martine wrote:Interesting - thanks for the link.
Great riding - must take huge amounts of concentration and anticipation for extended periods. Curious as to why they aren't fully marked up bikes though and why they don't use sirens for advanced warning.
Horse wrote:Historically they've always used 'different' bikes. When the regular trafpols had airhead BMW RTs, SEG had plain bikes with leg shields.
When trafpols moved to oilhead RTs, SEG had hybrid RS-faired bikes. Then onto the Hondas, with VFR1200s when trafpols tend to use Pans.
The whistles are because they 'Don't want to make a fuss'. As a comparison, look for a US video of a presidential cavalcade
martine wrote: Yes but what's the harm in having a brightly coloured traditional traffic bike? More quickly recognisable esp if they're not using blues and twos.
Horse wrote:And I'm impressed by your faith that the public will respond correctly to conspicuity aids
martine wrote:Horse wrote:And I'm impressed by your faith that the public will respond correctly to conspicuity aids
No not at all but they are even less likely to respond if the SEG bikes don't use sirens.
jont wrote:I'm not sure I understand their obsession about not stopping - it's not as if a vehicle doing 1 or 2 mph would be that harder to "attack" than a stationary vehicle.
mefoster wrote:If you watch the video, it's all explained at the start. They don't use sirens because they are often not heard against the background cacophony of, often, other sirens. Instead, they use whistles, which are far more effective at attracting attention. Their experience says that it works, so there is really no room to argue the point.
Horse wrote:martine wrote: Yes but what's the harm in having a brightly coloured traditional traffic bike? More quickly recognisable esp if they're not using blues and twos.
They still use blues, IIRC.
But otherwise you'd need to ask them.
And I'm impressed by your faith that the public will respond correctly to conspicuity aids
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7098111.stm
"Sorry mate/mate/mate, didn't see you/you you"?
Police spokesman said wrote:"The female driver sustained suspected whiplash injuries and was taken to hospital as a precaution. The police motorcyclist was uninjured...
RUL wrote:There is another problem in the cities – what I term “siren apathy”. Sirens are so common in busy cities that people have started to either not notice them, or to actually ignore them. It’s the reason that the motorcyclists in the Met’s Special Escort Group don’t use sirens, but instead use very loud whistles.
Sussex Uni, advising Sussex police wrote: It's a uniform, not a force field
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