Cops using emergency lanes

[R-Soul]

I was heading home towards North Shore on the northern Motorway yesterday, and I saw a cop car with lights and sirens creeping its way through the traffic between the right most lane and the lane to the left of it (on three/four lane highway). It was not making great time (understandably) as the traffic was pretty dense.


Now on that motorway there is a lane to the left of the actual car lanes that nobody drives on. In South Africa it is called the "emergency lane", and is specifically for use by emergency vehicles to be able to get to emergency scenes quickly (and for taxis to illegally pick up passengers on the motorway, but that is another story).

This may be a dumb question , but why dont NZ emergency services use this? It is significantly more free of traffic, and is easier for traffic to move out of the way - cars were moving in every which direction to get out of the way of said cop car yesterday, and the confusion was slowing things down.

Was the cop being dumb (or forgot his training) yesterday, or is there a reason this lane is not used by NZ emergency services?

Any cops out there that can answer this?

[MSTRS:Me]

The cop wanted to see what this 'lane splitting' lark was all about?

More likely, he was boxed in and prevented from getting over to the shoulder by ignorant fucks

[firefighter]

Was the cop being dumb (or forgot his training) yesterday, or is there a reason this lane is not used by NZ emergency services?

Lol, yeah, he forgot his training.........that's what it would be....

Lucky you saw it, you should ring up and tell them about the empty lane and your experience in getting through traffic when responding to emergencies.........

[Mully]

Maybe the accident was in lane 3/4, and he didn't want to cross to the emergency lane, and then back across to the incident.

Actually, there's probably an OSH rule that there might be a broken down car there and if the Plod go screaming through and hit the car.......

Dunno. Any officers care to clarify??

[firefighter]

Maybe the accident was in lane 3/4, and he didn't want to cross to the emergency lane, and then back across to the incident.

Shhhhhh!!!!

[Usarka]

He heard some one was doing doughnuts in the fast lane.

[red mermaid]

The possible answers seemed to have already ben covered.

Lots of reasons why and you and I will never really know from your 5 seconds (?) of view of his driving.

[Hiflyer]

Don't know if it would really matter for car tyres as much but those lanes are full of broken glass, bits of wood and other sharp fuckers just waiting to give you a flattie!

[Toaster]

The answer is quite simple, some may not have thought to use it. Not all police use that lane and it is up to them to decide whether to use it or not depending on the hazards posed. If the emergency requires it they can drive wherever they need to if it can be justified as necessary to get to a job that warrants it.

Common sense would dictate whether to lane split or to swing left and use that lane. But not all cops are great drivers either... just like the rest of the population.

[javawocky]

... (and for taxis to illegally pick up passengers on the motorway, but that is another story)...

Ahhhh, the memories. I heard tell of a mate who got fed up one day, pulled the car into the 'taxi emergency' lane and lifted the bonnet as if broken down, then quietly sat in the car laughing to himself and shrugging his shoulders at the backed up taxi's

[Jonathan]

On the way to Wellington this morning I saw an ambulance doing the same. Splitting between cars rather than using the ample hard shoulder. I just presume it is safer for them to do so. Who knows what rubbish and other stuff ends up on the shoulder. Furthermore, if there is another vehicle stopped there for whatever reason (as there was this morning) it would be very difficult for the emergency vehicle to get past. When they go down between the lanes the vehicles on the left can easily pull over to the shoulder to let them through.

[Swoop]

He was obviously looking for a place to do a U-turn.

[R-Soul]

On the way to Wellington this morning I saw an ambulance doing the same. Splitting between cars rather than using the ample hard shoulder. I just presume it is safer for them to do so. Who knows what rubbish and other stuff ends up on the shoulder. Furthermore, if there is another vehicle stopped there for whatever reason (as there was this morning) it would be very difficult for the emergency vehicle to get past. When they go down between the lanes the vehicles on the left can easily pull over to the shoulder to let them through.

Yeah but from what I saw, the cops were really creeping trough the traffic (peopel apparently dont bother looking in rear view mirrors much) waiting for others to move. The vehicles can easlily pull over, but the delay in waiting foir them to even realise the cop was behind them was where the bottleneck was.

This is not a commentary on NZ cops - I think they are friggin wonderful! (they actually do their jobs for a start...) - I was just curious why the hard shoulder was not used. And I know that there are a couple of resident plods.

[Jonathan]

Yeah but from what I saw, the cops were really creeping trough the traffic (peopel apparently dont bother looking in rear view mirrors much) waiting for others to move. The vehicles can easlily pull over, but the delay in waiting foir them to even realise the cop was behind them was where the bottleneck was.

This is not a commentary on NZ cops - I think they are friggin wonderful! (they actually do their jobs for a start...) - I was just curious why the hard shoulder was not used. And I know that there are a couple of resident plods.

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing this morning and those were the conclusions I came to because the ambulance could have easily used the hard shoulder but chose not to. Must be some standard procedure - guess we will soon find out. The Wellington drivers were pretty alert and got out of the way quick luckily for the ambulance (and for the person having some sort of medical emergency beside the road).

[Ixion]

It may be because at some palces , eg bridge overpasses, in Auckland anyway, the emergency shoulder disappears. Enough room usually to squeeze a bike through, but not a four wheeler. And if the traffic in the left lane is stopped with nowhere to go the emergency vehicle could end up trapped.