General duty police officers spend a significant amount of time in their patrol cars. In a recent study for
12 the Surrey RCMP on average, officers spent approximately half (49%) of each shift in their patrol car.
Of the time in their patrol vehicles, members spent nearly half of that time driving (48%) and the remaining portion sitting in the car with it idling. As might be expected, the amount of time a member spent in their car on any given shift varies depending on the size of the area they police and the specific job requirements of the particular shift.