Another officer struck :(

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RedFish

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This mornings local news reports another officer was struck by a passing vehicle during a routine traffic stop last night.
I have to ask.. Why do they have lights all over the car and none on their uniforms ? As a taxpayer I would be willing to pay for LEDs to light him up.
If he looks like a act from AGT , he is seen at least.

It bothers me that so much time and money is focused on tragic events of the past while we continue to neglect todays problems and/or do what we can to prevent tomorrows tragidies.
 
lighting them up won't stop it. too many stupid people behind the wheel. seriously, you see the flashing lights you should change lanes or slow down.
 
Lights on an officer makes a nice target to shoot at. People should pay more attention, slow down and move over like they're supposed to. Easier said than done.
 
Yes, people should be cautious around emergency vehicles, but there comes a point when emergency personnel should be cautious of their surroundings and even utilize an iota of common sense when exiting their vehicle and even place their vehicles in a staggered manner to protect themselves when they are outside. It's a sad event, but police officers do not have the luxury of complacency and this should be reiterated by their departments and possibly even included in the training classes to a greater degree.

Just my thoughts on the matter.
 
There is quite a bit of training on proper vehicle placement, different approaches to be out pf the line of traffic etc. Problem is a combination of complacency and distracted/stupid drivers.
 
I am not a law enforcement officer, but i do highway road construction, sometimes at night. We are required to wear reflective high vis clothing head to toe, as well as reflectors on our hard hats. I can tell you from experience, the drunks zero in on that **** and "lock on" if you will. Between myself and my crew's, we see multiple accidents a year, average is about 2 a month
 
That sucks, is the officer going to be ok? Lots of good points in the posts above, I think it basically boils down to the idiot drivers gawking or not paying attention. Officers know the dangers of pulling any vehicle over, even during the daytime, most will say it's just part of the job. I know here in MN if a trooper pulls a car over on the HWY or interstate, they approach the side of the car facing the ditch. But still, the car can be struck and happens every year here in MN too.
 
12valve said:
I am not a law enforcement officer, but i do highway road construction, sometimes at night. We are required to wear reflective high vis clothing head to toe, as well as reflectors on our hard hats. I can tell you from experience, the drunks zero in on that **** and "lock on" if you will. Between myself and my crew's, we see multiple accidents a year, average is about 2 a month
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Exactly. A lot of effort went into making construction workers visible yet the officer is out there in brown or gray garb.
 
there was a study done a few years back that showed drivers r actually drawn to the flashing lites especially if tired or impaired some states for awhile tried shuting off part of there lites once the stop was made i dont think it worked i drive a trk otr and i move to the left of any vehicle on the shoulder my biggest complaint is the lites there using now especialy oh r so bright that they blind u as u come up on them just my 2 cents
 
x2 on the bright light, I know and observe the " move over and if you can't slow down" rule. I hate it when the person in front of me does both at the same time by slowing down 20-30 mph AND jump into the other lane, that just causes people to slam on their brakes and swerve to miss the idiot. I've seen an officer almost get hit by an idiot doing that and it did cause an accident. luckily the officer did go after the idiot and write him a ticket for obstructing traffic and causing an accident.
 
Several states now have laws to move left whenever possible for any road-side hazard (police, tow truck). Seems common sense, but I have to argue with my wife whenever she is driving. If an idiot is speeding in the left lane, I just pull in front of them anyway. If they rear-end me, automatically their fault.

Another stupidity is drivers who are pulled over and stop right at the white line so the officer's butt sticks out in traffic. There is usually room to leave 6 ft for the officer. Ditto for changing a flat tire. I always pull way over and keep an eye on traffic. You see some real dunces changing tires. Natural selection at work.

The other hazard is idiots who cut thru the gore area (white lines) to pass before they have even merged on a freeway. A tow truck driver was killed in the I-75/I-285 gore in Atlanta ~2000 so others demonstrated by parking their trucks in the gore for a week to train the moron drivers. In most states it is illegal to cross a solid white line except in emergencies. Surprisingly, not illegal in CA, though one can still be faulted if it causes an accident.
 
I believe it's a 500 dollar fine in NJ if you don't slow down and chamge lanes. If it's a two lane you have to slow down and pass safely. They had passed the law about a year ago. I worked for Verizon and spent more then my share working on cable damage at night and nobody slows down no matter what we put out.
 
BillGrissom said:
Several states now have laws to move left whenever possible for any road-side hazard (police, tow truck). Seems common sense, but I have to argue with my wife whenever she is driving. If an idiot is speeding in the left lane, I just pull in front of them anyway. If they rear-end me, automatically their fault.

.
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Yeah many do have this if its not my fault who cares if an accident happens thinking.
 
The one accident I had were the lady just pulled out in front and stop and I T bone her sunbird at 15 mph or so, I felt so bad about hitting her car. She got a ticket and her car was bang up, she just got gas and was waiting for an opening when some jerk decided to play mr nicey and stop and wave her on it not seeing me in the right turn only lane doing 35 mph. She just see him wave her in and went and I hit the brakes but still hit her.

She was saying how she was just going down the road to the flower shop, now she had a smashed car and ticket in hand - all cause I could not stop in time with my older non ABS car
 
Here in Wisconsin we have the more over law. most of the time people wil
do it. But there always is the idiots that don't. Who know's! I bet they
are texting and driving. those are the ones that should be put in jail.
Just to much of it going on.
 
It seems to me that where some people look, that's where their vehicle goes. I've never been hit while conducting a motor vehicle stop, but have seen accidents caused because a nosy driver is staring at my overhead lights instead of the road. A lot of idiots out there. Police are trained in vehicle placement, vehicle approach etc.. But like many of you have said.. No cure for stupid.
 
State Patrol in Washington state have gone to aproaching passenger side of car for this very reason.
 
CT also has the move over law, and people have already been charged for not doing it. The state cops will approach a car from the passenger side, but I don't see it too often with the locals. I've also seen cops park their cars at an angle with the left rear sticking out in the road which in most cases forces you to slow down just to get around their cruiser and the approaching traffic.
 
this is why when i get pulled over i find some where to pull in off the road . Most of the time they thank me for getting them off the road .
 
Once I got pulled over for having some blue lights in my grille of my monte carlo (bck in the 90s) and anyway it was late night on a 2 lane's shoulder.

Two police cars. Well some rubberneckers did something like one was slow, people were swerving around and there was a huge car wreck at high speed a couple feet beside me where I was standing and a pair of cars flew off into the ditch on up the road with exploding glass and debris flying everywhere. WOw

One cop looked at the other one, sighed and said "you wanna get this un or should I?"
So I says "i reckon you are done with me then?" and they says " You stay right there son."

"You got anything in the car we need to know about? Can we look inside?" I said "Sure but make it quick and don't mess things up" They spot checked and told me to remove the blue lights asap and get out of here.

Once I got moving again I replayed the last 10 minutes in my head and was just amazed by the chain of events and dialogue. I almost died, almost pissed off a bunch of late night back road cops and I was a couple hundred miles from home. Why the F did I have blue lights in my grille? Trying to get my *** pulled over?

Anyway I hate to hear officers getting hit trying to do their job to protect us.
 
After 32 years of State Patrol work and currently consulting for large corporate vehicle fleets my co workers and I talk about the left lane / move over law each time we teach. It's the law in 49 states, some include maintenance vehicles, snow plows, tow trucks etc.

Better safe than sorry so move over for anything on the shoulder!

It is sad but true that more officers are killed in traffic related incidents than gun fights, etc. I have investigated them and all are devastating to the officers and the agency.

Here is a thought. By the time you realize you have a flat and pull over the tire is ruined. Slow down and drive the dam thing to an off ramp, or side street or parking lot and put the spare on. You see the drunks on COPS driving with sparks flying so you know it can be done. You can buy a lot of tires and even a wheel for the price loosing a limb or life.

Something to think about.
 
dodgeboy said:
there was a study done a few years back that showed drivers r actually drawn to the flashing lites especially if tired or impaired some states for awhile tried shuting off part of there lites once the stop was made i dont think it worked i drive a trk otr and i move to the left of any vehicle on the shoulder my biggest complaint is the lites there using now especialy oh r so bright that they blind u as u come up on them just my 2 cents
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Amen. I think at the moment they rival a Pink Floyd Laser Light Show that has enough Lumens to be seen on the Moon. It's so damn ridiculous. I hope they ratchet it down before you need to carry a welding helmet in your car for eye protection at night.
 
dodgeboy said:
there was a study done a few years back that showed drivers r actually drawn to the flashing lites especially if tired or impaired some states for awhile tried shuting off part of there lites once the stop was made i dont think it worked i drive a trk otr and i move to the left of any vehicle on the shoulder my biggest complaint is the lites there using now especialy oh r so bright that they blind u as u come up on them just my 2 cents
Click to expand...

Like moths to a flame. That's just sad.
Maybe someday technology will provide a solution just like all the other ways it has helped us function more intellegently than we really are.
 
I think there are 3 factors to concider. 1) people don't change lanes even though it is the law in most states now. 2) The new led strobe lights are very blinding to drivers which could be a big part of the drivers not seeing the officer,but if they changed lanes it wouldn't be as much of an issue. 3) The officers I see in the 4 states I travel through daily (I'm a truck driver) all approach the curb/shoulder side of the vehicles. A few years back Indiana had lost 3 or 4 troopers in less than a year. Then IL lost a few that same year and year after which prompted the change lanes law because drivers are too stupid to give courtesy to anyone on the side of the road. A good 90% of us truck drivers change lanes for anyone on the side of the road to avoid them getting sucked into our tail wind.
 
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