Can any police officers out there explain the wisdom of these motorcades?

[jgraz]

It seems that they are exceptionally unsafe for the officers involved. Is there a way to avoid these horrible accidents?

[Virginia Dare]

1. The Dark Lord gets one every frickin day on his way to and from work..

and apparently he gets there at 6:00 in the morning.

[ixion]

2. sure, end the whole motorcade thing

it's a royalty throwback, IMO, and not really appropriate for a (supposedly) democratic republic.

[napi21]

3. I think it's mostly for "show". I'd like to hear how this most recent accident

happened. The motorcycle officers I know wouldn't accidentally "run into a wall" unless they were forced off the road or something tragically broke on the bike. So far I haven't heard any explaination for this awful accident!

[smoogatz]

7. Or he had a stroke or seizure while riding. Or hit a patch of oil or gravel,

or swerved to avoid a squirrel. God only knows. A friend of mine's brother was killed in a low-speed (20 mph) motorcycle accident when the guy he was riding with tipped over and knocked him off his bike. No helmet, head meets curb, adios, sayonara, good night. Motorcycles are incredibly dangerous. My aunt, an ER nurse, calls them "donorcycles."

[napi21]

16. O finally heard on Olberman that the cyclist hit a curb and lost control.

I can't believe it took all day and ONE broadcast to finally state what really happened. What caused him to hit the burb is still unknown, but at least something now make sense.

[sharp_stick]

4. They need to slow the hell down

Every time I see one on a open piece of road they're doing 70 or 80 bloody miles/hour. There is no good reason for this and until they enforce some rules they're going to keep doing it and they're going to keep dying.

[smoogatz]

5. I'm pretty sure the ones w/ motorcycle officers are usually ceremonial,

and that the moto-cops themselves are largely decorative on those occasions. I lived in DC for awhile, and you'd see non-ceremonial motorcades all the time: four or five big, black Suburbans, usually escorted by an unmarked police car, doing about 90 mph up Connecticut Ave. No pre-planned route, no fanfare, no motorcycle cops—just a highly effective way of moving important people from one place to another. Never heard of anyone getting killed as a result. Marine One (the big presidential chopper) used to fly right over our building all the time, too.

[TahitiNut]

6. Lives must be sacrificed for VIP privilege to drive highways in exclusive comfort.

:shrug: After all, the Ownership Class can't be delayed waiting for anyone else. That's why all multi-lane highways need Chauffeur Lanes (marked with diamonds).

[Diclotican]

13. TahitiNut

TahitiNut

Sounds more and more like the old soviet system where the top brass in the SUPK was driving in the middle lanes in Moscow and other big city's and the rest of the traffic just have to back down, even if they had all right to travel before the motorcabe... In the old days, the middle lanes was CLOSED to ordinary traffic, because the top brass in SUPK COULD be traveling there...

But off course, United States of America could _never_ be like the old Soviet system:sarcasm: When the leaders in the country have to be afraid of the public, you know you are in trouble?

Diclotican

Sorry my bad English, not my native language

[TahitiNut]

15. (Meg besteforeldre var Norsk, fra Oslo/Kristiania og Bergen.)

:hi: (No, I don't speak it .... other than "uffda!")

Yes ... a conservative government is about privilege. The Soviets were conservative ... taking over the privileges enjoyed by the Royalists, and NOT actually about egalitarianism.

[Diclotican]

21. TahitiNut

TahitiNut

Cool, your grandfathers was from oslo and Bergen;). Kristiania are the old name of Oslo;).. I am living straight outside Oslo, ca 30km outside for at be correct...In SW direction Wel uffda is a start to learn norwigian, even that it can be a dificult language to learn... But not that dificult then I hope. I know many americans who are speaking norwigian suprisenly good..

True, the Soviet system, was more and more conservative as the time goes bay.. And specially after Stalin was beginning to take a firm grasp about things... And for the most part, the top leaders in the SUPK was pretty well the royalties of the communist party. They even used to behave as the old Tzar's or the old royals before the revolution in 1917...



In the first year after the revolution, in fact what was to become Soviet was pretty "democratic" because it was many who wanted Russia to be more like a democratic state.. But the Bolsheviks, what become the Communist party after a while was doing a state cup, and then the rest as it goes are history... Even that Lenin was not that nice, Stalin was really MEAN... And he was the big ugly boss in Soviet from 1928 to his death in 1953.... And after Stalin every thingking about reform was dead in the water.. You know that silly little case named the cold war...

Diclotican

Sorry my bad English, not my native language

[Bright Eyes]

8. It's probably used to make the President feel like a big man

:eyes:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. I don't know.

Apparently the motorcycles ride well ahead of the motorcade to pull over other cars to make room for the motorcade itself to pass.

Sounds to me like the problem isn't the training of the motorcade drivers but inattentive drivers hitting the motorcycles.

Motorcycle driving has always been dangerous for this reason, and I don't know if it's getting better or worse.

I thought the Hawaii death was due to poor road conditions after a heavy squall, so it could be bad coincidences.

[jgraz]

10. Couldn't they just use a couple police cruisers?

They do it here all the time for traffic breaks.

[RamboLiberal]

17. None of the motorcycles were hit by other vehicles

Mon., Aug. 27, 2007
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A police officer died Monday after crashing his motorcycle while riding in a motorcade as President Bush prepared to leave the city following a fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici.

Francis said Casey's motorcycle hit a curb and then a tree, but investigators were reconstructing the accident to determine exactly what happened.

"Any time there is a presidential motorcade, the officers, that's part of their job, they drive at a high rate of speed," said Trish Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department, the agency that is investigating the crash.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20467072/

Nov 2006

Two of the three Honolulu Police Department motorcycle officers involved in a crash while escorting President George W. Bush to Hickam Air Force Base are in serious condition at The Queen's Medical Center.

The motorcycles reportedly slipped indvidually on a rain-slicked roadway at about 7:10 a.m near the base entry area.

(One later died)

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Nov/21/br/br5187469032.html

I think they are also there in case of emergency to provide quick escort and closing of side streets in case of attack on the motorcade or medical emergency to get protectee to ER.

[Javaman]

11. One of the perks as prez is; no red lights. nt

[NavyVet07]

12. Police Escorts

Make no sense in today's big brother society. They should just Cut on the redlights at every intersection between the big man's house and work and let him go on his merry way. saves lives and time.

[Xenotime]

14. Imagine the carbon footprint they create too!

[RamboLiberal]

18. Motorcop website

Escorts have been a part of police motorcycle duty for many years. I grew up in Northern Virginia and seeing police motorcycle escort of dignitaries was an everyday occurrence to me. As a young child seeing these powerful gleaming motorcycles with the lights flashing and the motor officer setting a top this machine, boots shining and the sunglasses automatically demanded respect. The traffic around Washington, DC and the northern Virginia area would part like the Red Sea when a police motorcade was coming.

The police motorcycle is without a doubt the most maneuverable police vehicle in your fleet. This is one of the biggest reasons why escorts are a huge part of our daily duties. We can get out in front and move heavy traffic to clear the way for the escort that will be coming (you can never leave too early to get out and secure a traffic control point). Unlike an officer in a car, when traffic is grid locked, cars don't have any place to go. We can split traffic and solve that problem.

Escorts are also one of the most dangerous duties that we perform. If you have had any time on a motor, I'm sure you will agree with me. I feel the biggest problem in escorts is a lack of communication. You should treat a small funeral escort like you would a Presidential escort. Obviously you would not put as much preparation into a funeral escort as you would a Presidential, but you should communicate the same. What I mean by this is every motor officer should be briefed on the route of the escort, the type of escort procedure you will be using, and what radio frequency you will be working on. You should get together with the Funeral Director and make sure that their staff understands what route you will be utilizing and at what speed you want the procession to travel. Once you arrive at your ending destination, all motor officers involved in the escort should immediately meet somewhere and have a quick debrief. This should only take a few minutes to cover what went right or wrong, and see if anybody has anything to add. This briefing will help make your escorts safer. If someone has something that they would like to discuss, now is the time to do it. If you wait until later on, they may forget to bring it up, or it may not have the same impact that it would have had meeting immediately.

-----

The "Reel" or "Shuffle"
This is a standard procedure that allows motor officers to conduct the escort in a safe, organized manner that requires little to no communication between officers. It gives motor officers a standard formation to make escort execution safer for the escorting officer. The "Reel" or "Shuffle" will start when the lead motor (1st motor on the left) goes ahead and secures a traffic control point. As the lead motor leaves the formation, the # 2 motor (which is the right side of the leader) moves over to assume the lead motor spot. The # 2 motor is responsible for maintaining lateral spacing between motors. All the motors behind the # 2 motor position should be directly in the wheel track of the # 2 motor. The motor officer located in the # 3 motor position (directly behind the lead motor) moves diagonally over to occupy the # 2 motor position. This will continue all the way back. Motor officers should keep approximately one and half to two motorcycle lengths between the motorcycle in front of you. The distance should be uniform from front to the rear of the formation. Fairfax County Police Department Motorcycle Squad uses this procedure with great results. When it comes to the "Reel" or "Shuffle", I would consider Fairfax County Police Department Motorcycle Squad in Fairfax, Virginia to be the experts on this procedure.

The Leap Frog
This method is where a motor officer will secure a traffic control point. That motor officer will keep this traffic control point secure as all the motors and vehicles in the procession pass through. Once the entire procession has cleared this traffic control point, that motor will then clear the traffic control point and work his/her way back up the rear of the working motors.

http://www.motorcops.com/police_training/escorts.asp

[Swamp Rat]

19. Unsafe at any speed

[genie_weenie]

20. Do away with the Federal Government?