It just goes to show that no one is perfect – or above the law (well, maybe just a little to the side of it). This story details how a police officer in Scotland was driving to an incident involving a diesel spill – which doesn’t appear to have been an emergency from the way the wording goes (an earlier story says it was) – at speeds of up to 149mph!
The officer, Jacob Marshall, didn’t slow down as he passed a motorway slip road, and another driver pulled out to allow other traffic to merge. Marshall clipped the other driver (the earlier story says he “collided with” the other driver).
The BBC article doesn’t say what happened to the other driver (nor does the earlier story).
The judge expressed surprise that Marshall didn’t slow down “even a bit” as he approached the junction.
It’s worth pointing out that if Marshall was doing 149mph at the point where he hit the other car (the report suggests it was at least 120mph), and assuming the other car was driving at the speed limit of 70mph (he was probably going slower), then the police car would have closed in on the other car at 79mph! It’s not exactly something you’d expect, or be able to plan for if you were a normal member of the driving public.
Marshall was found guilty of the lesser charge of careless driving (down from dangerous driving, with which he was initially charged). Sentencing has been put off to allow the defence to put forward “mitigating arguments”.
It puts me in mind of the argument the advanced motoring group members like to put forward – about how they’re better drivers than anyone else (Police drivers are advanced drivers, of course).
They’re not. They’re human, like everyone else.
And even if they weren’t, all those thousands of other drivers are.