American Reacts to UK EMS Blue Light Response During Rush Hour 

Hi Steve, I’m a Medic in Wales and I work on a Rapid Response Vehicle like this video. My job is to respond to calls in advance of an Emergency Ambulance to provide care until the arrival of the Emergency Ambulance. I will also back up Emergency Ambulance crews if they need additional clinical support at an incident. Sometimes I will be the only clinician/resource attending a call because I decide that the patient doesn’t need to go to hospital. In the UK, we are not required to transport every patient. We are able to discharge the patient on scene and we have multiple community based options available to us. I can refer the patient to Community District Nurses, their own GP, and out-of-hours GP, physiotherapy, community psychiatric teams etc. We are autonomous practitioners in our own right in the UK and have final say on whether we transport a patient. Even if the patient wants to go to hospital, but there is no real clinical need, we can refuse to transport etc. We don’t have a ‘med control’ that we have to contact to get permission to give drugs etc. We make all the decisions ourselves.

I was in nose-to-tail traffic on a dual carriageway when I heard sirens behind. The ambulance was about 40 cars behind, I had about 2 ft clearance to move so I pulled up onto the central reservation to leave a gap for the ambulance, the car behind did the same and the car behind them and so on until it looked like someone had unzipped the two lanes, it was a thing of beauty, automotive ballet. The ambulance raced through with ease.

After getting wiped out by a careless van driver from behind whilst cycling to work (he hit me at 35mph from behind) I can say with my hand on my heart that paramedics are some of the most amazing people on this planet. So much so, that after they saved my life, and I'd recovered enough, I cycled Land's End to John o'Groats to raise money for a local charity where the money goes directly to funding equipment and improvements for their service. I had to fight the ptsd from being taken out from behind to complete my journey, but I got there and raised a modest £5,500 for the charity. A small tribute to such an amazing breed of people who dedicate themselves to helping us plebs.

You don't have to pull over in the UK. You just have to basically create space for them to pass. The alternate siren was designed to allow your hearing to anticipate which direction it was coming from rather than just a 'siren in the distance' I believe.

They are quick response & they will treat the person until the big Ambulance turns up 👍

A bit of trivia about why we have 999 as our emergency number. Back in the days of rotary dial phones it was the longest number to dial and, though it might seem counterintuitive, that was the reason it was chosen. Dialling 111 would have been faster, but the wind blowing the overhead telephone lines could send a false 111 signal to the switchboard. So 999 was chosen because it was a much longer signal and so much more diificult for the wind to "fake"! 😆

In the UK you dont have to stop, sometimes on our narrower roads stopping would mean you blocked emergency vehicles. You can pull over and stop if that's the best way in the circumstance or you can just get out of the way and keep moving. It entirely depends on the situation and what is safest

UK ambulance, or at least East of England Ambulance where Chris is based, use 3 different siren patterns which you can hear. When I did my Blue light driving course with EoE we were told the long tone @4:50 is designed to travel further ahead to warn traffic, the short tones @4:57 are designed to bounce off buildings and are designed for alerting closer traffic, and the "phaser" @4:39 is used to break through other sounds (radio, music etc)

The Ambulance Cars (and sometimes Motorcycles) are Rapid Response Vehicles with Paramedics who can get to Critical incidents much faster than a standard Ambulance Crew. There are also Air Ambulance Helicopters as well that can pretty much land anywhere they can fit. Their Uniforms are Green (known locally as Green Angels around here). The Fire & Rescue Service (Fire Department in the US) in the UK doesn't have Ambulances attached, but Crews are First Aid Trained.

As I just recenfly changed job from being an Ambulance Dispatcher in the UK - I can tell you the difference between this vehicle and the "larger"Ambulances in our country. This type of vehicle is known as an RRV (Rapid Response Vehicle) - it's usually crewed by a single Paramedic or Specialist Paramedic - for example a Paramedic who can close wounds etc., They are USUALLY dispatched to the most critical calls (at least in the area I was working) which are known in the UK as "CAT1" calls. These are life threatening emergency calls. However, in some areas they can be staffed with an ECA (Emergency Care Assistant) or possibly two ECA's. This is becoming less prevalent now though. They can often, but not always arrive before the larger Ambulances and were indeed originally conceived as a way for Ambiulance Trusts (Part of the NHS) to hit their response time targets. They can in some cases be used on lower category calls but are always backed up by what's known as a "conveying" resource - ie a vehicle which carries trolleys. It's not unhead of for an RRV to transport a patient to hospital, but that only usually happens with patients who are subsequently found to be less serious than originally thought. All blue light response drivers in the UK have to be certified to drive under emergency conditions and are NOT exempt from any traffic laws (with the exception of the Police who are exempt from a few). I've always had huge respect for our Emergency crews - they're amazing. As for punishment for obstructing an Ambulance - as far as I'm aware there is no punishment. Most UK drivers will move to the left side of the road when they hear sirens /see blue lights - but they're not required to do so under the law. On a 2 lane road then the idea is to create a channel down the middle of the 2 roads for the venicle to pass and MOST again will do this instinctively. UK drivers are amongst the best in the world for this as far as I'm concerned. I hope that answers some of the questions you had in the video. Energency Ambulance provision in the UK is predominantly something undertaken by the NHS Ambulance Trusts - ie run by and for the NHS. However there are an increasing number of private Ambulance Services in the UK and they are used on occasion to respond to emergency calls. Some are even contracted by the NHS to supplement their own service. As far as the public are concerned if they dial 999 (or you can dial 112 which is the Pan European emergency number) they will get an Ambulance - it's very difficult to differentiate between services as they all use the same livery and uniforms etc. The exception to this is the voluntary sector such as the St. John Ambulance who have a distinct livery and uniform. The Ambulance Service is evolving in the UK as is the NHS, but if you need an Ambulance you will get one, admittedly with a bit of a wait sometimes. Oh incidentally, you may also see cars similarly liveried to this in use by HEMS (Helicopter Ememgency Medical Service) who's medics (medics are Doctors in the UK in this situation but the car may also carry Paramedics/ECA's) are often used when the helo can't fly or the incident is nearby to a helo base. Their livery is distinct and recognisable but most are still part of the NHS although can be a charity dispatched as part of the NHS service.

The different sounding siren is for built up areas Steve. It makes the sound easier to pinpoint where it's coming from compared to the wailing sirens which echo off of buildings etc.

On a lighter note,whenever i see an Ambulance passing by with its sirens going, i'm reminded of the Eric Morcambe line "He won't sell many ice creams going at that speed ! "

In the UK it is not a rule that you have to stop when you hear a siren - this is basically because many roads are too narrow or have bends and difficult sightlines or other obstructions. Consequently if you simply stop you could easily block the road ... we are trained to keep moving (legally) until it is obvious the emergency vehicle can move past. Giving signals which side you plan to move to helps them a lot - they then know you have seen them and they can plan which side to move to. Many many calls do not result in transport to hospital so the call handlers are trained to assess the initial call and can choose to dispatch a car with a paramedic rather then a double crewed van. Also a car is likely to get there faster so can be the choice for certain very severe calls. In fact the driver who does these videos is more experienced than a standard paramedic (themselves very very highly trained) and is a manager and trainer, and specialises in critical care, so his blue light runs can be longer than normal. By the way we call them blue light runs simply because an emergency vehicle on a call will always have blue (and sometimes other colour) lights flashing, and then only use the sirens, sometimes known as "twos" (from two tones), when necessary - hence the term blues and twos.

Total respect for the skills of that driver.

These smaller ambulances are for paramedics, a fast response is sometimes the difference between life and death, these arrive at accident scenes before the bigger ambulances to deal with and stabilise a patient ready for transport by ambulance (or air ambulance in really bad cases) to the hospital.

As several other people have said, here in the UK we are not legally required to stop however if we do not give way when the opportunity is available then we can be charged with obstruction of an emergency vehicle, this gives us more freedom to find a safe passing point.

Chris Martin is a critical care paramedic, his videos are brilliant. they use cars because they faster and more agile than a normal ambulance. He explains in a lot of his videos what he looks for from drivers and explains how he has to drive on blues and two's.

Lost count of how many times these buys and girls have saved my life i have no words to describe how thankful i am they are angels everyone of them ❤

The cars are fast response vehicles, they can get to patients and help , often they have advanced training and sometimes staffed by Emergency Dr's. Sometimes they will be staffed by paramedic practitioners who are able to give people antibiotics and such like, to save the person going into hospital. The different tone on the sirens are heard differently by the drivers and make it easier to assess where the siren is coming from.

The ambulance cars are actually for more serious emergencies. They can get to the scene a lot faster and help the patient before the big ambulance turns up 🙂

It's required to pull over if you can safely do it, but if the ambulance etc can get around you like on a dual carriageway, you can just slow down a little to make sure they pass you safely.

We actually have 2 emergency numbers: 112, for ambulances that you call if you need one but it isn't't a serous emergency, and 999, which you ONLY EVER CALL IN LIFE OR DEATH SITUATIONS

In city centres we also have a few paramedics on cycles again as a rapid response until the larger ambulances can get through. If there is a serious incident all emergency vehicles in the area will respond so if there is a problem (as in this instance) there will always be a backup Most motorists will move over for emergency vehicles when they have the lights and sirens on & there’s no penalty if you don’t make way

There are three main sirens that they can change between, they have different acoustic properties and work best in different situations. The rapid siren is for short-range crowded areas (congestion), the wailing siren is for long distance built-up areas (cruising down the motorways or main roads), and the two-tone is for long distance rural (if I have got them the right way around)

As a Brit who has driven extensively in Europe, I will say that the Northern Europeans are the absolute best at this. There are some videos of German EMS responding to emergencies on RU-vid, and those are well worth watching.

999 is the number in the UK It was introduced in 1935 back then we had rotary phones The choice of 999 was fortunate for accessibility, because in the dark or in dense smoke 999 could be dialled by placing a finger one hole away from the dial stop and rotating the dial to the full extent three times. This enables all users including the visually impaired to easily dial the emergency number. It is also the case that it is relatively easy for 111, and other low-number sequences, to be called accidentally,

I was on the A19 in June stuck in a 6 mile tailback that parted like the red sea when a fire engine came through

Chris Martin’s videos are great - an absolute masterclass in response driving. The three siren tones you heard were Wail (slow, gradual rise and fall, ideal for open roads); Yelp (faster, ideal for busier traffic); and the Phaser/Piercer/Priority tone (the very fast one, often used as a sort of accent tone or insistent warning). There’s a whole art to tone selection - for instance, when responding with other vehicles, they’d try to use different tones so other vehicles realise there are multiple units coming through.

Emergency service driving skills are incredible. They need balls of steel.

The smaller cars are fast response, usually doctors or medics. They will usually get to an incident before the regular ambulances. The warbling sirens have been found to be more effective as they are more directional, & more noticeable than normal wailing sirens.

This is so cool. My home town of Stevenage in the UK. This guy doesn't have that many videos and I was only watching his larest one last night! Thanks for taking an interest in so many things outside of your own country. Really refreshing! (He even drives past where I work!)

You move out of the way when you hear a siren in the UK. If it's the police and they are after you, you will know it when they don't drive past and start following you. Then you stop.

Hi Steve, I've lived in both the UK and the USA and then back in the UK again. The difference I have seen with emergency vehicles is there seems to be a lot more uptake in the UK on research regarding safety for emergency vehicles and the public than in the USA, sort of a constant drive for the latest and greatest safety tech and swift embrace of change. I was born in the 70's and have seen a rapid change in the vehicles used, markings and sirens here in the UK that I just never saw in the USA, particularly for police. Obviously vehicle's do upgrade there but many of the markings and sirens seem to retain the look of the movies from my youth, my USA husband notices that some just look the same as when he was a kid. I think there tends to be a love of nostalgia in the USA and it reflects in the various vehicles. I saw a lot of local county police vehicles retaining that look from my USA husbands youth, the big long cars, that massive single red light on the top of the car, just the logo of the department on the car door; sort of straight out of a 70's/80's movie, they look very cool and very American of course. I think the different levels of forces there too, local, regional and national often want their own distinctive look. In 2002 I moved to the USA and remember the first time seeing a police car parked side-on to traffic at night, stopping people going down a road due to an accident, I was flabbergasted that it was an almost completely black vehicle with one reflective stripe and one red light on top, after being used to seeing our police cars from about a mile away with almost the whole side of the vehicle reflected and multiple bright lights. My husband who has driven in mainland Europe and in the UK said he never really understood the reasons forces in the USA were not interested in adopting technical safety changes that are better for them and the public, he said change to those things tend to shift very slowly there. In general things like fog lights on cars, solar powered LED cats eyes, stuff like that are not common around the USA. So the changes in sirens come from research of sounds that work best to get peoples attention especially with all the sound distractions in our cars these days, avoid panic and confusion, are easiest to locate and avoiding people getting used to the repetitive sound and disconnecting. The car vehicle versus full ambulance is speed to site related and also they often carry other equipment to help in a road traffic accident that a normal ambulance wouldn't carry. The aim of not stopping unless necessary, is to avoid panic and further accidents as people pull over or cross lanes. So if you are not impeding the progress of the emergency vehicle, you just slow down a little and allow the trained driver to navigate. I had a panic once in the USA, I was in the outside of 3 lanes ready to turn left, I was the ONLY vehicle on the 3 lane road, a fire engine came speeding up the middle lane behind me lights flashing. The rules where we were (Midwest) were to pull over to the right and stop, but that would mean me pulling across 2 lanes directly in front of the fast approaching fire engine, when I was already slowing to turn in the left lane. So to avoid an accident I pulled over to the left and stopped, the fire engine had two lanes to pass by me with no traffic, but instead he pulled into the left lane behind me and honked his horn until I pulled over 2 lanes and let him past, he then moved across again to the center lane and carried on straight. It was the weirdest experience for me, because he slowed his ability to reach the 911 call just to force a stopped car, that was not in his lane, over to the right just I guess to make a point. De-escalation is not often a thing there is it lol. The roads in the USA are usually very wide and often many lanes, and so I think permits the general rule to pull over and stop, although always to one side I think can create more problems in some cases. But in the UK the roads are small and often have curbs on them, so less easy to have all cars stop on one side, so the slow and move out systems works better here. It is interesting to live in another country, it gives a lot perspective, there are pros and cons always to each nation.

We have two emergency numbers - 999 and 112, and then there's the non emergency numbers 101 and 111 😊 The car is rapid response, less equipped than an ambulance bit usually able to get there faster amd start treatment. We also have paramudic motorbikes. No requirement to stop. Drive normally and make space if and when its safe to do so. They have the training, not us. Stopping can cause much bigger problems. Absolute legends each and every one of them. Safe to say I would be dead many times over without them. Thankyou NHS ❤❤❤❤

The siren is designed to help people workout the direction that it is coming from, it’s relatively recent. It came in after various experiments to find the best one.

You have to move out of the way of an emergency vehicle. You dont necessarily stop as you may block the path of the emergency vehicle

We even have, in some congested or narrow city centres e.g. York, bicycle paramedics complete with lights and sirens. They are great for areas that are busy with foot traffic and can get down narrow alleys and even into shopping centres (Malls).

The US uses 911, most of Europe uses 112 and the UK has used 999 for many years. However, in the UK you can now use either 999 or 112 to get to the emergency services. The UK emergency services are police, fire and ambulance, plus coastguards, mountain rescue, lowland rescue, cave rescue and moorland search and rescue. It is a 'blue light' response because emergency vehicles in the UK only have blue flashing lights (although normal white lights may also flash). some years ago, they had two-tone horns rather than sirens, so the response was often termed 'blues and twos'.

To answer your question regarding the use of fireman, the term firefighter would be used in the UK regardless of gender

The first time that my friend from Spain came to stay with me, we were out when an ambulance with its siren approached. Everyone began to move out of the way, including me. My friend was confused and a little nervous because he had no idea what was happening. When I explained, he was shocked as, he said, people did not do that in Madrid. Some months later, in Madrid, I saw that this was the case. It was then my turn to be shocked, and I have to admit, more than a little angry. I've no idea if this is common elsewhere in Spain.

Definitely have to be an amazing driver. Many roads in the UK barely fit two cars and then people pack on the side making it even smaller. Not to mention so many blind bends

I have been on the receiving end of these highly trained and highly qualified doctors on wheels. They have saved my life on a number of occasions.

Steve, I love your reaction videos. You pick up on differences to the states, but never claim that one is better than the other. And the humbleness to admit to not knowing why something is the way it is (even though a Brit is probably screaming at the screen because it’s obvious to us) is wonderful. Keep up the excellent content my friend. And regards the driving on the opposite of the road for us, I think it’s easier for us because we take our cars on the ferry to France (it’s only 90 minuets by boat).

In the UK you're required to get out the way not just mindlessly stop. Often just coming to a stop would block the emergency vehicle. Many times the best option is to continue driving until there's somewhere they can pass.

The weird part of the siren is the "get the fuck out of the way" siren

there are 3 siren tones used, the wail the yelp and the phaser (or piercer) the piercer can be heard further and warns distant traffic of an emergency vehicle so they can be aware they may need to move, as distances get shorter they change the tone , eventually going to the insistent wailer, meaning get out of the way now, there is also a new introduction called the rumbler that can make its presence known on even the best modern sound insulated cars (introduced this year)

In England it’s compulsory to give way to emergency vehicles p, they don’t have to stop, just clear a path

The only big difference between 🇬🇧 & 🇺🇸 is Coastguard is an emergency service here in the UK but its a branch of the military in the states.

An amazing piece of driving from a very skilled professional.

We drive on the left in the uk but most of us have driven in france or spain on the righthand side I find the different siigns/rules confussing sometimes but driving on the opposite side is surprisingly easy

Oh my goodness, i never thought I'd see my home town on your channel! I've often seen those ambulance cars whizzing past me.

Yes what you are looking at is called a SOLO vehicle, they tend to get to the scene much quicker than the standard ambulance and can evaluate the following situations much quicker.

It can be more dangerous to just stop, you do what's most safe for everyone around you

If we stop when we hear emergency sirens it can potentially cause another accident. We're required to pull over, slow down or even stop if required. Sirens are unidirectional, so we know where emergency sirens are coming from. But, we should keep the normal flow of traffic. Lights & sirens ( blues & 2's) have specific rules. Only life saving emergencies. If ambulances fall out of set protocol they will get disciplined.

I work in ambulance control and find it so strange how differently it works here to other countries! We have trucks (the big boys that have the stretcher) - the service I work for have cars too, which are single response vehicles. It will be a paramedic on their own, though sometimes in our area we have one with a police officer on board (999 Emergency Call Out is a good show which follows them from the service I work for and is a good watch). They usually attend the higher priority calls to make sure someone this there quickly, and are backed up by a truck. We also have cars for HEMS (air ambulance) for when they can't fly, or they don't need to. It does differ depending on the service you work for, though. For example some services also use motorbikes. Our roads are awful. I drive the M25 (AKA the UKs Biggest Car Park) every day to get to work... absolutely couldn't drive on blue lights, the road rage would be baaaaad.

Your comment about driving on the left made me smile - I'm from the UK, but when I drove in the USA it took about half an hour to get comfortable with driving on the right. The thing I couldn't get used to was having the gear stick on my left, it felt so weird to shift gears with my left hand even though I'm left-handed!

A lot of the car ones have higher trained Doctors onboard to get their quicker whilst the larger ambulences gets there. - We have to pull over and let the vehicles past. - The 3 tones on the sierns are just used to change at junctions etc. - We just call them Police, Fire and Ambulence

This is rather long. I do apologise. I hope I’ve answered everything in great detail and even more after that. Also, I leave a fun fact about out Fire Brigade that I guarantee you won’t already know. So as others have said we officially have 3 primary emergency services. We have, Police officers / police department Firemen / Fire Brigade (more commonly now known as) “Fire and Rescue” Ambulance / paramedics / medics The Sirens are slightly different for each emergency service and they’re reasons for this. Also each emergency service vehicle have multiple sirens which are… Police cars often use the “yelp” sound. This type has a faster cycle than the “wail” sound and is sometimes more effective in getting the public's attention. Ambulance vehicles tilt toward the “wail” sound. Sometimes, they use double sirens with different cycles, and the sounds are often deeper. In this video the ambulance has 4 types of noise it can make. 1) the standard horn. 2,3 and 4 are sirens. Generally the main siren is the looping ring however when you start to get into a built up area or in high traffic they play the second siren because it helps to ensure they are heard in a much closer vicinity. The 3rd siren which is the constant which can be heard at one point in this video is for when you are in very heavy traffic. The main reason is that once people are stuck in traffic or backed up in traffic, our brains disengage slightly because we are not moving, so that last siren is to get the immediate attention of those most closest to you so that they don’t step out, open a door et cetera. Each of our service is independent. All 3 services are trained to some degree in first aid. More specifically “first responder medal aid”. Primary though the paramedics or the “medics” are responsible for the first aid given once they are on scene. Example. If a car turns over and people are trapped. All 3 services will attend and their job roles will be… Police - stop traffic / direct traffic and take statements from witnesses. Fire brigade - It will be their job to assess the overturned vehicle, what to do to the vehicle to get those trapped out as soon as possible in the safest possible way. Paramedics - It is the medics job to do their best to support the patients inside the car (example, putting a neck brace on the driver… they would the the neck brace and drivers head still whilst Fire cut the roof off). It is also the job of the paramedics to determine which paitent is in the worst state at that time and wether there is an “immediate risk to life”… if they deem their is an immediate risk to life then the Fire department will go as quick as possible, in the safest way as possible to get that person out ASAP. However, if the medic determines it’s minor injuries or “not an immediate risk to life” then they will generally take a less risky option and it generally won’t be done in the same sort of time frame. It is also down to the paramedics to decide if a person does indeed require hospital treatment just how bad are the injuries and equally important, how far away / what are the road conditions from the accident site to the hospital. Therefor the paramedics on-site will be the ones to dispatch our air ambulances (helicopters) for the paitent to be transported via air if they deem it so. Also with the air ambulances there is a doctor on board every single air ambulance that is ever dispatched followed by an advanced medic. As for the vehicles this particular ambulance is known as a “rapid response vehicle”. These can attend literally any scene at all. Sometimes they’re sent to a call first that could be deemed non life threatening to give a paitent “a once over”. Then if they feel that the paitent requires hospital treatment then they’ll generally either take the person themselves to the hospital or if the paitent isn’t able to walk or needs monitoring on the way then they’ll radio for an Ambulance to be seen at which point generally the ambulance crew take over the care of the paitent and get them to hospital. A rapid response vehicle can also be assigned for “serious and immediate risk to life and/or life changes injuries”. A rapid response vehicle like this truly can be sent to any call. Also sometimes, they’ll also be a doctor who will be in one of these cars but they’ll typically only be sent to the really bad stuff. We then have something called “scene commanders” for the serious stuff. So if there’s (example) multiple accidents, an explosion a massive accident involving multiple of each emergency service they all have very specific tasks. Police - to keep the peace, keep people back from the accident / incident / preserve the scene as best as they can just in case people die and things need looking at more closely. Fire brigade - it would be their job to put out any fires, flames attend to any leaked or spillages deal with hazardous materials. The Fire Brigade will also tell the police how far away they want the police cordon (crime scene) to be. So they might say something like “we need you guys at least 50 feet over there because this might explode) so then the police would move their police tape et cetera. Paramedics - anything related to first aid is down to the medics. As stated earlier it is the paramedics who authorise the fire brigade to cut the top of a car off if someone is stuck et cetera. This is because the medics must first secure that people the best they can given the situation they’re in. Otherwise if the Fire brigade start cutting the door or the roof off they’re necessarily going to see that the driver has a broken femur which could cause rapid blood loss and death. So it’s all directed by the paramedics and it is all done in their time frame. Oh also, yes the law stipulates you MUST at the earliest opportunity move out of the way of an emergency vehicle on the condition that it is safe to do so and it does not put any other road user in immediate risk. Finally, any and/all vehicles driven by emergency services are continuously doing mini risk assessments as the journey continues. If a warning light comes on then they MUST make another of those assessments there and then. Q. Is it safe enough to continue. A. We have a flat tyre. Typically that vehicle will be out of service affective immediately. For example if the police, fire or ambulance didn’t check the tyre after the warning came up, or if they pulled over, checked and carried on then if there is any accident of any kind they’d be personally responsible as the vehicle clearly were not road worthy / road legal. If this was a doctor in this particular ambulance in this video or if that was an advanced paramedic or specialised in server blood loss or something then they would call the closest police car or the closest ambulance to go and pick them you and take them to the scene. If you don’t get out of the way of an “emergency vehicle” it's an offence to obstruct or hinder emergency services vehicles. However, that doesn't mean you should commit a driving offence to do so. Albeit if it’s done as safely as possible (example, driving through a red light at slow speed in order to make way) if done safely then the driver wouldn’t be in trouble. One of our many laws regarding it is… The Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006. - in case anyone is ants some light reading. How long a driving ban will last The court will decide how long the disqualification will last, based on how serious they think the offence is. You can be banned from driving if you already have 12 or more penalty points on your licence. Your ban can last: 6 months, if you get 12 or more penalty points within 3 years 12 months, if you get a second disqualification within 3 years 2 years, if you get a third disqualification within 3 years Now time for the “fun fact”. Our Fire Brigade / Fire Department has the authority to force other vehicles out of their way, if they do not move out of the way themselves. However this is done with the intention of causing as little damage as possible but typically if a vehicle is in the way, not moving or if it’s parked up and the owner is gone… they will drive through that vehicle and typically they will do 1 or 2 things. 1) a Fire Fighter will exit the fire truck and stay with that vehicle until police and/or ambulance arrive to check for injuries. 2) if it’s parked and their is no injuries, they will go back after the fact, and leave a card / paper under the front screen window wipers asking them to call them, or they’ll leave a card with their insurance details on. Hope this is detailed enough and I hope I’ve not missed anything out. Have a great evening everyone and thanks for reading.

Here in NZ the sirens change when approaching a busy intersection, to warn vehicles the EMS is coming through. Drivers are also required to "move over" to allow passage but there are always one or two Wallies on the road that either can't hear anything or disrespect the need to do so. Nothing usually happens except a few expletives but if seriously bad, each vehicle has a camera such as this which can be handed to Police.

Your question at 2 minutes: In the Uk the smaller vehicles are "First response" - they get a medic to the victoim as fast as possible to stabalise so that even if the normal ambulance is delayed the patient doesnt die. Had one come to my house when i had a heart attack. They arrived in 5 minutes the Ambulance was there 10 minutes later. Saved my life. Amazing people. Yes other vehicles are required to get out the way as fast as safe and practical.

Years ago they did a lot of research into the publics reaction to different sirens amd sometimes changing things up can help people focus better on the sirens. The ambulances often have a way of directing the sound to the vehicles ahead rather than sound releasing in a 360 degree way, if that makes any sense. It means it's easier for drivers to pin point where it's coming from, amd also drovers over the other side of the road who aren't in the way won't panic at the sirens sounds when they don't need to move. Hope that made sense.

The main thing the ambulance service is free. No need to worry about your insurance cover.

Drivers are required to get out of the way. Traffic very rarely stops on UK roads. It's safer and better to keep everyone moving.

The siren sound, what i remember when that first came out, was that buzzing type sound is supposed to give more situational/directional awareness. When you hear the normal siren, sometimes it is hard to tell where its coming from.

The secondary or alternative siren is designed to be easier to detect direction so that drivers know which side to pull over to and is usually used in heavy traffic.

The smaller ambulances are sometimes used for doctors in case they need to do an emergency surgery, like cutting off someone's leg to free them from a crashed vehicle before they bleed to death for example (nearly happened to a friend).

I emigrated from the US to Ireland two decades ago. An interesting thing about different cultures is that you learn all the choices societies have to make. And lots of choices are largely just neutral - not better, not worse, just different. Others choices can be a bit better or worse than some others. And often the location or other choices affect all that. Stay curious. We can always learn new ways to do things. Doesn't mean you have to change, but it can give you deeper insights into your own society's choices and help you understand what was trying to be solved. However it sometimes can change you and help you address things others can't. As long as you're open to new ideas, you'll always have more options than those who are not.

Steve, i believe the choice of 999 as the emergency number goes back to the days when you had round dial telephones, that you put your finger in to select the number, and i suppose it would be easier to dial if the lights went out for example.

There used to be public information adverts on television about how to respond to an ambulance, I can still hear the womans voice; "Just create a gap for us - there's always something you can do".

999 was introduced in 1937 and is the World's oldest national emergency response telephone number. 999 was chosen because the 9 was easy to find by touch on the old rotary dial phones and therefore could be dialled in darkness, whilst three nines is easy to remember. We are taught from childhood to remember that number.

The cars are fast response vehicle driven by a Paramedic, sometimes with a Doctor as well, who is usually the first on scene at an emergency. Some Ambulance services also use Motorcycles for the same purpose. Unlike what I understand to be the case in the USA, people are not charged for calling an Ambulance. The Ambulance service is a part of the National Health Service, and like the NHS, is free at the point of use.

That was a long journey for the ambulance, usually if there’s a distance and it’s emergency, the ambulance helicopter comes out.

There is a very famous old video of a UK "Police Rover SD1 organ transport". Well worth watching.

UK drivers may be used to driving on the right since we holiday in Europe and France is only 20 miles from England! The variable sounds from the siren has been scientifically proved to be better heard than the 'two tone' as previously used.

UK viewer here. Terminology I use is Police Officer, Paramedic, Firefighter, Rescue Worker (cave and mountain rescues) and Coastguard (lifeboats and beach watch - note that in the UK, the coastgaurds are not a military organisation like the US coastguard). Have used these since childhood.

What worries me about this video more than anything is the distance he had to travel to get to the emergency.. Why was there not an ambulance in the town where the incident was ? It's all too common now in the UK... You can't get an ambulance for hours in many cases.

I’ve had these first responders to me several times. The ones I have are manned by a paramedic that can give me morphine and wait until the bigger ambulance arrives. Last time I needed them I’d broken the top of my foot and my dodgy kidneys (which they usually come for) had decided to both get infected. I didn’t feel the pain of the broken foot through the kidney pain and I really felt like I was going to die with that. One kidney is bearable just. Two was hell on earth. I thank them for getting to me and taking the pain away each time. I’m living in Spain now at the top of a mountain. The medical care is great, top notch, but I do have to ideally get down the mountain first, although they will come up if I’m in bad shape. Never been in bad shape as I keep medication up here.

We would call the fire department the 'fire service', and members of that service 'firefighters'. Similar to how we would call the police department the 'police sevice'.

You imagine having to drive at these speeds through this traffic. Then when you get there you have to go into full mode of saving lives without a second to think. Over worked, under paid . Despite all this , we have ungreatful people who can only pull our NHS down. 🇬🇧

In Germany we work also the "rendevouz-system" in critical cases. A smaller car often BMW X-types equipt with all essentials (ECG,Vetilator,drugs etc. starts from its position at a hospital with an EMS as driver and an emergencyroom doctor . The big ambulanz starts from the firestation or the depot of another organisation.

The punishment is from a £200 fine and up to jail time depending on what happened from you not moving

The extra noise on the siren is a "directional" sound, allowing road users to work out the direction it's coming from, and it's typically used most where there's vehicles in the way.

Fast responders are life saving, heroes in my opinion. My mum had a seizure and they were with us in 5 minutes. Full rig ambulance wasnt too much longer. (My mum survived this was diagnosed with brain tumour)

The more abrasive siren is basically the “get the fuck out the way” siren. It cuts through anything else around and ‘tells’ the cars around to move. It’s also helps with direction of sounds so you can tell if you have an ambulance right behind you.

You actually just watched my drive to work 😂😂😮

We generally have 4 different sirens, all designed to throw the sound in different ways, the 'normal' siren you heard is designed to throw the sound forward as far as possible. There's then the quicker sounding type which is designed for echolocation, approaching junctions or roundabouts, you've probably heard a siren and wondered where it's coming from, this siren helps people hear the direction it's coming from. The third is a two tone, often used in built up areas so you don't deafen everyone going past and the very quick 'white noise' type siren is almost like a mixture of the lot, it's usually used when more than one vehicle is driving together so drivers can hear there's a second or third emergency vehicle so they don't just pull out after the first one passes.

My husband was very ill, in the middle of a severe snowstorm (we really only get two days of snow a year, that year we had two foot suddenly). The paramedic got to us, after he crashed his own paramedic vehicle on black ice, pulling his full pack on his back and slogging the half a mile uphill. People are expected to get out of the way, but only if it's safe do so. If you can't pull over, because the road is too narrow, (which we have a lot of), you are expected to continue in front of the ambulance until you can pull over safely without blocking the emergency service. The crackle sound is made to give other drivers a better idea of where the siren is coming from, front, back, left or right.

I was riding my 1000cc BMW motorcycle along very narrow British country roads Even with full face crash helmet and ear plugs, I heard an ems siren. I checked all around & saw the blue flashing light a long way behind me. It was a fire engine and gaining on me fast. Looking well ahead I saw an entrance to a farm and pulled into it. As the fire engine went past, every window on it was open with an arm giving me a thumbs up from every window. 🙏

I watched one video from one of the Nordic countries where two bikers accompanied an ambulance through heavy traffic. It was so well executed, the bikers stopping traffic on roundabouts, clearing traffic all the way.

I live in France...drive a left hand drive car, visit my mum in UK and drive a right hand drive car. Hardly ever think about it! The difference in ambulances /emergency vehicles in France and UK is amazing...I was astonished when nobody slowed down or pulled over for a blue light in France! Weird!

I was taken to hospital be ambulance and I asked about the paramedics in the cars. She told me that they are super paramedics and can do more procedures than other paramedics! All paramedics are very highly trained!

Have you ever seen a car with a flashing GREEN light? Thats a doctor on emergency call. Sirens have white noise incorporated at times, siren you hear but do not know exactly where it is coming from, but white noise bursts help you to pinpoint direction. At present the fine for not getting out of the way is £1,000, but to only do so by not breaking any other rules in doing so, otherwise liable to fines.

The smaller cars are usually staffed by highly trained paramedics / doctors, higher qualified than the standard ambulance vans, and can respond much quicker than a van. They will respond to very critical / serious cases which need immediate medical treatment, usually with a van will also be deployed as backup / transport to hospital.

STEVE, PLEASE READ, In the UK the different tones in sirens are changed by pressing the horn, when on blues it changes from being just a normal horn to a way to change the tones, the tones are chosen as different sounds are heard better in different traffic situations, like going fast or through congestion. Next is the size of the ambulance, the small cars are fast and nimble through traffic and normally have a much more qualified Doctor that can even carry out minor emergency surgery situations, so if someone was in a life threatening situation, this kind of ambulance is essential, as for the larger van types, these are much slower to respond and have general ambulance staff to stabilise a patient and transport to hospital for care. In some cases there are extreme situations where we use helicopters fully equipped for super fast emergencies, these carry the best of both! As for the different emergency services names, it's just Police, Fire or Ambulance, so a Police Car, Fire Engine, or Ambulance. Each emergency service can also have their own individual siren sounds to help identify what's coming before you see it. Lastly we are not required by law to stop or get out the way, we are just taught to drive that way, however if getting out the way could cause damage to you, your car or something else then you dont have to move until you can do so safely, as you wont get any compensation for any damages or injuries caused by moving out the way. Like for instance if you hit a curb moving out the way and damage your wheel or blow a tyre, tough luck, you have to pay for that yourself and all the costs involved in moving your car from that spot etc. Hope that helps!?

the main siren is designed to be heard at a distance, the shorter wave one they use approaching junctions and in heavy traffic is easier for people around to hear the direction the siren is approaching from. as a driver in the UK i can say its very affective.

Yo its Chris Martin no way. Never thought I'd see a reaction to this guy. I find his content so informative about how best to react to sirens behind me

In the UK those smaller ambulance cars are usually used as first responders ahead of a larger ambulance arriving, and as they are first on scene they can also decide if the patient needs an ambulance to go to hospital or not - happened when I had to call an ambulance for my Nan, first responder arrived first to start treatment. Also, in the UK you are not required by law to stop for emergency vehicles but you DO need to safely move over to allow them space to pass (by all means, if it is safe for you to stop to the side and let them pass then absolutely do that). Also the different sirens are to help drivers anticipate the direction the emergency vehicle is coming from and also they use that faster tone siren in heavier traffic - allows drivers to notice the emergency vehicle because of the unique sound rather than just "oh, its a siren in the distance".

2:10 They are used to getting to an accident fast before the ambulance arrives to stabilise the person quickly, so most often used for serious emergencies but also used for minor emergencies if closer than an ambulance.

The ambulance here is what we'd call the Rapid Response Vehicle. They tend to be able to get to the scene quicker. They won't be able to take the casualty but can offer treatment until the big ambulance shows up.

In some places in the UK we have motorcycle paramedics as well who get to places MUCH faster than an ambulance can and render first response aid, they've saved quite a few people who would not have lived if they'd had to wait for the full size to arrive through rush hour traffic in city centers. The general rule here for blue lights is make space and let them by, we don't have to stop as long as we leave them plenty of space and don't block junctions that they may want to take.