>>

I still leave keys under the mat for tradesmen, I have never had a burglar alarm (I used to sell them and know how useless they are), but I have inherited locking windows on my house. I would never have them installed from choice as I can't bear the thought of my children being trapped inside in a fire, with the key in another room. I leave them all unlocked, obviously this can not be known by potential burglars.

I have the one and only security device which anyone could ever need. A vociferous Jack Russell.

The only time I was ever burgled was in a student house in a rough area of Nottingham. We had no dog.
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - CGNorwich
Well your argument could be used if you were talking abut the period between 1800 and now but it doesn't say much about the difference between 1950 and 2011 which I guess is what L'Es is talking about.

I'm not sure that his is necessarily right though. I think he is equating respect for the law with moral standards which aren't necessarily the same thing. Certainly there was more respect for the law in the fifties and in many way it could be argued that this made the UK safer and more pleasant place to live but whether peoples morals were actually better would be difficult to argue.
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Zero
well lets take that period. Was the UK any safer? or more respect for the law? I suspect not.

Lets delve back in history a bit. Derek Bentley police shooting? 1953 I think. Mods and rockers and seaside riots? the 60s. Razor gangs? 50's and 60's. You know the most lawless time in the last century? during the second world war.


"I blame the decline in moral standards" in my book means "My father used to beat me with a belt, but I am not allowed to do the same"

I blame rock and roll.

Edit: Moral standards changed? in the 50's and 60's drink driving and the deaths that resulted was endemic.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 11 May 11 at 10:32
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Alanovich

>> Edit: Moral standards changed? in the 50's and 60's drink driving and the deaths that
>> resulted was endemic.
>>

With you, Zero. I remember the "No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish" signs in windows. Jobs for women? Forget it. Moral standards are, I believe significantly improved over those of the mid-20th century.

The Krays? Loved their Muvver, gawd bless 'em.
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Zero
I watched the film "Made in Dagenham" the other day. The late 60's. The women workers were in near virtual sweat shop conditions, working harder than the men for less money, and abused and ignored at all levels of management and government. Except by Barbara Castle.
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Alanovich
Yes. Perhaps I should have said "decent jobs and conditions for working women".
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - CGNorwich
"Was the UK any safer? or more respect for the law? I suspect not."

I think you have to accept that it is a statistical fact that there was less crime in the fifties .

People were more deferential to authority then. A large proportion of the adult population had been in the services and were accustomed to discipline and accepting orders. Most young men of the age most likely to commit crimes were doing National Service. There was little unemployment so no youths with time on their hands. In schools the teacher's word was law and strict discipline was enforced, often with the use of corporal punishment.

These are things that people would no longer accept and an increase in crime is one of the consequences. Whether most people could now live with the morality and attitudes of the fifties is debateable
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Zero
To be honest, I am not sure that I do accept there was less crime. Possibly less reported* crime, or different types of crime. There was equivalent level of pickpocketing, petty burglary, in some areas of the country drunken assault were common place. The big gang crime wars were building to a peak, and with it Police Corruption.


* detection often meant a kicking down a back alley with nothing reported!




 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Iffy
...There was equivalent level of pickpocketing, petty burglary...

Low-level crime has risen exponentially in recent years.

By that I mean criminal damage, theft - particularly shoplifting, burglary and minor assaults.

Of course, figures can always be questioned - more crime reported, more of us, etc, etc.

But any sensible view of the statistics supports the view this type of crime has risen dramatically.

A short story to illustrate the point.

I was chatting with a soon-to-retire police inspector who told me when he joined in the 1970s, a burglary on his patch was something to be remarked on.

That same area now has, if not a burglary every day, certainly three or four a week.

Serious crime, including murder, has risen at a much slower rate.

 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Kithmo
"where do you keep getting on with this "general fall in moral standards""

"Do we send children up chimneys any more?"

No, cos most people have central heating

"do we keep slaves?"

yes, that's what the children are for

"do women fall out of gin houses dropping thier babies?"

No, they stay at home, take drugs and beat their babies in private.

:0(
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - L'escargot
Whether someone obeys the law and adheres to the rules of society depends to a large extent on how they were brought up by their parents. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Zero
That means that the modern fall in morals today is due to past generations. Its your fault.
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - vic
as they told myself and my girlfriend after stopping us 8 times in 6 months for no reason- "we can do what we -snip, no swearing, or attempted swearing please- want", sign of the times unfortuanatly, to much power to far to many idiots,
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 19 May 11 at 01:25
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Zero
They must have thought you were "sus" in some way!

When I was a youth driving round in a newish Capri, I got a tug all the time. One learns a bit of patience under those terms.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 18 May 11 at 20:15
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - kb
So you're saying you were stopped eight times in six months and there was absolutely no reason for it?

And on the eighth occasion he said "We can do what"................well, I won't pursue the rest of the apparent quote.....


And that's a sign of the times, you reckon?


Clearly I live in different times. In 43 years I've been stopped.........



..........let me just recall...............



......once!
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Focusless
>> as they told myself and my girlfriend after stopping us 8 times in 6 months
>> for no reason- "we can do what we -snip- want", sign of the times unfortuanatly,
>> to much power to far to many idiots,

They haven't stopped me at all in 30 years of driving, apart from when a bicycle I was carrying was obscuring my rear number plate (polite advice given). Why do you think they are stopping you - is it the area you are in, the car you are driving, your look/age, or something else?
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 19 May 11 at 01:26
 Can Police disobey traffic signs at all times? - Iffy
The last time I was stopped for 'no reason', the coppers told me there were reports of a stolen car similar to mine.

Might even have been true.

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