British obsessions: police sirens
Barely a day goes past in London without hearing one: the wailing sound of a police siren. You hear the sirens so often that it becomes a bit like Peter crying ‘wolf’ – it is such a normal sound that people just tend to ignore it. This also applies to drivers who are less keen to get out of the way of police cars as a result. The question is then why are there so many sirens?
London is not a particularly severe city of crime. OK, anything seems to be justifiable in the war on terror but that cannot explain everything. Is it maybe that visible policing makes Londoners feel more secure? Makes me feel quite the opposite actually.
The city is undoubtedly large, and perhaps police stations are widely spaced and hence many journeys are needed? On the other hand, it could simply be a tendency by the police to use the sirens whenever they choose so as to get to their destinations swiftly through the slow London traffic, even if the matter is not an emergency. If that was indeed the case,??the police are themselves largely to blame for??the Peter crying ‘wolf’ problem.
Anyway, sensible answers about the crazy number of police sirens in London would be most welcome!
This is an interesting question and has nothing to do with London, I have lived in Manchester and Leeds and I heard a police siren on average every hour. I thought it had to do with big cities, but then I lived in York and Canterbury and I still heard a police siren several times a day. When I’m abroad in Belgium, Germany or Holland, I hear it on average once a week.
I guess it has to do with the amount of cars that block the streets and the road layout that channels all traffic along particular roads…