Hérault police officers train to driving in a risky situation. They drive on a wet track, slaloming between blocks or doing emergency braking with drivers on the Goodyear circuits in Mireval. The goal is to learn how to control your vehicle in the event of an emergency or dangerous intervention.
Like during a chase or when you have to get to an intervention quickly. “Thanks to this course, colleagues will know to what limits they can actually push their vehicle and when they will have to slow down or even stop their movements. What is interesting for us is to be able to work in real conditions” explains Christophe, police major.
“We slalom between the vehicles to chase the person. But we have to do it safely” — Owens, police officer in Agde
Seat belt fastened, hands on the wheel and foot on the accelerator. Owens, a policeman from Agde, begins with the slalom exercise between the orange studs: “the objective is to always keep an eye on the next cone in order to be able to anticipate.” The 21-year-old is picking up speed.
Until reaching 80 kilometers per hour. Then he suddenly slows down. A emergency braking that the agent could have to redo in intervention. “We can stop like that for anything and everything. For a person crossing, a ball coming out of nowhere, a shopping cart being thrown at us. It’s very diverse. Most of the time, it’s just a car that smacks in front of us because we put the flashing light on and suddenly it’s scared.”
Then head to a completely wet circular track to learn how to control the vehicle in aquaplaning. “We pick up speed. As soon as it skids, we let go of the accelerator and put the steering wheel back on the right.”
All these exercises will be useful to Owens, especially in the event of a chase. “Generally we slalom between the vehicles to pursue the person. But we have to do our best to follow him. He does anything. We try to get as close as possible while respecting the safest gestures. for us and for others.”
A partnership with Goodyear in Mireval
The company Goodyear in Mireval renewed a partnership with the prefecture of Hérault. It had been pending for five years. Rémy Granier, site manager, considers that this partnership “helps impact the local fabric.” The pilots of the site accompany the police officers: “it is to bring them into limit situations which they are confronted with on a daily basis but there it is in a secure framework.”