Emergency Response

The Standard Operating Procedure for making immediate response to an emergency (Code 3)

As a Road Traffic Officer, your emergency response driving must be of a high standard. You are expected to follow the Emergency Response and Pursuits Policy to the letter. Road Traffic Trainers and Traffic Supervisors will closely scrutinise your emergency response driving.

The Emergency Response Procedure reads as follows:

• While responding to an emergency, the officer’s may disregard certain Traffic Laws.

• While responding to an emergency, the officer should keep their emergency lights and sirens on, unless there is a valid reason not to.

• While responding to an emergency, the officer should generally keep their siren on while driving through areas where traffic or pedestrians could interfere with the response.

• The officer may not break any laws that could cause injury or death to anyone else, unless the officer has encountered a direct threat on their own life.

• When responding to an emergency the officer needs to ensure that when they break a traffic law it is done in a safe manner, eg:

  • • When disregarding a red light, stop sign, yield sign or driving through a heavily populated area make use of your priority siren by pressing “C” this gives greater warning to civilians and road users.

    • When running a red light, the officer should slow down to ensure no cars will collide with them. This still applies during a pursuit if a vehicle were to speed through an intersection with disregard to the lights you must still slow and ensure it is safe to pass as traffic conditions might have changed even if this creates a bigger gap during the pursuit.

    • When disregarding yield and stop signs, the officer must ensure they will not collide with a vehicle or pedestrian. Officers should slow on approach to the signs and give a good check before disregarding them.

    • When disregarding the speed limit, the officer must ensure they have enough time and space to brake safely, should an obstacle appear in front of them.

• If your vehicle is to come in contact and injure a pedestrian you must stop immediately and provide them with the proper care.

• If your vehicle is to come in contact with another road user and causes serious damage you must stop and provide them with the proper care.

• When disregarding the traffic laws while responding to an emergency the officer is responsible for their actions while driving and must never cause any harm to civilian life or drive in a manner which could possibly cause harm.

  • • • • It is never permitted for an officer to respond, pursue or drive a vehicle on the wrong side of the highway.

Driving against the flow of Traffic on the highway off and on-ramps is permitted if the officer demonstrates maximum caution and takes precautions (driving carefully and slowly, using lights, sirens and yelp) to alert oncoming road users of their presence. Any collisions that occur whilst driving down the wrong side of the ramps may render you liable to disciplinary action.