Driving instructor Emile teaches students how to drive fast but safely

We are in a car going 158 km/h on a road with an 80 km/h speed limit. Still, it does not feel as if we are driving fast at all. We are in an Audi A6 with a 290-horsepower engine. We are overtaking other cars without the slightest noise, changing from left to right lane and back with only the tiniest turn of the wheel. When we brake, you hardly hear a sound, but feel yourself being pushed firmly into your seat and we are strapped in tightly by our seatbelts.

The driver is a student called Angela. There is no sign of perspiration on her forehead and she seems to have a relaxed grip on the steering wheel. We are effortlessly overtaking cars and trucks in the other lane, without pulling stunts. Welcome at the driving skills training for high-speed intervention vehicles (Rijvaardigheid Snel Interventie Voertuig, SIV). This is where police officers learn how to drive safely at high and extremely high speeds. The course is aimed at personnel who perform intervention or surveillance tasks for the regional and national units .

How fast are police officers allowed to drive?

‘Driving at high speeds is something almost everybody wants. However, only the police and other exempted emergency services are allowed to do this.’, says driving instructor Emile Bakker. ‘As we’re the police, we can completely ignore the Road Traffic and Traffic Signals Regulations if this is necessary to perform our duty. But we’re only allowed to do so for specific tasks,’ he stresses.

‘We may only violate the regulations if we do so safely and if the driver has followed specific training. High-speed intervention vehicles are only used for special intervention tasks. The control room decides whether this is needed: for each reported incident they check whether such a vehicle should be used. These incidents are usually related to High-Impact Crime*.’

Only in exceptional cases

‘The exemption applicable to the police is subject to sector-specific guidelines*’, Emile explains. ‘One of the rules is that we’re not allowed to exceed the relevant speed limit by more than 40 km/h. Another rule is that we’re only allowed to jump a red light at a speed of 20 km/h. The guidelines further state that we’re allowed to deviate from these rules, but only in exceptional cases. The driver of a high-speed intervention vehicle is therefore allowed to break those rules.’

‘Sometimes it’s crucial for police officers or detectives to get from A to B swiftly. If the traffic situation does not allow for faster driving, you’ll have to adjust your speed. The high-speed intervention vehicle can use optical and acoustic signals to let other road users know that the driver is in a hurry and wants to pass.’

*Sector-specific guidelines give direction to the behaviour of drivers of priority vehicles.

‘Sometimes I’m just too careful’

Occasionally, Angela steers the car slightly to the right or left side to be able to see past the vehicles in front. She doubts whether it’s safe to overtake. She asks Emile what he thinks of the situation. He points out that the median strip is relatively low and has a sloping kerb instead of a sharp one. ‘You could easily have crossed it here’, he says. ‘But because you hesitated, it’s better not to use the other lane for overtaking right now.’ 

Angela is a little annoyed with herself. ‘Sometimes I’m just too careful’, she says to her fellow student Niek. Niek nods in agreement. It is almost his turn to take the wheel. Angela and Niek will both be taking their final test on Friday, following three weeks of driving lessons.

For the most part, students train without using optical and acoustic signals. ‘This is deliberate’, Emile explains. ‘When the signals are turned on, driving is usually easier. Everyone can see you coming and knows what you want. However, in some situations you do not want others to know you’re coming. In that case, it’s important that you can also drive well when other road users are not making way for you. At the same time, this puts other road users in a difficult position, because they can only see a car that’s showing odd behaviour, overtaking both left and right, ignoring red traffic lights and driving against the traffic.’

Always drive safely

‘It’s very important for us to always drive safely, even when the signals are turned off. We don’t want to scare other road users’, Emile stresses. ‘This is also laid down in the sector-specific guidelines that come with the exemption applicable to the police. We remain responsible for our own safety and that of others at all times. That’s why I teach students to pay particular attention to the potential reactions of other road users.’

‘As a driver, you’re constantly making predictions. You do this to avoid situations in which your driving behaviour puts other road users at risk. It’s up to you to recognise all potential dangers in advance and respond appropriately.’

‘To onlookers our driving behaviour may seem anti-social. Indeed, we exceed the speed limit, drive on the wrong side of the road and sometimes even jump a red light, although at a low speed. That triggers a reaction from other road users’, Emile explains. ‘Sometimes other road users respond to us, for instance by signalling with their headlights. However, most citizens are cooperative and accept our driving as soon as they see the car.’

‘It’s a special vehicle with the outward appearance of a police vehicle. I suppose that other road users think: ‘this is a special vehicle, so they’re probably allowed to do what they’re doing’. Sometimes we perform high-speed manoeuvres that look odd and dangerous to the untrained eye, but which are fairly normal for us. That’s not always easy to explain to the public. But we train this kind of driving very thoroughly and it’s part of our job. We’re very much aware that driving safely is crucial, which is why this specialist training is such an intensive one.’

Smoothly and safely

Niek has now taken Angela’s place at the wheel and he’s not wasting any time. We’re driving at a brisk pace. Niek has been instructed to drive ‘smoothly and safely’, while Angela had to perform an emergency scenario, where you’re allowed to jump a red light, for example. In the smooth-and-safe scenario this is not the case.

‘I feel that the brakes are starting to pulsate’, Niek says to Emile. This type of driving really puts the brakes to the test. We’re not jumping any red lights, so we need to slow down quickly from speeds over 100 km/h to 0 to stop at the traffic light like everybody else. ‘I’ll call the garage,’ Emile says. ‘It’s been almost four weeks since the brake pads were replaced. In a normal car, brake pads can last about four years, but that’s completely out of the question for the cars we use’, Emile laughs. He calls the garage while we continue driving, safely and at high speed.