Yesterday on way home from work I saw the blue lights flashing in the rear view mirror from a long way off. (Not after me!) Eventually when the police car got closer I could ony just hear the siren as its so feint that its hardly audible until the car is right behind you, then its eems to be bloody loud instantly.
Surely the idea is they want to alert people as soon as possible and as far away as possible, not give the average road user a fright as they suddenly hear the siren at the last minute and panic when its 5 feet behind you (why do people slam their brakes on when they hear a siren )

Anyway, I know this is not a one-off, I've noticed it plenty of times before. Its not my hearing. Its not that the siren was only put on at the last minute. Its like the sirens are just, well, crap until its a few feet away. Its like an LED light is pretty rubbish at givign out light, but shine one in your eye and its very intense light. Its that sort of thing but with sound. If that makes sense.
Anyone else noticed it? And it only seems to be police sirens. Fire engines and ambulances don't seem to have suffered... yet.

TURN YOUR RADIO DOWN, YOU WILL HEAR IT BETTER

Sorry couldnt resist

I voted yes"!

Not round here they're not. I used to live two streets away from the local nick and they put on the blues and twos at all hours of night, the streets round here are deserted after 10pm. It's probably a "rule" but I couldn't understand the needs to wake up the entire neighbourhood when driving down a deserted well lit street at 5am in the morning.

I do like the sirens which have the white noise burst in the middle of the sound. Helps with working out where they're coming from.

I think (read somewhere) that they actually have different sirens for different things, each with a different set of frequencies. Some are best to hear, like you were in direct line of sight, some carry better around corners so they switch to that near junctions, some are better to be heard by pedestrians, etc. So it could well be they had the second one on because there were lots of junctions and rely on you seeing the lights more... Or it could just be you've been using the angle grinder/hammer/etc too much!

Police / fire etc have two sirens, one is directional and good for people a distance away hearing you and getting out the way, the other isn't and is great for junctions so everyone hears it but doesn't know where its coming from so slows down.

Maybe they had the 'junction' siren on and changed to the 'directional' siren as they got close.

(or possibly the health and safety police decided that the old sirens were too loud).

Ah, so its not the fault of the siren, its the fault of the police officer.
Seems a stupid system to me, if its possible to get 'surprised' by a police car right behind you then its not safe. I have been following cars that have failed to notice the police car directly behind them because of this. Surely the safest thing is to take away possible ways to make errors in the police duty, not add more choices to them when they are focused on driving.

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Originally posted by balidey
if its possible to get 'surprised' by a police car right behind you then...

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Originally posted by Richard Quinn

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Originally posted by balidey
if its possible to get 'surprised' by a police car right behind you then...

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you're not checking your mirrors often enough

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cars have different sirens, not so much specially for different uses, but for those that havent driven blue lights, it is not an automated response by putting them on, everyone hears them and sees the blue lights and safely moves aside. Probably the opposite...

I would suggest about 30-40% of drivers see and hear police cars coming, and safely let them past.


The rest tend not to look in their mirrors enough and subsequently get a fright when the noise is right behind them, the same folk in their fright also tend to swerve and brake violently to get out of the way. Police drivers are trained to assume nobody has seen or heard them, and treat other road users in that manner , most of the time this system works.


The different sirens/wailers are useful if stuck on a busy dual carriageway/motorway behind heavies etc , who have poor rear visibility and the radio on....a change of tone is sometimes all its needed to catch their attention. Likewise at a junction, a quick change of siren on approaching it, and a slow move into the junction before driving across it.


Hence the different types, no they are not to sneak up on you ! I have noticed that some of the driver training cars have relatively quiet sirens on them, compared to real police cars, so maybe thats what you have come across .



More use of mirrors methinks , then next time you might not get a fright !

I remember a few years back they started to teach police drivers to switch off their lights / horns when approaching queuing traffic so as not to 'panic' the motorists into gridlock. Not sure how the drivers got on with it in real-world situations, but it looks really naff to the passer-by when you see it in practice. Looks like they're just dicking around and causes even more indecision IMHO!

Probably a civvy driving instructor thought of that one Scott....


Sounds like a pap idea

You have Email Ivan!

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Originally posted by scootz
You have Email Ivan!

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Originally posted by BenB
I do like the sirens which have the white noise burst in the middle of the sound. Helps with working out where they're coming from.

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