"Ian F." wrote in message
...
"terzal" wrote in message
oups.com...

Personally, I used to turn the siren off if there was no traffic, and
no obvious hazards ahead. A (very) few of my colleagues used to turn
the siren on leaving the station, and off once they got to the scene.
Each to their own.

That's my complaint too. It's not the use of sirens, which are obviously
essential in busy areas, but what happens here in Balham is that police
cars tear along with sirens blaring at 3.00am or 4.00am on an absolutely
deserted Balham High Road! In this weather, those of us that live on the
main road and have our bedroom windows open can't help but be woken up.

Are there no rules/guidance for use of sirens on emergency vehicles at a
time of night when it would be illegal for other motorists to use their
horns? I would expect the guidance to be: turn the siren off except when you
are approaching a junction where traffic has priority over you or when
there's an obvious hazard like a bunch of cars in front of you or people who
look as if they're about to cross the road in front of you.

I've noticed that ambulances switch between a laid-back slow wail when they
are in light traffic and a much more urgent, insistent, faster whooping when
they are approaching heavier traffic. I've also seen many ambulances and
fire engines with just their blue lights on and no sirens, especially on
sparsely-populated motorways. So it looks as if they are considerate. Police
cars seem to be the worst offenders for leaving their sirens going full
time.

The converse is true: not using a siren when it's needed. One evening I was
going home from work at dusk and had green lights approaching a set of
traffic lights. Suddenly, from my right, a police car shot across from the
right about 6 feet in front of me. Luckily I'd slowed down a bit from the 60
at which I'd been approaching because I thought the lights had been at green
for a long time and might change soon. The police car was not using his
siren: my fleeting impression was of just a single flash of his blue light
as he passed my field of vision. I know that police cars are allowed to go
though red lights, but they normally sound their siren on the approach and
to take extra care if traffic that has priority over them doesn't have clear
sight of them approaching and so will have no advance warning.


I've always wondered what the law is about ordinary cars going through red
lights to let an emergency vehicle behind get through. I was once in this
situation: I was at the head of a queue of cars at traffic lights when a
fire engine came up on my offside but was blocked from going the wrong way
through the junction because some pillock had stopped on a box junction. So
I thought: act first, defend my actions afterwards - I edged forwards,
flashing my lights and hooting my horn to warn other traffic what I was
doing and pulled at right angles to the direction I'd been going in to make
room for the fire engine. I noticed one of the passengers in the fire engine
stuck his arm out of the window and gave me a "thank you" wave for applying
a bit of common sense. However I've also seen cars waiting dutifully at red
lights with emergency vehicles stuck behind them for ages, probably because
they are afraid of being penalised for going through a red light.