ACT Policing lets us know what lights and sirens mean

poptop said :

Does anything covered in the video apply to people on bicycles?>_>

It is usually a cyclist that has been hit by a car that the ambo is on its way to.

We all know what lights and sirens mean. Smoko time at the station and the pies are getting cold.

I learned that by reading the RiotAct, not watching movies.

Why can ambo’s and firies play traffic light god like in the states?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_signal_preemption

When this was being filmed on ANZAC Parade a few weeks ago, they were playing the sirens from an Ambulance. So a car heard the sirens & sat at the Blamey Crescent lights looking around.

This reminds me of the time about 10 years ago when i was stopped in the far left lane at a red light on Northbourne Ave/Ipima St with two other vehicles in the lanes next to me and an ambulance was roaring towards me from behind with lights flashing and siren blaring.As he got close i had a good look left and right,which was clear,so i gunned it through the red light with the ambos following suit who then gave me the thumbs up as they were passing me.Seemed like the right thing to do at the time and i would have no hesitation doing the same thing again providing the road was clear and or other cross traffic had stopped for the emergency vehicle.

I’d add that it’s helpful to all and sundry if you also indicate your intentions as you move over.

Watson said :

Holden Caulfield said :

Make way legally, the copper says.

Not that I have a problem with the black Forester driving up the kerb and out of the way of the Ambo, but is that actually legal?

See, I didn’t know that you could not break some road rules to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle. I have driven through the red to pull off the road just behind the lights (ie. I didn’t actually cross the intersection) to let a firetruck trough. I thought I did the right thing, even if when the truck had passed the friggin cars that got to the intersection after me wouldn’t let me merge in when the lights went green and I nearly got stuck there until the light went read again!

Technically you can’t break road rules to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle. Especially something potentially dangerous like going through a red light in front of them. If nothing else, it scares the crap out of the crew!

Having said that, it’d be pretty rare to be pinged by the coppers (unless you did something monumentally stupid and dangerous) for breaking a rule or two while trying to help. You’re more likely to get fined for NOT moving out of the way.

If you keep your reactions to “pull over and stop”, you’re doing the right thing. I’m not sure about the wisdom of showing the 4WD mounting the kerb either. That’s the space the ambulance would have used if the traffic lanes were full.

Holden Caulfield said :

Make way legally, the copper says.

Not that I have a problem with the black Forester driving up the kerb and out of the way of the Ambo, but is that actually legal?

See, I didn’t know that you could not break some road rules to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle. I have driven through the red to pull off the road just behind the lights (ie. I didn’t actually cross the intersection) to let a firetruck trough. I thought I did the right thing, even if when the truck had passed the friggin cars that got to the intersection after me wouldn’t let me merge in when the lights went green and I nearly got stuck there until the light went read again!

I think the “P” plater at the end of the video should have been stopped by the police for going the wrong way down the one way Murulla lane!

🙂

poptop said :

Does anything covered in the video apply to people on bicycles?

>_>

Even if it did, it’d only be a ‘suggestion’.