I knowingly drove through a red light.

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

Have driven through red lights and over kerbs on a number of occasions to let emergency vehicles pass. Only a minor transgression of the law , balanced against the possibility of contributing to cause of death by impeding an emergency vehicle. If i received a summons for this i would definitely want to go to court- after contacting the local press.

 

[meeeb]

I may be slated but if it was a fire engine / ambulance would do the same but if its a ray ban wearing silly boy copper in a Hyundai not a chance ....

Deservedly so. Thoughtless attitude. No rationale.

The two different driver types may be going to an equally serious job.

 

[flango]

The two different driver types may be going to an equally serious job.

I doubt it but there are plenty of Class 1 Traffic Officers on this forum who know more than I do, so I'll wait for their comments

 

[poormansporsche]

OK so i was not there at the time and place that the OP was so my comments are general comments on my day to day daily daily driving.

But whilst driving if I see blues and twos in the rear view mirror I do as a matter of course see if I can safely mount the curb, secondly and this is the important bit scan to see if there are any roadside / traffic light camera's and thats when the fire engine / hyundai bit comes into play. A member of my family has been done going through a red light for a emergency vehicle - went to court etc etc and just gave up and excepted the points. Me with my 5 sets of car / van insurance even 3 points will have a very large effect.

 

[developer]

But whilst driving if I see blues and twos in the rear view mirror I do as a matter of course see if I can safely mount the curb

I'd have done what Tim did - kerbs are not an option on 30 profile sports tyres .

 

[V12]

With 30 profile sports tyres you should have learnt the skill to mounting kerbs by now!!

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Ambulance drivers are also trained to a very high standard , although I have no first hand knowledge of the ambulance service .

Although never a full-time ambulance driver, I did complete a two-week course many years ago when I was working in a high-risk environment where we had our own ambulance to save time and thus perhaps life. It was by far the best driving course (nay, the best course of any kind) that I have ever attended. A skill we had to develop that was unique to ambulance driving was being able to get from A to B in as short a time as possible with the least distress to the 'passenger' lying down in the back. We learnt that getting there quickly wasn't necessarily about driving at high speed but more about advance reading of the road, the traffic and everything around, together with road positioning especially on country roads.

As for the OP's 'indiscretion', I would have done exactly the same. If I later received a penalty notice I would have written to the local police with a full explanation. If they wanted to proceed I would then have written to my local Crime Commissioner and then, if necessary, to the Chief Constable. I would never lie down and die.

 

[TDE1]

Cheers for all the input guys. I know it was a breach of the Law, but I feel vindicated now, thanks to the vox pop.

FWIW, I failed to mention in my opening post (although it should be obvious), that because of the height of the appliance's cab, I didn't see any gesticulating when they were behind me, nor any acknowledgement when they passed me.

Thanks again fellas.

Tim

 

[developer]

Cheers for all the input guys. I know it was a breach of the Law, but I feel vindicated now, thanks to the vox pop.

FWIW, I failed to mention in my opening post (although it should be obvious), that because of the height of the appliance's cab, I didn't see any gesticulating when they were behind me, nor any acknowledgement when they passed me.

Thanks again fellas.

Tim

Didn't you get the horn as they passed ?

 

[219]

Cheers for all the input guys. I know it was a breach of the Law, but I feel vindicated now, thanks to the vox pop.

FWIW, I failed to mention in my opening post (although it should be obvious), that because of the height of the appliance's cab, I didn't see any gesticulating when they were behind me, nor any acknowledgement when they passed me.

Thanks again fellas.

Tim

I very much doubt there would have been any gesticulating .

Assuming they passed you on the offside , the 'gaffer' who sits in the near side front seat may well have given you a wave of thanks as he went by .

 

[Peter DLM]

Only a copper can wave you through a set of red lights legally. But I think you did the right thing anyway

 

[Dieselman]

As a car only driver ( albeit advanced ) I am still lost in wonder and admiration for the way appliance drivers can thread 30 ton upwards vehicles through busy traffic making safe progress

Do they really weigh that much? That's a lot of mass, especially since a fair bit is liquid sloshing about.

I hope this isn't your lot...



[YOUTUBE]G3uoVOOlT2s[/YOUTUBE]

 

[TDE1]

Do they really weigh that much? That's a lot of mass, especially since a fair bit is liquid sloshing about.

I hope this isn't your lot...



[YOUTUBE]G3uoVOOlT2s[/YOUTUBE]

I asked the brother-in-law this on holiday a couple of years ago, and think he said about 15t for a normal appliance. It's what he does for a living, as well as airport fire units etc.

Apparently the water tanks are baffled to minimise sloshing, but as I was quite sloshed myself, I forget the details.

 

[Dryce]

Do they really weigh that much? That's a lot of mass, especially since a fair bit is liquid sloshing about.

It's mostly equipment and a small proportion of water.

I can remember when I was younger in non-metric days visiting a fire station and asking how much water they carried and being disappointed because it seemed low. I think the figure was something like 250 gallons when I was expecting several 1000s given the rate at which they said they could pump. 250 gallons would be under 1.5 tonnes.

 

[219]

Do they really weigh that much? That's a lot of mass, especially since a fair bit is liquid sloshing about.

I hope this isn't your lot...



[YOUTUBE]G3uoVOOlT2s[/YOUTUBE]

Yes - the smaller appliances weigh from around 16 tons without water , then they carry about that much water ( 16 tons ) again .

Some of the larger appliances weigh mid 20's tons , again plus the water .

Unable to play your link ( downloading latest flash player as I type ) but it looks to be our cousins over the pond in that clip .

We have , unfortunately , had a few mishaps over the years , including pumps which have turned over at surprisingly low speeds , hence driver training is paramount .

As stated earlier , my own limited experience of driving 7.5 tonners in high winds leaves me lost in admiration for these guys who routinely drive these larger machines under emergency conditions .

Even within my 10 years with the fire service , I've only had to attend around half a dozen incidents involving our appliances - given that any incident involving one of our vehicles has to be fully investigated ( we attend to gather photo and video evidence ) , there are only three of us doing this job and the number of journeys undertaken every day , that's a pretty good record !

 

[Dieselman]

Even within my 10 years with the fire service , I've only had to attend around half a dozen incidents involving our appliances - the number of journeys undertaken every day , that's a pretty good record !

I bet that's more incidents than the firemen have had to attend fires...

Don't most fire engines just go to the chip shop, or 5-aside playground?

 

[Meldrew2]

I bet that's more incidents than the firemen have had to attend fires...

Don't most fire engines just go to the chip shop, or 5-aside playground?

Don't be silly. The fire service go to many more places than that.

You forgot the Indian take-away, the Chinese, KFC, McD's and the Pizza joint

 

[jotter22]

And just hope it was not one of the striker's going up the chippy!
sorry Dm didn't read all the post's! my bad.
Tony.

 

[219]

I bet that's more incidents than the firemen have had to attend fires...

Don't most fire engines just go to the chip shop, or 5-aside playground?

Well , we do get a great many turnouts to chippys and other fast food establishments to deal with hot oil fires and fires started by fat deposits igniting in ventilation flues .

 

[Dryce]

Well , we do get a great many turnouts to chippys and other fast food establishments to deal with hot oil fires and fires started by fat deposits igniting in ventilation flues .

I'll believe you - but thousands wouldn't .....