Motoring Discussion > Police accident - motorway closed, why? Miscellaneous
Thread Author: BobbyG Replies: 21
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New Tue 27 Apr 10 13:50 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - BobbyG
tinyurl.com/342hueq

I know and accept the reasons for closure of motorways when there are deaths or life threatening injuries.
However this police accident happened at 3.40, the injuries were not serious. So why the need to have the motorway closed for over 6 hours right through rush hour?

Also would you like to be the one to tell the sarge that you have, ahem, bumped the new 10-plate ???
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New Tue 27 Apr 10 14:09 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - TheManWithNoName
They have to be shown to be whiter than white regards any accident.

That's why when my wife collided with one a few years back rather than simply exchange details and carry on as normal, 3 police cars turned up, one of them being a sargeant and the wife was told to go on a driver aware course or face 3 points despite it being a slow speed shunt whilst she was trying to pull put of a driveway forwards between cars parked partly on the kerb on each side of our driveway.

It also explains why, when watching one of those Police, Shout, Action Blurry video! documentaries the other night, a copper on route to a serious a RTA was forced to stop and wait for a superior officer to come out because he'd hit a car rather than continue to get to a potentially far more serious scene.
Last edited by: TheManWithNoName on Tue 27 Apr 10 at 14:11
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New Tue 27 Apr 10 16:12 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - SteelSpark
Blame the liberal do-gooders who claim that they are saving us from an evil police state by trying to catch the BiB out at every turn.
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New Tue 27 Apr 10 16:34 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - madf
And we wonder why we see no police ... they are all covering each other's backsides...
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New Tue 27 Apr 10 21:41 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - Iffy
'Giving the nice, shiny, new 10-reg motorway car a belt, were we Savage?'

'Don't know what you mean, sarge.'


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New Thu 29 Apr 10 17:35 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - Westpig
>> And we wonder why we see no police ... they are all covering each other's
>> backsides...
>>

there won't be much back side covering going on in this scenario...there will be many, many hours of taxpayer funds spent on trying to ascertain what happened, which for the average Joe with no real injuries would not happen...and if the driver doesn't have a reasonable excuse they'll be right up to the neck in it...

...and with in car 'Incident Data Recorders' and 'Mobile Data Terminals', over and above CCTV etc, the ability to bulls crap your way out of it are enormously reduced.

...if found Guilty of Reckless Driving....cheerio job and pension
..if found Guilty of Careless Driving...possibly cheerio job and pension

The presumption of a cover up is nowhere near reality...if that were the case, why close the road, why not just sweep up the mess and tow it away?
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New Thu 29 Apr 10 18:55 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - Iffy
...The presumption of a cover up is nowhere near reality...

In my experience, there are a few things a copper likes better than seeing a colleague in bother.

I once saw a police car hit the congestion charge bollard in Durham City - no injury, but a well bent panda car.

You've never seen so many policemen turn up so quickly - on foot, by car - radio traffic all over the place.

Of course, if you or I were getting filled in by some yobbo they'd be nowhere to be seen.




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New Sat 1 May 10 13:48 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - midlifecrisis

>>
>> Of course if you or I were getting filled in by some yobbo they'd be
>> nowhere to be seen.
>>

Please do grow up! All you achieve with such childish comment is to embarrass yourself!
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New Thu 29 Apr 10 20:13 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - BobbyG
Cheers WP for that contribution and clarification.

Another question I would have is whose decision is it to reopen a road and on what is it based? From what you are saying, is it safe to say that the road was kept closed, and motorists inconvenienced, to facilitate an internal policy disciplinary matter?
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New Fri 30 Apr 10 22:11 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - Westpig
>> From what you are saying is it safe to say that the road was kept closed and >>motorists inconvenienced to facilitate an internal policy disciplinary
>> matter?
>>
That is my suspicion....but it will be muddied by 'fears about the safety' of that particular car or road.

Serious accidents can easily have fairly full investigations, but usually only where death, life threatening or life changing injuries occur. Minor injury accidents, but with serious damage, wouldn't normally mean a lengthy m/way closure for investigation only i.e. a difficult recovery might dictate so, or fluid clear ups or damage to the road surface etc, etc.
Last edited by: Westpig on Fri 30 Apr 10 at 22:13
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New Fri 30 Apr 10 22:19 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - BobbyG
Cheers WP for that.
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New Wed 28 Apr 10 00:40 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - Skoda
What a cracking bit of road for opening up the throttle though. How come Joe Punter gets stung by unmarked cars for breaching the limit on that stretch :-( Can't think of a better road to open a car up on round these parts (well i can think of a police-less stretch which can't be far from BobbyG's front door!).

Not even sure how you come unstuck on that road. The tarmac's pretty smooth, the road's arrow straight down to the dog leg at the clyde with good visibility for well over a mile. The only bit that might cause problems is a crosswind blowing over the clyde at the dog leg towards Greenock but it doesn't sound like they got that far!
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New Wed 28 Apr 10 08:24 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - BobbyG
Craig, my brother got done by an unmarked on that stretch! In his defence, it was at night and it had followed him from before the airport but it was only when he hit that stretch and opened it up a bit that the blues came on....

Which police-less stretch are you talking about - Shotts to Newhouse???
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New Wed 28 Apr 10 09:45 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - Bigtee
That police car has rolled and they will need time to investigate the situation well your late to work so what look at it as a bonus a shorter day for you.!

Let them do there job try not to critisize them.
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New Wed 28 Apr 10 09:56 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - BobbyG
Would the same length of delay and closure happen if it was Joe Public's car?
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New Wed 28 Apr 10 11:19 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - Bigtee
Yes they still have to identify what has happened, a car ploughed into a wall down our rd 4 months back it brought caos to the main rds and side streets for hours.


They will need to measure the braking distances work out speeds etc you can't do that with the road open can you.
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New Wed 28 Apr 10 14:03 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - BobbyG
Bigtee, was anyone injured in that accident? I thought they only did that level of investigation if there were life threatening issues?

Would be interesting to hear , word of mouth, from the serving officers on here but I also fully understand why, after previous discussions, they may not want the hassle!

But that was the old place, not this new friendly place??
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New Wed 28 Apr 10 10:29 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - Skoda
>> Shotts to Newhouse

Yeah -- come on at newhouse heading for harthill, you can see if there's any accidents, heavy traffic or speed traps setup on the opposite carriageway, then you can come off the mway over the bridge without loosing sight of the mway (no traffic cars can sneak past to catch you out!).

Couple of miles of decent road with nowhere for Mr Plod to appear and no cameras.

Nice! Was a copper who pointed this out to me...
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New Wed 28 Apr 10 14:00 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - BobbyG
And of course, coming from Shotts back to Newhouse, you are helped by the long downhill... :)

Harthill services is apparently the border between Lothian & Borders and Strathclyde so quite often see their vehicles going up and over the Shotts junction and back the way they came.
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New Wed 28 Apr 10 14:46 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - Bromptonaut
Injuries to poliss said to be minor but may be enough to prompt a law suit. Press report doesn't sat anything about other vehicle or occupants either; another opssible law suit. Car rolled and probably written off; possibilty of mechanical or other failure which might re-occur with more serious consequencies another time.

Cannot move vehicles until investigator gives OK as evidence may be lost/damaged. Neither can investigation take place with traffic flowing for obvious H&S reasons.

Accident in small hours so delay while team are summoned from beds &/or start their shifts.

Sorry, but if they'd just dragged the car away only for a similar fault to occur later on another car mowing down a bus queue the press (and this forum) would have a field day.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Wed 28 Apr 10 at 14:47
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New Wed 28 Apr 10 19:39 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - Perky Penguin
SFAIK an accident has the potential to be a crime scene and investigations have to be made to establish the facts and draw conclusions as to whether crime(s) have been commited
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New Sun 2 May 10 14:48 
 Police accident - motorway closed, why? - oldnotbold
I giggled at the last two paras of the news article:

"Days later two officers escaped when their patrol car careered off the road and plunged into the Forth and Clyde Canal while travelling at speed through Kirkintilloch on an emergency call.

Residents thought joy­riders were responsible until they spotted the two officers swimming towards the canal bank."

Cruel, I know, as it could have been very nasty indeed.
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