When I watch these videos I cannot help but be impressed by the driving skills of the emergency services. Then I remember that some poor soul is waiting at the end of your journey and is going to be relying on your paramedic skills. Thank you (and all your colleagues) for everything that you do.
I have to be honest and admit that after a beer or two one night I actually got quite emotional watching one of Chris's video's and thinking exactly the same thing!
definitely an artefact of the high texture foliage going past on each side. Compression doesn't know how to handle elements like that . The tom scott video on confetti explains it very well
"Our dedicated team of volunteer Doctors and Critical Care Paramedics make themselves available throughout the year, selflessly giving up their time to help those who suffer critical illness or injury across Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire." Wait so this is not even on the clock - Absolute Respect to you, and the whole team sir.
It's scandalous that there needs to be a volunteer run charity to fill gaps in healthcare. Most air ambulances are charities, most mountain rescue groups, all lifeboats. These should all be government funded agencies. Hats off to the volunteers across our nation.
@@graememckay9972 the issue there in lies the fact we need to encourage more people into those jobs within the healthcare system which people dont want to do be it because certain genders are berated and treated like crap because of the role they have gone into, or in general everyone within the healthcare system or All of our emergency services are treated like rubbish, and the gov would argue they'd need to increase taxes to account for it all rather than putting a stop to all the money being leached out of the tax pot by people working in government :/ - also the gov want the NHS to fail because they make money of private healthcare as share holders (which should be illegal but whos gonna stop the government)
Watching these videos really makes me wonder how some people can have so little observational skills or anticipation that they can't see or hear an emergency services vehicle coming from behind until they're directly behind, and even then it's a 50/50 I honestly wish more people would see these videos. Full respect from me for all the work you and all the EMS services do 🙂
There was some really good actions taken by a lot of the public in this video. I think the phrase "blind as a British van driver" should be a thing if it isn't.
@@gwaeron8630There were a few actions by some drivers in this video which I'd put in the 50/50 bracket, one which stuck out to me was the driver at around 5:10 who doesn't think to slow down more (or stop) between the middle islands. The video before this one though had quite a lot of odd decisions by some drivers, I think the very first driver in that one tried to stop opposite a LGV which was quite curious.
Another great video - I always spend the first few minutes trying to work out which road you are on before having to resort to freeze frame on a road sign - so glad you cover my area - very reassuring 😊
Really love seeing the skill that goes in to this, which isn't even the main focus of your job. Hats off to you as always. Would really love to see a camera on the speedo as well for some videos, it would be really interesting to see what speeds you do through different sections.
They were going crazy fast on the country road at the beginning and on the road at the end. In fact, I’d say a bit too fast on the country road, even for an emergency vehicle, as there were some blind bends where if there was an oncoming vehicle it could have been a head on collision. They maybe could’ve gone a bit quicker on the motorway sections though. Just my thoughts.
Knowing you're going to the same job..... .... and then you realise you're that much faster than the copper, you've got time to get your sandwiches out of the boot. 😁
Dont think thats correct. That cop 530 is way quicker. Its called a safe progressive drive. You dont fly on as fast as possible, you need to be aware of risk and other drivers etc. Seems like you have never done it
Mate, 3:48 to 4:33 is some of the BEST driving I've seen. Hands down. As a tow operator in the US, I'm amazed at how much you're able to do with such little space on the road.
I'm always in awe of your skills, and the control at speed through a flickering tunnel of extreme light and shade at the start was yet another level; thank you.
fair, but also that van driver may have seen it was clear in the middle lane and they were turning right, if they had put a right indicator on it would of helped to say go down the middle to the police car. the van is also at the 3rd marker board to the roundabout, so is in their braking zone to stop safely for the roundabout, doesnt know if the lorry has started braking yet and if it was me, i would not want to pull in front of the lorry and get rear ended. some people panic when they have emergency vehicles behind them. the van could of done better but overall didnt impede the flow of the police car too much.
@@douglasreid699 in that case an intent driver would have moved to the right as much as possible. But that van driver didn't. They instead hugged the left edge of the lane.
@@Jehty_ i would put that down to panic and lack of confidence and planning. they feel urged to move to the left lane to let the police car by, but they are 300yards from the junction and want to stay in the right the current lane to go where they are going. it can be rare for some drivers to come across emergency service vehicles behind them so they are not practiced at dealing with them. how much decision making can you make in 100yards? because that is pretty much the space they had to make their decision (without me looking up the video to check exactly what space they had with the marker boards and rewriting this comment). some people are good at it, some are not. end result was the police car got held up a few seconds but its something they expect to happen and train for as professional drivers.
@tmister007 yes there are a few out there that do hold up emergency vehicles, but i also seen loads of van drivers that are on it and get out the way in good time.
@tmister007 fair enough. I drive a van and a motorbike, but my dad was an advanced driving instructor so i have above average driver training. Its easy to stereotype, im bad at blaming audis for bad driving, but there is bad everyone driving. People need more education rather than pass a test once years ago and think they know it all.
Every video you put out, I'm just amazed by the standard of your driving. Nice to see these convoy videos also. Think the convoy ones are my fav blue light runs from you.
Pretty impressive reaction from almost all of the civilian drivers encountered - I watch some US emergency services videos, they have huge problems with lane hogging/poor reactions/no reactions. This is probably the best video I've seen in years for drivers being alert and assisting the ES with progressing.
The US has the added bonus of the only legal reaction being to come to a complete stop. Totally unworkable here, but some will argue for the overpowering superiority of having no freedom (ironic, isn't it?).
Think it might be a Volvo v60 t8, 0-60 around 4 seconds, nippy for sure, looking at buying one actually lol, unless its a D4, then bit slower than that.
@@JasonTheOneAndOnly didnt know you could get a T8? i know Volvo do a T5 as their high spec engine, my brother has a Volvo V90 with T5 engine in it, 2019 model of car. its a fun car when joining motorways.
@@douglasreid699 seems so, there s few on autotrader I been looking at, unless it's a listing error but I cant choose between that and a Audi S4 Avant tbh
I remember the first time visiting the UK and thinking that the police vehicles don't look serious with their cute high vis decals. Then the next day I saw them actually filtering through London traffic. They don't F around.
I keep having this argument with Americans on Instagram 😅 US police, like the California Highway Patrol for instance, definitely LOOK cool (though some liveries are awful) but emergency work isn't a fashion show, it should be about safety and visibility, which our UK vehicles have. CHP have black cars, minimal lighting, and no reflective decals and they work on California highways at night where rear-hits are notorious... Makes no sense!
As a UK resident I actually find it odd more nations don't have emergency services with high visibility paintwork - surely you want them to be highly visible to work with the sirens and make sure to those that do pay attention in the road know exactly what vehicle to make way for? All in all I have the opposite thought - if it isn't high vis, doesn't seem very serious imo.
Don't know if you're from the US but the range of different police liveries over there seems very confusing, and the sort of thing that makes it easier for Jeremy Dewitte types to mess with people.
@@AlexSwanson-rw7cv - had to give you a thumbs up just for the Jeremy Dewitte reference - I watched a load of videos of him and his goons pretending to be police and gosh those funeral escorts - yikes! Wonder what they're up to these days...
The high-vis decales are called Batternburg markings. The UK invented them for emergency vehicles in the 1990s. Since then, many other European nations have adopted them, along with Australia and New Zealand. They serve a very important and useful purpose. They make the vehicles instantly nationally recognisable as emergency vehicles, and both when they're moving and stopped, make the vehicles extremely visible from long distances in all conditions, including pitch black night, snow and fog. A major efficiency and safety advantage.
How tired are the emergency services after a shift ? Takes all my energy just watching, our emergency drivers from all services truly are the absolute best 👍😎
I find it much harder to follow someone than lead because you have to anticipate what they're doing but also not let them lead you into any situations that are beyond what you can deal with.
Thanks for sharing. By seeing your view of the road it helps other drivers see how to help. I think there was some great assistance here (esp the green lorry on the roundabout that helped with the left exit) but generally everywhere (poss light traffic, too). Occasionally it's awkward but that's just driving. General awarenss when driving is so crucial as closing speeds are high and margins are small. Quite a long run that suggests resources are sparse. Cheers.
Since you mention two-tones, it's a shame you don't have them (either electronic or air horn) as they're absolutely distinctive and contrast well against the howl/wail being used by another vehicle when running in convoy. Also nice to see the police *not* using flashing reds as hazard lights for once! ;)
This is for additional doctor or advanced paramedic support. If it were a cat 1 life threatening then the majority of the time there is a crew on scene in under 8 minutes. The specialists take longer to arrive as there is less of them floating about.
brother i don't know if you will see this but your videos has inspired me a lot. I have graduated as a doctor with an MBBS degree but unfortunately I was unable to pass the license exams that will enable me to practice. I then got diagnosed with ADHD and realized due to the nature of my ADHD I will never be able to pass the license exams and it will be a permanent roadblock for me so I'm stuck with an MBBS degree living one day at a time dealing with my ADHD. Watching your videos inspired me a lot so if you have some time I would greatly appreciate it if you can briefly tell me how can I get to do what you do for a living in these videos
I was in southern europe last week and 2 ambulances drove past. They were using the same siren tone but it was about half a second apart so I knew within a second there were 2 cars. I find sometimes find that it takes me a little longer to determine if there is more than one car when you use different tones. Not much longer, but what I heard abroad couldn't have been more obvious
It may just be experiance at play but your positioning, awareness (we will forgive the boot being open) and overall placement of the vehicle was much better than the car you were following. Thanks for sharing.😉
it will be down to different styles and who the drivers instructor was. although the core of the advanced driving is the same, the police will train their drivers differently to other emergency service drivers. from what i could see in places and what i know thanks to my dad who was an advanced driving instructor, the police car was playing more an escort role. coming off the motorway and up the hill to the red light around 7:30 the police car is making a gap and Chris is not following it to get more vision of road ahead. he stays left of the police car and behind it in case its gets hit side on from a vehicle thats not stopped for them as they go through the red light as an example. there are advantages and disadvantages to blue light runs in convoy, most vehicles have already got out the way for the first car, a police car gets more respect from road users i feel, but the danger is most drivers are not expecting the second vehicle right behind it, so Chris needs position himself slightly different to allow better vision where he can.
Throwing this out there... The police driver may not be as highly qualified as Chris! They may only be low power response qualified. Whereas Chris's car certainly falls into the high power category. As has been said, how and who trained can make a difference, even with the new "standardised" requirements for response driving. I would teach people to do some things differently to Chris or the lead car. Then differently still if not in convoy.
@@stevesmith7530 what is the difference between low power and high power? Is it to do with car performance? Because that police car took off and i would say it was a far more powerful car than the vehicle Chris is driving. Having driven my brothers volvo v90 t5 2019 model, those volvos can shift.
I can see that some image stabilization has been added compared to a the last video, but fortunately it's not extremely aggressive like a while back. I compared a roundabout back then where the hood moves half way across the screen during the turn. Now it just moves a little bit. This is better because it doesn't detract from the sense of maneuvers, while still greatly reducing the vibration and shaking as in the previous fixed-gimbal video.
Yet another excellent drive. When you have had enough front line, I want to see you on the driver training team of EEAST. I think you could make a huge difference.
Great driving skills and superb video. However, i'm shocked how long distances you make for a blue response. Aren't there enough units or bases around to reduce the time of response? Thank you for your work!
I'm always staggered by the distance you sometimes seem to travel to an incident - can you give a rough idea how far this drive was? Is it because there are too few of you and are spread too thinly?
Don’t know about this run/Critical Care Medics, but to give you an example from Police perspective- it’s not unheard of for our Dept to do 45 to 50 minute runs on Blues - and averaging 115 to 120mph over that whole run.
Fantstic skilful driving thankyou for being the people who go towards danger. I also know that you guys drove like this because sadly someone at the other end was probably in the worst moment of there life and I hope the outcome was positive
Are you using any sort of runflat tyres? I'd guess punctures are very likely when driving over the central reservations and hard shoulders with all the debris lying there?
I wish councils would road-sweep those central hatched areas, and hard shoulders, etc. There surely must be a heightened risk of emergency response vehicles getting punctures or even skidding on all that debris.
Interesting manoeuvre 6:53 with the lead car cutting across the solid markings and into the outside lane. Was that tactics move from them to allow to you get behind them easier?? Also a great light cadence pattern too used on the lead car, seems led to change during the shout.
Technically shouldn't be doing that as there is no provision within the law to do so. Realistically, police officers can do whatever they want whilst driving providing it's justified and proportionate.
Good point about going with a different siren choice than the lead vehicle. What is the safest distance to keep between the two cars? There was a fatal accident here when a motorist was passed by the first emergency vehicle and thought that was it, only to collide with the second one. Leave too much of a gap and obstacles may insert themselves between you and too little and there's a risk of collision with the lead vehicle or being obscured to other traffic.
Closer than you might think although it's quite elastic (closer as you go through the hazards so the first vehicle "tows you through". You can get pretty close though because really you're looking past them and seeing pretty much the same hazards they see so you can anticipate their braking
always thought critical care and rapid response ambulance vehicles should have a volunteer driver should there be a need for the them to travel in the ambulance with the crew attending thus avoiding leaving unit at scene at having to return to collect it,your thoughts chris
In reality I think it would be cheaper to buy additional cars than additional people, people are unfortunately the most costly aspect of any service, so getting a taxi or changing car on the odd occasion would be more cost effective It's not too often that they have to abandon their car, and sometimes they can trade places so one of the ambulance crew can drive it for them if they absolutely have to be with the patient for the journey to hospital
For the air ambulance cars, you normally have at least 2 clinicians, and therefore one from the ambulance will drive the car, and one drives the ambulance whilst the AA travel in the back. But this is a charity/volunteer role that Chris does in his free time
Here in my part of Australia our critical care paramedics usually drive SUVs alone, except if they have a student CCP on placement who is still an Advanced Care paramedic. When they back us up and need to travel in the ambulance, a crew member from the stretcher unit will drive the SUV and follow to hospital. Occasionally when you need two doing patient care, the SUV is left on scene and picked up later. But that's becoming less frequent. We used to have our CCPs working in pairs all the time. That way you still have a vehicle that can respond to close by urgent jobs if needed until a stretcher crew arrive. Except in rural and remote areas, you can't legally drive or work in an emergency ambulance unless you're a career paramedic, so there goes the utilisation of volunteers.
watching your videos had me go on the advanced driving course for my normal car license, because i am seeking to be an NHS driver for organ / blood transport, i cant be a paramedic for personal reasons (i am trained in advanced first aid including cpr and triage), the first few advanced lessons my instructor said "you should be giving me lessons in driving"
Thank you for wanting to be such an important part of the healthcare chain. I've been a paramedic in Australia for 25 years and admit it's not for everybody. The anti-social shiftwork hours are the biggest downside. I wish you well in your goals.
Just wondering, if in the hotter summer months you have to be aware of the possibility of the car maybe overheating and just keeping on top of the coolant situation and making sure that you are giving the car an opportunity to cool down?
Either the police car was driving at 80% or you was driving at 110% because you covered massive ground in the beginning to catch him 👍 massive respect, is that a Skoda VRS by any chance? Great video’s as always 💯
Question: when you're in convoy, do you have to follow the lead car? Or could you decide you could get there quicker and overtake? It's only on the dual carriageway and A1M that the police car really pulls away. Selfish: van on the approach to the A1M(?) roundabout. Smart: lorry driver who pulled to the left on a later roundabout.
I enjoy watching your videos, I noticed in this particular recording it seemed as if you could progress a lot quicker at times than the lead vehicle but instead were limiting your speed to stay at the rear. Thinking of this from the lead car perspective, if you were in that situation would this add additional stress to you as the lead driver above the already high risk advanced driving being undertaken, knowing there was possibly a more competent driver behind you that you are holding back?
When driving in a 'convoy', do all vehicles navigate for themselves, or does everyone follow the leader? I.e. if the lead makes a wrong turn, does everyone make a wrong turn?
Does having a police escort enable you to use a faster top speed, on the motorway section for example. Are there regulations around what you're authorised to do when solo?
If possible you should film the location of where you are going, as I’m interested in seeing the sorts of critical situations you deal with, good video!
I don't know if it was by design on the police officers side to create space for you but your lines seemed a lot smoother than theirs in a lot of places
I think it was by design as there were a couple of places they took a very clearly suboptimal line that resulted in leaving nice vision lanes open. Hard to be sure though!
Another lovely trip down memory lane for me, thanks Chris 😊 I used to use Norton Mill Lane to avoid Baldock. I guess that there's no need for you to use backroads, since you're under blues, the wider the road the better ? At the worst, the same speed as backroads, but more direct, so quicker. How frequently do blue light vehicles report people who don't make reasonable effort to get out of the way ?
@Chris, is driving in convoy more or less stressful, or just a different kind of stress (maybe awareness is a better term?)? Is there a hierarchy for convoys, would the police always lead? This video has made me realise that when I see a police car leading an ambulance/paramedic that I've always assumed the police are 'escorting', I don't think it's occurred to me that you both independently going to the same place.
@@ianmillard1604 and why do you think that that "authority to direct traffic" matters while driving to an emergency? Cars have to pull over for any emergency vehicle. That's all "authority" that is needed.
@@Jehty_ Do they? Here in the UK at least one Transport Authority has fined drivers for entering bus lanes for the purpose of making way for an emergency vehicle.
When I watch these videos I cannot help but be impressed by the driving skills of the emergency services. Then I remember that some poor soul is waiting at the end of your journey and is going to be relying on your paramedic skills. Thank you (and all your colleagues) for everything that you do.
My thoughts exactly, well said. 😊
I have to be honest and admit that after a beer or two one night I actually got quite emotional watching one of Chris's video's and thinking exactly the same thing!
Anyone can be trained to drive like this.
@@juliandavies1974 I would contend that the majority wouldn't pass the assessments.
@@juliandavies1974 let me guess, you're an ace at GTA and always set a fastest lap time on F1 simulators. The real world is different.
The camera seems to hate shaded areas, the framerate just tanks.
Who knows. Maybe it's HDR?
It's down to YTs compression issues.
Maybe from the heat. It will get better once weather temps go down
@@Luki-jz6gm Nope, YT's player just hates it.
definitely an artefact of the high texture foliage going past on each side. Compression doesn't know how to handle elements like that . The tom scott video on confetti explains it very well
"Our dedicated team of volunteer Doctors and Critical Care Paramedics make themselves available throughout the year, selflessly giving up their time to help those who suffer critical illness or injury across Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire."
Wait so this is not even on the clock - Absolute Respect to you, and the whole team sir.
It's scandalous that there needs to be a volunteer run charity to fill gaps in healthcare. Most air ambulances are charities, most mountain rescue groups, all lifeboats. These should all be government funded agencies. Hats off to the volunteers across our nation.
Most of the UK has critical care, they are basically the road versions of the air ambulance
@@graememckay9972I don’t think they want government funding. They are successful as a standalone entity.
@@graememckay9972 the issue there in lies the fact we need to encourage more people into those jobs within the healthcare system which people dont want to do be it because certain genders are berated and treated like crap because of the role they have gone into, or in general everyone within the healthcare system or All of our emergency services are treated like rubbish, and the gov would argue they'd need to increase taxes to account for it all rather than putting a stop to all the money being leached out of the tax pot by people working in government :/ - also the gov want the NHS to fail because they make money of private healthcare as share holders (which should be illegal but whos gonna stop the government)
You mean these guys in the video aren’t paid?
Watching these videos really makes me wonder how some people can have so little observational skills or anticipation that they can't see or hear an emergency services vehicle coming from behind until they're directly behind, and even then it's a 50/50
I honestly wish more people would see these videos. Full respect from me for all the work you and all the EMS services do 🙂
Cruise control and on the phone.
There was some really good actions taken by a lot of the public in this video. I think the phrase "blind as a British van driver" should be a thing if it isn't.
@@gwaeron8630There were a few actions by some drivers in this video which I'd put in the 50/50 bracket, one which stuck out to me was the driver at around 5:10 who doesn't think to slow down more (or stop) between the middle islands.
The video before this one though had quite a lot of odd decisions by some drivers, I think the very first driver in that one tried to stop opposite a LGV which was quite curious.
@@InstaSim6 if we are talking about odd decision:
4:48 coming to a stop in the middle of the road on the Island.
Haven't seen that one before.
A sizeable portion of the general population have below average IQ, emergency services know this and prepare accordingly.
When i see one emergency service vehicle, i always think 'where are the others?', and i am extra cautious.
Another great video - I always spend the first few minutes trying to work out which road you are on before having to resort to freeze frame on a road sign - so glad you cover my area - very reassuring 😊
Really love seeing the skill that goes in to this, which isn't even the main focus of your job. Hats off to you as always. Would really love to see a camera on the speedo as well for some videos, it would be really interesting to see what speeds you do through different sections.
Go back into some previous videos if you haven't seen them as Chris has previously shown speed. Would love to see it return! 👍
I agree, but the telemetry is not always strictly accurate. I would assume they are doing about 90mph on the fast run.
They were going crazy fast on the country road at the beginning and on the road at the end. In fact, I’d say a bit too fast on the country road, even for an emergency vehicle, as there were some blind bends where if there was an oncoming vehicle it could have been a head on collision. They maybe could’ve gone a bit quicker on the motorway sections though. Just my thoughts.
Knowing you're going to the same job.....
.... and then you realise you're that much faster than the copper, you've got time to get your sandwiches out of the boot. 😁
Dont think thats correct. That cop 530 is way quicker. Its called a safe progressive drive. You dont fly on as fast as possible, you need to be aware of risk and other drivers etc. Seems like you have never done it
@@KevinWillox that was called a joke
@@KevinWilloxapart from it’s a Volvo not a 530
Mate, 3:48 to 4:33 is some of the BEST driving I've seen. Hands down. As a tow operator in the US, I'm amazed at how much you're able to do with such little space on the road.
I must say the police car did an exceptional job of increasing visibility and decreasing risk. Particularly on the motorway. Bravo that officer.
I'm always in awe of your skills, and the control at speed through a flickering tunnel of extreme light and shade at the start was yet another level; thank you.
brilliant video brilliant driving,im a hgv driver and we always do our best to get out of the way for you guys best we can....love this driving.
06:16, there's always a van that doesn't know what mirrors are for.
fair, but also that van driver may have seen it was clear in the middle lane and they were turning right, if they had put a right indicator on it would of helped to say go down the middle to the police car. the van is also at the 3rd marker board to the roundabout, so is in their braking zone to stop safely for the roundabout, doesnt know if the lorry has started braking yet and if it was me, i would not want to pull in front of the lorry and get rear ended. some people panic when they have emergency vehicles behind them. the van could of done better but overall didnt impede the flow of the police car too much.
@@douglasreid699 in that case an intent driver would have moved to the right as much as possible.
But that van driver didn't. They instead hugged the left edge of the lane.
@@Jehty_ i would put that down to panic and lack of confidence and planning. they feel urged to move to the left lane to let the police car by, but they are 300yards from the junction and want to stay in the right the current lane to go where they are going.
it can be rare for some drivers to come across emergency service vehicles behind them so they are not practiced at dealing with them.
how much decision making can you make in 100yards? because that is pretty much the space they had to make their decision (without me looking up the video to check exactly what space they had with the marker boards and rewriting this comment). some people are good at it, some are not.
end result was the police car got held up a few seconds but its something they expect to happen and train for as professional drivers.
@tmister007 yes there are a few out there that do hold up emergency vehicles, but i also seen loads of van drivers that are on it and get out the way in good time.
@tmister007 fair enough. I drive a van and a motorbike, but my dad was an advanced driving instructor so i have above average driver training.
Its easy to stereotype, im bad at blaming audis for bad driving, but there is bad everyone driving. People need more education rather than pass a test once years ago and think they know it all.
Every video you put out, I'm just amazed by the standard of your driving. Nice to see these convoy videos also. Think the convoy ones are my fav blue light runs from you.
Some of the best driving I think I've seen you do.
Pretty impressive reaction from almost all of the civilian drivers encountered - I watch some US emergency services videos, they have huge problems with lane hogging/poor reactions/no reactions. This is probably the best video I've seen in years for drivers being alert and assisting the ES with progressing.
The US has the added bonus of the only legal reaction being to come to a complete stop. Totally unworkable here, but some will argue for the overpowering superiority of having no freedom (ironic, isn't it?).
Like how at 4.50 the car goes to the centre with hazards on to allow both cars a straight line run❤
I thought that was noteworthy too. Good obs & anticipation by the driver.
Excellent 😊
Boy that police Volvo sure can shift, cracking video as always Chris
Think it might be a Volvo v60 t8, 0-60 around 4 seconds, nippy for sure, looking at buying one actually lol, unless its a D4, then bit slower than that.
Yeah it's a V60
@@JasonTheOneAndOnly didnt know you could get a T8? i know Volvo do a T5 as their high spec engine, my brother has a Volvo V90 with T5 engine in it, 2019 model of car. its a fun car when joining motorways.
@@douglasreid699 seems so, there s few on autotrader I been looking at, unless it's a listing error but I cant choose between that and a Audi S4 Avant tbh
@@JasonTheOneAndOnlyhis is a Volvo B6, 300hp and 0-60 in around 6 seconds
I remember the first time visiting the UK and thinking that the police vehicles don't look serious with their cute high vis decals. Then the next day I saw them actually filtering through London traffic. They don't F around.
I keep having this argument with Americans on Instagram 😅 US police, like the California Highway Patrol for instance, definitely LOOK cool (though some liveries are awful) but emergency work isn't a fashion show, it should be about safety and visibility, which our UK vehicles have. CHP have black cars, minimal lighting, and no reflective decals and they work on California highways at night where rear-hits are notorious... Makes no sense!
As a UK resident I actually find it odd more nations don't have emergency services with high visibility paintwork - surely you want them to be highly visible to work with the sirens and make sure to those that do pay attention in the road know exactly what vehicle to make way for?
All in all I have the opposite thought - if it isn't high vis, doesn't seem very serious imo.
Don't know if you're from the US but the range of different police liveries over there seems very confusing, and the sort of thing that makes it easier for Jeremy Dewitte types to mess with people.
@@AlexSwanson-rw7cv - had to give you a thumbs up just for the Jeremy Dewitte reference - I watched a load of videos of him and his goons pretending to be police and gosh those funeral escorts - yikes! Wonder what they're up to these days...
The high-vis decales are called Batternburg markings. The UK invented them for emergency vehicles in the 1990s. Since then, many other European nations have adopted them, along with Australia and New Zealand. They serve a very important and useful purpose. They make the vehicles instantly nationally recognisable as emergency vehicles, and both when they're moving and stopped, make the vehicles extremely visible from long distances in all conditions, including pitch black night, snow and fog. A major efficiency and safety advantage.
Some nice driving there, the work you guys do is also amazing thankyou
What happened to the speed display was used to see. This video looked like a fast paced one. Hope everyone was ok in the end
How tired are the emergency services after a shift ? Takes all my energy just watching, our emergency drivers from all services truly are the absolute best 👍😎
Lovely work and to think when you arrive you’ve then got to switch into a totally different mode. Chapeau.
Nice driving both, Respect and great to see very few people cause problems for you.
Stay safe out there all.
I find it much harder to follow someone than lead because you have to anticipate what they're doing but also not let them lead you into any situations that are beyond what you can deal with.
Thanks for sharing. By seeing your view of the road it helps other drivers see how to help. I think there was some great assistance here (esp the green lorry on the roundabout that helped with the left exit) but generally everywhere (poss light traffic, too). Occasionally it's awkward but that's just driving. General awarenss when driving is so crucial as closing speeds are high and margins are small. Quite a long run that suggests resources are sparse. Cheers.
That’s some impressively fast driving. Especially the first bit along the country road and the last bit.
Since you mention two-tones, it's a shame you don't have them (either electronic or air horn) as they're absolutely distinctive and contrast well against the howl/wail being used by another vehicle when running in convoy.
Also nice to see the police *not* using flashing reds as hazard lights for once! ;)
Only American are so obnoxious that they use horns everywhere. And red lights are useless.
Brilliant Roadcraft both drivers! Takes me back 🙂
really scary to think the nearest emergency services are that far away. even at those speeds still over 10minutes away we need more
This is for additional doctor or advanced paramedic support. If it were a cat 1 life threatening then the majority of the time there is a crew on scene in under 8 minutes. The specialists take longer to arrive as there is less of them floating about.
brother i don't know if you will see this but your videos has inspired me a lot. I have graduated as a doctor with an MBBS degree but unfortunately I was unable to pass the license exams that will enable me to practice. I then got diagnosed with ADHD and realized due to the nature of my ADHD I will never be able to pass the license exams and it will be a permanent roadblock for me so I'm stuck with an MBBS degree living one day at a time dealing with my ADHD. Watching your videos inspired me a lot so if you have some time I would greatly appreciate it if you can briefly tell me how can I get to do what you do for a living in these videos
so much respect for the work all you guys and gals in the emergency services do. you are all amazing.
I was in southern europe last week and 2 ambulances drove past. They were using the same siren tone but it was about half a second apart so I knew within a second there were 2 cars. I find sometimes find that it takes me a little longer to determine if there is more than one car when you use different tones. Not much longer, but what I heard abroad couldn't have been more obvious
Great driving once again. Potential for a cake fine with the boot 😜🍰
Battenburg, surely?
Hi there that was some fantastic driving wow , reminds me of what my son does when he has the same vehicle , first responder ,,,
I like how you fast you made up for that ~16s pause at the beginning, in just over one minute - impressive driving!
Probably a Skoda Octavia VR6.
Love to see such good driving in my old stomping ground, stay safe brother!
It may just be experiance at play but your positioning, awareness (we will forgive the boot being open) and overall placement of the vehicle was much better than the car you were following. Thanks for sharing.😉
it will be down to different styles and who the drivers instructor was. although the core of the advanced driving is the same, the police will train their drivers differently to other emergency service drivers.
from what i could see in places and what i know thanks to my dad who was an advanced driving instructor, the police car was playing more an escort role. coming off the motorway and up the hill to the red light around 7:30 the police car is making a gap and Chris is not following it to get more vision of road ahead. he stays left of the police car and behind it in case its gets hit side on from a vehicle thats not stopped for them as they go through the red light as an example.
there are advantages and disadvantages to blue light runs in convoy, most vehicles have already got out the way for the first car, a police car gets more respect from road users i feel, but the danger is most drivers are not expecting the second vehicle right behind it, so Chris needs position himself slightly different to allow better vision where he can.
Throwing this out there...
The police driver may not be as highly qualified as Chris! They may only be low power response qualified. Whereas Chris's car certainly falls into the high power category.
As has been said, how and who trained can make a difference, even with the new "standardised" requirements for response driving. I would teach people to do some things differently to Chris or the lead car. Then differently still if not in convoy.
@@stevesmith7530 what is the difference between low power and high power?
Is it to do with car performance? Because that police car took off and i would say it was a far more powerful car than the vehicle Chris is driving. Having driven my brothers volvo v90 t5 2019 model, those volvos can shift.
@stevesmith7530 that's a traffic cop, do not get any high trained.
Their meant to be in different road positions to one another.
This was really good, the best video to date, Excellent work, made me laugh when you ran out to close the boot and then run back in 👍
Eventhough the camera setting so bad, I love these things, the pressure, the adrenaline when u know to drive fast and safetly aswell!
Opps.! Awesome job as always. Remember, he's got to jump out and help save someone's life after this.
That was a brilliant video. I'm shocked that a lot of drivers don't seem to use their mirrors and get out of the way.
I can see that some image stabilization has been added compared to a the last video, but fortunately it's not extremely aggressive like a while back. I compared a roundabout back then where the hood moves half way across the screen during the turn. Now it just moves a little bit. This is better because it doesn't detract from the sense of maneuvers, while still greatly reducing the vibration and shaking as in the previous fixed-gimbal video.
Yet another excellent drive. When you have had enough front line, I want to see you on the driver training team of EEAST. I think you could make a huge difference.
loving the flash pattern on the lightbar of lead car
Great driving skills and superb video. However, i'm shocked how long distances you make for a blue response. Aren't there enough units or bases around to reduce the time of response? Thank you for your work!
Awesome driving by you and the police buddy from Alan in Lowestoft buddy 👍 😊
in Italy they dream of your vehicles to work well in an emergency. Congratulations excellent safe driving
Cool, calm as ever. Thanks for posting 👍
Was that a little more than 120mph on the motorway section? I counted 30 seconds from the 1 mile junction sign to the junction itself!!
I'm always staggered by the distance you sometimes seem to travel to an incident - can you give a rough idea how far this drive was? Is it because there are too few of you and are spread too thinly?
Don’t know about this run/Critical Care Medics, but to give you an example from Police perspective- it’s not unheard of for our Dept to do 45 to 50 minute runs on Blues - and averaging 115 to 120mph over that whole run.
The UK has run out of most parts of the health system, paramedics included.
@@Secretlyanothername Indeed.
Perfect driving your didn’t flinch at all as wee say in Belfast KEEPER BETWEEN THE HEDGES and you did pure skill
When you hear one siren lookout might be 2 . Excellent driving gents
Fantstic skilful driving thankyou for being the people who go towards danger. I also know that you guys drove like this because sadly someone at the other end was probably in the worst moment of there life and I hope the outcome was positive
You kept the lead car honest there ;) The car takes a beating when you get out of the normal running area
Always good when you upload, thanks chris!
Are these ‘convoy tactics’ standardised across all forces/emergency services?
Wow just look at the trees and bushes around the road, amazing , such a green corridor of plants ! Btw we need flying cars asap!
A flying car is just a helicopter because if you can fly why would you drive anywhere
Are you using any sort of runflat tyres? I'd guess punctures are very likely when driving over the central reservations and hard shoulders with all the debris lying there?
This would be a great time to see speed shown👍🇬🇧
I wish councils would road-sweep those central hatched areas, and hard shoulders, etc. There surely must be a heightened risk of emergency response vehicles getting punctures or even skidding on all that debris.
I know you coulda passed that police volvo lots of times 😂, cracking drive as always ❤😊
Interesting manoeuvre 6:53 with the lead car cutting across the solid markings and into the outside lane. Was that tactics move from them to allow to you get behind them easier??
Also a great light cadence pattern too used on the lead car, seems led to change during the shout.
Technically shouldn't be doing that as there is no provision within the law to do so. Realistically, police officers can do whatever they want whilst driving providing it's justified and proportionate.
Good point about going with a different siren choice than the lead vehicle. What is the safest distance to keep between the two cars? There was a fatal accident here when a motorist was passed by the first emergency vehicle and thought that was it, only to collide with the second one. Leave too much of a gap and obstacles may insert themselves between you and too little and there's a risk of collision with the lead vehicle or being obscured to other traffic.
Closer than you might think although it's quite elastic (closer as you go through the hazards so the first vehicle "tows you through". You can get pretty close though because really you're looking past them and seeing pretty much the same hazards they see so you can anticipate their braking
Great driving and all, but can we take a moment to appreciate the clouds at 5:40
Sounded like the collision warning system firing a couple of times. Do you have to disable things like automatic braking, lane assist etc.?
It blows my mind at how many people either ignore or don't pull over/slow down for emergency vehicles, esp when one of them is police.
another great video, I miss the rev counter and speedo though
always thought critical care and rapid response ambulance vehicles should have a volunteer driver should there be a need for the them to travel in the ambulance with the crew attending thus avoiding leaving unit at scene at having to return to collect it,your thoughts chris
In reality I think it would be cheaper to buy additional cars than additional people, people are unfortunately the most costly aspect of any service, so getting a taxi or changing car on the odd occasion would be more cost effective
It's not too often that they have to abandon their car, and sometimes they can trade places so one of the ambulance crew can drive it for them if they absolutely have to be with the patient for the journey to hospital
For the air ambulance cars, you normally have at least 2 clinicians, and therefore one from the ambulance will drive the car, and one drives the ambulance whilst the AA travel in the back. But this is a charity/volunteer role that Chris does in his free time
Here in my part of Australia our critical care paramedics usually drive SUVs alone, except if they have a student CCP on placement who is still an Advanced Care paramedic. When they back us up and need to travel in the ambulance, a crew member from the stretcher unit will drive the SUV and follow to hospital. Occasionally when you need two doing patient care, the SUV is left on scene and picked up later. But that's becoming less frequent. We used to have our CCPs working in pairs all the time. That way you still have a vehicle that can respond to close by urgent jobs if needed until a stretcher crew arrive. Except in rural and remote areas, you can't legally drive or work in an emergency ambulance unless you're a career paramedic, so there goes the utilisation of volunteers.
6:55 Great to see, how you improve your driveing based on experience and training!
watching your videos had me go on the advanced driving course for my normal car license, because i am seeking to be an NHS driver for organ / blood transport, i cant be a paramedic for personal reasons (i am trained in advanced first aid including cpr and triage), the first few advanced lessons my instructor said "you should be giving me lessons in driving"
Thank you for wanting to be such an important part of the healthcare chain. I've been a paramedic in Australia for 25 years and admit it's not for everybody. The anti-social shiftwork hours are the biggest downside. I wish you well in your goals.
Do you think you drove faster than you would've otherwise done, in order to catch the police car? Certainly looked like it, especially around 02:00.
YES! another awesome vid
Considering the distance being covered at these speeds is there air ambulance cover in these regions.. just wondering. Amazing driving skills .
Just wondering, if in the hotter summer months you have to be aware of the possibility of the car maybe overheating and just keeping on top of the coolant situation and making sure that you are giving the car an opportunity to cool down?
It’s crazy to think that there was no one closer than that. That was a pretty good distance away…
Either the police car was driving at 80% or you was driving at 110% because you covered massive ground in the beginning to catch him 👍 massive respect, is that a Skoda VRS by any chance? Great video’s as always 💯
Both the same car
@@lewisconnell1234
It doesn’t look the same car to me, I think it’s a Skoda. I stand corrected tho 👍 thanks for the reply
I suspect the rozzer noticed Chris fell behind and slowed down for him
No he had an unmarked VRS in his last job, in this role he uses the marked Skoda Octavia Scout I think, he went through it in one of his videos.
@@lewisconnell1234 Not the same car, police car is a Volvo V60 and Chris is driving either a Fabia or an Octavia
What kinds of speeds are the cars travelling at during the highest speed sections? On the motorway it must have been 100 mph or more.
How difficult is it not to get suckered into following into a closing opportunity?
Great video as always chris 👍
Question: when you're in convoy, do you have to follow the lead car? Or could you decide you could get there quicker and overtake? It's only on the dual carriageway and A1M that the police car really pulls away.
Selfish: van on the approach to the A1M(?) roundabout.
Smart: lorry driver who pulled to the left on a later roundabout.
A interesting perspective, cheers Chris!
I enjoy watching your videos, I noticed in this particular recording it seemed as if you could progress a lot quicker at times than the lead vehicle but instead were limiting your speed to stay at the rear. Thinking of this from the lead car perspective, if you were in that situation would this add additional stress to you as the lead driver above the already high risk advanced driving being undertaken, knowing there was possibly a more competent driver behind you that you are holding back?
At the beginning, did the police car slow it's pace so you could catch up, or was that just the pace it was going?
When driving in a 'convoy', do all vehicles navigate for themselves, or does everyone follow the leader? I.e. if the lead makes a wrong turn, does everyone make a wrong turn?
That's some top tier driving, bets it's a buzz chasing a cop car at those speeds
Looked more hectic and stressful than "normal"... and also seemed faster too.
Does having a police escort enable you to use a faster top speed, on the motorway section for example. Are there regulations around what you're authorised to do when solo?
No
If possible you should film the location of where you are going, as I’m interested in seeing the sorts of critical situations you deal with, good video!
The car horn seems to beep every time there is a change in siren output, or is it my imagination?
You use the horn to change the siren :)
Nice convoy drive, especially around the roundabouts… makes up for squeaky bumhole time at 1:58secs 🤫 😅
I don't know if it was by design on the police officers side to create space for you but your lines seemed a lot smoother than theirs in a lot of places
I think it was by design as there were a couple of places they took a very clearly suboptimal line that resulted in leaving nice vision lanes open. Hard to be sure though!
You should never follow the direct path of the lead vehicle, and stagger when safe to do so. The police vehicle took a different path for this reason.
Another lovely trip down memory lane for me, thanks Chris 😊
I used to use Norton Mill Lane to avoid Baldock. I guess that there's no need for you to use backroads, since you're under blues, the wider the road the better ? At the worst, the same speed as backroads, but more direct, so quicker.
How frequently do blue light vehicles report people who don't make reasonable effort to get out of the way ?
It took me almost 7 minutes to notice it's actually a police car and not just another emergency/first responder 😅
You weren't the van driver were you? ;-)
No I drive on the correct side of the road, I was merely referring to the viewer PoV 🙊@@will_doherty
@@Anriandor I wasn't being serious 🙂
Traffic cop was not hanging around, certainly a quicker run than you’d usually see from yourself. Benefit of the sweeping the way I guess
Great video and the police driver was pushing it abit.
Yes, but Chris kept up despite getting out to run around the car in the beginning :-)
In this scenario if the Police car was behind you from the start, would you allow the Police car to take the lead or continue as the lead car.
@Chris, is driving in convoy more or less stressful, or just a different kind of stress (maybe awareness is a better term?)? Is there a hierarchy for convoys, would the police always lead?
This video has made me realise that when I see a police car leading an ambulance/paramedic that I've always assumed the police are 'escorting', I don't think it's occurred to me that you both independently going to the same place.
I would imagine the police would always lead, as they have the "authority" (in the highway code at least) to direct traffic
@@ianmillard1604 and why do you think that that "authority to direct traffic" matters while driving to an emergency?
Cars have to pull over for any emergency vehicle. That's all "authority" that is needed.
@Jehty21 because police are the only ones that can 'direct' traffic that may break road laws.
@@lozhell and how is that relevant for a blue-light run?
Again: cars have to make way and yield for any emergency vehicle.
@@Jehty_ Do they? Here in the UK at least one Transport Authority has fined drivers for entering bus lanes for the purpose of making way for an emergency vehicle.
Is there a ‘keep up’ feeling when in convoy?
Nice driving by the Volvo.