Emergency sirens

[Glossopswift]

Several news items this week have told of the number of accidents involving emergency vehicles, usually police vehicles, travelling at speed. This morning I saw 4 vehicles travelling with their lights flashing (3 fire engines and a police car) but they only sounded the siren when they had come to a standstill and wanted someone to move out of their way. Is there any reason why they don't keep the siren going the whole time?

[smudge]

Years ago, a friend of mine who was am ambulance driver was passing me in the street & called for me to jump in for a lift home! It was rush hour & the traffic was really bad - on went the sirens, through the traffic we went & she dropped me off at the bottom of my road. She was in no hurry & was only going back to base to sign off for the day!

[Loosehead]

They only use the siren when necessary, if the traffic is'nt too heavy then the lights alone should suffice. I suppose it's because they don't want to make a rackett unless absolutely necessary. 

[Glossopswift]

It certainly seems that way, loosehead, and it was certainly the way the vehicles this morning were operating. However, that reactive approach relies on the vehicle operator deciding on what traffic is significant or not, it doesn't allow for pedestrians or vehicles coming from side roads. If you hear a siren when you are driving you are alert and looking for where it is coming from, whereas the lights have to be in your field of view for you to know.

[Bangkok]

Part of the issue is that sirens can be heard when the vehicle cannot be seen, causing (conscientious) drivers to look around to prepare to give way, thereby increasing the chance of an accident.  However, when approaching junctions or where traffic is not giving way, sirens should be sounded.

[Glossopswift]

An interesting answer, Bangkok. The same reason I give for saying the siren should be sounded is the reason you give for saying it shouldn't be sounded! Your reason is probably sounder as that is the way they currently operate, but I wonder if some study was undertaken to make them operate like that rather than my noisy, racket making way.

[brian5]

I have always noticed that if the traffic is heavy, the sirens are on, if it's lighter they only use them at junctions, and late at night, other road users, whether drivers or pedestrians SHOULD see the lights, I mean it's not as if they are in any way dull lights, but I would like to hear the sirens used more, even if it's an  intermittent use, of every few seconds, I have worked on police cars and ambulances as a mechanic, and I can tell you that the isrens are linked to the vehicle horn button, once activated, the siren is controlled by the driver who simply presses the vehicles horn button, to start or stop it, they can also change the tones in the same way, traffic police cars have a more elaborate setup where they can choose an assortment of lights, either one at a tie or a selection of several lights, and there is one big red button that turns everything on, for those big emergencies, like some poor ****** hitting 71mph on the motorway, LOL

[dan_999uk]

We don't use sirens:

• If it's the middle of the night (23:30-07:00)
• If we're going to certain types of job (bomb scares, threatening suicide, suspects on premises, firearms incidents)
• If we've got a patient on board who we don't want to stress out
• If there's no traffic to warn and there is excellent visibility
• If we're on a motorway, because no-one would hear them
• If we've got a headache :-D

Smudge - I hope it was years ago, that's a sacking offence nowadays

Bangkok - are you saying that sirens cause people to increase their observations, thus causing accidents? On the contrary, if people look more there would be less accidents, most accidents are down to poor observation.