Tuesday 15 February 2011

The Police on TV, Again

You knew it couldn't be long before I returned to this subject surely? Last night it was 'Emergency Bikers' and what a show of the idiotic, panicky system that has crept into services we rely on. Clearly well meaning, dedicated people, who nevertheless are part of a wider malaise. We got lots of drama about a girl who had crashed her car. Someone told the paramedic that she had fitted after the accident, so the medical man had an opportunity to place his mindset into 'escalation' mode. She was complaining of no specific injury, though was clearly in shock and had a sore neck. The assumption now is that she 'could have a spinal injury', so the fire brigade were called to assist with 'extraction'. The girl wasn't trapped you understand, just that her complaining of a sore neck meant they 'couldn't take any chances.' With such a prevailing mentality and bearing in mind how many accidents our roads witness, I'm surprised they venture out at all, let alone on motorbikes

Still, cue more drama as the fire engine arrives. Out comes the spinal board and lots of willing hands, as the roof is cut off the car and the patient slid out, immobilized by the care and attention of the improbability workers. As a footnote, later and in a quiet voice the voiceover tells us that the girl left hospital shortly after being checked over there, having no injury whatsoever. Which is the conclusion a person who hadn't been trained to panic, would have come to a long time ago. And the girl's car would still have a roof. 'Ah but...' say all the improbability workers, 'what if...' But I would like to know what the figures are for people being paralysed as a result of being moved because it didn't seem clear that a spinal injury was likely. I'm betting they are vanishingly small.

Anyway, I have sidetracked. The Police biker set himself up on a normal looking suburban road with his laser speed gun. We saw him stop two women. 'Did you realise the speed limit here is 20mph?' he asked one. She was stunned and said she thought it was 30 (as it normally would be on such a road). 'No', he replied, 'it's 20 and you were clocked doing 31mph'. She then started apologising profusely. The biker then spoke to camera saying he had no sympathy at all as so many people are killed on the roads speeding. You know why the speed limit on the road was reduced and you know why the policeman was detailed to check that piece of highway. Because they could catch people out. And the mindless drivel spouted by the policeman was amazing, does the man have no mind? Interestingly, I happened to watch Top Gear on the very useful iPlayer later. On the programme Clarkson related that Oxford had recently stopped using its fixed speed cameras. Result; accidents where speed cameras were -35. Accidents after speed cameras were switched off -35.

And finally. Dropping Er Indoors at work the other morning I had to cross one of our city centre dual carriageway grid roads. As I moved into the centre section, I had to crane to see around a police van parked on the central reservation, a speed camera van 'for your safety'. They are not just morons these days though; the van is parked on this main thoroughfare which is rated at 30 for no discernible reason, because it is also a slope and cars may drift above 30 easily. Naturally, drivers therefore pay immense attention to their speedo, which is a pity for other vehicles and pedestrians of course.

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