Blue Lights

gingerdad

This not money saving but, I am after the best place to look for advice on Blue light driver training. What is the law, some people say you need to be an advanced driver...

the question has come up because i am part of an Search and Rescue team, we have one slow vehicle with blue lights and no training is needed other than that to driver the thing, it is a specialised piece of kit and will only do 35mph flat out, but we use the blue lights as a warning that we are on a shout.

We are now getting a truck to transport this further afield and this will have blue lights on it so we can move faster to jobs further away. We have been heavily involved with a certain flooding incident last week (for which we had a fire service escort).

So to drive a truck under blue lights what is the law? As lots of people have a different opinion. I am hoping the fire service will train us but that’s down the road....

GD

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Only emergency services vehicles are allowed to drive with blue lights.

That means police, fire, and ambulance. Nobody else.

gingerdad

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

Only emergency services vehicles are allowed to drive with blue lights.

That means police, fire, and ambulance. Nobody else.

We are classed as an emergency service and come under both MCA and Fire & Rescue Control..

Premier_2

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

Only emergency services vehicles are allowed to drive with blue lights.

That means police, fire, and ambulance. Nobody else.

Coast guard

The real 4th emergency service


Edit: There are actually at least 9 services that can use blue lights:

• Police
• H.M. Coastguard
• Fire
• Ambulance
• Human Tissue for Transplant
• Blood Transfusion Service
• Mines rescue
• Mountain rescue
• Lifeboat launching vehicles

http://www.findleys.co.uk/practical_tutorials/blue_light_policy.html

I've seen bomb disposal vehicles being driven under blue lights too.

casper_g

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

Only emergency services vehicles are allowed to drive with blue lights.

That means police, fire, and ambulance. Nobody else.

Mountain Rescue? Cave Rescue? Coastguard? Doctors providing out-of-hours emergency cover? Come to think of it, many vehicles operated by a Search and Rescue service are ambulances, e.g. these.

mustrum_ridcully

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

Only emergency services vehicles are allowed to drive with blue lights.

That means police, fire, and ambulance. Nobody else.

To say you're wrong would be an understatement

According to The Road Vechicles Lighting Regulations 1989 and 2005
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1989/Uksi_19891796_en_1.htm
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20052559.htm

Restrictions on fitting blue warning beacons, special warning lamps and similar devices:
16. No vehicle, other than an emergency vehicle, shall be fitted with-
(a) a blue warning beacon or special warning lamp, or
(b) a device which resembles a blue warning beacon or a special warning lamp, whether the same is in working order or not.

An 'emergency vehicle' is a motor vehicle of any of the following descriptions
(a) a vehicle used for fire brigade, ambulance or police purposes;
(b) an ambulance, being a vehicle (other than an invalid carriage) which is constructed or adapted for the purposes of conveying sick, injured or disabled persons and which is used for such purposes;
(c) a vehicle owned by a body formed primarily for the purposes of fire salvage and used for those or similar purposes;
(d) a vehicle owned by the Forestry Commission or by a local authority and used from time to time for the purposes of fighting fires;
(e) a vehicle owned by the Secretary of State for Defence and used- (i) for the purposes of the disposal of bombs or explosives; (ii) by the Naval Emergency Monitoring Organisation for the purposes of a nuclear accident or an incident involving radioactivity; (iii) by the Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service for the purposes of rescue operations or any other emergencies, or; (iv) by the Royal Air Force Armament Support Unit;
(f) a vehicle primarily used for the purposes of the Blood Transfusion Service provided under the National Health Service Act 1977 or under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978;
(g) a vehicle used by Her Majesty's Coastguard or Coastguard Auxiliary Service for the purposes of giving aid to persons in danger or vessels indistress on or near the coast;
(h) a vehicle owned by the British Coal Corporation and used for the purposes of rescue operations at mines;
(i) a vehicle owned by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and used for the purposes of launching lifeboats;
(j) a vehicle primarily used for the purposes of conveying any human tissue for transplanting or similar purposes;
(k) a vehicle under the lawful control of the Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and used from time to time for the purposes of the investigation of serious crime (which, save for the omission of the words "and, where the authorising officer is within subsection (5)(h), it relates to an assigned matter within the meaning of section 1(1) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979", has the meaning given in section 93(4) of the Police Act 1997URL="http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20052559.htm#note3"]3[/URL)."

Yes even HMRC can slap on the blue lights when coming to nick you for not paying taxes

cyclonebri1

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

Only emergency services vehicles are allowed to drive with blue lights.

That means police, fire, and ambulance. Nobody else.

Poor post ppl

casper_g

Some info and links here, though I've no personal experience. Probably sensible to speak to contacts in the ambulance and fire services in your area.

Viper_7

There is one more.

Nova's. Can replace the front sidelights with blue ones so you look "cool"

Viper_7

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Poor post ppl

and this added how? The other posts seemed to clear things up and provide further clarity on the regulations.

sebdangerfield

The classifications of an emergency service vehicle are, but not limited to vehicles used for;

<UL><LI class=MsoNormal style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo12; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><FONT face=Arial size=3>for police purposes (but not necessarily a police vehicle, e.g. search and rescue)