Encountered a new one (for me) last night. I was in a contraflow on the A66 near Darlington. 50mph speed limit, not monitored by average speed cameras.
I was behind a car and there was another behind me.
An ambulance then came up behind the 3 of us.
All the laybys were closed as is often the case and there were around 2 miles to the next junction. The car infront sped up a little (as did me and the following car).
I was restricted by the car infront so didnt have to make too much of a decision. But got me thinking if I were the "lead" car or the only car what would you do?
I think speeding up a little as long as it was safe to do so, and exit at the next slip road to allow it to pass? If it were camera monitored however, I think there would be no alternative other than to stick to 50..
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I hope I'd do what I (safely) could to facilitate the progress of a vehicle on what for all I know is an every-second-counts mission, and worry about explanations later. At worst, I think I'd rather live with a blemished licence than the thought that I might have put someone's life in further danger.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Mon 3 Nov 14 at 07:44
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I would speed up to maintain a gap in front of the ambulance if I considered it safe, in the probable vain hope that common sense would prevail if there were any repercussions. It would most likely end up with a magistrate or judge making the final decision.
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You could try "special reasons", but I suspect the magistrates might decide that the 50 limit was there to protect the workforce, so you would be knowingly endangering them (in the eyes of the law, whether there actually was anybody there or not). As you wouldn't know what the ambulance was actually up to, you wouldn't have been able to actually make the judgement call as to what was best, so you might lose out.
At a guess.
Bit of a high pressure situation though, and yes, I'd risk my licence in case it was a life or death situation. Imagine if it was one of your family who died on the way to hospital because some smug git wouldn't move along a bit.
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I would only respond if it was in full lights and siren mode. Otherwise the cruise control stays on and tailgater's can get stuffed.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 3 Nov 14 at 08:28
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Look at it another way: someone offers you £60 (or whatever it is now) to obstruct an ambulance on an emergency call. Do you take it?
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This situation has happened to me on several occasions and in several different circumstances. My instant view and indeed action is as the aged matelot says, you find out what speed the EV wants to go at by opening up a gap between you and it. You'll be surprised they wont want to go that fast, for example Fire engines are best at 60 mph top speed.
I'll safely* break speed limits, safely ease through red lights (have done both) to enable unrestricted passage of EVs and if necessary argue my case in court.
* Key word is safely. Makes it worse if you have an accident and block the road with the EV behind you!
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My crash (groan) course on blue light driving took about half an hour given by a traffic police driver, and basically was obviously safety is paramount, don't worry if you get obstructed, your lights and sirens will cause the panicked Joe public to do what they think is best for you. A couple of minutes delay makes no difference in the grand scheme of things. Having an accident and not turning up helps no one.
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It amazes me the amount of people who brake and slow down, or completely stop at the first sign of blues and twos, and then get in the way of the EV.
An ambulance driver once told me that they'd sooner the motorist(s) in front of them press on (even if they don't break any speed limits) until they can find a safe place to pull over rather than coming to a stop and blocking up the road.
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But don't do that if you are ever driving in Canada where you are obliged by law to pull over and stop for emergency vehicles to pass. Roads tend to be wider of course. Failure to comply is a $500 fine.
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I'd imagine even there any consequences would first require a citation from the emergency driver to say that another driver's actions failed to clear his way. Stopping, say, on a narrow bridge would be worse than proceeding briskly to the other side before pulling over.
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No doubt that would be true and a certain degree of commons sense is applicable. However I have seen the Canadian system in action and it works very well. The law is applicable to traffic proceeding in both directions on a single carriageway road and it's effect is like the parting of the Dead Sea with vehicles pulling to the right and stopping to allow a gap down the middle
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Zero has it right. Another possibility though is to get out of the EV's way on one side or another and let it pass. It's very unusual to travel far on a contraflow without finding a place where you can squeeze out of the way.
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>> It's very unusual to travel far
>> on a contraflow without finding a place where you can squeeze out of the way.
>>
Exactly - push a few cones out of the way if necessary.
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>> it's effect is like the parting of the Dead Sea with vehicles pulling to the
>> right and stopping to allow a gap down the middle
Or even the Red Sea; but that does happen naturally on a wide enough road if there are one or two alert people around.
Happened to me last Wednesday morning on the A428 goo.gl/maps/bfa1K : it nicely illustrated the tendency of people to do manoeuvre-signal-mirror rather than the other way round; as I moved over and slowed the lady in the BMW behind moved out, signalled, then dived back in smartly.
I gave her full credit for the signal, as it was a BMW, even if it was more in the nature of a historic report than a forecast.
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>> It amazes me the amount of people who brake and slow down, or completely stop
>> at the first sign of blues and twos, and then get in the way of
>> the EV.
>>
>> An ambulance driver once told me that they'd sooner the motorist(s) in front of them
>> press on (even if they don't break any speed limits) until they can find a
>> safe place to pull over rather than coming to a stop and blocking up the
>> road.
>>
My Dad used to drive fire engines and said people slamming on were the bain of his life.
Also people stopping too early as they've seen the emergency vehicle half-a-mile behind them - the rest of the traffic just gets confused. I've seen this myself - some continues past and some stops behind the already stopped vehicle, causing a little traffic jam.
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>> I would only respond if it was in full lights and siren mode. Otherwise the
>> cruise control stays on and tailgater's can get stuffed.
>>
Agree with that. They're told not to push people in circumstances where other vehicles can't go anywhere, or it would be dangerous.
I see this a lot on the Runcorn Widnes bridge - sirens always go off, Police vehicles generally turn their blue lights off too.
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I thought I remembered reading somewhere that emergency vehicles had no right to ignore the law, and could be prosecuted for doing so. It is simply that they are not prosecuted if no accident occurs.
If that is the case, then if the emergency vehicle driver has no *right* to ignore the law, then for sure the driver of a vehicle in front of it certainly does not. So if you break the law, you're taking your chances. Albeit that I would still do so.
Once I was in an ambulance with its lights and sirens going, with one of my daughters in the back. The medic not driving was talking with me, trying to distract me from goings on I expect, and was explaining that they normally simply prefer drivers to keep doing what they're doing and leave the dodging and weaving to them.
Apparently they felt that drivers doing daft stuff to get out of the way were much worse and more difficult to deal with than a driver who was simply in the way.
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Ambulance in a contra flow - WillDeBeest
