Like most people in the United Kingdom I reacted with outrage yesterday at the outcome of police constable Mark Milton’s court case where he was cleared of dangerous driving and speeding when travelling at speeds of up to 159 miles per hour on a motorway near Telford in the early hours of the morning on the 3rd of December 2003. I believe that it was telling though, that none of the prosecution witnesses would state that he was driving dangerously. I can only presume from this that as a highly trained driver, he wasn’t.
While justified indignation was my initial reaction, I’ve since had time to think about it more dispassionately. During my days as a motorcycle instructor I had fairly close contact with the police traffic department, and learned to respect police officers and the jobs that they do. Like most people I tacitly accept that high-speed driving is a part of the emergency services’ response mechanism. Indeed, high-speed response can make the difference between life and death to somebody who has been involved in a road traffic incident or other emergency and everytime it happens the driver is making a judgement between the lives at risk and the lives they may put at risk by breaking road traffic laws. I recognise that there will be operational circumstances that require high-speed driving on the part of police officers, even though in general they tend to avoid high-speed chases due to their high-risk nature. There will however be some cases where a high-speed chase is necessary because it is the lowest risk option available to the police in that circumstance.
So, I can accept that there will be occasions when high-speed (possibly three figure speeds) are necessary on public roads. I can also accept that there will be occasions when having familiarised themselves with their vehicles and practised on a track, that there will be a need to do so on public roads. I do believe however that this will be subject to some form authorisation; under instruction for example.
Overall, I believe that the judgement was wrong. It gives a message to the public that police officers may ignore the law whereas if I were to test my bike at three figure speeds and claim “familiarisation” I would be banned and possibly jailed. The public, quite rightly will see this as “one rule for them and one rule for us”.
Considering all these things though, the outraged public is missing a massive trick. PC Mark Milton has done every driver in UK a huge favour. What he has done is finally put paid to the lie; that appalling mantra; of the “safety camera partnerships” that speed kills. It did not kill police constable Mark Milton.
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