Two distinctive accidents happened in two municipalities which involved police vehicles – The rarest kind.

A 42-year-old police officer’s car was hit by another police officer’s car who failed to yield right-of-way on a clear weather at 11 p.m. at the intersection of Maple Grove Road and Cherry Blossom Road (driveway).

The stats from the Annual Collision Database points out the two peculiar road accidents occurred which involved the vehicles of police officers hitting each other. The study done for the last five years had details of 185 accidents happened in which a police vehicle was involved.

On a Tuesday night in May 16, 2006 at the intersection of Maple Grove Road and Cherry Blossom Road a 26-year-old police officer’s carelessness hit another officer’s car.  The accident was caused due to the failure to yield right-of-way by the young police officer.  The undivided two-way road was found to be wet and under repair. 

There was no evident injury. The accident was investigated by the Cambridge Police Service and the police officer was charged under the Highway Traffic Act.  Practice is that the driver charged under the Highway Traffic Act can defend him or herself and fight the charge or plead guilty. The guilty plea will result in a fine and/or demerit points.  If the offence committed falls under the Criminal Code of Canada, then the officer can plead guilty or choose to defend themselves with the assistance of a lawyer.

“An officer who is charged under the Police Services Act has the option of defending themselves against the charge or plead guilty, or come to some other equitable arrangement,” Officer Olaf Heinzel, the Public Affairs Coordinator of Waterloo Regional Police Service.

It is highly stressful driving a police vehicle in emergency response situations and the police officers are trained to handle a wide range of emergency situations. But accidents occur and the frustration that the emergency workers go through is when the drivers refuse to pull out of the way of a vehicle with lights and sirens activated.

 “We continue to encourage all drivers to pay attention to their driving and watch for approaching emergency vehicles by looking all around, using your mirrors frequently and listening for sirens” says Officer Heinzel.

Bad weather is not always a reason for accidents happening on the highways. Better traffic control could have avoided the accident that occurred in August 8, 2008 in which two police cars hit each other. This accident happened in the morning at 8 a.m. near Fisher-Hallman Rd and Highway 7/8 ramps. The reason for the accident of the two police vehicles is not known till today. No injuries reported.

This kind of accident happens with bad driving or carelessness. The officers are given driver training during their Basic Constable Training at the Ontario Police College. In addition to this, the Waterloo Regional Police Service has a driver trainer on staff who is responsible to provide additional and/or remedial training.

When an on-duty officer is involved in an accident, the same rules and actions are taken as in any collision. The procedure includes checking the injuries, evaluating risks to public safety and protecting the scene until investigators arrive. The officer’s supervisor will be notified. The majority of the collisions are found to be minor. The police cars that got hit in the accidents are repaired and are back on the road.

The circumstances of the collision will determine what occurs to the police officer.  For example, a minor scratch in a parking lot will result in a report being filed. It will not lead to the same actions as a collision on a roadway involving another vehicle.    

Based on the severity of the accident, the officer can be charged under the Highway Traffic Act or the Criminal Code of Canada. Criminal charges are handled by criminal courts. “In Police Act hearings a senior officer may be assigned to hear the case, or in some circumstances, an external adjudicator may be brought in,” says officer Heinzel.”

The police department tracks the accidents involving police vehicles and maintain reports of the investigation. These reports are then entered in a database which could be used for further review and analysis.

The number of accidents in 2009 shows a decreasing trend compared to the preceding four years except in 2007.  Approximately 266 collisions were lesser in 2009 compared to the 2008 data. Yet it is surprising to know that there were 185 collisions which involved police vehicles.