Blues and twos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blues and twos is a colloquial term that refers to the Emergency vehicle equipment of flashing lights on top of a vehicle, as well as sirens that the Emergency Services in the UK use when responding to an incident. The origin of the phrase comes from the fact the lights are blue and the siren previously was a two-tone horn, although now most emergency services use a gradated siren.
The use of blue flashing lights is regulated by the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989, the Road Vehicles Lighting (Amendment) Regulations 2005 and the Road Vehicles Lighting (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2005 and is restricted to[1]:
- Vehicles used for police purposes (but not necessarily a police vehicle, e.g. search and rescue)
- Vehicles used for fire brigade purposes
- Vehicles used as ambulances (but not necessarily an ambulance service vehicle, e.g. mountain rescue)
- Mountain rescue - both military and civil
- HM Coastguard
- Human Tissue & Transplant
- Forestry Commission Fire Service
- Army Bomb Disposal
- Royal Navy Bomb Disposal
- RAF Armament Support
- Naval Nuclear Monitoring
- Blood Transfusions Services
- Royal National Lifeboat Institution
- HM Revenue and Customs when investigating serious crimes
- Ministry of Defence vehicles responding to or preventing a radiation incident
Regulations in the police force regarding driving under 'blues and twos' vary from force to force, but the generally accepted rule is that it is not permitted unless the driver is trained in response driving, although legally no qualification other than a driving licence is required to drive 'blues and twos'. In only a few forces are the use of lights alone to pull a vehicle over to the side of the road permitted by non-response trained drivers.[citation needed]
Blues and Twos was also the title of a fly-on-the-wall documentary series in the UK that followed one crew from a different emergency service in each episode.
[edit] Exemptions
In the UK, emergency vehicles are exempt (with a suitably qualified driver) from certain motoring regulations when using blue lights and/or sirens[1]:
- treating a red traffic light as a give way sign
- passing to the right of a keep left sign (but not turn left)
- driving on a motorway hard shoulder (even against the direction of traffic)
- exceeding the statutory speed limit (police, fire and ambulance services only)
- driving in a bus lane
- parking in restricted areas, including against flow of traffic at night
- leaving the vehicle with the engine running (police utilising the run lock feature on most cars)
- using audible warnings outside of permitted hours
- driving against the flow of traffic on a one way street, only with permission of a police officer or traffic warden
The driver may need to use his/her discretion about the motoring situation faced - for instance they are not allowed to overtake when a solid white line is present[1].
