POLL. If you saw a traffic cop fighting at side of road ?

[rAudiguy]

Wow, someone has no sense of humor!!!! I wasn't expecting to see that on here......

As Graham said, text has no emotion so it can be read into in the wrong way...... Just one of the reasons I try and conduct my business over the phone or in person, emails can be a terrible thing!!!

Victor I wouldn't let it bother you, I think most of us knew where you were coming from with it.

Jim

[victor2vt]

Thanks for your support Audiguy

[hanbury]

No way would I stop to help a Traffic Cop - these are the idiots that fine people even when they have insurance (see the post on here), give people fines and points for driving safely but being over the speed limit but let dangerous driving go unchallenged, let foreigners drive on foreign plates for well over the allowed limit, tailgate families on the M4 (read the Mail on Sunday last weekend). Traffic Cops don't deserve the help or support of normal citizens.

I don't believe many 'normal citizens' would share this view.

I agree the OP may be perfectly harmless and it is easy for the written word to be misunderstood. However, comment like this seems, to me at least, to be a sweeping generalisation and one that is completely unfair. I'm sure we've all met some less than perfect coppers but that's no different to any other profession or walk of life.

I know a few traffic cops (as acquanitances rather than mates) and I don't recognise any of them in PetrolDaves remarks. On the whole they strike me as being extremely professional, dedicated to their work and to the promotion of road safety. They are also often themsleves motoring enthusiasts only too pleased to help others get the most from their driving.

I do recognise the sentiment that it often seems the wrong people are prosecuted and or penalised but that's a completely different issue. The police don't make the rules or get to decide penalties, they just have to enforce them - often in very difficult and dangerous circumstances and with fewer resources than would be ideal.

I think most police officers are probably as frustrated (if not more so) than the general public at some of these things but those who do should be praised (rather than slagged off) for being able to maintain a positive attidtude and enthusiasm in what must be an extremely difficult job. I don't believe they are well paid and even if they were I certainly wouldn't want their job.

[victor2vt]

OK I hear what you say.

I'd be interested to know if any vacancies for a Traffic Cop remain vacant for long...............................I personally doubt it.

[JohnW]

Blimey, what a post, and a choice set of responses !!

No, I would not stop, but yes I would call 999.
I have stopped to help before 9many years ago) and have been sucked in to what developed when more mates of the guy who was being restrained turned up.
My car was damaged, and I got no come-back whatsoever, so it was me that lost out.

Yes these guys do their job, and yes they get paid for it, but that doesn't mean they should be treated any differently to any other person. If it was a woman taking a beating would you stop then ?
Nobody said this traffic cop had to be a man...

This is the classic 'look away and don't get involved' attitude that allows many of the scum-bags to get away with whatever they like.
Unfortunately though, the consequences can be more than you bargained for if you do stop...

[victor2vt]

Yes JohnW,
Like getting stabbed or shot

[drcarrera]

IMO the "traffic cop" bit is irrelevant. I'd have the same inclination to help any person regardless of who they were. Unfortunately, these days I'd be much more likely to drive past rather than get involved.
If it looked really serious I'd probably pull in a few hundred metres down the road and call 999.

[PetrolDave]

The police don't make the rules or get to decide penalties, they just have to enforce them

Police Officers have discretion - which in my personal experience all of them used to use.

But since the introduction of "Safety Camera Partnerships" and the huge reduction in the numbers of Traffic Cops it seems that discretion is now only exercised by non-Traffic Cops.

If the cop in question in this poll was a non-Traffic Cop then I definitely would phone 999 and call for assistance for him. But by failing to exercise their discretionary powers and alienating many drivers I'm afraid that I won't do that for a Traffic Cop any more.

Sad I know, but the Police (like everyone else) have to earn respect and for me and many other people that respect no longer exists for Traffic Cops.

[Terry1948]

I would like to think that I would help anyone in trouble no matter what colour,creed or profession. There are a lot of traffic police who have a difficult job to do. How many of us would like to go and tell parents ,husbands,wives that someone they love dearly is dead. Killed by a drunk, speeding or a totally innocent driver. I for one would not and I can honestly say on being the first or second car on the scene of an accident I was very relieved when the blue lights arrived to take over. I am also sure that when it came to it all of you would help or is my faith humanity not justified?

[hanbury]

Police Officers have discretion - which in my personal experience all of them used to use.

If you have personal experience of ALL Police Officers I have to bow to your superior knowledge.

If the cop in question in this poll was a non-Traffic Cop then I definitely would phone 999 and call for assistance for him. But by failing to exercise their discretionary powers and alienating many drivers I'm afraid that I won't do that for a Traffic Cop any more.

Sad I know, but the Police (like everyone else) have to earn respect and for me and many other people that respect no longer exists for Traffic Cops.

Personally the number of people who have over the last 45 years upset me so much that I would do nothing at all to help in the scenario described is very small and I most definitely couldn't completely ignore a stranger in the scenario described.

If any Police Officers have discretionary powers then, by definition, their use will be down to the individual so how can you possibly tar all of them with the same brush? - unless of course you do really have experience of ALL of them and have found this to be the case.

I try and take people as I find them rather than basing my opinions on what the press or other people tell me and, my personal experience (admittedly limited to half a dozen or so serving and ex traffic cops) is that they are regular guys - normally with a very professional attitude and genuine interest in promoting road safety.

[SR71]

Didn't Harry Potter's sidekick (I've never seen any of the shows) get killed yesterday doing something similar?

These days you have to be prepared for that eventuality....

Enroute to the French Alps in November, an old French dude had a blowout and turned his car upside down on the autoroute right in front of us....the funniest thing was the first thing he did once he'd crawled out of the wreckage was to try and light a cigarette...only he couldn't because he was shaking too much!

We were the only people who stopped....until a bunch of Algerians showed up...

Funny that...

[Love_iTT]

Only two weeks ago, about 10 miles away from where I live, a woman was driving along and the car in front of her lost control (for no apparent reason) and went into a dry ditch. She immediately stopped the car to give help, the guy driving scrambled out of his car and came straight over to her car and dragged her out, she managed to free herself from him and started running along the verge where she stumbled and fell over.

The guy then decided to give her a good kicking while she was on the ground, then drive off in her car only to eventually torch it about an hour later. She survived this horendous attack with some bruises but this was in broad daylight, on a reasonably busy road with plenty of traffic passing by at the time.

Now I know she was not a traffic cop but I'm just trying to say that no wonder some people like me would think twice about stepping in. I must admit that I could not pass by seeing a woman beeing beaten up by someone but I might not (I don't know to be honest) have stopped for the driver who went in the ditch although I would definately have called the emergency services.

This is such a difficult question to answer, you think you know what you would do but put in a real life situation we may all act differently. I may have - like the woman - stopped to help this guy, not sure.

Graham

[PetrolDave]

If you have personal experience of ALL Police Officers I have to bow to your superior knowledge.

Somebody needs to get off their soapbox ...

[SR71]

When I lived in Kenya you didn't stop for anything....

The number of people killed by bandits was high.

The trick was to lie in the road as if dead (pretty silly thing to do as some times it became a self-fulfilling prophesy), wait for an unsuspecting motorist to stop and then ambush them with your mates 50 yards down the road behind a rock...

If you were really unlucky, they'd shove the spare tire over you and light it....

[victor2vt]

Let's keep it to the UK, SR7