Another traffic fatality to discuss...
 

http://www.koat.com/news/new-mexico/...x/-/index.html

Almost 2am, police officer "looking for a drunk driver" that was reported enters intersection with his emergency lights, etc, on even though the light is red for him. He T-bones a car, killing the woman in the passenger seat, and seriously injuring the driver. The passenger had been at a bar, and called her 19 YO sister to pick her up so she'd not drive home possibly drunk.

This is inexcusable. I'm fine with emergency vehicles being able to run lights, but they need to slow/stop, and check before they do so, period. The guy should be charged with negligence, and as much as I hate lawsuits, I think my city should be reamed to the point that employees allowed to run lights are deathly afraid to do so. The ability to ignore lights when absolutely needed comes with the responsibility not to kill innocents.

I see cops and firefighters go through lights all the time during the day, but they always slow and make sure it's OK to do so. This guy probably figured the road was empty at 2am, and didn't bother to check. He should always "bother."

Iirc when on an emergency run red lights should be treated as a give way.

He probably did get lax and think nobody else would be about, but that's no excuse. :nope:

As you said, it was 2am. He probably believe the intersection cleared. But, a 0200 most bars are letting out. This was a DUI call. Not a B&E or armed robbery. Why the lights and high speed?

Here in MD the emergency vehicle must stop at intersections. Too many t-boned vehicles and hurt people.

He says the lights were on. Do we know this? Sounds to me he's trying to make excuses.

Thought it was standard procedure for emergency vehicles to slow and check at intersections even while running lites, etc... There is no excuse for this, by the look of the wreck, the officer was going fast.

Yes, emergency vehicles are only allowed to break road rules if it is safe to do so.
Lights and sirens are only warning signals not drive as you like passes.

True, but there are department established rules concerning certain types of road ways, intersections and types of calls dictating how to handle the response in a vehicle.

Yes, the emergency vehicles have right of way, but if you are entering an intersection at ~100kph, and the cop is going 120 or 130, there is simply no time to react. The police don't need to run lights at high speed unless they are heading to a gunfight in progress or something, and even then the handful of seconds lost by slowing to check don't matter.

The officer says his lights were on. The passenger is dead, and the other hapless driver has a spinal injury, no idea is she's even conscious.

What a terrible waste. Killed woman was in the NG, too.

Department protocol for emergency response will determine the officers future. I'm still of the mind that 120 mph is not protocol for a DUI call.

I used KPH for our friends overseas :)

That is certainly the current position/protocol regarding the emergency services in the UK.

74 mph is still very fast for a DUI call. He was probably slowing some for the intersection as well.

Yeah, I was guessing his speed, but the limit on that road varies between 40 and 55, and regular traffic usually moves about 60-65. Was a guess on my part. The other road (girl's car) is 50 mph, as I recall, and regardless, they had a green light.

Clearly from the wreck the APD truck was moving pretty fast.

Whatever the case, it is a horrible accident. I wish accidents like this did not happen.

Especially for a truck.

I've been thinking about such accidents because last week a guy slammed on the brakes after looking up from his phone, and didn't manage to stop until through the light, and that was including using my wife's BMW which was stopped at the red light they shared as a barrier.

His skid marks were ~300ft until he hit my wife's bumper (I measured them on google earth), and my wife's car ended up ~75' into the intersection, and his car 75' past that.

Glad he looked up from texting when he did. #@$!# POS. Wish he had died to prevent entering the gene pool, sadly he just broke his nose.

There's not enough to the story to really comment on it. Apparently, from reading the comments, it is a problem intersection.
I can comment in general on emergency vehicle driving. In Kentucky, the law says basically an emergency vehicle on an emergency, can ignore speed limits, stop lights, etc. But must proceed with due regard for safety. In other words, do what you want, but if you hurt someone, you're responsible. Most states have the same laws. Specifically, Lexington, KY, my dept requires a full stop at stop lights and stop signs before proceeding.

I imagine our laws are the same. I've likely seen hundreds of emergency vehicles go through lights in decades of driving, and they always stop, or nearly stop that I have seen. It is a bad intersection, all the more reason to always be careful.

I would think it is simple self preservation.

Regardless of laws, lights, sirens or anything else, the ambulance or patrol car driver is smart to slows down and look before crossing an intersection to avoid being t-boned himself, which in this instance had the officer got to the intersection just a split second later might have been the case.