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

Not confused, rather I was confused at the reaction of the ambulance crew. I was at the front of the white line, railing all down my right side, in the right hand lane, so no where to go other than the middle of a busy box junction. And the ambulance were turning left down the road to the hospital. The lane which lights goes green first.

My friend had his blue light driver training a couple of months back. Im pretty sure he said they cant approach other vehicles at traffic lights and intimidate with lights and sirens. I think they need to turn sirens off.
The ambulance driver was in the wrong

It doesn't just say that! Have you even read what you posted?

It says you should pull right if possible! This is completely inappropriate / highly dangerous advice in the UK where we drive on the left!

When I had a motorcycle, I was out on it at about 2am and stopped at the lights on an A road that was crossing a motorway junction. At such a late time, I think the traffic light was activated by lights from approaching vehicles... and my motorcycle did not set it off. I was sat there for about 15 minutes until a car came up behind me and the light changed to green.
I could have carefully inched out and ran that red light, but it was too dangerous and could have ended very badly.

Temp light are a bit different, and you tend to see the other end anyway so you can judge things a bit better.

@PyongyangKipperbang Yes, but it wasn’t upheld. I was genuinely surprised by that.

I work for ambulance service - you're essentially right; you can only legally proceed through a red stop light if you are directed to do so by a police officer.

If you proceed through red light because of an ambulance behind you and trigger a traffic cam you'll very likely get the points/fine. If it was that you were observed to do so by a police officer I'm fairly certain they'll use their discretion and wouldn't consider pulling you up on doing so.

Guidance for us is if the path through a red light is blocked (which we have the exemption to treat as a giver way) is to turn the siren off and sit back and wait for the opportunity to progress. The only time we don't do this, and I agree it's not technically correct, is when we are responding to something like a child not breathing and seconds will make a difference - we're only human and desperately trying to get through so will be a bit pushier in those circumstances.

There is no difference in law between temporary lights or permanent lights, so you are making my point for me: different circumstances need different approaches.

So everyone on MN are basically robots with no common sense and are going to read that small piece of information and are going to be consumed by it.
Get a fucking grip

I've only been driving 18 months, and this wasn't something that came up in lessons/driving test so I've been meaning to check up on this. I always panic when I hear one as everyone pulls over etc but I haven't had to so far. I have seen cars pull past a red light to let ambulances through, I saw it just this week infact. I expect the ambulance chose your lane because you were the only one with one car in so could have moved for them, so it must be the expected thing to do .

This!!!!

Don’t go through a red light ever unless the police instruct you to do so
ambulance crews will wait for it to change then move over as soon as you can

I read that the police CAN ask you to move and you should but not an ambulance.

I don't understand why you are asking Mumsnet this when you already seem to know the answer? You say you've already been told by people in the ambulance service not to go through a red light so why ask LESS knowledgeable people for their views??

except not this
if you pull forward you are going through a red light!
jeez. If you want to do it and take the fine and points then it’s up to you but other people can’t and won’t and you aren’t expected to

What sort of beep was it? Police vehicles make a horn beep when the driver presses the button to turn on and change the siren tones and to turn them off again not sure if same with ambulances-could it have been that?

No you shouldn't move forward and could have received a fine. Like people who move to bus lanes to let emergency vehicles pass - it's illegal. You can only do this if indicated by a police officer. There was a big fuss in the UK media a few years ago about bus lane fines. Emergency vehicles are supposed to turn off the siren when stuck behind a vehicle.

On my walk to and from my job at a hospital I regularly see ambulances go through traffic lights on the wrong side of the road when they're on red and there's too much traffic to get past on the correct side of the road. It seems to be a standard manœuvre and much faster than waiting for the lights to change.

Legally yes. But I think a lot of us have known temporary lights that have broken or been incorrectly set, hence perhaps treating the situation a little differently.

I believe it’s called conversation 🙂

Everyone on Mumsnet, no, but according to this thread, quite a lot of people are not prepared to engage their brain when driving.

Ironically, Chat GPT is literally a robot with no common sense and it is quite concerning that you are expecting it to give you correct answers that you merrily cut, paste and share, without caring whether they are right or wrong.

You get out of the way of an emergency vehicle IF it is safe to do so.

Running a red light does not meet that criterion. If you were to do it, and something went wrong as a consequence, you'd be held legally responsible.

I had previously wondered this and had checked to make sure I knew what to do. You’re right - the Highway Code says you don’t pass through the red light even if it’s only a short way to make way for a blue light vehicle. It does feel weird sitting there with the emergency services behind and desperate to pass, I know. My instinct before checking was to move through the red light carefully assuming the blue lights would warn others to be careful but it would break the law and if I then get hit it would be on me.

And a lot of us have known permanent lights that would allow you to safely pass through to let am ambulance through. That's the point. It's not black or white.

You’re not supposed to go through red no but I, and anyone who has ever needed a Cat 1 ambulance, would creep out of its way.

You sound a bit self important tbh.

Because they left the sirens on which I thought they weren't allowed to do plus I heard multiple horn beeps for 5+ seconds. It was very intimidating.