6 ms·

The Art of the Motorcade

83 points by prismatic 10y ago

sanjeetsuhag 10y ago
This is a great read. Going off a tangent to this, if anybody is looking for a breakdown of the US Presidential motorcade, Tyler Rogoway does a great job in this article : http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/4518/the-fascinating-anatomy-of-the-presidential-motorcade http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/4518/the-fascinating-an...
- lostboys67 10y ago
  There is a memoir of a Security Service (Mi5) operator Soldier Spy and he goes into how they where trained to drive when tailing people.
  - nickt 10y ago
    The book is called "Soldier Spy" [1], by "Tom Marcus". He was on the Jeremy Vine show last week, his interview is worth a listen (starts at 33:30). [1] http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32330232-soldier-spy http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32330232-soldier-spy [2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b085hbwn#play http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b085hbwn#play
jamessb 10y ago
>British police do not push through congestion with parping, wailing sirens. Instead they somehow unzip it, opening and closing a rolling, convoy-sized gap in the traffic. The clever work is performed by a swarm of police motorcycles, which zoom ahead, blue lights flashing, to halt traffic at the next two or three junctions. Sometimes they create temporary chicanes so that the convoy can cross to the wrong side of the road for a few hundred yards. (Passing through north London, I felt British pride as pedestrians asked motorcycle officers just who we thought we were – a wholly reasonable question. I felt a stab of embarrassment as we hit the M11 motorway and headed at speed up the hard shoulder, leaving stationary commuters to fume in our wake.) In the absence of sirens the loudest noise is the buzz of motorcycles catching back up with the convoy then overtaking it at speed, on their way to close off new junctions ahead. There's an interesting short documentary about the Metropolitan Police Special Escort Group: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5TkSE_5GsE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5TkSE_5GsE
- jgrahamc 10y ago
  Living in London I've seen this many times for VIPs of the Royal Family and it's quite something to watch. The description of the Met unzipping traffic and then closing it up again is accurate.
  - sjtgraham 10y ago
    The high security convoys in Central London are the most insane thing I've ever seen, n.b. the occupants of the last two unmarked vehicles in this convoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E72KpO4JIM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E72KpO4JIM
  - arethuza 10y ago
    I've seen various members of the Royal Family in cars round Edinburgh and was always surprised at how low key the security was - usually a Jag with the VIP and a trailing black Range Rover.
- sfifs 10y ago
  I'm guessing from the Delhi experience Mr. Carter doesn't quite figure high enough in the priority list for India or wasn't thought to be much at risk. Convoys arrangements of elected leaders tend to be more elaborate.
- bryondowd 10y ago
  This sort of makes me wonder about how driverless cars could be designed to handle this sort of situation. Or any situation where an authorized human is temporarily modifying traffic rules using gestures and verbal communication. Especially in edge cases where they might be giving non-trivial instructions to individual cars.
  - gnud 10y ago
    Well, driverless cars will have to deal with unauthorized humans doing all sorts of weird stuff in traffic. I think this is a smaller problem.
DanBC 10y ago
Here's a Youtube video showing police motorcycle escort of an ambulance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXTDnYIHQBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXTDnYIHQBE It's interesting to see how much direction they need to give to drivers - "Don't slow down here, keep driving"; "stop there until we've gone through".
- sandworm101 10y ago
  Do ambulances and fire trucks need police escorts? I would think it could do more harm than good. I've driven through several red lights to give way, but if there was a cop in sight i'd probably hesitate. Seeing a cop, but perhaps not the ambulance, would trigger drivers to pull over thinking they were getting a ticket. In my area ambulances and fire trucks have no issues. Everyone gives way, even when they dont have lights on.
  - knz 10y ago
    My wife had an ambulance ride with a police escort once. A 20 minute drive turned into about 8 minutes. Minutes and seconds saved can make a difference sometimes.
sandworm101 10y ago
I dont think anyone really debates the need for such escorts, the prez needs to get to the airport securely. But perhaps due to my locatuon ive witnessed many ridiculous uses. Training. A good number of these police escorts are training senarios. Police need to train, but the use of force to detain members of the public during training is a step too far imho. Some VIPs arent very vip in my book. After concerts downtown, in the traffic chaos, it is not unussual to see police escort performers to the airport or hotel. Taylor Swift doesnt qualify as vip imho. Questionable destinations. Taking someone out to lunch doesnt need the police convoy. Send for take out. Dont block a bridge or manhandle me off my motorcycle just because a visiting vip feels like italian tonight. Let the food come to him.
- LanceH 10y ago
  Football team entering Dallas on I35 had a police escort. Fortunately I was headed the other way. Without the escort it would just be a couple buses going the same speed as everyone else.
- joezydeco 10y ago
  Do stars really hang around after a concert is over? From documentaries I've seen, they're on the bus and on the road before the applause is over. All the meet-and-greet is done before the concert.
  - sandworm101 10y ago
    In the case of one taylor swift concert last year, it was also fireworks night. The streets were packed before she ended. Stars can do what they want. Most leave asap, but i have heard of some overnighting at tge venue, or traveling to the next show with the crew. Helicopters are also an option, ussualy after the parking lot empties.
- Humdeee 10y ago
  I'm not a big music person in general, but it's interesting you would mention one of the biggest celebrities in the past few years in pop music as someone who doesn't make your list. What is your criteria for those that do?
kalleboo 10y ago
Motorcades also put on out an air of legitimacy, even when they're completely fake https://youtu.be/N3zKuLgH_l8 https://youtu.be/N3zKuLgH_l8
amalag 10y ago
The Indian and Japanese versions were the same, but in India they pretended to have a motorcade.
cafard 10y ago
Living and working in Washington, DC, I have thought for some years that a new administration brings in a increase in the number of motorcades, until the novelty wears off. I am fortunate to live within walking distance of work (extended: about three miles), and wouldn't be surprised to find myself walking home more this spring.
- flavor8 10y ago
  Rumour has it that Trump's planning to spend significant time in NYC, so it may turn out that there won't be as many as you fear. Trump Tower is being reglazed with bullet proof glass.
irrational 10y ago
This is not the kind of escort I thought I would be reading about.
- dang 10y ago
  That was clearly a bit of cheekiness by the Economist that doesn't translate particularly well to the front page here, so we did a s/escort/motorcade/.
davidw 10y ago
Pordonone should be Pordenone. Interesting read, in any case.
21 10y ago
Cool video of the Japan prime minister motorcade merging into traffic - https://i.imgur.com/Fz11DuI.gifv https://i.imgur.com/Fz11DuI.gifv And a parody of motorcade abuse in an African country - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbDgJN-j-PM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbDgJN-j-PM

83 points by prismatic 10y ago

This is a great read. Going off a tangent to this, if anybody is looking for a breakdown of the US Presidential motorcade, Tyler Rogoway does a great job in this article : http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/4518/the-fascinating-anatomy-of-the-presidential-motorcade http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/4518/the-fascinating-an...

lostboys67 10y ago
There is a memoir of a Security Service (Mi5) operator Soldier Spy and he goes into how they where trained to drive when tailing people.
- nickt 10y ago
  The book is called "Soldier Spy" [1], by "Tom Marcus". He was on the Jeremy Vine show last week, his interview is worth a listen (starts at 33:30). [1] http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32330232-soldier-spy http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32330232-soldier-spy [2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b085hbwn#play http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b085hbwn#play

jamessb 10y ago

>British police do not push through congestion with parping, wailing sirens. Instead they somehow unzip it, opening and closing a rolling, convoy-sized gap in the traffic. The clever work is performed by a swarm of police motorcycles, which zoom ahead, blue lights flashing, to halt traffic at the next two or three junctions. Sometimes they create temporary chicanes so that the convoy can cross to the wrong side of the road for a few hundred yards. (Passing through north London, I felt British pride as pedestrians asked motorcycle officers just who we thought we were – a wholly reasonable question. I felt a stab of embarrassment as we hit the M11 motorway and headed at speed up the hard shoulder, leaving stationary commuters to fume in our wake.) In the absence of sirens the loudest noise is the buzz of motorcycles catching back up with the convoy then overtaking it at speed, on their way to close off new junctions ahead. There's an interesting short documentary about the Metropolitan Police Special Escort Group: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5TkSE_5GsE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5TkSE_5GsE

jgrahamc 10y ago
Living in London I've seen this many times for VIPs of the Royal Family and it's quite something to watch. The description of the Met unzipping traffic and then closing it up again is accurate.
- sjtgraham 10y ago
  The high security convoys in Central London are the most insane thing I've ever seen, n.b. the occupants of the last two unmarked vehicles in this convoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E72KpO4JIM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E72KpO4JIM
- arethuza 10y ago
  I've seen various members of the Royal Family in cars round Edinburgh and was always surprised at how low key the security was - usually a Jag with the VIP and a trailing black Range Rover.
sfifs 10y ago
I'm guessing from the Delhi experience Mr. Carter doesn't quite figure high enough in the priority list for India or wasn't thought to be much at risk. Convoys arrangements of elected leaders tend to be more elaborate.
bryondowd 10y ago
This sort of makes me wonder about how driverless cars could be designed to handle this sort of situation. Or any situation where an authorized human is temporarily modifying traffic rules using gestures and verbal communication. Especially in edge cases where they might be giving non-trivial instructions to individual cars.
- gnud 10y ago
  Well, driverless cars will have to deal with unauthorized humans doing all sorts of weird stuff in traffic. I think this is a smaller problem.

DanBC 10y ago

Here's a Youtube video showing police motorcycle escort of an ambulance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXTDnYIHQBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXTDnYIHQBE It's interesting to see how much direction they need to give to drivers - "Don't slow down here, keep driving"; "stop there until we've gone through".

sandworm101 10y ago
Do ambulances and fire trucks need police escorts? I would think it could do more harm than good. I've driven through several red lights to give way, but if there was a cop in sight i'd probably hesitate. Seeing a cop, but perhaps not the ambulance, would trigger drivers to pull over thinking they were getting a ticket. In my area ambulances and fire trucks have no issues. Everyone gives way, even when they dont have lights on.
- knz 10y ago
  My wife had an ambulance ride with a police escort once. A 20 minute drive turned into about 8 minutes. Minutes and seconds saved can make a difference sometimes.

sandworm101 10y ago

I dont think anyone really debates the need for such escorts, the prez needs to get to the airport securely. But perhaps due to my locatuon ive witnessed many ridiculous uses. Training. A good number of these police escorts are training senarios. Police need to train, but the use of force to detain members of the public during training is a step too far imho. Some VIPs arent very vip in my book. After concerts downtown, in the traffic chaos, it is not unussual to see police escort performers to the airport or hotel. Taylor Swift doesnt qualify as vip imho. Questionable destinations. Taking someone out to lunch doesnt need the police convoy. Send for take out. Dont block a bridge or manhandle me off my motorcycle just because a visiting vip feels like italian tonight. Let the food come to him.

LanceH 10y ago
Football team entering Dallas on I35 had a police escort. Fortunately I was headed the other way. Without the escort it would just be a couple buses going the same speed as everyone else.
joezydeco 10y ago
Do stars really hang around after a concert is over? From documentaries I've seen, they're on the bus and on the road before the applause is over. All the meet-and-greet is done before the concert.
- sandworm101 10y ago
  In the case of one taylor swift concert last year, it was also fireworks night. The streets were packed before she ended. Stars can do what they want. Most leave asap, but i have heard of some overnighting at tge venue, or traveling to the next show with the crew. Helicopters are also an option, ussualy after the parking lot empties.
Humdeee 10y ago
I'm not a big music person in general, but it's interesting you would mention one of the biggest celebrities in the past few years in pop music as someone who doesn't make your list. What is your criteria for those that do?

kalleboo 10y ago

Motorcades also put on out an air of legitimacy, even when they're completely fake https://youtu.be/N3zKuLgH_l8 https://youtu.be/N3zKuLgH_l8

amalag 10y ago

The Indian and Japanese versions were the same, but in India they pretended to have a motorcade.

cafard 10y ago

Living and working in Washington, DC, I have thought for some years that a new administration brings in a increase in the number of motorcades, until the novelty wears off. I am fortunate to live within walking distance of work (extended: about three miles), and wouldn't be surprised to find myself walking home more this spring.

flavor8 10y ago
Rumour has it that Trump's planning to spend significant time in NYC, so it may turn out that there won't be as many as you fear. Trump Tower is being reglazed with bullet proof glass.

irrational 10y ago

This is not the kind of escort I thought I would be reading about.

dang 10y ago
That was clearly a bit of cheekiness by the Economist that doesn't translate particularly well to the front page here, so we did a s/escort/motorcade/.

davidw 10y ago

Pordonone should be Pordenone. Interesting read, in any case.

21 10y ago

Cool video of the Japan prime minister motorcade merging into traffic - https://i.imgur.com/Fz11DuI.gifv https://i.imgur.com/Fz11DuI.gifv And a parody of motorcade abuse in an African country - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbDgJN-j-PM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbDgJN-j-PM