American Reacts to AWESOME UK Emergency Vehicles Responding (United Kingdom)
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- Опубликовано: 27 янв 2023
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Fun fact: The Uk is the only country which actually ran a scientific test how emergency vehicles can have better visibility. Their "Batanbourg Design" (I think that's the name) is therefore the only one which is not just some idea but definitely works (at least for the surroundings the UK).
The Antwerp BE emergency vehicles also adopted them
It's Battenberg, like the cake!
No excluding Exmouth, Devon, the only town to still use the orange stripes, as local people did not like the new design
@@Tilion462 Thanks for the correction. Somehow I do have trouble remembering it correctly :(
@@kojacksfootballshack7177 That's not the case I'm afraid. I am a traffic cop of almost 30 years, in Exeter, just up the road, and can say that all of the police vehicles in Devon and Cornwall have battenberg, either full (as the traffic cars do) or half, as some of the smaller ones do. The orange stripes were only historically used on traffic cars (last used in the 80s on Sierra's and Granada's) before we moved to a yellow and blue livery in the 1990s. City incident cars also had orange stripes at the same time. These went years ago. The smaller response cars have been battenberg for at least 20 years now. I was a sergeant in Exmouth in the early 2000's and remember them coming in then. Hope this assists!
Fun fact Emergency services use at least six types of siren in the UK. Police, fire and ambulance vehicles are also able to make sounds in different tones, and vary them according to whether they are in a built-up area or not. Different countries also use different descriptions.
Wail, yelp, pulsar, two-tones and yelp plus white noise are ones I have used.
As an EU citizen, I can attest that the emergency cars in the UK are surprisingly loud! I was used to our slovak emergency vehicles and the first ambulance that blasted through the street in London had me holding my ears!
Indeed they are! All of us in the UK don't like it though because when the vehicles drive at speed, you can't hear it till they are super close and then when you do, it's kind of too late, hence why a lot of cars are now testing and going back to the NENOR sound but electrified because that sound is a lot easier to hear at a distance and easier on the ears at close range!
I don't agree. When you're driving normally, you can only tell an emergency vehicle is coming when you see the lights. You cannot hear a thing inside vehicles. Maybe its because I'm comparing them to Germany Police cars, which are incredibly loud.
@@theonepercentdaily it's not about volume but about how the sound is directed towards you, e.g, type of sounds that's played, where the speakers are situated, how fast the cars are going. Just volume alone only really matters at lower speeds
Well I live in the uk and the sirens are much louder than that
@@alatchalabi105 But they are not! Its funny as again multiple ti es when driving you cannot tell a police unit is behind you without the blue lights. Compare the noise to ones in Germany, youll see what is loud.
As I live in the UK I can confirm they are extreamly loud because people sometimes don't move out the way
In Scotland we use the Gaelic language too. Hence the two descriptors on the ambulance 🙂
Yeah we use gaelic but the word they have for ambulance is a new word created by glaswegiens that now control/change the language
The traditional name for ambulance is carbad eiginn (emergency vehicle) and it is now frowned on to use traditional words and can lead to failing tests and exams
I may have made a mistake with the word just spoke with my parents and they say it can be eiginn or eiridinn so guess these words are interchangeable depending on where you live
@@HootMaRoot maybe "emergency vehicle" isn´t specific enough, can mean alot.
Same in wales - although it always amuses me that "ambulance" is a loanword in both, so it's the same word transliterated.
@@HootMaRoot that's something I didn't know. Thanks
Each UK emergency service has its own Battenburg markings colour combination with high visibility yellow.
Police is blue, fire brigade is red, ambulances, paramedic and doctor are green and coast guard black.
The big black London taxi's & the same vehicles in other UK cities, are named Hackney cabs. They were originally horse drawn. The first Hackney coaches were luxurious horse-drawn carriages that date back to the times of Queen Elizabeth 1 (1500's). So London cabs have a very long history. 🇬🇧🇺🇸
Vehicle specs differ between agencies, but the vehicles themselves are usually ordered direct through the respective manufacturers' Specialist Vehicles division. Here in the UK, police cars which will be used for traffic/pursuit duties for example, will come with factory modifications to engine, chassis, suspension, brakes and electrics. The livery, sirens, radios, ANPR systems etc are then fitted by either the police workshops themselves, or by a preferred contractor. They're usually sold after 3-5 years of service.
My ex had an ex-police skoda Octavia, that thing could bloody move!
@@tillytoad804 As the current owner of a 2006 Octavia VRS, I most certainly agree that they do move! I did own an ex-police Volvo V70 a while back and that thing blew the doors off anything that tried to pace it. Only trouble was the front tyres never lasted much more than about 3000 miles!
Good to see its like the USA in regards to that. Car manufactures here do the same thing but its almost exclusively Ford, Chevy, or Dodge. Unlike the UK though, every agency here has their own liveries, lighting patterns, and sometimes siren tones.
If you ever hear the term "Blues and twos" it comes from when police cars had blue flashing lights and two tone sirens. The term has stuck ever since.
Bugger me. These Police didn't kill anyone..
Beebaw beebaw beebaw!! Lol. 🇬🇧
@@graemejohnson9025 They're not American.
Blues and woos now.
I wondered where the "twos" came from
As a Police Officer in London, the Vauxhall Astras I can safely say are one of, if not, the most comfortable vehicle in our fleet to ride in. Hand the many speed bumps like they are nothing, have a really good kick to them allowing you to get up to speed then brake for a junction super quickly and easily. All round reliable af car and cheap to maintain
We in West Yorkshire are using Peugeot and are now getting 4x4 ford kugas for standard patrol vehicles and they are all automatics which the kugas seem to burn a bit whilst you're responding.
Not in Northumbria police lol
Pity the insignia is a lode of junk you got lumbered with
Acab is my favourite acronym, , and for good reason
Our family astra is really nippy. Low to the ground but you don't notice the bumps.
Sirens get switched off if there's no traffic around or ahead of them (and at certain times of the night/early morning), but they keep the lights flashing. The car you thought had a cage in the back was possibly an officer with a dog, prisoners are transported in vans or cars.
Wow - someone from the USA who understands that America and the USA are different things. Kudos to you :) And double wow. You actually know that the UK is not just one country. I owe you a beer. I've always said no Americans know this stuff (I read Quora a lot). The one at 12:00 is a Welsh vehicle, and carries the colours of Wales (I'm English, but I live in Wales).
I feel like Quora has to be some kind of psy-op to discredit Americans or just get pure outrage engagement it's ridiculous the kind of things that end up on there.
The Welsh car is not using Welsh colours it's the UK colours for air ambulance support vehicles
The only thing that makes it Welsh not from anywhere else is the green dragon on the side
Where as true Welsh colours have a red dragon which they couldn't because it has to be red for the air ambulance service vehicles
Also in the rear right window is a circle and cross symbol, and GIG which is “Gwasanaeth Iechyd Genedlaethol” = National Health Service.
That red volvo you liked at around the 12:00 mark is from the Welsh air-ambulance service - they have rapid response cars too. If you look again you'll see the green 'swish' on the side is actually echoing the dragon's tail from the Welsh flag! Also their helicopters have flame emitters fitted so they look like dragons flying through the night sky. One of those two facts I may have just made up on the spot, though 😀
❤🏴
You can also tell it's Welsh by the circled cross on its rear window, which is the Welsh medical symbol
Looks really nice
I'm too use to my English cop car decals so seeing that was unique
The cage in the rear of the estate cars is for officer doggo
The patterns on the UK emergency vehicles is called Battenburg, they also glow in the dark making then super visible and less of a risk of being hit by traffic
Named after the battenberg cake I believe
@@sad1234ee Yes a step up from jam sandwich
That’s neat! Thanks 🎉
They don't "glow in the dark" they're highly reflective..
@@ChuckFickens1972 Highly reflective... glow in the dark all means they stand out in the dark
With whats going on in the uk right now, it's nice to be proud of things like this
You might enjoy Chris Martin EMS, he's a first responder in the London area and shows videos of some of his responder driving and analyses of his advanced driving to get through traffic in emergency, and also shows some of the new vehicles in use by London Ambulance Service. He's recently got his Skoda VRS back.
Not to be confused with Chris Martin the musician, no one really enjoys his music
The sirens have now been made so you can Judge which direction they are coming from and also depending on the traffic they can change the tone so people can react quicker to the emergency vehicle that is behind them
They really do work wonders. I'm hard of hearing but the second they fuckers have the siren on I can look and tell which road they're on in the town despite being at the bottom of a valley full of roads. And what's even better is that they aren't obnoxiously loud until you're decently close to them, so not only can you hear and feel where they are but the closer they get the more known they'll make themselves without being an earache to people that aren't right next to them.
@@OnlyGrafting yeah pretty good aren't they. Fuckers lol!🤣
Yeah but I still struggle sometimes to determine that. And the ambulance sirens are way worse than any other emergency response and almost defening. It literally hurts my ears all the time.
@@dawn5227 there is another easy way to tell some sirens change in tone depending if they are coming from the left or right
For some reason, I can't tell which way they're coming from, I hear them , but I have to look around until I spot them.
I never had that problem with the old sirens.
As a night lorry driver, I find ambulance blue lights really dazzling.
The UK also has Coastguard, bomb disposal and blood vehicles that respond with blue lights. They are pretty cool too. Not many ppl know but police helicopters have sirens too!
Not forgetting the DPG blue unmarked cars and red fire service unmarked cars.
RNLI Launch Tractors also have blue lights too
I love your knowledge of not just the manufacturers, but also a good understanding of our UK regions. Nice! FYI Scottish ambulance early in film would have been either blood or organ transport, the other ambulances you saw were ones that can carry patients. Also red estate ambulance and Volvo XC90 would have been a mobile paramedic or emergency doctor.
The VW Transporter ambulance is Special Operations Support from the nearby Special Operations Response Team station at Newbridge near Edinburgh Airport. This covers south east Scotland. Similar to HART in England. Scottish Gaelic spelling of Ambulance alongside English on all Scottish ambulances.
His knowledge of the UK is superior to yours! He knows that the UK is made up of Nations which themselves have Regions.
Thanks for giving the double deckers some respect, too. I drive them day in, day out in Manchester and they're very "evolved" everything about the design is for a reason, are surprisingly manoeuvrable for something 40' long and most are Cummins powered. The more recent ones used a 6.7 cummins td making around 250hp.
Heddlu Gogledd Cymru (North Wales Police) is the only police service in the UK to routinely fit prisoner transport cages into the back of their police cars, and that’s only on one side of the rear.
The cage you could see on that police car was just a grille to stop the stored equipment in the boot flying into the main passenger compartment under heavy braking.
In the UK there are, as well as normal ambulances, single crewed fast response ambulances. They can get to emergencies faster to start helping before the main ambulance arrives. My niece drives one of those. Being first to a problem and solo can be both stressful and even dangerous (she was once held at gunpoint until armed police arrived).
Damn man, things like that really aggravate me when somebody comes to try and help you and then you get treated like that it’s disgraceful we are totally grateful for people like your sister man.
Don’t forget the HEMS vehicles which as the emergency doctor onboard who carry out emergency road side ops and put severely injured and sick people to sleep outside an hospital environment and are the only ones qualified to do this
In London there's first responders on bicycles and motorbikes also, and they can be paramedics or fully trained doctors.
You're missing an important response vehicle....
Here in Northern Ireland (UK) theres a in-house developed Land Rover defender called the Land Rover Tangi and the PANGOLIN.
They've been shipped to the rest of the UK and the world and they are used as response vehicles here in Northern Ireland
OVIC make the pangolin and initially they used LWB landy's as a base, many of them scrappers bought from the army and PSNI. Most were sold to the PSNI and some to mainland forces in various bespoke formats. OVIC have now developed their own purpose built from scratch new generation pangolin. The MET of course had to have their own armoured vehicle. This is the JANKEL GUARDIAN built on the Ford F450 chassis, they are stored in a secure hangar at Heathrow.
The cages in the back of the Estate cars/Station Wagons - are to ensure any equipment carried is retained in the load carrying area in the case of the vehicle being involved in a collision - having rolled a patrol car at 140 mph (blowout) I was extremely grateful for it!
I think we're pretty good at signage in the UK. One time 5 different emergency services turned up to our building, we had no idea why they were here but it was super clear who every service was - even some I hadn't seen personnel for before. In the dark with my head out the window I could identify which service each person was with. We also have the police and medical helicopters (called air ambulance) that come to our area almost daily. We also have detective cars that are a plain dark colour (blue I think), that have hidden lights so they look like a standard car until they blast the sirens and bomb it down the road.
Unmarked police vehicles aren't just dark colours.
You will find unmarked police cars come in all shapes and colours..not just blue
Detectives wont use cars that have lights / sirens. They will use normal pool cars i.e Corsas / Astras to pootle about from job to job
Bro undercover police get about in Manchester UK in 06 plate toyota yaris's loooool asian officers blending to be takeaway drivers, seen it with my own eyes. They will drive anything and everything, including vans, trucks. YES TRUCKS LOL
The fact you said detective cars also shows u arent from the UK, and they are just plain blue? heard it all now lol
not entirely sure how this ended up in my recomended feed as this isnt content i normally watch but given current world events it was nice to see something different and seeing someone so genuinely passionate about something like emergency vehicle livery, subbed for more, thanks Ian from the UK
Mine too 🤷♀️ bit nostalgic as I used to drive emergency vehicles too
The ambulance has Gaelic language written on it, a Scottish language that is still used and taught in schools. If your interested in the location off the ambulance it was in the Scottish city of Edinburgh at Newbridge roundabout near Edinburgh Airport. The main contact centre for emergency calls and ambulance stations is 2 minutes from this roundabout. The Ambulance was more than likely going onto the city motorway or heading towards the town of Livingston.
Only in some Schools, a massive waste of public money to put that language on public vehicles because less than one percent of the Scottish public even speak the pointless language
And there was no Gaelic word for ambulance so they had to mess it up a bit instead of leaving it as it was .
@@MrAndrew941
Only spoken in the western isles, never had been anywhere else. The east is the old Pictish region, the borders and south west were a part of the British celtic region if Rheged and they spoke the Brythonic language, not the later Gaelic incoming with invading Irish tribes.
Interestingly the Scots language, used by Robbie Burns, is a dialect of old English.
@@ninjacat4929 Its the spelling of Ambulance in the Scots Gaelic alphabet because letters are not pronounced the same. So its not messed up a bit. Your ignorance is showing...
@@MrAndrew941 Its an official language of the British Isles. Interestingly English is not. It doesn't appear in legislation.
UK Sirens usually have Wail Yelp & Hi-Lo as standard but wail is heard most, Yelp is particularly to change to on approaching a Junction as the change of note attracts attention. All Emergency Vehicle emergency lights are Blue, but certain Medical Vehicles can use Green. Each separate City or County/Regional Emergency Service can choose what vehicles it wants and have vehicles fitted to whatever design build they wish. Battenburg markings are Blue for Police, Red for Fire, Green for Ambulance/Medical, for statutory services only. Private or Voluntary Service vehicles cannot use the Battenburg pattern striping, but can use a similar design.
The Uk high visibilty markings are amazing and imho, the best in the world, I'm deaf, while I may not hear them, I most certainly can see them or their lights.
Yea they became a favorite of mine after watching this, they look functional and stunning in my opinion 😎
It would seam like UK and nordic countries probobly have the most extreme colors, the reason is probobly due to fog and low visibility condition in winter.
Where I live, even when it's daylight out in the winter. A gray or white car is basically invisible in some light conditions.
To be honest fog isn't that common here, but it does go dark at 4pm from December to mid January.
Also enormously busy roads especially in the South - need to stand out.
It is because the blue / green / red chequerboard parts are all highly reflective so headlights pick them out at night.
@@IanDarley depending on where you live within the UK though.
@@IanDarley depends on which part, there's fog on many mornings in the autumn where I live
Our sirens had 3 volume settings
Night - quite quiet
Town - slightly louder
Country - really loud
Guess which one it was always set on ?
Now I know what Moses experienced at the parting of the sea of Gallille 😁
I like how knowledgeable he is. I am impressed and I don't even drive.
The one thing they didn't show you was the Air Ambulance helicopters. Most footage shown is in cities; so much traffic to navigate through and probably most car owners are playing loud music in their cars so the sirens have to be loud to alert car way up front to get out of the way, we're coming through and it's an emergency! Total respect. 👏👏❤
You can't hear the sirens on the helicopters 'cause they're usualy too high anyway! 😜🤣🤣
First time watching one of your videos, as someone who works for the emergency services and also loves to watch emergency services videos, I have to say your excitement and enthusiasm about these vehicles is contagious and really refreshing!
Definitely subscribing 👍 keep em coming 😊
Awesome, glad to hear that 😎🎉 Welcome to the Channel, and Thank You for the work You do!
Don't know if Battenburg cake is found in the states, it has a cross sectional pattern of coloured sponge that gives its name to the pattern used by the vehicles
. I don’t know which country your from or which service you work for but just wanted to say thank you 🙏 xx
@@sweigh72 thank you, i'm very proud of the battenburg cake promotion service
Soon. Your job is also your hobby? That's not sus at all.
I worked for Ford UK, and I know that cars supplied to Police were available with a "Police pack" (stronger springs, stiffer shocks, rear window signal blind, extended wiring for radio, etc.). Also, there was a "Taxi pack". which had, amongst other things, an immobiliser that operated to prevent the engine starting unless the clutch pedal was pressed to the floor.
_It's got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas._
In the uk we only put the sirens on when there is traffic and they normally turn them off when there is no traffic
If you were talking about the National Express coach its the UK's primary cross country coach service, basically our version of the US Greyhound bus company. They are that widespread they have absorbed and sometimes contract out some of their routes to other regional companies who contribute drivers. Also apparently they own and operate a number of school bus routes in the US and Canada.
National Express,and Greyhound bus company are both owned by Stagecoach of the UK
@@geoffbentley8774 first im hearing
@@geoffbentley8774 National express is NOT owned by Stagecoach, which owns the other large British coach contractor, Megabus.
@Geoff Bentley your half right, stagecoach sold greyhound a few years ago and national express bought stagecoach not the other way around.
@@sduff7027 part correct they puled out of USA but are not owned by national express, see above comment or better still look them up on Wikipedia for the complicated relationships of bus industry
Dear IWrocker, all UK emergency vehicles have specific specs rather than straight from the production line. The police especially have a number of dedicated and individual requirements. Great video! Best regards from the UK!
Just like the American Crown Vic in its Police form.
Ambulance- we even have bicycle, motorbike & car fast response paramedics, specialist intensive care ambulances for hospital patient transfers. Helicopter ( Air Ambulance) response as well.
The car with the red band at the bottom at 3:00 was actually a paramedic, it had the green in the design, probably a single person first responder with the equipment on board until an ambulance was to arrive.
The checker look on emergency vehicles is called Batternburg after the cake. Yellow/ Blue Police, Yellow/Red Fire, Yellow/Green Ambulance/ Paramedics, Yellow/Black Highways Agency. Great video and Yes, they are well loud.
Vauxhall is only sold in the UK, mainly for historical reasons. The car at 2:16 is a Vauxhall Insignia, which is a Opel Insignia in the rest of Europe, and it is a Buick Regal in the US. Since the Peugeot/Citroen/Fiat merger called "Stellantis" has bought Opel from General Motors, I suspect the Insignia to be replaced soon. If it ever will be replaced in Europe at all, because that market segment is dropping steadily over here.
The UK livery is very visible and distinctive: white and blue are police, white and green is some medical service and red and yellow is the fire department. The red and green car at 2:59 is an "Advanced Trauma Team" car, see it as a rapid response team. Sirens are really really loud in the UK, but they sound extra loud because it has a very sharp and pulsing sound signature, more than in the USA. The fire truck at 6:11 doesn't have this sharpness in the sound, it doesn't sound that loud.
Opel did right by keeping the Vauxhall name for the UK market... imagine how Ford would have done if a Mondeo was still a Sierra and a Focus an Escort! I'd drive one for the nostalgia alone.
Opel, Vauxhall and Ford are brands. Mondeo, Sierra, Focus and Escort are models.
The Insignia was also sold in Australia for a while as the Holden Commodore. It replaced the Australian manufactured RWD Commodores. Eventually it was discontinued due to lacklustre sales.
Excellent stuff thank You 🙏
When I was a lad….we had Opel and Vauxhall. 👨🏻🦳
I’m Scotland & Wales, ambulance is gown in both English & Scot/Welsh. Green / Yellow Battenberg is Ambulance, Red / Yellow Fire & Blue / Yellow Police. A red police car in London is an armed Trojan Unit. If there is a hi vis orange * on its windshield it’s an armed response unit. Paramedic support Units are non ambulances just full of kit. All police departments have the same branding across the united kingdom
As someone who works for the NHS, I have to give credit at how observant you are. The sirens of our emergency vehicles are very loud. From my house on the evenings I live about 4.5 miles from a hospital and 3 miles from an ambulance station, and almost every night I can hear an ambulance faintly in the distance. One you didn't see on that video, but at the hospital I work at, I suppose you can also count it as a vehicle, we have HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Services) which either brings patients from a serious RTA/RTC (road traffic accident/collision), an accident, a fire or it brings an organ to the hospital matched for a patient awaiting transplant.
In Great Britain, they also use Skodas as police and doctor's cars, as was the case at 2:57
Skoda Superb Estate, I think (Volkswagen Group). Skoda Octavias also very commonly used in such roles in the UK. We call 'station wagons' estate cars here.
@@frglee this is Octavia 3 facelift
Bugger me, these Police didn't kill anyone.. in Australia, we have the 640hp hsv as a pursuit car...
Is that a skoda? I love skodas
@@leonardocerruti1471 if you love Skodas, i have a quick czech lesson for you: in original it's Škoda (witch also means damage) so it's pronounced [Shkoda]
Edit: thx for the heart and mainly "š"="sh"
They do have the red strobes too, but they only switch them on when they are stopped to highlight the danger.
Yep, flashing reds are for the back of the vehicle to warn when stopped. We only use blue flashing lights for emergency conspicuity but doctors can use green and there are a few others for control vehicles. You won’t see the red/blue and red-only strobes like in the US
Ambaileans is Scots Gaelic. Ambulances in Wales are badged in Welsh, Ambiwlans. Similarly in Wales the police are Heddlu.
Emergency vehicles en route to an incident always use their "blues" but only activate sirens, "twos", when needing to alert traffic ahead of them. Research has shown that having sirens sounding all the time very quickly results in the public ignoring them when it is a real emergency.
Hello. Great video. One point to help is the Vehicle Registration Number (VRN). The first two characters, letters, are allocated geographically. If the first letter is a “C” then these are Welsh, C is for Cymru the Welsh for Wales. You will see Ambulans for Ambulance, Heddlu for Police and Tan for Fire Service. Scottish vehicles have a “S” for the first letter for Scotland. Their vehicles also have the Gaelic for the service, I’m not sure of the Gaelic for these services.
UK Police, Fire and Ambulance for Scotland & North Ireland forces are a combined body for each country. In England and Wales the Fire and Police are formed in geographical forces. In Wales the Ambulance is in a Welsh service.
A few years back all government run organisations were required to buy British made. In the last few years these organisations have more control over budgets. I used to work for British Telecomm that was part of the Post Office and all our small vehicles were Morris Minor & Mini vans. So now as you’ve seen in this video our emergency services are all makes. The organisations are now allowed to buy the vehicle that suits both their budgets and needs.
Hey dude this video of yours is _the_ definition of wholesome! I also love watching emergency vehicles (and I live in Manchester UK) and you're voicing all the things I also love to notice in this video, but it's awesome hearing it from your US perspective. It's cool for me to watch US emergency vehicles too. One thing I notice is US police cars tend to look more stylish or aggressive, but are often quite dark in colour. UK emergency vehicles are all about visibility and safety instead of intimidation or cool factor :)
Thank You! I’m loving learning about these and am so happy that others watch and enjoy as well, your comments are spot on 😎🎉
Hello. Over the years emergency vehicles in the UK have been in various colour ways. Police cars used to be black, if the police needed a van to haul a bunch of people on a raid then they used a black van. These were known as Black Marias. They later became white but it was found they were difficult to see in fog and snow. It was then decided they fluorescent red and yellow horizontal stripes was better. These were know by the public as “Jam Sandwiches”. Nowadays they are fluorescent Blue & Yellow in a chequerboard pattern, called Battenburg after the cakes. They have a range of vehicles of many makes. Years ago when it was decided that local police needed more than a bicycle each force had very small family cars such as Minis, Morris Minor etc. these were called PANDA cars. They were either white or pale blue with white wings. At one time they were only UK made vehicles, later these rules were changed, now they buy the best that their budget allows. Police cars in Wales are sign-written in both Welsh and English, so POLICE & HEDDLU.
Ambulances used to be creamy white and tended to be modified commercial vehicles, again old UK makes. Nowadays they use any make, sometimes Ford. They also have estate cars that are used by paramedics, mini bus vehicles used for non emergency patient vehicles with seating for crew of 2 and 6 patients. Some also have a stretcher and all have an electric tail lift for wheel chairs or stretchers. These remain white with fluorescent green signwriting. The emergency ambulances are bright yellow with fluorescent green chequerboard highlights, in Wales apart from AMBULANCE & the Welsh word AMBIWLANS.
The fire brigades tend to be still bright red although some brigades have theirs yellow, white etc. their choice of colour is the brigades choice depending on the environment. Vehicles are made by Dennis, Volvo, but again it’s up to the brigade. Each vehicle must meet Home Office specifications and the kit it has on board. Brigades often send their vehicles across borders so standard kit and layout is required.
One emergency service not shown in the video is HM Coastguard. Their role is similar to the coastguard in the US but is not a military based organisation. They tend to have Navy Blue Land Rover's with a white or yellow roof for spotting from the air.
It was a Scottish Ambulance Service vehicle so that was Scottish Gaelic.
The same way Welsh Ambulances have "Ambiwlans" on them.
In Wales we have both languages on the vehicles, so we’d have Ambulance/Ambiwlans, Police/Heddlu and Fire/Tân (not sure if the fire engines have both), and im not sure about the armoured cars in the US but in the UK armoured vans are pretty awesome, cause they have like a huge moving cage over the windscreen.
You seemed so excited just by looking at all the "unknown" regular cars that a simple 5 minute video just showing traffic passing by in any european city would make you feel like a kid in a toy shop. 😄
If you want something a bit more left field have look at the RNLI
Scottish Ambulance so the second language is Gaelic. We have two parts to our police force. The regular police force & the traffic police. Volvos & BMW's used by Traffic Police. May also be used for escort duty.( Royals, Prime Minister & when transporting high profile criminals they will escort the van) London Black Cabs. The sirens are loud & yet some people driving on the roads still can't hear them. The Volvo with the red/yellow & green dragon tail is a Welsh first response vehicle. They are part of the ambulance service. They are sent out as they can usually get to the patient faster than the vans & can start treatment until the van arrives.
At 10:10 you liked the electronic siren of the Ford Transit 'High Top' van. In the early days, ALL our emergency vehicles had bells fitted which would ring whilst the vehicle was on the emergency call. This was changed in the mid 1960's to a two tone horn, almost identical to the sound of the transit. The difference being, the original two tone sound was made by two air horns each having a different sound pitch to each other. The term 'Blues and Twos' was then used to signify an emergency vehicle with its blue lights and two tone horns on.
In the late 90's some UK Police forces tested a new type of horn that had a 'whaler' and a 'white noise' sound, each sounding alternately. The white noise sound was used as the human ear can better sense exactly where the sound is coming from, hence being safer for the public.
I just came across your channel today and I love your excitement and interest. I come from the states and have lived in the uk for 14 years and seeing the difference from the USA and UK emergency vehicles is very interesting. Fun fact, the BMW suv type police vehicles are armed response vehicles. Not only are they trained in firearms, but are also trained in advance first aid. The difference in sirens is also something I find interesting. My dad was a homicide detective back home and he used to always come home and flash his lights and sound his sirens when I was young. Always loved the difference in cadence.
Metropolitan Police denote the ARV's with a fluorescent circle in the rear passenger window and an asterisk on the roof.
There's a video called 'Inconspicuous Ingenuity 2014' about the Met Police Special Escort Group, it gives a fascinating insight into how they escort the most high ranking VIP's around the city in their own very unique way, on motorbikes using whistles, I think you'd love it.
Great idea thank You I’ll check it out as soon as possible 😎
This is the first vid of his I’ve watched. I literally only came to the comments section to suggest that SEG video. It’s serendipity, he’s got to do it.
Also check our videos regarding motorcycle outriders for escorts.
Living in a University town in the UK if there are any Emergency Vehicles pulling up, Foreign students will always try and take a selfie with it as its so exotic and different to what they see back home.
Emergency service vehicles in Scotland are labelled in English and Scots Gaelic, in Wales in English and Welsh.
The ambulance with the standard green and yellow Battenberg (named after the cake) and the additional red panels is a Critical Care vehicle.
I'm really surprised that you didn't hear the white noise from any of the ambulances. My local ambulances have the std siren, but periodically they blast a burst of white noise. Normal sirens are not very locational, you can hear them from a distance but you can't tell the direction. White noise is much shorter range but very directional for drivers and pedestrians.
The Vauxhall cars you see driving in the UK are copies of the German brand Opel which is now owned by Stellantis
Isn't they just rebranded?
They are rebranded (at the factory) Opels.
Just found your vid on uk emergency vehicles. I was in the Welsh Police for 30 years. All EMS vehicles in UK have the “Battenberg “ livery. In wales 🏴 all EM vehicles, uniform and paperwork/websites by law have to be bilingual. So POLICE is HEDDLU pronounced Hethlee. FIRE is TAN, AMBULANCE is funnily enough AMBIWLANS. Enjoying your channel !
Lights are used with all emergencies, I often see the lights go past my house at night with no sirens. Sirens aren't though, I think after 23:00. However, I think depending on the nature of the emergency and where it is, they can be used any time. So if its an ambulance on a rural call, with few residents, and on our little winding roads, lights and sirens could be used as the noise would warn any other drivers or walkers that they are coming. The roads are so winding with lots of blind corners that an emergency vehicle could potentially be up your arse before you see it. Also if its a major multi victim incident, bomb, train derailment, pile up, I think the use of sirens would be excused then.
Don't quote me on this but I think that I read somewhere that the sirens are directional. In other words, the people that need to hear the sirens are the ones targeted. As an aside, the cool thing about ambulances in the UK is that you are not charged for calling and being taken to the hospital in one.
I think that's been phased out - if you remember, there were sirens which had a white noise burst in the pattern (sort of wooop woooop wooop psssht) which was supposed to help people identify where the vehicle was coming from. I can only assume it didn't have the desired effect though, as I haven't heard that in a while.
@@oprose2000 Thank you for the confirmation. I now know that I can still remember things from way back and am not yet senile.
the uncool thing bout ambulances in the UK is that you can ait up to 24 hours for one to arrive even when they drivers are not on strike.
@@georgebarnes8163 That is not the norm and you know it. It may take a while to get into the hospital due to overcrowding. Ambulance delays are rare, prior to the strike, but did occur.
@@RonSeymour1 Which strike would that be ? the NHS and ambulance service are always on strike for one reason or other
All emergency vehicles in the UK are fresh out of the factory and given to the emergency services so they will be given extra horsepower and all the upgrades needed to be an emergency vehicle that the standard public vehicles don't need.
You will find all 3 emergency service vehicles have different sounds. this is so you can tell what they are before you can see them
The segment of London ambulance have many types of vehicles
Normal car - Fast Response unit (FRU) mostly single staffed paramedic
SUV - Fast response unit, again single staffed but normally highly trained to deal with certain type of calls.
Normal car, Red stripe a the bottom - usually have Advance paramedics or HEMS, they go to the most critical calls
Small vans - Again fast response unit, but they are team leaders and deal with scene management
Large vans - Hazardous area response team (HART) deal with anything that contain hazards (water ways, construction sites ect)
something which i don't remember seeing, mostly exclusive to London is Motorcycle response units (MRU) and Cycle response units (CRU) MRU cover London, CRU cover central London and Heathrow airport
For Met-Police (London) I know the SUV vehicle have armed response officers there's are known as (ARV)
most officers are now taser trained and majority of the force now carry them.
BMW estates are mostly used for the road division, as they are tuned for chases and officers have extensive driver training.
You should see them at night. All the graphics on the car, including the yellow box graphics on the side are reflective. Cant miss them.
The RED & Yellow - was a welsh Air Ambulance Support Car - the green dragon tail on the side is the clue. It is double marked in England and Welsh on its rear.
My Sister used to be a rapid response police officer. All the cars they drive are unbadged and have the 'batenburg' livery (the alternating blue and yellow squares) but they are actually top of the range sports versions modified and equipped for high speeds. She spent a long time doing specialist driving courses to be allowed to drive one of these cars.
Wrong. They are badged. Also they are never top of the range sports versions. Don't know where you get this crap from?
@@Mart6823 Like I said my sister was a rapid response driver. No your regular cop car that comes when the pubs kick out isn't, theres no need for them to be. But the ones that do rapid response work, the police chases or the ones that respond to major incidents are.
Not correct uk police vehicle do not have any modifications to make them any faster than a car you can get from a dealer and they are not the top spec vehicle no matter what department your in.
Having been roads policing amongst other departments I can assure you of that.
@davered4907 You are also not correct as there ARE specific U.K. Police vehicles that are extremely modified and used for a specific purpose. They are both highly tuned and highly uprated in all aspects, and have been for a good number of years.
@@michaelfindlay1787 no it is you who are misinformed thay have a lighting package sirens livery radio but other than that they are bog basic cars that you and I can get from the dealer. I know I drive them and have done for a long time
The sirens are SO loud. I live in a village and in the middle of the night we hear emergency vehicles racing down the nearest motorway (which we don’t live immediately next too, but the sound travels, especially at night when the village is silent & sleepy)
i love it when i find someone as amazed by emergency vehicles as i am, this is a great video!
the smaller VW ambulance vehicles you can spot in this video are usually either a leading operations manager (LOM) from the locality’s ambulance station or a part of a hazardous area/special operations response team. (HART/SORT). LOM’s are the duty managers and will respond from station to the highest priority jobs when required while HART and SORT usually respond to difficult situations and major incidents. in my opinion these are some of the coolest vehicles in UK ambulance services :)
i’m a big fan of the massive range of manufacturers within all the emergency services in the UK. for me the mercedes sprinter box style ambulances are elite while the best police vehicle i’ve seen is merseyside’s new Kia Stinger interceptors, which are just awesome. i wish the ambulance services had more of a range of rapid response cars as these are pretty much only skoda octavias. i’d absolutely love us to have something like a stinger simply because i think it would be awesome to drive one on blues
you mentioned mods to the vehicles, and for the most part from what i know they are upgraded from the spec models with things like 4wd, engine swaps (usually 2L turbo diesels), suspension upgrades, ride height raising and gearbox upgrades. i also know a lot of the older mercedes ambulances were bought as automatics to improve drivability but within my ambulance service at least this has been scrapped for your average 5 speed gearbox in the new fiat ducato boxes.
The car you said looked wicked a really loud i think is a fast response paramedic unit they can get to a situation and start treating and assessing long before the ambulance will turn up.
Not quite. It is air ambulance charity. When they are unable to use helicopters, like often at night, they dispatch response vehicles. Air ambulance usally have highly trained medics or sometimes even doctors who take over scenes form ambulances, but they very rarely get on scene first.
Fun fact for you, London has two Police Forces that operate in the City of London, 1. Metropolitan Police, vehicles are mainly white with blue and yellow Batanbourg Designs (square checks) and they also have dark blue Terratorl Support Group (TSG) Vans mainly Fords with some Mercedes, 2. The City of London Police, their vehicles are mostly silver with blue and yellow Batanbourg Designs.
The Ambulance that you see at the beginning was a Welsh Ambulance Service Unit, with English and Walsh wording, the red vehicles with yellow and green Batanbourg Designs are a highbred of the Ambulance and Fire Servies, known as Emergency Response, mostly stationed at Fire and Rescue Stations and often on a retained status (part-time).
As for the customization of vehicles, apart from things like gun safes for Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs), light bars, sirens and specialized electronics, i.e. Automatic Number plate Reading cameras (ANPR), and other electronics, they are pretty much standard everyday models, that includes Fire Applanceses, Ambulances and the Police vans and Truck chassis, just that they have customized bodies depending on the vehicle type and role, i.e. prison transport trucks are fully armoured.
Great video, very appreciative and knowledgeable regarding our UK emergency services, nice to see from accross the pond!
If you noticed the Fire Engine with the red L plate that might be a training vehicle. In the UK there are different levels of licences depending on the vehicle. An ordinary car licence won't include driving heavier vehicles such as Heavy Goods Vehicles HGV, buses and larger emergency vehicles such as Ambulances and Fire engines.
I've seen ambulances doing highspeed traffic weaving with sirens that seem to be just repeated journeys and i assume to be training activity but no L plates involved.
@@redf7209 it's possible that that's part of their advanced training but if they have not driven a vehicle of that size previously and are being taught the basics. Driving at ordinary speeds, manoeuvring through traffic, meaningful feel of driving that type of vehicle.
If you gained your car licence before January 1997 you will have benefited from acquired rights and already have the C1 entitlement on your licence. You will not need to take any additional tests.
If you passed your car licence test after January 1997 you will need to complete the following steps.
1. Attend and pass an LGV medical assessment. You will need to take a D4 medical form with you for the doctor to complete. 2 Start Training can assist you with arranging your medical or you can contact your local GP, they will be able to inform you of the relevant fees.
2. Apply to the DVSA for the provisional entitlement to be added to your current driving licence. Completing form D2 and sending this with your completed D4 form, along with your current driving licence to the DVSA. They will send back your driving licence with the C1 provisional entitlement added.
3. Theory tests. You will need to complete 2 theory tests to obtain your C1 licence to become an ambulance driver. There is a 100-question multiple-choice test which you must get 85% correct to pass. The second test is a hazard perception test where you will watch small video clips from the point of view of the driver of the vehicle. You will need to indicate when a hazard appears. The test pass mark is 67/100 and the test contains 19 clips.
4. Your practical driver training and test will show you how to drive the vehicle safely on the road. You will be shown the test routes and practice the reversing manoeuvre. The practical driving test is approximately 1 hour long and the examiner will assess your ability to drive safely on the road. Once you have successfully passed your practical test you can send off your licence to the DVSA who will update your licence to show the C1 entitlement.
If you wish to use your C1 licence for another job such as a delivery driver, you would need to pass an additional qualification, the Driver CPC qualification. If you are going to use your C1 licence to drive a large goods vehicle for a reward you will need this qualification. Ambulance drivers do not need this qualification.
@@tiggerwood8899 Thank you.
The first red car that was in the video, when you were commenting on the loudness of the siren is the "HEMS" car in London. The car carries a trauma doctor and a specialist paramedic in the evening, at night or in bad weather, when the helicopter air ambulance can't fly. It is sent to certain category or types of calls, or on request from paramedics on scene. I used to be a dispatcher for the LAS (London Ambulance Service) and worked alongside their dispatcher in the control room in Waterloo (an area of) London.
All emergency wehicles in Europe have blue lights. Police cars have also red but only used behind another car to give sign for them to stop but it's never mounted on the roof. In the window or in front of the grill. If you see a normal car that says Ambulance on it, it's a ER doctor inside it with a paramedic that is the driver. Some countries have also doctors on MC. Police cars in most European countries uses blue, ambulances green stripes. German police have green stripes on their police cars. I'm a former paramedic from Sweden but also worked in Norway and Netherlands.
UK sirens aren't just loud, they're discordant. A deliberate effort to jar the senses of the listener into paying attention
Same with the old style phone rings. That signature UK 'ring-ring' has a cadence (0.4 second on, 0.2 second off, 0.4 second on, 2 seconds off before the next cycle) that throws the owner off and urges them to make it stop
The London Taxi is a TX4, 3rd in a series of 'TX' taxi that was based on the more iconic Austin FX4. They're still a little bit of a rattley diesel but they have incredibly tight turning circles
when you paused and talk about the london black cab, if you look just behind the police vehicle you will see the new electric black cab. the beach buggy thing ive never seen before but looks suspiciously like a modified Smart roadster. Can i also recommend Chris Martin EMS channel, he is an emergency paramedic that shows great footage and commentary of the high speed techniques and rules etc. keep up the great videos
The beach buggy is generally a kit car using a VW Beetle road train and other parts, they do look fun though 😊
@@stephenmunday123 Putting the car registration plate into the UK govt website for car tax and MOT status tells me it's a VW first registered in 1972. If it was a kit car built from scratch (even using a donor car's chassis) it would have a "Q" number plate, so I think this is the original VW with a new body.
@Daniel Freedman thanks for your reply, in kit car building you are correct about a Q plate, but if it can be proved that the engine and gearbox are original to a vin numbered vehicle then it can keep its identity, hope I'm right now I've said it 😂😂
Nah 72 beetle
the liveries you can see on British emergency vehicles is called called battenburg design (and the battenburg design is also coming to Belgium)
The Belgian police force has been using one single (dull) livery since its unification in the early 2000s. Before that it was each town and /or police unit its own. Apparently they are going back to that diversity.
@@flitsertheo
born and raised (and still living in) a small Belgian town, I know 7 tipes of liveries used by the Belgian police:
nr1aka local: a design with a white background and blue lines, used by the local police.
nr2 aka federal: a design similar to the local with only one difference: some lines are red, used by the federal police.
nr3 or border patrol is the same as local and federal with one important difference: all lines are yellow, used by douane (Belgian border patrol).
nr4 aka MP are the same as the earlier mentioned liveries but here all lines are red, used by the belgian military police.
nr5 or batenburg is a design that is a combination of the classic battenburg design (checkerboard whise yellow and blue tiles) and the local design, widely used by the local police in and around antwerp.
nr6 also known as Betenburg 2 is a design similar to local but with extra stripes, these extra stripes are similar to the stripes on NYPD cars with one difference: these stripes are in battenburg design with the colors dark blue and light blue , this design is used by politiezone Mechelen-Willebroek
nr7 aka semi-anoniem: a completely black car with the letters police in small letters on the front door, it is a bit the belgian counterpart of ghost cop cars and is used by several police regions throughout belgium
2:06 it's Gaelic, the native language of Scotland and Ireland. If you're in Ireland and Scotland you'll see it aswell as english on signs, emergency vehicles etc. Would be cool to see your reaction to some Irish emergency services stuff sometime, we have alot of variety like the uk, some cool unmarked police cars too. some cool coast guard vehicles too.
The advantage of driving a black Hyundai i40 is that drivers sometimes think it is an unmarked Gard.
i love this vid as a scottish myself its really nice that you like our emergency vehicles and btw when you were struggling trying to make out what it said on the back of the ambulance at 2:07 it was gaelic
I like these vehicles too :)
In France they tend to be much tamer, much less high visibility patterns, there's some but it doesn't cover half of the vehicle like in the UK.
But Gendarmerie's A110 are so cool x'3
Much better than the Seat Leon Cupra which were firstly attended in the Gendarmerie's fleet.
... Or the Renault Megane RS, and the Subaru Impreza WRX just before.
Here in the UK the police use a lot of estate cars (station wagon) for dog unit's (k9) 😀
the ambulance has its name also in Scots Gaelic
Thanks - in Wales, we are used to seeing 'Ambiwlans' in the Welsh.
You may notice when the vehicle have the "blues and twos" on. There is a blue light on the light bar that's in constant. That's because in parts of the country we have cameras at traffic light. When a vehicle goes through the camera takes a photo of the offending vehicle. The blue light lets the system controlling the cameras that it's an emergency vehicle on a call. So it reduces the paperwork when if comes to the emergency vehicle going through during the off cycle in the light pattern.
12:40 The Cool Volvo is Air Ambulance Support. Not sure about modifications but i do know the "boot" opens like two doors rather than upwards. You can see the split in them if you zoon in. Easier and safer for having equipment loaded in and out quickly.
Really loving your videos and commentary!!
The idea of the sirens changing tone is that drivers can hear then and determine the direction they are coming from.
It doesn't work for me, I hear them sure enough, but I have to look around until I spot them.
@@derwindhund116 i find 2 tone alarms better in that regard - the clear distinction makes it easier to tell which way the ambulance/police car/fire engine is coming from because the Doppler effect is much more pronounced
The uk has also had some amazing cars in the past as police cars. In Scotland they had a McLaren mp4/12c, there have been various Subaru Impreza’s and Mitsubishi Evo’s, a time ago they had a Ford escort rs cosworth and an RS200. They’ve also had a lot of cars painted in the police livery for publicity like a Lamborghini murcielago and even a Renault formula 1 car
That’s wild haha I love it 🎉
The RS200 is cool (only 200 made), I had a chance to get up close with one at Donington in the 90s. Fun fact I remembered - the doors are from a Sierra
Mclarens and the likes were never actually used as police cars, just dine up for publicity. Never owned.
The evo's and subarus yes for a short time the sierra cosworth also been used, however the rs200 is the same as the mclarens of the time, just borrowed and done up for publicity for ford actually as it was a couple of years after they started using the sierra saphire cosworths.
I understand there is currently a Lotus on long term loan to Devon & Cornwall police . It has shown up on TikTok a few times in information clips put out by a Roads Policing Unit Sergeant. That’s fun PR by the force
Wow , a far cry from when they used to use Mini Metros or Austin Maestros and Allegros .
UK all emergency are built to the best level possible for quick response in any situation
The red cars are used by the “air ambulance and are staffed by 1-2 doctors and an advance paramedic. They mostly respond at night when the air ambulance can’t fly due to the inability for the helicopter to fly because of phone lines etc. the cars respond to the highest priority calls like cardiac arrests, falls from height of 6ft or over, major car crashes and stabbing/gunshots etc.
If you are going to check out the London Black Cabs you should find a video about The Knowledge which is the exam a Black cab driver has to pass (or at least used to, not sure if they still do).
The panda cars(normal police cars) have limited mods mainly tech upgrades but the high speed response cars are chosen because of the already high specs like the bmw 5 series or older Volvo t5 but most get upgraded in some sense before been put on the road, I’m sure there was a tv series in the U.K. following the repair/modding garages behind the emergency services
Same for some reason I think the higher spec cars run maybe a remap but not sure how I’ve come to that conclusion
Some forces have been fond of the Octavia VRS for RPU (roads policing unit) tasks.
Yeah I remember them getting delivered in to a garage I did service work at in 2008 but they used the standard trim (base model appearance) but they had all the engine and performance packs installed at factory was going to be used for undercover ops
I had an ex police T5, went like stink.
Fun Fact:
You can get really excellent deals on 2nd hand Police vans in the UK.
They are great for camper conversions and usually come insulated with a diesel van heater and hot drinks making facilities for late night stationary work.
I could be wrong but anytime I’ve heard the sirens tick off is when there’s nothing in front of them that requires attention. When following behind someone who can’t pull over safely and it’s not safe to overtake for a period of time is the only other experience I’ve had where the sirens get switched off.
This is absolutely right - from the police response training, the use of the siren is taught quite carefully, you’re taught that the siren is for attracting attention and its the change of tone that is best for attracting attention.
So default is lights only, when you see a junction in the distance you might activate the wailer, then when closed the yelp (more rapid up-and-down). You’re looking for a reaction and if people start to move out of the way.
Then when you’re through the hazard, turn off the siren unless there’s another ahead.
We are explicitly taught to hold back and turn off the siren when approaching traffic queuing at a red light, so no-one is forced into the junction. What usually happens people start to notice the lights and move aside. Once there’s a gap, sirens back on and into the junction. The static kind of noise (pulsar) is the most directional and useful when emerging past a red light, encourages the traffic proceeding through their green to look the right way!!
Ambaileans is Ambulance in Scottish. :)
Specifically Scottish Gaelic
Hiya, Loved the video! Alsoo fun fact. In Scotland typically uses white ambulances instead of the most known yellow ones, Emergency Services in Scotland usely has the gaelic translation on the vehicle.
Bloody waste of money more people speak Urdu than Gaelic in Scotland
Scotland is not split into different counties/regions and the emergency vehicles can be deployed in any area of the country - hence the inclusion of both languages.
@@alemgas but it's so important to preserve regional languages which are endangered. It's such a shame to let languages, cultures and a way of thinking die out. Languages are so much more than just a way of speaking with different words in a different order and possibly a different writing system
It’s all about visibility the colours are so you can see it and find it easily and the sirens are proven to help people work out which direction the siren is coming from.
Chequered design is called Battenburg (like the cake) and uses retroflective white panels interleaved with coloured panels indicating the type of emergency vehicle: blue police, red fire, green ambulance etc. These markings were designed to improve the conspicuity of stationary emergency vehicles on high speed routes. Used in combination with the "fend off" position, the vehicle is parked at an angle thus revealing the battenburg markings on the side panels to oncoming vehicles. This helps early recognition that the vehicle is stationary. At major incidents the coloured panels help easily identify vehicles from different services at the scene.
The original UK siren was the two-tone "mee-maw" but it's largely been replaced by the multi-tone sirens. Usually the long wailer is used when driving at speed, as hazards near they will switch to warbler or short tone. You spotted that best practice is now to turn sirens off completely when they are not necessarily - this helps attract attention when it's needed and prevent other drivers becoming disoriented about where the siren is coming from. Best practice is also to silence sirens at red traffic lights and dense traffic where there is no way through, to avoid putting pressure on civilians to break traffic laws in order to be "helpful".
You should check out videos about the Special Escort Group who Escort royal family members and foreign dignitaries around London using a fleet of motorcycles that don't have sirens, the lead riders just use whistles to attract attention. It's a masterclass in formation driving through heavy city traffic.
Also meant to say about light bars. In the UK, blue lights are the only colour that is permitted for emergency vehicles.
Red lights are fitted to the rear of the light bar and only used when the vehicle is stopped (or by police vehicles to signal traffic behind to stop) unlike in the US where 360 reds are used for response driving.
Some light bars are fitted with white strobes as well.
By far the most effective lighting is alternately flashing headlights which are great at attracting attention.
I 'am also a fan of Cobra emergency. Loving the fact you got and enjoyed this footage, welcome my brother from across the pond!😄
Thank you! 😁
@@CobraEmergency I’ll be watching a lot more of your stuff (off camera) you make great content. Excellent video quality and Audio 😎🎉
@@IWrocker Appreciate the kind words!