Emergency vehicle equipment in the United Kingdom

An Incident Response Unit operated by Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service with a blue lightbar on top, alternately flashing LED lights on the front, and flashing headlights. This vehicle is part of the New Dimension programme and consequently does not carry any insignia of Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service.

Electronic sirens have replaced two-tone horns on most emergency vehicles

Emergency vehicle equipment is used in the United Kingdom to indicate urgent journeys by an emergency service. This usage is colloquially known as Blues and twos which refers to the blue lights and the two-tone siren once commonplace (although most sirens now have a range of tones like Wail, Yelp and Phaser). A call-out requiring the use of lights and sirens is often colloquially known as a blue light run.

Permitted use

In the United Kingdom, the use of blue lights is regulated by the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989, and sirens by the Road Vehicles Construction and Use Regulations 1986, both as amended by various other pieces of legislation (see right). The 1989 restrictions state that no vehicle, other than an emergency vehicle, shall be fitted with a "blue warning beacon or special warning lamp", or a device which resembles a blue warning beacon or a special warning lamp, whether it works or not.^[1]

Each of the emergency services listed above has different policies regarding the use of blue lights and sirens. Most require the driver to be trained to a particular standard in response driving, but currently, no national standard exists. Provision exists for a national standard to be required in order to utilise speed limit exemptions, but this has not been brought into force.

Road traffic exemptions

Six Metropolitan Police Service motorcycles driving with the blues and twos on. They can be seen breaking a number of normal traffic rules. Each motorbike has driven through a red light, and the motorbike on the far right can be seen driving on the wrong side of the road and passing on the right of a keep left sign.

In the UK, vehicles used for certain purposes may have exemptions from some road traffic regulations whilst responding to an emergency. Merely being authorised to use blue lights and sirens do not of itself grant exemptions from road traffic law.^[4] These exemptions apply whether or not blue lights and/or sirens are being used, although it is mainly desirable:^[5]

• treating a red traffic light as a give way sign^[6]
• passing to the right of a keep left or keep right sign (but not disobeying a turn left, turn right, or ahead only sign)^[7]
• driving on a motorway hard shoulder (even against the direction of traffic)
• exceeding the statutory speed limit (police, fire and ambulance purposes only; and special forces purposes only for national security emergencies where the driver is trained or is being trained in high-speed driving)^[8]
• driving in a bus lane
• stopping on zig-zag lines^[9]
• parking in restricted areas, including against flow of traffic at night
• leaving the vehicle with the engine running, normally the offence of "quitting" (police and ambulance utilising the run lock feature on most cars)
• using audible warnings outside permitted hours^[10]
• driving against the flow of traffic on a one-way street, only with permission of a police officer or traffic warden

See also

• Battenburg markings
• Code 3 Response

References