The bus driver remained perfectly calm.
In spite of what I've been told in my own training, the lights and sirens on all of the Police cars stayed on as they waited in the traffic and the first two positioned themselves behind us in the line of sight for the bus driver in a very "Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" manner with the other's further back in the queue separated from those first ones by other queuing cars.
But still my driver remained calm.
It was almost as though he didn't know that the Police were there. We were held by Red traffic lights and coned into lanes that were only a few inches clear of the bus on each side with London rush hour traffic ahead of us - probably about 8 or 10 other vehicles in front before we got to the lights.
We were stuck, but it was obvious the Police were in a hurry at the worst possible time in the day for London's traffic.
The lights changed, the traffic moved and as we came out of the roadworks, the road expanded to 4 lanes. The driver signaled his intention to move to the left as he approached the exit of the roadworks and the Police responded by positioning to the right of the lane, inches from the cones, absolutely itching to get past.
And that's exactly what happened when exited the bottle neck and got back out into some space. The bus moved left (and accelerated normally), the Police moved right and easily out paced us on the open road and because our driver left the scene rather than stopping to let the Police past, the flow of traffic followed behind us and the other Police cars were "released" one by one to follow their colleauges.
That bus driver remains one of the best examples of how you deal with emergency services that I've ever seen on the road.
When you are approached by a vehicle responding to an emergency on the road:
- Remain calm
- Do what you can do to help them through (but don't stress if you can't do anything)
- Use signals to communicate your plans to the emergency driver
- It helps everyone if you offer SAFE opportunities to them to get past
- It helps everyone if you consider yourself to be part of a team assisting the Police
- Don't break any rules in the Highway Code - you must drive legally at all times and face prosecution if you don't!
It's worth bearing in mind that that emergency drivers:
- Have formal exemptions to break three rules in the Highway Code
- Speed limits
- Red lights and stop signs
- Keep left or right bollards
- Have widespread public support in breaking other rules in the Highway Code
- Are trained to deal with traffic - in a nutshell, they have two questions in mind at all times:
- Is there space?
- Are all other road users aware of my presence?
- Are well trained in car control skills
- Are well trained in the driving skills of observation and anticipation
- DON'T have to use blue lights and sirens in emergency response if they feel it's better not to
- SHOULD turn off their lights at sirens when in queues at Red traffic lights (to avoid provoking a dangerous reaction from other road users) and restart them when lights turn to Green
- MUST drive SAFELY at all times, regardless of the circumstances surrounding their journey
So it's a question of teamwork! We can help emergency vehicles by being aware of our surroundings, creating space and trying to be as predictable as possible.
Examples of people failing driving tests for poor response to Emergency response vehicles include:
- Drivers entering bus lanes
- Mounting the pavement
- Drivers stopping in dangerous places expecting the ER vehicle to over take
- Drivers stopping in other inappropriate places and causing a blockage
That bus driver WOULD NOT have failed his driving test because there was nothing he could do.
Stay safe!
Nick Heath Driver Training is located in Rode Heath on the Staffordshire / Cheshire border and provides driving training services to those looking to either improve their driving or learn from scratch. In addition to media work, we conduct Taxi Driver Assessments for local authorities and offer Advanced Driver Training and Testing, Motorway Training and Fuel Efficient Driver Training alongside refresher courses and learner driving lessons. We are ORDIT registered to provide Driving Instructor Training and are listed on the DVSA's register of Fleet Trainers so we can help you with your business needs.
More details are available on our website www.nickheathdrivertraining.org.uk
