Driving home I came up on a police car who had someone stopped. He had a spotlight aimed down the road right in your face, then his strobes on. As I went to go around here is this dumb azz in a black uniform standing on the blacktop near the center of the lane . I barely saw him.
Had I hit him it would have been my fault. Not that he was standing in the center of the lane, nor the fact that his actions destroyed my night vision. My fault entirely and him a "Hero".
Similar happened to me. Cops had all their spot lights aimed at and beyond the car they had pulled over. I'm way blinded as with those behind me I presume. Cop in dark blue/black uniform standing in the raod. I slowed from 55 down to about 30 mph. Missed him by inches. I did't see him till he was beside my window. Scared the heck out of me.
They should be wearing reflective gear and shoud NOT blind on-coming traffic with their damn lights. They ain't the only ones that want to go home safe every night.
iirc in Texas you are to drop to below the speed limit by 15 mph.
Pat, what say you, and are cops ever informed about the possibility of blinding other drivers with the spotlight. I realize if a cop senses danger he will have the light on the perp. Id have it on everyone at night, but i be standing in tha ditch.
Being out on the road at night is dangerous business, you really have to keep your head on a swivel. I was in the traffic unit for 10 years and had many close calls, even got clipped by rear view mirrors a couple of times. One time I was in a traffic jam on foot working some kind of accident, when a mirror hit my gun butt. I spun around to yell something, and saw the driver was a Catholic priest with a white collar around his neck and a very chagrined look on his face. I could see right off that he felt worse about it than I did.
These new LED lights that you can see from a mile away seem too bright to me, I can hardly stand to look at them at night. Maybe that's a good idea on the highway, but it seems a bit much in town.
We often forget driving privileges come with great responsibility. Whenever your vision is impaired, you need to slow down to the point that you can safely navigate the road. Whether it be a deer crossing the road in heavy fog, a cop with his lights on or whatever, you as driver of the vehicle are responsible and need to adapt your driving for the conditions at hand.
Being out on the road at night is dangerous business, you really have to keep your head on a swivel. I was in the traffic unit for 10 years and had many close calls, even got clipped by rear view mirrors a couple of times. One time I was in a traffic jam on foot working some kind of accident, when a mirror hit my gun butt. I spun around to yell something, and saw the driver was a Catholic priest with a white collar around his neck and a very chagrined look on his face. I could see right off that he felt worse about it than I did.
These new LED lights that you can see from a mile away seem too bright to me, I can hardly stand to look at them at night. Maybe that's a good idea on the highway, but it seems a bit much in town.
That's the point. Ya cant see schit when the police have a strobe going off, a big azz spot in your face, and you are driving towards them.
the spot into oncoming traffic is stupid, but it happens.tunnel vision on the stop causes lack of considering what the effect could be on oncoming drivers . glad you were just frightened and hope the LEO was also and learned from the experience. if you had hit him you might have no longer been Armedndfree!
Being out on the road at night is dangerous business, you really have to keep your head on a swivel. I was in the traffic unit for 10 years and had many close calls, even got clipped by rear view mirrors a couple of times. One time I was in a traffic jam on foot working some kind of accident, when a mirror hit my gun butt. I spun around to yell something, and saw the driver was a Catholic priest with a white collar around his neck and a very chagrined look on his face. I could see right off that he felt worse about it than I did.
These new LED lights that you can see from a mile away seem too bright to me, I can hardly stand to look at them at night. Maybe that's a good idea on the highway, but it seems a bit much in town.
That's the point. Ya cant see schit when the police have a strobe going off, a big azz spot in your face, and you are driving towards them.
Seems beyond stupid.
Yeah, it's almost as if they are intentionally attempting to 'blind' drivers in hope that they will slow down to a crawl or stop. Thankfully many can still drive 30mph without seeing.
Hahaha exactly. However most people are so discombobulated by the lights and then the swerving to miss the cop that they can't properly yell "PIG!!" out the window at them, which is unfortunate. So it has to be done later on internet forums.
iirc in Texas you are to drop to below the speed limit by 15 mph.
Pat, what say you, and are cops ever informed about the possibility of blinding other drivers with the spotlight. I realize if a cop senses danger he will have the light on the perp. Id have it on everyone at night, but i be standing in tha ditch.
I say it doesn't have anything to do with LE. If you can't see what's in front of you, you're going too fast.
iirc in Texas you are to drop to below the speed limit by 15 mph.
Pat, what say you, and are cops ever informed about the possibility of blinding other drivers with the spotlight. I realize if a cop senses danger he will have the light on the perp. Id have it on everyone at night, but i be standing in tha ditch.
I say it doesn't have anything to do with LE. If you can't see what's in front of you, you're going too fast.
.....I'm looking at the up side of this ........ a WAY better BITCHING thread than one about a neighbor's fencing misdeeds and transgressions, or access to a sewer cleanout.
These new strobed out patrol car lighting packages create hazardous driving conditions. If they were in fact chosen for this characteristic, such a strategy might be reconsidered.
Our Under Sheriff was hit and killed at night while at a disabled accident scene.
No charges were filed against the person who hit him. We were shocked and outraged.
After that we started looking into the problem of visibility at night. We did some tests and worked with the state DOT as well as federal agencies. We set up mock scenes at night. Fire, EMS, city cops and sheriffs were all working together.
We would send first responders through the scene and ask them what they could or could not see. Even people involved in emergency services, folks who knew to watch and look out, could not see people standing around on the road.
California has done some great studies about night visibility. The use of more orange once stopped seems to be the best compromise according to them.
The person who pulls over and stops in response to the flashing lights in his mirror determines the placement of the cops making initial contact with him. If the guy was stopped because of impaired driving, you may have an idiot or drunk setting the scene.
Cops should recognize this fact and mitigate it by their actions, but often they make it worse.
One of my best hunting and fishing buddies was a Tx DPS Trooper who was run over and killed while effecting a DUI arrest back in the late 'sixties.We were married to a couple of sisters.
The drunk had not pulled far off the shoulder and after Doug had cuffed the drunk and put him in his Patrol Car, he went back and locked up the car. While returning to his Patrol Car, another car hit him from the rear at high speed throwing him into the rear of his Cruiser. I had to identify his body and couldn't have done it from his face. It was gone.
There are a whole lot of things that cops can do to be safer on the roads. Getting them to do those things is something else.
Nearly all of the new LED light packages have the ability to be dimmed, if it is hooked up properly. Many are not.
Headlights and spot lights pointed into traffic is dumb. Wig wags engaged at night while stopped is not a good idea.
Impaired drivers are drawn to bright lights. They will drift right across the lane and drive into your scene.
It is far better for emergency services to dim or shut off as many lights as possible once on scene.
Minimum strobe lights, wig wags off, headlights off or at least on low beam. 4 way flashers are preferred.
This^^^, which is why you dont want to leave your brights on as you get to another driver who leaves his own. Drunks often pull into the brights like moths.
If I'm gonna stand in the middle of the road at night, I'd much rather have the spot light on me than in the face of on coming traffic.
Blinding on coming traffic is just flat stupid.
Stupid is driving 30mph when you can't see, wouldn't you agree?
So he should have stopped? In traffic? With out first responders controlling traffic?
Screw that. I am getting through the scene and getting as far away as I can.
I stopped once at an incident with someone pulled over on my side and LE cars on both sides of the two lane hwy. at night. Couldn't see to drive thru safely. Within seconds I was looking down gun barrels because I was perceived as a threat. You can't be right on this one no matter what you do. I will not stop next time.
If I'm gonna stand in the middle of the road at night, I'd much rather have the spot light on me than in the face of on coming traffic.
Blinding on coming traffic is just flat stupid.
Stupid is driving 30mph when you can't see, wouldn't you agree?
So he should have stopped? In traffic? With out first responders controlling traffic?
Screw that. I am getting through the scene and getting as far away as I can.
I stopped once at an incident with someone pulled over on my side and LE cars on both sides of the two lane hwy. at night. Couldn't see to drive thru safely. Within seconds I was looking down gun barrels because I was perceived as a threat. You can't be right on this one no matter what you do. I will not stop next time.
LOANOAK,
You nailed it right there.
Can't see because the world is lit up in the dead of night? Slow to a crawl to get get around incident? Result: Get rear ended by the folks behind you who can't see either.
Or as in your case, get pulled over yourself to see why you're stopping. Never had the guns drawn on me but have been looked at "suspiciously". Do I look suspicious? Yes, good guy that I am, I am a topic for another thread on "profiling".
Ask cops to put on high vis vests on roadside stops? HA, not if It was me, I don't know who's in the car and I'd just as soon they not always have a bright green/orange vest to aim at.
I've been told there's another reason for all the lights, person pulled over can't see back to aim at cop, lights blind them too.
Ask cops to use a less bright source of illumination? On an unlit highway? Where they can't see a BG getting out of the passenger side rear door? Probably not going to happen. Some of them I know would like to have the helicopter overhead with the bajillion candlepower lights going on EVERY stop just to be safe
Our local deputies leave the blinding lights on all through the encounter, even after they have looked in your car and run your license.
I had to walk back to their pickup and tell them that I wasn't going to leave until they turned off the blinders since I couldn't see in my mirrors. They had followed me about three miles to determine that my license plate light had a bad connection and was flickering off and back on.
Really just cruising looking for an excuse so they could check for outstanding warrants, most of which are for unpaid traffic tickets.
Armednfree, you have misunderstood the rules of posting about police.
Rule 1. A police officer can do no wrong, make no error in judgment and is infallible.
Rule 2. Anyone who questions, doubts or criticizes a police officer's action or judgment is automatically guilty of doing something wildly unsafe and illegal.
You may have meant your post to be in good faith when you implied that in your opinion the officer did something to endanger himself and increase the likelihood that you would hit him with your vehicle. See Rule # 1. The cop was right to blind your eyes and then stand in the middle of the lane you were driving. What the cop did was right and you were in the wrong.
You may have the mistaken idea that a police officer is a human subject to normal human errors. You are wrong. Becoming a police officer makes the officer infallible, like the Pope. Anything he does is correct. See Rule #1.
If you question this, you are guilty under Rule #2, and you are probably a liberal.
In other words, you were hauling ass past a vehicle with emergency lights activated AND limited visibility. Stupid cop.
EXACTLY>... reason those lights are on.... dumbazz.... we get it all the time around fire calls too... people CAN"T pay attention and or SLOW the hell down. They could care less you are doing your job and a dangerous one at times at that, and they expect you to look out for them, when it should be the oether way aroudn. I"ve wanted to throw my light through a few windshields over the year.
And I don't even get paid for my work and risk....
Since people wont pay attention, AND wont slow down, it is up to us to make damn well sure we are doing everything we can to stay as safe as possible.
We need to actively lower our risk, while lowering the risk for motorists. Bright lights and gallivanting around like we are bullet proof is not lowering the risk.
In other words, you were hauling ass past a vehicle with emergency lights activated AND limited visibility. Stupid cop.
EXACTLY>... reason those lights are on.... dumbazz.... we get it all the time around fire calls too... people CAN"T pay attention and or SLOW the hell down. They could care less you are doing your job and a dangerous one at times at that, and they expect you to look out for them, when it should be the oether way aroudn. I"ve wanted to throw my light through a few windshields over the year.
And I don't even get paid for my work and risk....
Agreed.........I think all the volunteer FFs and EMTs should take a few weeks off! I'd like to see the results around here............ likely less smarmy comments about them.
Sadly many drivers are clueless of the concept that you drive to the conditions. If you can't see, you slow way the F down or come to a complete stop. In poor to non existent visibility 5-10 mph can be too fast. Emergency responders don't always have the time or personnel to put out flares, control traffic etc. Give em a brake, slow down, be thankful you weren't in the wreck, didn't get pulled over etc.
Our Under Sheriff was hit and killed at night while at a disabled accident scene.
No charges were filed against the person who hit him. We were shocked and outraged.
After that we started looking into the problem of visibility at night. We did some tests and worked with the state DOT as well as federal agencies. We set up mock scenes at night. Fire, EMS, city cops and sheriffs were all working together.
We would send first responders through the scene and ask them what they could or could not see. Even people involved in emergency services, folks who knew to watch and look out, could not see people standing around on the road.
California has done some great studies about night visibility. The use of more orange once stopped seems to be the best compromise according to them.
I didn't know him well, but well enough to know Pat was a good guy.
In other words, you were hauling ass past a vehicle with emergency lights activated AND limited visibility. Stupid cop.
No, 55mph zone and I dropped down to 25-30 mph.
great , In California they passed a law you are suppose to slow down or change lane when you see police cars with their lights on ..
P.
I was well left of center, about 50%. This cop was literally in the center of the lane. Why I don't know.
No, you don't know. But got pizzy because you went past at a higher rate of speed than you should've and almost tagged him. I know you're a jailer and bitter towards cops, hence your cute little "hero" comment in the original post. But damn dude, you come on here bitching about something that appears to have been your fault?
Similarly, I came up on a rainy night time scene with a pulled over car with police headlights and bar lights front and back in the opposing lane. Slowed to about 10 mph and with all my focus to the left, damned near hit a person walking on the shoulder of my lane. Mirror probably missed him by an inch.
Also, looked left and right to see no traffic one day. With nothing about, I casually pulled out and was near hit by a LEO doing in excess of 100mph coming from the left.
We often forget driving privileges come with great responsibility. Whenever your vision is impaired, you need to slow down to the point that you can safely navigate the road. Whether it be a deer crossing the road in heavy fog, a cop with his lights on or whatever, you as driver of the vehicle are responsible and need to adapt your driving for the conditions at hand.
Yes, Bingo! Its tough with our busy lives, but we have to remain in control of our vehicles and drive a safe speed for conditions. In blinding light with vehicles on the shoulder, you need to be slowed down enough to be safe for all. That does not excuse the office for no reflective gear, or potentially being in the wrong spot, but the loser in these battles is the pedestrian and often results in death. Great responsibility comes with the operation of a vehicle.
Sadly many drivers are clueless of the concept that you drive to the conditions.
Having being involved in state police driver training/instructing/re-training I can tell you a good number of LE suffer the same human failing....a culture of die hard bad habits among too many.
Hahaha exactly. However most people are so discombobulated by the lights and then the swerving to miss the cop that they can't properly yell "PIG!!" out the window at them, which is unfortunate. So it has to be done later on internet forums.
~snicker~ Possibly a contender for post of the year. Early though, so we'll see.
In other words, you were hauling ass past a vehicle with emergency lights activated AND limited visibility. Stupid cop.
No, 55mph zone and I dropped down to 25-30 mph.
great , In California they passed a law you are suppose to slow down or change lane when you see police cars with their lights on ..
P.
In Iowa it's law that when coming upon any vehicle on the shoulder you change lanes or if lane changing is impossible or dangerous, slow down significantly.
On my regular route to work several years ago, a plant was doing some "turn-around" work that involved a BUNCH of contract employees. When they got off shift, they all emptied onto the highway in an endless line of vehicles, stopping traffic both ways for long periods. Finally, the company "hired" off-duty officers to "direct traffic" What these guys did was use their department issued vehicles, wear their uniforms, and stop traffic to let the contractors in and out. As long as there was one car left in the parking lot, traffic was stopped. One foggy morning a young county deputy was working the detail. He was, if I remember right, not even on the shoulder of the road - in the ditch I think, but not wearing reflective clothing - when a contract guy who was possibly running late to work (at that site) veered around the stopped traffic, left the road at a pretty high rate of speed, and hit and killed the deputy.
Lots more attention at that site for the remainder of the project, but of the same kind. That section of highway is now named in memory of the deceased officer. Unfortunately, the signs don't tell how he happened to be killed. I always thought it was caused by mistakes by the plant, the off duty officers, AND the negligent driver.
