Flashing Light Bars Means Move, So Why Don't We?

Over the years people have strived to make innovations that aid or assist safety in a way

. One of those innovations has been the creation of light bars on emergency vehicles.

There are a number of vehicles that use lighting as a way of attracting attention to themselves, these include fire engines, police cars, ambulances, highway patrol vehicles and doctors cars. These lights are generally located on the roof of the vehicle, although a number of these cars or vans now also carry lights in the rear window or on the door mirrors.

It has become common place that if you see one of these vehicles approaching at speed with their light bars flashing that they are responding to an emergency call and it is our duty to move out of their way. There have been several instances where people have been unaware about vehicles behind them with the light bars flashing which is why most emergency vehicles these days seem to be fitted with powerful sirens.

Unfortunately even with these light bars and sirens there are still a number of incidents a year where accidents between emergency vehicle and members of the general public occur. There are several reasons why this can happen. Firstly it could be down to the crew members in the emergency vehicle, several times I have seen emergency vehicles blast across junctions or traffic lights without the slightest alteration in speed as the assumption had been made that people had heard them coming.

The second occurrence is down to ignorance on the general public side. I have lost count of the times when I have seen the light bars or heard the siren of an emergency vehicle careful manoeuvred my vehicle to the side of the road only to be overtaken by the car behind who hadn't heard or seen the vehicle. The Highway Code informs people to regularly check your rear view mirror when changing speed or direction, if not you may pull out causing an accident.

The third problem I have seen has been related to music. People spend large sums of money on in car stereo and entertainment system these days and they make the most of them often with the volume up so loud that the music can be heard outside of the vehicle. The chances are if you can't hear the engine noise of your own vehicle then you won't hear the siren and hence see the light bar of the emergency vehicle approaching endangering the lives of you and other road users.

Maybe if we all took some time out we could all make the roads a safer place to be, but if we continue with this ignorant attitude that it is not our responsibility and it is merely other road users that are unsafe then accidents will continue to happen.

by: Anna Stenning

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