I have lived in many cities, including New York and the use of Police sirens in London, is much more widespread. This gives the perception that London is a high crime city and inherently makes people feel less safe. Not to mention the fact that siren usage is unrestricted; day and night, even when there is no traffic, keeping people in busy areas awake with the excessive noise.
It makes me wonder if the Met Police stations are actually located in the wrong places, hence they have to travel back and forward to the high crime areas. I notice sometimes on Holloway road and Liverpool Road in North London that patrol cars dangerously speed in one direction down the street with sirens and lights, and then pass another car going in the opposite direction a few seconds later.
Speeding patrol cars is also a danger to the public and pedestrians as they go through red lights and across pedestrian crossings, and endanger cyclists.
I suggest:
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Hi there I live in New Cross Gate and am haunted 24/7 by siren misuse. I’ve started a twitter account to raise awareness. Hope you’ll join:
@stopthesirens
I honestly can’t believe I’ve come across this website. You are looking at this from a rather simplistic point of view and if I might ad, thinking of your own self interests. Driving on blues and twos is dangerous and sirens help increase safety for everyone, including the officers themselves, because it raises awareness of an emergency vehicle approaching – London’s roads and pathways are always busy, even at night and especially in inner London, so sirens need be used. Reporting use and justification of use of sirens will never happen – police officers need to spend their time doing really important work, not silly paperwork like this. Dispatch is intelligently done as it is, the reason why you might see cars travelling different directions and passing each other is, to those who don’t know about police work, for many different operational reasons – for example – the officers might have different skills or training or different equipment on-board and so are going to specific jobs for a reason. The emergency services do everything they can to use sirens as little as possible, it’s not great sitting in a vehicle with the siren going all the time, but they are used for a reason. There is no such thing as siren misuse. Please wind your neck in!
Sirens are simply far too loud and intimidate people.
Their use has risen exponentially over a relatively short period. They are far loud and give the impression that one is living in a high-crime area. They are antisocial and serve no utilitarian purpose whatsoever. Sonic terrorism does not belong in this country. It is time that they were banned, or at least restricted to a minimum as they are redundant and induce panic in people.
It is totally unnecessary and very unnerving to have to put up with bloody sirens going off day and night. They are set on too high a pitch and cause great distress especially to elderly people. It is also a reflection on the immaturity of the users.
The use of emergency vehicle sirens is actually counterproductive. They serve no utilitarian purpose and are antisocial. In recent times the whole country has seen an enormous increase in the usage of these pointless devices. They intimidate, cause fear and anxiety and have an adverse effect on peoples mental and physical well-being. It is time that they were regulated and have their volume greatly reduced as they are simply far too loud.
I get very stressed with the constant use of sirens,mainly police who use them when not needed. And they are so loud. We aren’t America! They do not need to be used when there is no traffic at night.