AIBU to think drivers should reverse rather than cross red lights?

It would take far too long and be far too chaotic. No emergency vehicle is going to want to wait whilst a line of traffic self orchestrates into the optimum position. Emergency vehicle drivers are trained and highly adept at going round those sort of situations. It would also most likely cause another accident with drivers feeling under pressure and others not fully understanding what's happening.

If you’re at a red light with a long queue of traffic behind you, it would take about 5 minutes for everyone to reverse so the emergency vehicle can pass. It would be much quicker just to wait for the green light, even if the ambulance/fire engine is stuck.

Yep true! And a bus lane. I got a ticket for pulling over in a bus lane to give way to an ambulance. Utterly stupid!

Well I learned many years ago. 1988 to be precise :) I was also taught that in a queue I should stop far enough behind the car in front so that I could see the tyres of the car in front and some tarmac. Mind you, subsequent driving courses have said to leave a bigger gap than that. But regardless of what’s taught, it’s just common sense surely?

Your faith in UK drivers being able to self-organise to that degree, while reversing, is adorable.

I live in an area with a lot of single track roads with passing places. The number of people who can't or won't reverse is quite something.

Nope that’s not a thing we teach pupils when they’re learning to drive

Definite not! DH was a response sergeant for 20 years. You sit still and wait for the light to change. Reversing up a main road is absolutely crazy!

You move to the side IF you can and signal to let them know what you are doing.

Also saying that crossing the red light has been covered on previous threads is hilarious.

As a driver you shouldn’t need number threads to tell you this. It has been in the Highway code for decades and if you’d read it which you should have done and continue to do (as it changes annually) you would know this.

As an ADI the Highway code is pretty much a bible to me.

The majority of lights tend to serve dual carriageways or very busy junctions, don’t they? As a result it is illegal to reverse, per the highway code. Reversing is only actually permitted anywhere for parking when the road is clear and it is safe to do so - so in a queue of traffic with an oncoming ambulance (even if it has its siren deployed) is still illegal/dangerous driving. The protocol is to pull over, by moving forward, as far as you can to make a gap wide enough for the ambulance to get through. This does not permit ignoring a red light either.

However urgent the call is of the ambulance, the objective is to get there without causing further incident or risking the lives of other motorists. Illegal manoeuvres in congested traffic doesn’t aid them in this at all.

Neither of your options, so can't vote.

Red lights are only for a very short time. Trained blue light drivers will know to turn off their sirens and wait. Drivers are likely to get fined for crossing the line at red lights, rightly so. And several cars reversing sounds like an accident waiting to happen, and the lights will have changed by the time they do it. Very few "emergencies" are life and death to a minute or two.

It's like railway level crossings - even when the signal box is manned (very rare these days but used to be the "norm") there was never any question of the barriers being raised for an emergency vehicle, who would just wait patiently for the train(s) to pass.

It's people doing stupid, dangerous things when they think they're doing the "right" thing that causes more accidents. If crossing the red light or reversing causes an accident, the emergency vehicle will be delayed further as they're duty bound to stop, assess the incident, radio for further resources as necessary etc., so it WILL delay their progress in respect of their emergency.

Nobody teaches you to stop with a space between you and the stop line. The car at the red light has nowhere to go.

No, but if everyone in the queue leaves a small gap they can all move slightly to the side so an emergency vehicle can get through. The emergency vehicle may not be able to get past the front car but they'll be further up for when the green light goes on.

Completely agree that the idea of everyone reversing is incredibly dangerous and unnecessary.

Well, I always stop a few metres back as that was what I was taught, so I can always move to the side :)

A decent driving teacher should tell you to stop far enough back from the line that you can still see it

You’re still wronger than a wrong thing winning a being wrong competition.

I cannot imagine the carnage if a queue of averagely skilled motorists tried to reverse out of the way together! Bless you for your optimism and positive view of other people OP.

Surely you just ignore the person who is beeping, then when the traffic lights change you make way for the emergency vehicle.

If you cross the line at best you risk getting a ticket and at worst you risk causing an accident.

Don't emergency vehicles turn their siren off in this type of situation so you don't feel pressurised into making these choices?

Advanced driving would teach you to leave plenty of space between you and the car in front in stationary traffic so that you can make way if necessary. As long as one person does that and can then move forward and to the side by a few metres then the whole queue can, and the ambulance can get through. Everyone reversing seems an unnecessarily complicated way of achieving what a few moderately attentive drivers could enable anyway, with the danger or reversing in a queue when other motorists, the ambulance and pedestrians would not be expecting it being eliminated.

This was my first thought as well when reading this thread.

How many people on Mumsnet would be honest enough to say that they can't reverse their car in a straight line for more than a few yards?

I often travel in single lane tracks, and the number of women (yep, it's often us) who are driving a 4x4 and refuse to note the passing spaces immediately behind them, then expect me to reverse half a mile up a road because they can't.

And I know they can't, because when I've had traffic behind me and someone gets out and shouts at them, they HAVE to reverse at this point.

And the shit-show that ensues.... wobbling around, clipping hedges, complete inability to drive any way but forwards.

The ambulance will go round oeople if it is safe.

The only time the reversing makes sense is creating an extra lane if both sides of the traffic are stationary.

It’s a ridiculous solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

Everyone reversing is slower and inherently more dangerous because sight lines are worse, not to mention people are more likely to make mistakes and not check properly before reversing if they feel rushed or under pressure.
If you can safely pull over then do so. if you can’t then you wait, the light will change to green soon enough. If people are beeping let them.