South Florida Driving Report- Police have to clean up their act also
Wow- report says our cops drive poorly
I had a feeling that this topic is out of control in South Florida-see this story
A Sun Sentinel examination of collisions in six law enforcement agencies in Broward and Palm Beach counties from 2007 through mid-2008 found more than 2,000 accidents involving public vehicles. In roughly one in four of those collisions, supervisors declared the employee at fault and said the accident never should have happened.
Officers were disciplined in many of the accidents for crashing unnecessarily and risking life, limb and the taxpayers’ purse. At least one officer was fired.
Some of these accidents have been deadly. In just the past two months, a Hollywood officer crashed into a palm tree and died, and a sheriff’s deputy in Palm Beach County smashed into a van, killing the driver. In the past 2 1/2 years, at least three officers, five pedestrians and a civilian driver have been killed in Broward and Palm Beach counties in accidents involving police officers.
State and local laws give police officers leeway to speed, blow stop signs and run through intersections when responding to calls. But the laws and policies require officers to balance a quick response time against the public’s safety, said former Davie Police Officer Mitch Frank, an associate professor in charge of driving curriculum at the Broward Police Academy.
Deputies and officers are trained in emergency driving, but Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Deputy Eric Davis said that doesn’t prevent crashes.
“The best drivers in the world are NASCAR drivers. And every race you see crashes,” said Davis. “Those are professionals. It’s inevitable.”
That’s “ludicrous,” said police driving expert Capt. Travis Yates of the Tulsa police force. “We would never go into any other type of law enforcement activity … and say about a fourth of the time I’m going to make a mistake here. It’s a culture that has become inbred in our profession.”
The driving habits of police officers remain a sore point in the community.
Hundreds of readers complained about speeding officers when the Sun Sentinel reported in August that Fort Lauderdale uses satellite technology to monitor its officers’ speed. It’s the only South Florida agency to do so. Drivers across the region complained that squad cars whiz by or run red lights at intersections when the officers don’t appear to be headed to emergencies.
—this report was not complete, the legendary Davie {Police were not included for some reason- Hmmm-But come on people at least 25% of the collisions should not have happened! Patrol cars are suppose to set an example when just routinely crusiing- I thought?
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