I joined the fairly busy motorway via the sliproad the other day and an ambulance suddenly pressed his 'blues & twos' button behind me. As another car was to the right of me I accelerated to get out of the way joining the motorway between some trucks on lane one. Figuring I'd better stay put whist the ambulance made progress I allowed it ahead and in due course pulled out myself.
The road cleared somewhat but the ambulance struggled to reach 65mph and had a huge wedge of traffic behind it for quite some distance.
Now, I know it's completely legal to over take in these circumstances but is it etiquette? What are you likely to do? Are you comfortable, slowly going past a vehicle on blues and twos? If so do you make eye contact or stare ahead?
Last edited by: Enoughalready on Tue 4 Feb 14 at 10:52
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I have no problem with overtaking an EV, it is just another vehicle even on blue lights. I would never intentionally obstruct one and would aid its progress if possible. Etiquette, are you serious?
Last edited by: Uncle Albert on Tue 4 Feb 14 at 11:04
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>> Etiquette, are you serious?
>>
Well everybody else sort of hung back, afraid to overtake. I did eventually but a bit inside me felt a bit awkward for doing it.
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>> >> Etiquette, are you serious?
>> >>
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>> Well everybody else sort of hung back, afraid to overtake.>>
Exactly, fear, indecision, and generally crap drivers.
Last edited by: Uncle Albert on Tue 4 Feb 14 at 11:34
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Depends. If there is a hold up, ie the accident the ambulance is attending, the ambulance will have to get past you again. It's probably true the sort of person who would overtake is aware and facilitates progress by an ambulance in this situation. But as there is some uncertainty, I could not criticise for not overtaking, or overtaking. Situation has to be judged on its individual merits.
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Each case on its merits the situation and your best judgement. For example I was toddling down a narrow hilly A road with blind bends, when a fire engine on twos and blues gallops up behind me. So I speed up to about 65 which was about his max speed in those circs and I maintain a good gap between us.
Until of course we come up behind some dork doing 40 who panic stops in front of us, causing me and the engine to stop and turns a manageable situation in to a complete ruddy shambles.
EVs on a motorway? Yes I overtake them if they are not traveling at my rate, unless to do so would cause them issues. The EVs includes cop cars, my rate on the motorway is an indicated 80 (about 74mph true) - if they are traveling slower than me they get dispatched behind me as well.
But i always make sure I look at them as I do - they hate not being noticed!
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>> Each case on its merits the situation and your best judgement. For example I was
>> toddling down a narrow hilly A road with blind bends, when a fire engine on
>> twos and blues gallops up behind me. So I speed up to about 65 which
>> was about his max speed in those circs and I maintain a good gap between
>> us.
>>
>> Until of course we come up behind some dork doing 40 who panic stops in
>> front of us, causing me and the engine to stop and turns a manageable situation
>> in to a complete ruddy shambles.
That exact situation happened to me between Reading and Henley in the darker part of dusk. An ambulance came hammering up behind me on the twistiest part so I put my foot down as there was no where for me to move over and then we both came up to another car who freaked out, slammed on his brakes causing us all to come to a halt and the EV to overtake on a complete blind bend. I was clenching for them! Maybe they should have just sat behind us blaring the horns but I doubt if the other driver would have moved.
Last edited by: Enoughalready on Tue 4 Feb 14 at 14:09
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When my sister was taken by emergency ambulance to East Surrey hospital around 12 miles away from my house , it left five minutes before SWMBO , me and my brother in law in my car ..... and I arrived and parked and still got to A & E before they arrived ....
I quite often see ambulances struggling to make the speed limit on motorways and do not hesitate to overtake..... same with funeral convoys....
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Well everybody else sort of hung back, afraid to overtake.
That'll be the same 'everybody else' that slows from NSL to 35 for a camera, won't cross the lane line in the Hindhead (Honduras if you're an iPhone) Tunnel while sticking to 50 in the RH lane, hogs lane 2 of the M4, signals right at a roundabout before going straight on, and shifts carefully down the box one gear at a time on the slip road. 'Everybody else' does it because they haven't a clue, so unless you suspect they can see something you can't, make your own decision.
Incidentally, where did it come from, this fashion for stopping at the sight of blue lights? I don't remember it from my early days as a regular driver in the 1990s, and I was trained to keep going and look for a safe way to let it by. My desk at work overlooks a railway bridge with high kerbs; two vehicles can pass comfortably, three cannot, even if one is a cyclist, yet I often see car drivers on both sides stop dead in the path of a blue light, leaving its driver with a slalom course to negotiate at walking pace, when it could have proceeded safely at 30 or better. AC has it right: tchah!
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To inject an opinion from behind the wheel of an ambulance.
On a free flowing motorway, please do overtake. Bear in mind though if I'm going uphill and struggling to top 65mph, come the downhill I'll come hammering up behind you at 95mph. 5.5t with a 2.5 leggy diesel engine is no fun.
On a busier motorway, if I don't want you to overtake I'll be sat in lane 3. Raspberries to you.
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We've got one here, 40 limit......camera and stripes about 50 ft from the lights. Most drivers haven't even got up to 30 when they see it and the brake lights go on !
HO
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''On a busier motorway, if I don't want you to overtake I'll be sat in lane 3.''
And I'll be cruising past you on your nearside……It isn't about what you want!
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Maybe I didn't phrase that right. I was assuming a fairly busy motorway where there may be ever so slightly longer gaps in lane 2 where in a normal vehicle one may pull in, but in an emergency vehicle it makes perfect sense to stay in lane 3.
So in that scenario you're going to potentially dangerously undertake? Okay.
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We have that problem round here (rural area with single carriageways) in that as soon as flashing lights appear in the mirrors, the local drivers screech to a stop wherever they are. I prefer to keep moving, but it's difficult when everyone else comes to a dead halt, and often impedes the progress of the emergency vehicle, which can't always get past immediately.
Just spotted Will's post. I don't know when it started, either - quite recently, I think, but it's spread like the plague!
Last edited by: J Bonington Jagworth on Thu 6 Feb 14 at 09:04
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>> I prefer to keep moving,
Me too, and talking with an abulance driver one evening, they prefer you to press on as well until there is somewhere that you can tuck yourself into so the can get by without hampering their progress.
In short, if they're behind you and you can't get out of their way, then don't slow down or stop.
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It's fine to overtake, but keep checking the mirrors (as you should anyway)
If held up further down the road, keep left and blast horn to make others look in mirrors once EV is in sight behind.
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Welcome back, Sooty. You really ought to publish this driving manual of yours, you know. There's clearly a lot of original material there.
}:---)
OK, you get no innovation points for 'keep checking mirrors', but the bit about the horn is new to me. Don't most emergency vehicles carry quite effective equipment for drawing attention to themselves?
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>> Don't most emergency vehicles carry quite effective equipment for drawing
>> attention to themselves?
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You would think so, but observations may suggest otherwise!
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When slowing and pulling left for an EV, on a couple of occasions the muppet behind me has overtaken me because he or she has not got a clue what is going on behind them.
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Maybe so, but I don't see how a driver with that little situational awareness will be helped by Sooty hooting from a different angle altogether. (Sirens are another matter but who hears a horn on a motorway anyway?)
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Overtaking emergency vehicles - Old Navy
