Query about sirens

 A young couple in a car were involved in a fatal car crash, t-boned
by a stolen truck running a red light at high speed, with police
in close pursuit. (I believe there's a film clip on YouTube).

The police car's lights were flashing and the siren sounding.

Common sense says the car driver should stop and (if possible) pull over
when he hears the siren, and on no account cruise merrily along through
the intersection, green light or no green light; but the police cam
shows the car entering the intersection at pretty well normal speed.

There was a ghastly pileup. My query is why didn't the car driver
honor the siren, but there's no asking him; he was killed in
the accident. Maybe he just didn't hear it; the sound was coming from
"around the corner", but this was not downtown with tall buildings,
it was more rural. I don't know much about acoustics, but sometimes
I can hear a siren seemingly from blocks away and never even see
the emergency vehicle.

Another film shows a biker running from police, only this time the cops
elect to follow with helicopter only. Their rationale being that
a police car increases the risk to innocent bystanders. However it seems
to me that without the police siren other drivers have no way of knowing
there's a rogue operator in the area.

In this case the biker broadsides a bus at an intersection. Well,
luckily it was a bus and not someone more vulnerable, such as
a cyclist. You could see the cross traffic start up when they got
the light, totally unaware of the approaching runaway biker.

Sean_Q_

 

I believe it depends on the situation, but I tend to find the lights far
easier to see than hearing of the siren.  But as to pulling through an
intersection when sirens and lights are coming - stupid and inexcusable.
Even if the driver didn't hear or see the approaching vehicle, you don't
just blindly enter an intersection.

As for the helicopter.  Lots of sides to this, but I've heard from police
officers that oftentimes they are discouraged from giving chase for moving
violations in that they endanger people by chasing whereas letting the
person go endangers no one.  Whether that's true or not is arguable and
depends on the moving violation

 
(1) I forgot to mention that the accident was at night.

(2) In police chase videos I've seen, traffic doesn't always
stop for the siren. Cars will pull out of the way of the action,
slow down, but they don't always stop. This is especially true
at intersections; often the police car approaches, siren screaming,
and cross traffic continues as if nothing unusual is going on.

???

SQ

 

Because he was high on meth, getting a BJ from his girlfriend, and
listening to his sounds cranked up at max volume while he drove.

--
Turby the Turbosurfer