Just a collection of videos highlighting the type of things a UK EMS responder does including some kit, clinical skills and the occasional blue light run :) What's the point? Raise awareness, share some learning and reflect on the job. Thanks all and hope you enjoy the videos. Stay Safe. C.
Middle lane hoggers drive me nuts. Even when there's little to no traffic you'll encounter some twit pootling along at 60mph in the middle of a four lane stretch, forcing you to cross a couple of lanes just to overtake and come back to the default driving lane.
At 5:08 you can see a gradual bend in the road. The white car is close to the trailer and probably had already made the decision to overtake with what looks like plenty of space. Chris is approaching quickly enough to eat up the distance faster than a regular driver. They did not indicate and maybe they should have looked twice. From the POV of the camera it does look like human error but it was not a deliberate block and they do move over in seconds. It might be too much to expect them to have known the ambulance was approaching until they were already on the overtake. I think you have to expect this kind of event when driving so quickly. We don't have camera footage from inside the white car to show their POV, but the bend may have made it harder to see and they assumed it was clear.
Somebody watched too many swim team videos. Sloppy on the last leg, and overall a bad idea on roads with ok lane discipline where the outer lanes are already travelling quicker
One thing to embed in peoples motorway driving habits is [if there are no blanket speed limits] to get your overtakes DONE. Don't tiddle about on cruise control overtaking at at a 0.5mph difference. Squeeze your throttle, get it done, and get back to the left. Chris wasn't falling foul of this, I just thought it was beneficial to point it out. The biggest problem with motorway driving, that enables people to just mong out in auto pilot, only focusing on what's directly Infront is not making conscious efforts to overtake and sitting on cruise control without making any inputs at all, hence they end up just staying out of lane 1 because the progress they are making ends up not being sufficient enough to warrant staying out in that lane. If people and the government put more focus on getting overtaking done and dusted, you'd find less congestion and less dawdling in L2, 3 and 4
Really enjoyed this super clear explanation, but I do have one question: where I generally drive is on small, country roads. If you need to overtake, say, a cyclist, horse and trap, or particularly slow car, you often have very limited space to do so (i.e. the limit of your vision before a corner - you may only have say 150m before you have to pull in again to be back on the left side, well before the corner, to avoid any danger). In this scenario I typically go for a technique that looks something like this: keep a good distance behind the slow vehicle, to allow space and a good view out. Edge very slightly over, to check the view. Accelerate, staying in your lane. Move out once up to a decent speed and approaching the other vehicle. Having previously checked, you know you can do this safely. If a car has appeared round the corner since you last checked, you can brake, and move back into your lane. If not, you quickly pass the vehicle in front, merge back onto your side, and slow down again (ahead of the corner). Would you (or anyone else who is willing to give advice here!) suggest that this is a sensible course of action, or inferior to the box overtake? The advantage from my viewpoint, is that by accelerating before the overtake, you reduce the amount of time you are on the wrong side of the road. Thanks in advance for any further advice!
Great driving! I have a couple of questions: - I've noticed at different points of the video you take a deep breath (e.g. 5:25). Is it some kind of special technique to regulate your stress/heartbeat? - At some moments you were doing nearly 60 on residential streets. Is this considered safe in terms of reaction time and stopping distance?
Love your driving ability ,I really enjoy driving and take a pride in doing my best , safety,consideration,anticipation,and general rules of the road .I’ve been driving now for just over 50 years and I know I will never be as good as all the emergency services .I do my best to assist in the best possible way when there is someone with flashing blue lights .In my opinion you are all in a class of your own and do a great job ! Please carry on posting videos. I am still wanting to learn more and your tips are very helpful …stay safe !
Some great lessons in there! I especially liked the "don't feel forced to do something" combined with "don't make others need to force you to do something" when discussing when to move a lane to the left. I'm not a driving instructor, but as a German I have over 30 years of experience driving on the "Autobahn", so I have some comments: 1. When changing over two lanes, approach each lane change separately. I'm sure you observed the traffic in both lanes, but to make it more clear to the viewers, I suggest changing just one lane, then explicitly look again, then change again. If there is more traffic (and there usually is when I need to change twice), I always do this as a signal to others: "I have looked twice, you can do it as well" and "I'm probably not a danger to you, because I looked twice, so you can concentrate on the possibly reckless other driver who does speedy lane hopping and thinks only about himself". 2. "Undertaking" on the lane leading to another motorway is legal, even in Germany where undertaking on motorways is strictly forbidden in most cases, but often it is a good idea to avoid it near the actual split point: People are relying on their satnav, and these sometimes announce the lane change too late or not in a clear way, so people do a last moment "bad drivers never miss their exit" maneuvre without enough time to check for other traffic. If the slip road is longer and you need to undertake to keep the traffic flowing, maybe treat it like a box overtake (from your earlier video): Roughly match speed, so they have more chance to see you and not be surprised by the undertake. Additionally this makes sure there is enough room in front of you, especially if you're passing a longer vehicle (lorry/bus) to complete the pass and not sit next to them for an extended period of time.
As HGV driver i see most near misses caused by poor observations, poor differential speed ( slow overtake, no courage to pass traffic on drop lane to left when allowed ) , poor slip road acceleration / deceleration and merging, poor positioning pooe choice of speed . Ans sat nav drivers who have no idea where in the big wide empire they are with their little head and big " auto- obesity"- disproportionate sized vehicle for intended use.. 😅
Why can UK not include motorway driving ( not dual carriage way ) in their curriculum? It is mandatory in germany, incl first aid and night driving, and would help pressure off poor English NHS. SUVS have a lot of blind spots, poor eletronic monitoring cameras even less human eyes monitoring what is happening around them. Also, that silly L plate motorbike fraternity is already breaking Highway rules before they have a full licence. Not much LEARNING happening there. 😅
When joining a motorway, a speed around 55 on the slip is often ideal. The heavies that tend to occupy lane one are limited to 56 max, sometimes as low as 52. Standards are so bad, I often refer to lane one as my VIP lane, it tends to be practically empty, and often faster moving. Not at all unusual to be able to do 70 in one, an empty two, then three & 4 trundling along at 60. People who sit in outer lanes are effectively making the motorway narrower, preventing use of inner lanes to make progress. Not so keen on using "braking distance" to describe "follow distance". The follow distance is based on reaction time, and similar for all, where the braking distance varies tremendously by vehicle, hence we get "Only a fool....."
It's amazing how absolutely excellent a lot of these drivers are and how well they anticipate the emergency vehicle but there's always a few that seem to have little awareness of approaching vehicles with lights and sirens. Those sirens are ear-piercing; you hear them, you should be looking for the lights.
I'm astonished at the number of times I am driving on a dual carriageway or motorway and i move to lane 2 to box-overtake an HGV, giving plenty of room and time for the car in front of me, but in lane 1, to move out and maintain their progress, but their observation and anticipation is SO poor that they get right up behind the HGV and slam the anchors on instead. Driving standards are really slipping and i don't know why. Any suggestions?
HI Chris, I really enjoyed the video, thank you. One thing I always keep an eye on is the closing gaps of traffic following other road users as this is generally a good indication of when a driver is likely to move offside into the next lane. Mostly I always indicate when moving back into lane one, however I have been advised this is not necessary as it is the 'default' driving position. I always try my best to look for a reason 'not' to indicate.
Great video. The trouble is the already decent drivers who have a thirst to improve their driving are the people that watch this type of content. Mr white van middle lane hogger and the Prius driver are the ones that need this stuff but they’re too busy eating crayons at home.
Great video! I've read a lot of the comments, but not all of them. In this and your 'Box overtaking' video you are always checking your nearside mirror before moving back after overtaking and that is so important in order to avoid cutting up the vehicle that you have just overtaken. I think that you should stress this as much as all the other aspects, because so many overtaking drivers end up cutting across the nose of the vehicle that they have just passed, instead of checking their mirror to ensure that they are sufficiently clear before moving back to the left.
Thank you Chris. I had always hoped, that after nearly 50years I was doing the right things and seems I probably am. I drove a lot on Germany and they have excellent lane discipline. One thing that maybe should be emphasised is not pulling back from the overtaking lane directly alongside a lorry, possibly into their blind spot, and also sitting at speed alongside a lorry either - am I too cautious?
Chris I see enough of your videos to know that there are plenty of road users trundling along with no idea that you're behind them trying to get to an emergency. This is no different, apart from the rider being more vulnerable. I don't think you could have done more, but I'm neither a biker nor an emergency responder.
Never Clever. Think that will be new phrase going on from now. Interestingly a long time ago I had driving lessons and took my test in Scarborough. A long time had to pass before I got to do any motorway driving. Living in Glasgow as I did for 17 years, you learn to live in a motorway city and use all the points you have raised. Thanks again.
Very good info yeah, thx Chris! 👍🏻 I don't know why I still hate it when someone is so close behind. My mind is like "what if I need to brake hard, you're gonna turn us into a 3ft tin square when you hit us" and I do feel pressured by them.
That's not fair. You guys can speed because you are trained to. Why can't the public be trained also. And if we pass then we get no speeding tickets. Because 20mph is a joke..
Cheers for this Chris! I'm currently a 'swooper' but been looking to improve and this was a great explanation of how to do things better. I don't think overtaking was covered in my driving lessons at all, which feels strange thinking back to it!
This was super useful, thanks Chris! I remember being a mix of annoyed and anxious that my test didn't include any motorway work and that I'd have to figure it out on the move after passing. Still think it's silly, many years on - I figured it out but it wasn't fun! While a lot of it came naturally (like keeping to the left-most lane), there were bits of the video like the change in lane markings when a lane is splitting off the motorway that would have been so useful to know.t on the move after passing. Still think it's silly, many years on - I figured it out but it wasn't fun! While a lot of it came naturally (like keeping to the left-most lane), there were bits of the video like the change in lane markings when a lane is splitting off the motorway that would have been so useful to know.
