Driving through red lights for emergency vehicles

[liketheredsea]

I work near a hospital and a police station, so probably see more of this than most people.

There is a junction that connects the main roads, and it’s probably a daily occurrence now that I see people driving through the lights to let emergency vehicles with their sirens on through.

AIBU to think this is incredibly stupid?! I remember that one of the first things my driving instructor taught me was that you don’t do anything illegal to let an emergency vehicle through. But I see it every day!

Technically you’re not even supposed to move out of their way. Definitely not through a red light!

Well those might be the rules but if I am in the ambulance (or waiting for one) I'd be very grateful for people moving out the way so my ambulance doesn't have to wait for the lights to go green!

I didn’t know that!

I just find it insane that people do this daily. It’s he worried about getting a ticket!

Yep it’s illegal, if you can pill
over then do it, I’ve even gone round a roundabout twice to let the get off quicker. The driver in the ambulance might not go through the light as well if they seen it unsafe. Stay legal, in a accident you would be liable for driving dangerously if you jumped red lights.

I do understand that but driving through a red light is really a stupid thing to do.

This sounded odd so I googled it and I got that "in the UK, if an ambulance is approaching with blue lights/sirens, you should make way when it is safe and legal to do so." Surely that is 'moving out the way'?

Blimey, I thought that, if you can do so carefully and safely, that you WERE supposed to do what you need to do to get out of the way. Eg, intersection and sirens and lights are on. Everyone can ear. Everyone stops. Driver blocking the ambulance looks carefully and assesses whether everyone else has stopped and if so, moves into or over intersection to make space.

Obviously, the CHALLENGE is whether every driver has the same view of what's safe and/or if the dribver moving makes a mistake.....

We live near a large hospital so we regularly have to move out of the way or into the bus lane for ambulances

Yes, it is very foolish. I suppose people see and hear the ambulance or whatever and want to get out of rhe way. If they've checked carefully and there's nobody in the box bit where the light/crossing is, then their intention may just be to pull over very slightly past the red light and stop - not going right on through it into any streams of traffic; but people have been fined even for doing this.

It's a shame you're not allowed to use common sense, but I wouldn't be able to afford the fine; so the ambulance or fire engine would just have to wait a minute or two if I were in its way if I couldn't pull over without risking it.

I guess whether it's stupid or not depends on the outcome. Obviously if you recklessly charge into a flow of traffic that's pretty stupid.

If you can see there is nothing coming and move forward in spite of the red light so an ambulance can get past more qickly, I'd say that was quite sensible.

Nope. You never ever do anything illegal to let them through. So you don’t go through red lights, it’s why they turn the lights and sirens off when approaching lights.

What on earth are you talking about? What do you think the sirens and lights are for?

Dramatic affect? 😂

Pull slightly ahead to let them past - maybe if safe/ no pedestrians crossing. Literally skip the light eg, go through the junction yourself ahead of them absolute madness and likely to end up with you needing an ambulance too.

Nope, you NEVER break the law, regardless of circumstances. If there are traffic light or bus lane cameras you WILL be fined and have no chance of appeal. If you did so, and it resulted in an accident, you would be the one at fault. The ONLY time you'd have a defence against a fine would be if you were directed to by a police constable in uniform as that's a specific legal exemption.

Emergency vehicle drivers who are allowed to use blues and twos have additional driving training to do so, so will know the rules, which are that they have to turn off the sirens and wait if they are blocked at a road junction or level crossing etc. They're specifically taught not to "bully" drivers to break the law to get out of their way.

I don’t think a red light alone is a good enough reason not to make way. Obviously if traffic is moving you wouldn’t go out into it, but you can assess if it’s safe or not. I’ve seen a whole junction stationary waiting for a blue lighting ambulance which couldn’t pass because a driver refused to pull forward through the red light. Surely you have to use your judgement and common sense?

Yeah and my judgement and common sense would tell me to stay within the confines of the law.

Im not going to risk a fine and/or points on my license, unless someone else will pay the fine?

To inform YOU of their presence. They're trained to make progress according to the circumstances of the road/traffic etc. They're warning you that they're there, especially when they are on the wrong side of the road or go through red traffic lights etc. If you can safely get out of their way, that's a bonus, but a lot of the time, they can make adequate progress. It's not in flowing traffic that they are delayed as often they're not moving much faster than flowing traffic anyway, it's junctions/queues, etc where they get delayed and they're trained/allowed to go on the wrong side of the road, go through red lights, and go the wrong side of traffic islands/bollards etc to make progress.

highway code 219. Explains it all.

Nope, you don't break the law in any circumstances except as directed by a constable in uniform. A few extra seconds really won't make much difference in 99% of the call outs.

OP is correct - absolutely do not

• go through a red light
• into a bus lane
• etc.

unless instructed by a police officer in uniform out of a car - that is the only exclusion.

Blue light training includes that sirens should be turned off as they approach a junction to avoid pressuring cars into moving into the junction... If they need to get past you they will go on the other side of the road around the junction...

there have been a number of incidents where people have moved into a junction and then been hit by something crossing the junction not aware of them and expecting to get across (even speeding up to get across) before the emergency vehicle - it is not unknown for those incidents to have lead to deaths, your creating an incident in front of the ambulance will only delay it in getting to hospital and the situation is now much worse.

if there are red light / yellow box / bus lane cameras - you will be fined, and you won't be let off.

yes, it goes against instinct because we want to help - and you always see in this discussion the emotive response as above of 'if I were in the ambulance I would be pleased' but you have to consider the whole picture

• who else might not be expecting you to move (pedestrians / other vehicles) so accidents can and do happen
• the emergency vehicle should not be expecting you to move, so where they plan to go around the other side, you may now have helped jam up the junction
• does it make sufficient difference to be a life saving move - statistically probably not, maybe in a rare situation, but it is unusual for an ambulance getting to a hospital to be that fine on time that a few seconds makes all the difference - same with fire and police - their response times are with traffic in the way - they don't get clear roads...

Far more difference would be made if people who have emergency vehicles coming up behind actually knew how to drive - the number of times I have seen cars going in both directions stop opposite each other leaving no gap is ridiculous... so better driving would help more!

Pretty sure you are supposed to move out of the way if it's safe and legal to do so

correct

and going through a red light is not legal, so you don't do it - but as above, I can understand why some people instinctively want to help...

I am aware of that and I never said it was, the person I was quoting didn't specify, just said you weren't meant to move out of wa

Why would you move into a bus lane? Leave it free for the ambulance!