Motorists are urged to make sure that they are ‘Blue Light Aware’ by a leading road safety specialist to stay safe when helping emergency service vehicles.
GEM Motoring Assist has outlined some essential advice on how drivers should react when they encounter a blue light vehicle out on the road.
Neil Worth, GEM chief executive, said: “We all want to help emergency service drivers, and most of the time it’s just a simple case of pulling over to let them pass.
“But we need to ensure that anything we do as drivers is safe and legal. That’s because we must all follow the rules of the road, even when giving way to an emergency vehicle.”
GEM says that drivers should remember to stay safe and legal and that ‘no one expects you to put yourself at risk or break the law in order to help an emergency vehicle’. Staying calm and alert is also suggested, with motorists urged to give themselves more time in order to better respond to an emergency vehicle approaching.
The road safety charity also suggests that drivers don’t ‘make judgements on which emergency vehicles deserve your help and which ones don’t’, with a ‘consistently thoughtful’ attitude best adopted instead. It’s also best to remain stationary until a blue light vehicle has fully passed completely. Drivers should also listen out for additional sirens in case more than one emergency vehicle is trying to get by.
Worth added: “So do set aside a few minutes to understand the best ways you can help when there’s an emergency vehicle trying to get through. Not only will you be better placed to stay legal and safe, you’ll be doing your bit to help when someone’s life could depend on it.”
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