Law Enforcement Vehicle Operations

What should you check when performing a vehicle inspection?

Fluid levels, hoses, electrical wiring, belts, and tires

What is PSI?

Pounds per square inch; unit used to measure tire inflation

If tire wear bars are even with the tread surface, the tires will not _________

Dissipate fluids

-Engine oil

-Transmission fluid

-Brake fluid

-Power steering fluid

-Coolant reservoir

-Windshield washer fluid

The fluid levels you should check include:

- Fraying

- Cuts

- Cracks

- Gouges

Check belts for:

- Dry rot

- Cracks

- Holes

- Bulges

- Leaks

Check hoses for:

- Fraying

- Corrosion

- Cracked or missing insulation

- Exposure

Check wires for:

Before and after every shift and after every transport, check under the back seat for possible ____________ a suspect may have left in the car

Weapons or contraband

Long and protruding equipment must be stored across the _____ of the trunk

Width (side to side)

Vision supplies about __________ of incoming data to a driver and helps with detecting and avoiding hazards.

90% to 95%

What is acuity?

Sharpness of vision

What is depth perception?

The ability to judge distance and perceive space to determine how far away an object is

What is peripheral vision?

The ability to see above, below, and to the sides (a person with good peripheral vision can see 180 degrees from side to side)

What is color vision?

The ability to distinguish colors

What is night vision?

The ability to see clearly in darkness

What are some factors that affect vision?

Environmental and physical conditions, alertness, and aging

A fire can start if the vehicle is left running while parked over a grassy areas for an extended period of time. This is usually caused by the extreme heat from a ____________. The odor of _________ smoke is usually the first sign of a grass fire

Catalytic converter, bitter

When you cannot avoid striking or driving over an obstacle, try to

Strike it at a slight angle with free rolling tires

______ and ______ are the weather conditions that are most likely to affect your vehicle's performance in Florida

Rain, wind

Even a small amount of rain can cause a car to float off the road. Though they are designed to disperse water, tires sometimes _________

Hydroplane

Officers should be especially careful at ________, as they represent the single greatest threat to safe vehicle operation

Intersections

- Sideswipes

- Right-angle collisions at intersections

- Collisions with fixed objects

- Accidents caused by improper backing

- Head-on collisions

- Rear-end collisions

Some frequently occurring crashes include:

- Any person operating a motor vehicle must be restrained by a safety belt

- Any person 18 years of age or older who is a passenger in the front seat of a motor vehicle must be restrained by a safety belt when the motor vehicle is in motion

- Each passenger and operator of the vehicle under the age of 18 must be restrained by a safety belt or by a child restraint device pursuant to section 316.613, F.S.

The Florida Safety Belt Law (316.614, F.S.) requires that:

- Soft objects ((bushes, small trees, or fences)

- Objects moving in the same direction (including another vehicle)

- Fixed object (tree, sign or parked car)

If an oncoming vehicle forces you off the road, you can potentially reduce the chances of injury by attempting to select what to hit:

What should you do if you cannot avoid hitting a fixed object or an oncoming vehicle?

Hit the object with the side of the vehicle rather than head on

What rule is applied to establish a safe following distance for all vehicles when weather and road conditions are good?

Three-second rule

What rule is applied to establish a safe following distance for all vehicles when weather and road conditions are not ideal?

Six-second rule

The four 6-inch squares, that most tires of law enforcement vehicles rest on is known as

The contact patch

What are the three types of vehicular motion?

Pitch, roll, and yaw

What is the pitch?

Occurs during acceleration or braking and causes the transfer of a vehicle's weight from front to rear or rear to front

What is the roll?

Occurs when turning. Shifts the vehicles weight from side to side.

What is the yaw?

The transfer of a vehicle's weight causing an end-for-end motion resulting in the vehicle turning 180º on a horizontal plane

The degree of pitch, roll, and yaw that a vehicle experiences is affected by the

Vehicular stability

The center of gravity on the most stable vehicle is ________ and __________, and the higher a vehicle's center of gravity, the lower its stability

Low, centered

As a vehicle's tracking width decreases, so does its _________

Stability

______________ helps drivers maintain control of their vehicle during extreme steering maneuvers, even when the vehicle nears or exceeds the limits of road traction. ____________ is typically a secondary function of the ESC designed to prevent loss of traction

Electronic stability control (ESC), traction control system (TCS)

_____________ and ___________ occur when the vehicle's speed changes and influence the vehicle's handling ability

Weight transfer, distribution

Weight transfers towards the tires on the _______ of the turn when turning a corner

Outside

What is a radius?

The distance from the center of a circle to the outside

What is an increasing radius?

A turn that gets wider during the turn much like a circle getting larger

What is a decreasing radius?

A turn that gets tighter during the turn much like a circle getting smaller

What is a constant radius?

A turn that remains the same throughout, getting neither wider nor smaller. (Ex. 90º turn).

What is an apex?

The center point of any curve

What is the apexing technique?

How the vehicle is steered in relation to a curve's apex while maintaining your lane

What is an early apexing technique?

When the vehicle is steered so it is closest to the inside of the curve before reaching the apex

What is a center apexing technique?

When the vehicle is steered closest to the middle of the curve

What is a late apexing technique?

When the vehicle is steered so it passes closest to the inside of the curve after reaching the apex. This technique reduces centrifugal force, reducing the potential for loss of control.

_________ has a direct relationship with vehicle dynamics, vehicle handling, and traction control

Steering

What is understeer?

The tendency of a vehicle to turn less sharply than the driver intends

What is the cause of understeer?

May be a combination of excessive speed, lack of traction on the steering tires, and improper braking in a turn or curve

How do you correct an understeer?

Remove the foot from the accelerator, maintain steering input but not apply brakes, and, if necessary, steer the car to a safe place and stop

What is oversteer?

The tendency of a vehicle to steer into a sharper turn than the driver intends, sometimes with a loss of traction of the rear to the outside

How does oversteer generally occur?

At higher speeds when the rear tires lose traction and excessive braking occurs in a turn or curve

How do you correct oversteer?

Remove the foot from the accelerator or brake, steer the car where desired (when the front tires have not lost traction), refrain from applying the brakes, and if necessary, steer the car to a safe place and stop

What is wheel tracking?

Causes the rear wheels to follow a tighter path than the path the front wheels traveled in a turn.

Hold the steering wheel with a firm yet relaxed grip. The _______ should rest on the rim of the steering wheel and never hold the wheel too tightly

Thumbs

It is recommended that you place your right hand in the __________ position and your left hand in the _________ position

4 o'clock, 8 o'clock

What is the caster effect?

The tendency for a vehicle traveling forward to straighten from a turn when the driver releases the steering wheel

What is eye-targeting?

Also known as optical driving, is looking in the desired direction of travel to avoid an obstacle and to avoid steering in the direction of the obstacle

What is anti-lock braking system (ABS)?

An electronic braking system that monitors and controls each of the wheels during braking to keep them from locking

___________ requires entering an intersection safely and properly at normal driving speeds and making a 90º turn to the right or left

Cornering

The majority of law enforcement vehicle crashes are a result of

Backing into a fixed object

The ________, which handle a great amount of weight transfer while driving in reverse, are not as efficient as the front brakes

Rear brakes

Driving in reverse requires ______ steering input to produce a larger change in direction

Less

- Overdriving of vehicle headlights

- Reaction distance

- Field of vision

- Loss of visual cues

- Glare

- Emergency lights

Several factors may influence driving performance at night:

According to s. 316.237, F.S., vehicle headlights should reveal a person _______ away with the high beams and a distance of ________ with the low beams

450 feet, 150 feet

What are the measurable changes to normal body functions?

Physiological effects

- Tunnel vision

- Selective hearing

- Increased heart rate

- Time distortion

- Loss of spatial awareness/fine motor skills

What are examples of physiological effects?

Always offset your vehicle to the ____ of the available roadway but within your lane

Left

The goal of ______ is to apprehend a fleeing violator

Pursuit

What is pursuit?

An active attempt, by driving an authorized emergency vehicle (with emergency equipment activated), to apprehend occupants of a moving vehicle if the driver of such occupants' vehicle increases vehicle speed, takes other evasive actions, or refuses to stop in an apparent attempt to avoid apprehension.

In ______________ the U.S. Supreme Court stated that an officer or agency has no duty to guarantee a person's safety unless a special relationship exists between the law enforcement and that person

DeShaney v. Winnebago

According to the Florida case, _____________, law enforcement has a duty to protect the public when choosing to continue a pursuit

City of Pinellas Park v. Brown

The Florida Supreme Court did not prohibit law enforcement pursuits; it simply stated that any law enforcement decision to start or continue a pursuit is subject to court review under the doctrine of negligence, not just as a use of force under the ____________

Fourth Amendment

In _____________, the court held that certain pursuit tactics might result in a claim of a constitutional violation as a seizure by deadly force

Brower v. County of Inyo

In _________, officer may be liable if their actions are sufficient to "shock the conscience" of the court

County of Sacramento v. Lewis

To ______________ under the conditions of a high-speed pursuit, the officer must have intended to cause harm to the violator without justification for the use of deadly force

"Shock the conscience"

What is a roadblock?

The use of vehicles, barricades, cones, or other objects to block traffic flow partially or completely

What are appropriate locations for roadblocks?

Areas that provide a clear view of the roadblock from both sides and highways, streets, or roads

What are inappropriate locations for roadblocks?

Locations over the crest of a hill and locations in, on, or around a curve. Never select a location where the violator has no warning that the crash may occur

• Hollow spikes that puncture a vehicle's tire and allow air to be released, causing the tire to deflate

• Track or mat base

• Some form of officer deployment

All tire deflation devices share common characteristics:

What is the pursuit immobilization technique (PIT)?

Used to stop a violator's vehicle by using the law enforcement vehicle to apply force to either the rear right or left side of the violator's vehicle to end the pursuit