red traffic lights and emergency vehicle

prowla

Do not put yourself (or anybody else) in danger to allow the emergency vehicle to pass, or you may be needing your own ambulance!

BikerEd

tomstickland wrote: »

*I did once pull over and the ambulance had to tailgate the car that had been in front of me for about 30s before they noticed the flashing lights. Makes me wonder how alert some people are.

That is not an uncommon event. I dread a blue light call on the M5 on a bank holiday weekend because I can guarantee that I will get held up by at least two people heading down to Devon/Cornwall (car packed to the roof with luggage and toys) who obviously have the tweety birds flying around in their head or Bob The Builder playing loudly on the stereo. The psychology of blue light responding is interesting and it is very important not to get wound up by other people's actions - I'd rather get there alive, even if it means losing a minute. Getting there alive is important not just for me, but for the other person whose life was at risk i.e. the subject of the blue light call.

MrsE_2

BikerEd wrote: »

That is not an uncommon event. I dread a blue light call on the M5 on a bank holiday weekend because I can guarantee that I will get held up by at least two people heading down to Devon/Cornwall (car packed to the roof with luggage and toys) who obviously have the tweety birds flying around in their head or Bob The Builder playing loudly on the stereo. The psychology of blue light responding is interesting and it is very important not to get wound up by other people's actions - I'd rather get there alive, even if it means losing a minute. Getting there alive is important not just for me, but for the other person whose life was at risk i.e. the subject of the blue light call.

I think car stereos very loud are also a distraction, some people have them so lold they can't hear sirens coming.

BikerEd

MrsE wrote: »

I think car stereos very loud are also a distraction, some people have them so lold they can't hear sirens coming.

Ditto music on bikes. I don't like to listen to music while I ride. On my personal bike I prefer the sound of my (very loud) exhaust

Dave101t

in a town i had one in my rear view mirror (about 100m away or more), i pulled over immediatly and my friend said 'why have you pulled over' then the vehicle with flashing lights speeds past and he says 'oh.'!

hows that for observation!

Lum

BikerEd wrote: »

That is not an uncommon event. I dread a blue light call on the M5 on a bank holiday weekend because I can guarantee that I will get held up by at least two people heading down to Devon/Cornwall (car packed to the roof with luggage and toys) who obviously have the tweety birds flying around in their head or Bob The Builder playing loudly on the stereo. The psychology of blue light responding is interesting and it is very important not to get wound up by other people's actions - I'd rather get there alive, even if it means losing a minute. Getting there alive is important not just for me, but for the other person whose life was at risk i.e. the subject of the blue light call.

Oh god, I can fully understand this. Was on the M5 last summer in lane 3 behind some MPV stuffed full of kids and only doing about 65, when I hear the sirens from behind, black sporty unmarked Renault Clio, unmarked that is except for the blue flashing lights and the alternate flashing headlights that is, oh and the sirens too.

I pull into the middle lane, Clio comes alongside me, MPV does nothing. It soon becomes apparent that they're not moving over despite the fact that I'm deliberately making room for them to do so, so I end up backing off even more and waving the police car in front of me. Car does so, waves and undertakes the MPV as there's tons of room in the middle lane as the HGV that was there had seen what was going on and moved over. MPV driver finally notices and responds with the horn and two fingers even though the car has it's blue flashers on the back as well as the front.

You can probably guess what I did next. Tons of room in the middle lane. I decided that being in close proximity to someone that stupid was an unacceptable level of danger and undertook them too, as did all the other people who had moved over for the police car.

They were still in the outside lane doing 65 when they finally dropped out of view in my rear view mirror.

molby73

I can't believe I'm reading people saying that staying still was the correct thing to do!?!?!?

You look to get out of the way and make a safe assessment to see if you are able to. If not then of course you don't move but to quote that you may be breaking the law by crossing the line is just the most scary thing I've read. Someone might die because you're thinking about whether you can legally go through a light. Madness, absolute madness.

Assess the situation and act accordingly. If you can't do that don't drive.

DCodd

molby73 wrote: »

I can't believe I'm reading people saying that staying still was the correct thing to do!?!?!?

You look to get out of the way and make a safe assessment to see if you are able to. If not then of course you don't move but to quote that you may be breaking the law by crossing the line is just the most scary thing I've read. Someone might die because you're thinking about whether you can legally go through a light. Madness, absolute madness.

Assess the situation and act accordingly. If you can't do that don't drive.

But as BikerEd said, it is up to the emergency vehicle driver to make that assessment and that is what they want to do! He rides an emergency vehicle and he wants to make the desicsions, he is trained to do that. As long as you do not do anything that is unexpected or make a sudden move then the emergency vehicle driver will make the desicsion as to what is the safest and quickest way to negotiate the traffic.

molby73

DCodd wrote: »

But as BikerEd said, it is up to the emergency vehicle driver to make that assessment and that is what they want to do! He rides an emergency vehicle and he wants to make the desicsions, he is trained to do that. As long as you do not do anything that is unexpected or make a sudden move then the emergency vehicle driver will make the desicsion as to what is the safest and quickest way to negotiate the traffic.

And if they are stuck behind someone at a light and can't move anywhere else?

No way do you sit still and firmly state you are following the law to the letter. You check to see if it's safe and move over. No one would say to blindly pull out in front of traffic. Madness, I can't believe people think this way.

sarahg1969

molby73 wrote: »

Madness, I can't believe people think this way.

The authorities clearly do. Unless and until they tell me they won't take a quarter of my driving licence away if I drive over the white line, then I won't do it.