For not driving through red light with ambulance behind me

[User34445566677]

Stuck at red lights in 3 lanes of traffic. I was in right hand lane to turn right, at the front of white line and railings to my right so couldn't pull to the side. Middle lane for straight on. Left hand lane (towards hospital) is always allowed to filter through first via green light to the left, then after a while, the forward and right turn green lights come on. Ambulance comes up my lane whilst red traffic lights on. Blue lights and sirens on, all while the ambulance is indicating left (I am the only car in this lane, other lanes have several cars in). Ambulance leaves sirens on, and even beeps while lights are on red ( though i am not 100% sure this was the ambulance, but don't know who else it would have been?). From what I have read, you should not cross during a red light even for an emergency vehicle, I would have been entering a box junction? Was I BU to not cross the red light? And I think the Ambulance would have been quicker going in the left lane which filtered through first? Very confused. TIA

I know someone who got a fine going into an empty bus lane at 1 am to let an ambulance through.

Good grief! Please take this post down!

This shows exactly what happens when a) you blindly "follow the rules" rather than thinking for yourself, or b) believe Chat GPT is an alternative to Google for search queries!

You most certainly shouldn't "pull right if possible" if you're in the UK!

Yes if on blue lights.

A car can pull into a bus lane to let an emergency vehicle through , providing they then exit it as soon as it has passed. You will not be prosecuted.

No, you had no defence of prosecuted/get fixed penalty you cannot ignore a red light unless directed by a police officer

They probably didn't mean to beep you as pp said - the siren works off of the horn, so it's easy (and common) to accidentally beep while switching sirens.

I think you could probably try to contest going through a red if you did get a ticket. But if you are not comfortable to then don't, it's ok.

What if you live near a hospital? On my school run we go through a roundabout with lights on it and there are two hospitals nearby and there are often emergency vehicles of one kind or another on it. And red light cameras. Pekoe would be paying £100, and the insurance increase on a regular basis. And losing their licences.

Genuinely, can you not envisage any circumstances where you would cross a red light?

There were temporary traffic lights put at the end of my street a few months ago. Faulty. Stuck on red all day. I would still have been sitting there eight hours later had I not gone through them.

What would you have done? Phoned the council?

No he/she's dead right.

Well I don’t think they’re lightsabers, so I’ll give you that. 😊 I suspect some people, under pressure from an ambulance, might not make the best decisions.

To be fair, I have done it for ambulances and would again.

You were absolutely right you cannot ignore a red traffic light unless directed to do so by a police officer.. it helps no one if you pull forward and into collision with a correctly proceeding vehicle… that will cause more delays and potentially more injured people. The ambulance driver should not have tried to pressure you to ignore that red light and I would be tempted to report him or her because they are risking causing a collision

If she lives in London Chat GPT is right because she will get fined. London has cameras everywhere. I would like to know where she lives because living in country is different to living in a city.

I'm so confused 😂 it just says you shouldn't jump a red light?? Which was my question from the start. I've read the same rules from an ambulance worker. I think people will know not to drive to the right in normal traffic lanes, but in a lot of city centres, streets with multiple lanes are one way. Good grief 🫠🫠🫠

I don’t. So my actions are dictated by my environment, not yours.

You were confused as to what to do so not running the red light was probably best. The last thing you should do is risk another emergency.

That’s not really the point though. We are supposed to follow the law while driving. I admit that I use my own judgement and don’t always, however. I have driven onto a pavement to let an ambulance past, for example. It was safe and the traffic was not going to clear quickly. But I don’t judge people who don’t. And some people are better not doing so.

My brother did this recently and was fined and received points. It was money he couldn’t really afford to lose. It’s all very well being righteous and taking the moral high ground but there can be serious consequences if you’re caught. It’s a risk I wouldn’t take.

Paramedic here.
They should of switch sirens off and sat back until either the lights changed or the cars in front sorted themselves out a bit to create space. They should never be pressuring you to drive through a red light.

I certainly hope you did contact someone. I take your point that you couldn't just wait there forever but if everyone just drives accross and doesn't report it then it won't get fixed and subsequently an accident could happen.

Yes. Even if there’s an ambulance caught in the camera with you they won’t reverse it. I think it’s also because the ambulance drivers won’t necessarily have the view to make the decision for a driver in front of them.

You did the right thing. You are not to drive through a red light, even if an ambulance is trying to push you through.

Temp lights are different, if they are stuck for an unusually long time you would then proceed with caution, there is also no solid white line that you would be crossing. We are not talking about temp lights though. We are talking about going through a red light for an emergency vehicle

And just for reference you can hear and see an ambulance with light and sirens on from a way off so maybe you shoukd have prepared to move over before they were on you?

Often when you can hear an emergency vehicle it's difficult to work out whether it's coming in the same direction as you or not.

No you dont, or at least my father didnt. He contested it, the lights camera footage showed what happenend and the fine and points were cancelled.

So.....go steady with the ascertations.

That is false, sorry.

Did he defend it?