I've Often Wondered Just How Safe Police Bikes Actually Are

One of my oldest friends is a police officer. He is a motorcycle cop in a city not far from mine, and he actually started out riding a police bike. While I am all for law enforcement using every available mode of transportation they feel can assist them in addressing criminal behavior as quickly and effectively as possible, I do wonder just how safe police bikes actually are.

I know that regular bikes can be dangerous if you are not a familiar rider. You can lose your balance and fall, the chain can come off and there can be a myriad of other problems. I really don't see how police bikes could be that much safer, and to the contrary, performing the type of work that law enforcement does, it would seem that it could present even more problems.

For instance, what if a person is on foot, fleeing from a police officer on a bike? Let's say that he runs out into traffic, and the police officer has to follow him out into the street. Maybe they are trained to avoid situations where they actually have to go out into traffic, but I would imagine that sometimes instinct takes over and it is hard to stop yourself. I am sure that police officers go through training to remain as safe as possible, even on police bikes, but I still feel concerned when I see it.

I also wonder what happens if an officer gets onto a bike and a person jumps into a car. At this point, I am not just wondering how I am going to be able to keep up with the guy, if I am the police officer, but I am worried about whether or not he is going to turn the car around and try to use it as a weapon against me. The fact of the matter is, cars are much bigger and more deadly than police bikes, and not everybody respects the badge.

I would also think that the potential to hurt somebody else is very high. Let's say that, as a police officer, you are in pursuit of someone that has committed a crime and you are chasing him on your bike and an innocent bystander steps out in front of you. It would seem that police bikes can be especially dangerous in situations like that.

I am not going to pretend to know how useful police bikes actually are or how dangerous they can be. I am not familiar with that particular line of work, and I don't know what kind of training police officers go through when it comes to policing on bikes. I would just have some serious concerns about my safety if I was assigned one.