Emergency Services and Cycle Lane

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I was watching an episode of Police Camera Action when a police car was escorting something or other to a hospital in West London from East Anglia via the Mile End Road.The police car got held up at Aldgate due to a motorist stopping in the middle of the road.The cop was on a time limit and if it had got to the hospital later than the time limit then they were buggered.I think it was an organ of some sort.It turned out that the motorist was German and he was following the rules to how they drive in Germany.Anyway the cop car got to the hospital on time and saved a life.

I saw that or something like it, it was in real time wasn't it, they had a window of 30 minutes or something... Amazing, and good TV, I thought.

With regard to training for drivers, like Davy asked, I think the answer is 'no, not really'. You're told you must get out of the way, and do so safely, but unless you happen to encounter an emergency vehicle on a lesson, you'll get no proper advice.

One thing I've heard, adn I guess it applies more to drivers, but is worth knowing, is that if you pull over to let a vehicle through, it's good to indicate that you are doing so, and keep the indicator going. That way the driver of the emergency vehicle knows you've actually seen them, and aren't just pulling over randomly, and about to pull back out. My BF did it,and got thanked with a wave at least once... When I'm on the bike, I try (although I don't know if it ever works) to communicate with body language as soon as I've heard a siren, in the hope that a driver behind might twig (lots of looking round, very purposeful pulling over and so on). Proably useless a lot of the time, but if just once, it makes a difference...

 

[andy_wrx]

I've seen people stop dead centre in a lane (because that's what you're supposed to do, I guess - stop - they just got it a bit wrong).

I agree with what you're trying to say, but no, you're not supposed to stop, you're supposed to let them get past with the minimum hold-up.

Rather than what some silly sods do, which is stop, or bump up the kerb, and leave a narrow gap so the emergency vehicle has to slow down to squeeze through, it might delay them less to drive along in front of them for a short distance until the road is wider and then slow down so they can pass you.

With regard to training for drivers, like Davy asked, I think the answer is 'no, not really'. You're told you must get out of the way, and do so safely, but unless you happen to encounter an emergency vehicle on a lesson, you'll get no proper advice.

A friend failed his test (29 years ago...) for not getting out of the way of a fire engine. The siren was really loud but even though he was driving really carefully and looking round everywhere, he couldn't work-out where it was coming from...until he realised what the big red lorry-grille in his rear mirror was
- I guess that's why they fit blue flashing lights in the front grille these days !

 

[ufkacbln]

There are sometimes cases where sirens are inappropriate. Police may be "sneaking up" or it is not inducive to patient care in an ambulance.

A difficult call, but the blue lights are fairly visible.

The good news here is that the drivers pull over!

In Portsmouth, the usual trick is to wait and then floor it in front of the emergency vehicle, or to tailgate it.

 

[PBancroft]

I agree with what you're trying to say, but no, you're not supposed to stop, you're supposed to let them get past with the minimum hold-up.

Yeah, I didn't phrase that very well. That bit started off in quotes, then I took them out, then I changed it a bit, and then I hit send.

It's a mishmash of about three different statements, none of them consistent.

 

[summerdays]

I always get off the road if I can, knowing that the one place the motorists aren't looking is in the gutter.

 

[sheddy]

Motorists often fail to hear until the last second usually due to playing music too loud. I have sometimes indicated and driven to the kerb, only to be overtaken by the car behind, and followed by an emergency vehicle