Is it any wonder when you see how close to the brow of the hill they decided to do a u-turn, and across a yellow line. How dumb are they?
An investigation is underway after a motorcyclist was killed in a collision with a police car in Waikato.
Police said it appeared the 38-year-old Te Kauwhata man collided with the police car, which was turning, and was thrown several metres, suffering fatal injuries. He died at the scene.
Waikato road policing manager Inspector Leo Tooman said the crash happened on Waerenga Rd, east of Te Kauwhata, about 4.15pm yesterday.
Early information suggested the officer was turning to chase a speeding motorist clocked at 154kmh.
“Pulling to the left the officer has activated his blue and red emergency lights and sirens and begun a turning manoeuvre to follow the offending vehicle as a motorcycle came over the brow of a hill and collided with the turning patrol car,” he said.
Mr Tooman said investigations by the Serious Crash Unit, the CIB and the Independent Police Conduct Authority were underway.
Hamilton police spokesman Andrew McAlley said it was not known how close to the hill the officer had made the turn.
A decision had not yet been made on whether the officer involved would be stood down while the investigation would be carried out.
The man’s death had also been reported to the coroner, who will carry out his own investigation.
Describing the incident as a tragedy for the man’s family and for police, Mr Tooman said the police investigations will be carried out under the supervision of a senior out-of-district officer and peer reviewed.
“Road policing is all about preventing road trauma, unfortunately the nature of our business is such that from time to time tragedies do occur.
“It is now a priority for us to ensure a thorough investigation is completed not only for the deceased’s family’s peace of mind but for that of the public and our own staff.”
Waikato Serious Crash Unit investigators will return to the scene this morning.
POLICE COLLISIONS
Last year, a Nelson police officer was given diversion after he made a u-turn in front of a following car on State Highway 6 at Atawhai and the cars collided. No-one was injured in the crash.
In 2008, a police highway patrol car was hit by a following vehicle as it made a u-turn to chase a speeding motorcyclist near Midhirst in Taranaki. The following vehicle had pulled out and was passing the patrol car when the officer turned. No one was injured in the crash.
In December 2007, two motorcyclists were hurt after a police car did a U-turn in front of them in the Upper Buller Gorge near Nelson. The officer was turning to chase a speeding motorcyclist heading in the other direction.
Later that month, a motorcyclist was seriously injured when a police car, responding to an emergency call, made a u-turn on State Highway 2 near Maramarua in Waikato.
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3595827/Motorcyclist-killed-in-collision-with-police-car
Sad reflection of modern NZ policing, really…
1) there’s not enough presence that the car could call for support and not have to chase the 154kmh car himself
2) that he felt justified in the speeds he’d have to have reached to have caught up with the speeder once he’d have turned around – 150? 175? 200?
3) that he was cocky enough to have tried a U-ie on the the double yellow, let alone that position relative to the brow of the hill… even worse if he was really was doing a 3-pointer on a 100kmh road!
4) flashing lights don’t equal some sort of supernatural ABS – they can’t stop an oncoming vehicle in less than the human reaction time to see the cop car over the brow of the hill
I know they have a lot of hard work to do, and could have been up for “not doing anything” if the speeder got into trouble, but it’s not really a road-safety viewpoint to push the luck with a manoeuvre like that – and Toomans’ comments on TV3 got me going…
a) that the officer involved has 34 (? IIRC) years experience is irrelevant if they act like that… maybe a fresh recruit would have taken less risks?
b) that the officer had his lights on is also irrelevant if the patrol positioned himself such that vehicles can’t react in time
c) that he’s comfortable using platitudes of “tragedies happen” in this scenario – it’s his job to get his staff to try to stop them, not contribute!
Sad all round – really sad. I really hope this spin-machine doesn’t get on this with some sort of “motorcyclist should have left room to stop / was speeding past conditions”… NZP can’t have it both ways: if he’d have been travelling over the brow with room to stop within the visual range, they’d have done him for being too slow on a 100kmh highway. As it was, he trusted the road markings and got killed. Sad.