Blue Lights

sebdangerfield

But thats not what we're talking about. Premier said drivers aren't under an obligation to stop, I said they are and quoted the case law where I learnt that.

Also, It's never been upheld as that's the law anyway. It'd be dangerous/careless driving so there'd be no need for case law.

gingerdad

Wig wrote: »

Someone earlier in the thread, quoted the relevant section of RTA, whoever it was has now deleted it, but I remember it saying words similar to

"except those vehicles used exclusively for emergency response"

What I believe it was saying is if the vehicle is used exclusively for emergency response (as defined) it could have blue lights fitted and that included mountain rescue, fire, blood transfusion etc etc etc etc

If the car has full emergency livery, as long as it is not used exclusively for emergency response it cannot have blues, i.e. the car also goes to Asda for the weekly shopping and to & from work. There must however be (or may be) an exception to this rule because I'm thinking of Fire chief cars and "The Bill" (the TV series ) when they put a blue light on the dash.... ???

The OPs vehicle (I imagine) is used exclusively for emergency response.

OP what is the vehicle? I am curious, is it an ATV or Quad bike?

The vehicles we are transporting are Hagglunds BV206s

Happychappy

Fortuately the Road Safety Act of 2006 which is soon to be enacted and in its final stages will stop the untrained and good intending from using blue lights.

At the moment the only emergency service apart from police fire and ambulance are the mountain rescue service who are allowed to respond under blue lights and claim exemptions to speed limits, keep left/right bollards and red traffic lights but these are the RAF mountain rescue, all others claim a very tentative exemption under police or fire purposes because that is the agency which called them out, but the RSA 2006 will stop all of this by adding the clause for police fire and ambulance purposes that the driver must also have attended a course of high speed driver training or the vehicle at the time was being used for high speed driver training.

The IAM, ROSPA etc is not a recognised course as it does not include high speed training.


All the untrained blue light users currently running around with good intention but no formal training and little skills will need to comply and will not be exempt under the RSA

This will hopefully put you in the picture of what is required, but read section 19 on page 27

Happychappy

delambo wrote: »

the bbcode for bullet points is



giving the result:

• just
• like
• this

Anyway to get back on topic as a firefighter we need to undergo an EFAD (Emergency Fire Appliance Driver) course before driving on Blues - as well as having a LGV license. Maybe this is the course you would need I really don't know? Best bet would probably be to contact your insurer to see where you stand with the whole blue lights thing. If you are not covered by insurance to drive on blues and you had an accident you could be in all kinds of trouble, and I stand to be corrected but as I understand it the EFAD course is not to LEGALLY drive on blues but to satisfy the insurance company.

I always thought the EFAD course stood for extremely fast and dangerous :rolleyes:

eyeinthesky

I think the EFAD course would suit your purposes here, you already have the answer to the legality, but to protect yourself and any crew you travel with I think you need the training . An EFAD course is not just about driving at speed, although that is the fun part, but will cover the exemptions that blue lights give you, as well as vehicle handling and differing road conditions.

You mentioned a vehicle, bv something, I assume this is an off road or rough terrain vehicle? If this is the case then I would suggest approaching MOD or RAF for off road training. I used to teach EFAD driving courses, which included off road for airfield crash trucks, so this course would be ideal.

mikey72

Blue lights don't give you exemptions.

First responsders can't speed, should obey road signs, lights etc. Can still use blue lights though.

DaveMacD

mikey72 wrote: »

First responders can't speed, should obey road signs, lights etc. Can still use blue lights though.

Still would like to know whereabouts you are, as First Responder groups are warned that they cannot use blue lights. You're right in that we must also obey all rules and regs. of the road. No speeding or running red lights. And it's fair to say that if there was an accident on the way to a call, the relevant AS would drop us like a hot spud if we were speeding or breaking any laws. But it's also the case that as the local Police get to know the Responders in their area, they are likely to give a little bit more latitude to things like 32 in a 30 for example. One of the group I am part of got a Police escort through roadworks (and all the way through to the other end of the village) to get on scene quickly

The irony is that the original spec. for my local scheme intended us to never leave our immediate area. Unfortunately, because of our location, and the lack of many nearby schemes, our operating area has now expanded from about 10 sq. miles to almost 40, and from 7000 residents to over 30,000. And we've been sent out of our area by quite a way on several occasions where there are no other options available to the AS. Not easy when no-one even knows who you are, never mind that you're not trying to race them...

gingerdad

eyeinthesky wrote: »

I think the EFAD course would suit your purposes here, you already have the answer to the legality, but to protect yourself and any crew you travel with I think you need the training . An EFAD course is not just about driving at speed, although that is the fun part, but will cover the exemptions that blue lights give you, as well as vehicle handling and differing road conditions.

You mentioned a vehicle, bv something, I assume this is an off road or rough terrain vehicle? If this is the case then I would suggest approaching MOD or RAF for off road training. I used to teach EFAD driving courses, which included off road for airfield crash trucks, so this course would be ideal.

Yes i think EFAD will be the way to go, we have a good in with local fire & rescue as are an official technical rescue team for snow/floods/quick sand.....hopefully they will train us in the long term.

Chippy_Minton_2

Premier wrote: »

I don't see anything in that link suggesting you are obliged to stop

gingerdad wrote: »

The vehicles we are transporting are Hagglunds BV206s

Common sense.

Do you think you'd come off better than to OP?

mikey72

DaveMacD wrote: »

Still would like to know whereabouts you are, as First Responder groups are warned that they cannot use blue lights. You're right in that we must also obey all rules and regs. of the road. No speeding or running red lights. And it's fair to say that if there was an accident on the way to a call, the relevant AS would drop us like a hot spud if we were speeding or breaking any laws. But it's also the case that as the local Police get to know the Responders in their area, they are likely to give a little bit more latitude to things like 32 in a 30 for example. One of the group I am part of got a Police escort through roadworks (and all the way through to the other end of the village) to get on scene quickly

The irony is that the original spec. for my local scheme intended us to never leave our immediate area. Unfortunately, because of our location, and the lack of many nearby schemes, our operating area has now expanded from about 10 sq. miles to almost 40, and from 7000 residents to over 30,000. And we've been sent out of our area by quite a way on several occasions where there are no other options available to the AS. Not easy when no-one even knows who you are, never mind that you're not trying to race them...

It's in the midlands, it's a nice silver estate car, blue light bar with "ambulance" in the middle, and driven by volunteers. Saved several lives so far, as it can be with you in minutes after you have a heart attack.