A word to motorists. Those shiny things on the side of your vehicle are called "Mirrors" and used corectly, they help you to see emergency vehicles that are lit up like Christmas tress, behind you!
If no siren and sitting going no where, why check mirrors when stationery. In Germany on autobahn, there aren't any hard shoulders. People have to yield left or right to leave emergency services a clear passage when traffic comes to a stop . We need the same law here.
Their is another Boris's emergency responder channel I follow, and he made a video with several vans not moving out the way, I made the comment of it being typical and a van driver said it's because their mirrors are set to 'cover blind spots of people overtaking' but they could only see 2 car lengths behind them as a result. To which I said rubbish it's so you can see to reverse more easily and those mirrors are not set properly. And then you have these people who don't move and as you say don't seem to remember they have mirrors either.
@@marksapollo yup every single car has a blind spot - it's why you can't just use your mirrors and need to glance over your shoulder to look into the blind spot too. Obviously vans can't do that as easily as they don't have the rear side windows to look out of, but the issue with not seeing the lights is definitely because they aren't set correctly
In this instance it's quite clear that many drivers are fully aware that an emergency vehicle is trying to negotiate a path through, but have absolutely no where to move to.....the traffic all around is solid. Unfortunately this type of situation will increase with the increasing amount of 'SMART' motorways which decrease space for emergency vehicles to use even further.
Poop services seriously flawed . However or whatever training these people take its way to soft . Minutes could have been saved , new trainers for our emergency drivers. Before its to late
I see such a difference in how people react having moved from UK to Norway. If motorway traffic comes to a full stop like this, most drivers move towards the outsides of the road, so on a 2 lane stretch we can open up a 3rd lane down the middle for emergency services. Also people don't tend to stop so close to the vehicle in front, so if we do hear sirens behind, or more normally just lights, sirens are used far less often, there is more space to move out the way. Obviously on a roadworks section like this with narrower lanes, it's going to be harder, but the situational awareness some drivers showed is pretty poor.
Sad thing is if you even attempt to do this in the UK - some **** will try and use the space to gain 2 seconds ahead. Couple of times I've moved out the way of emergency vehicles only to be blocked from re-entering the road by people who had a full view of the situation and shown zero consideration.
This is the case in Germany as well (I am not German). It’s called a Rettungspasse/Emergency Corridor. Unfortunately I haven’t seen many other countries use it.
"Also people don't tend to stop so close to the vehicle in front" This is something that annoys me, I try to leave a gap so that I have options but drivers over here all too often sit on each other bumpers.
@@inoperative_ We have hard shoulders for emergency services to take in emergencies, otherwise emergency services would never be able to reach emergencies. Thankfully most of the UK isn’t like this video. Usually the UK is very good at moving for emergency vehicles, as shown in most blue light videos.
I can’t believe how amazingly slow drivers were to get out of the way. Even when there was space they crawled across lanes and left the smallest of spaces. Kudos to the driver for keeping their cool.
I'm tempted to blame the drivers for not moving out of the way soon enough, but then you realise that our motorways are constantly rammed with road works and cones so there's not too much extra room to pull over. Doesn't help that the traffic is bad enough without the road works as well.
Would help if when in stationary traffic lane three moves to the right and lane 2 to the left of their lanes like encouraged elsewhere. UK tends to have lane 3 trying to move to lane 2 to let ES overtake.
Everybody's tendency to pack in as tight as possible as well. Partly to stop lane hoppers, but also just because they creep and creep and creep, so you end up with 2ft gaps between everything so it's solid.
Yeap the best idea the government came up with.. not. Has to be one of the most stupid decisions ever made for British motorways. Causing more danger and accidents and traffic jams purely to save building more roads.
To ALL drivers. Leave space in front of you & use your mirrors regularly. Having room to move, and doing so when you realise you need to can mean the difference between life & death. As you can see from this, when you’re queuing, on major roads, it’s not likely you’re waiting for a set of lights to change so more important you follow the above
Additionally dont have the radio/music blasting so you can not hear the sirens behind you!! Maybe the emergancy vehicle need the USA Emergency Vehicles low frequency air horn to wake some of the dozzy drivers up?
@@mipamat5804, I’ve seen enough footage of drivers not noticing when an emergency vehicle is behind them with all lights blazing and bullhorn blowing over the sirens to know that some people just should not be driving.
@@paulcollyer801 we should be far more willing to hand out driving without due care and attention penalties. You get points and a fine for doing 80 on an empty motorway, but nothing for having no idea there’s an emergency vehicle with lights and sirens right behind you!
The cam car doesn't have a rear camera but you can bet your life that the moment the cam car passed by each vehicle, they immediately closed down this new "free" lane. None of them would give a moment's thought to the possibility that there maybe another emergency vehicle following.
Thanks very Much Richard, yes the training and experience really does pay off, but you do also have to rely on the public making the right choices too...
That's exactly why we have the mandatory emergency corridors in Germany and some other countries. People will not always follow the law, but most of the time it works rather well
I can't get my head around the rettungsgasse. Even when the hard shoulder is free, they'll try to squeeze through the rettungsgasse in Germany. Here in the Netherlands there is a free hard shoulder 90%+ of the time and it works way better. You can just go over the hard shoulder with 60 km/h without anyone needing to manouvre.
@@Meneerification there's a whole bunch of very good reasons why the Rettungsgasse / engl. emergency corridor, is the standard approach in Germany even if the hard shoulder is free: 1. the standard width of the hard shoulder is 2,50m 1.2 the standard width of a commercial truck is 2,50m without side mirrors 1.3 most large emergency vehicles are based on commercial trucks. You might see the point that it already gets tight under normal conditions 1.4 there are also larger, also in terms of wider, emergency vehicles than the average large fire truck. They wouldn't have a chance to pass the traffic jam on the hard shoulder. Some examples are e.g. ARFF Crash Tenders, fire and rescue tanks, large Tankers etc 2. besides the standard width, the hard shoulder might also be narrower, especially old sections are affected by this. Then already the plain normal average sized fire trucks don't have a chance to pass by on the hard shoulder 3. there are lots of sections which don't have any hard shoulder at all. For example old bridges, lots of tunnels, first and last miles of a highway, urban areas where the acceleration lane of one on-ramp might be continious as deceleration lane of the upcoming exit; Also some mountainious stretches of highway don't have any hard shoulder 4. the only places where the the hard shoulder has a wider standard width of 3.75m is when it's temporarily free to use as driving lane; It's wide enough for emergency vehicles if it's closed, but once it's free to drive on, where're back to aspect 3 = no hard shoulder left 5. if emergency vehicles drive on the hard shoulder they would have to cross traffic at every on-ramp and exit, which then is usually cramped with just as many vehicles like on any other lane 6. also a hard shoulder which is empty might be blocked a mile further down the road, e.g. by a broken down vehicle; Getting through the long line of trucks on the 1st lane then is very difficult. I've seen it multiple times already, even smaller emergency vehicles have their issues with that already. 7. KISS - keep it safe and simple. It would be way too much to expect from drivers to arrange themselves according to the condition of the hard shoulder, if there's one at all, if it's wide enough or not. So, in order to keep in simple, there's one universal traffic law which works on all sections of highways with the one and only exception for tighter highway construction zones. If done right, you can go through the emergency corridor at 60 kph or more as well. Just depends on how well people react in advance
The trouble with British motorways are the constant endless endless roadworks, usually without a single workman in sight! And the utter traffic chaos they cause, probably building 'Smart Motorways' thank God they've finally ditched that stupid dangerous idea.
The problem is though when some idiots in either lane see that the other one is moving 2 car lengths per minute faster than theirs, they cross over to it in a long, drawn out, slow manoeuvre. This slows down the lane they are moving into so they then repeat the process back to their original lane a couple of minutes later, they do this repeatedly and don't make any more progress than anyone else and it means there are always cars straddled between the two lanes.
These motorists are clueless that they don’t use their mirrors properly both their wing mirrors or the interior mirror. Why are the Uk drivers educated to drive like they do in other countries as when an emergency vehicle is coming through heavy or congested traffic, then the part in the middle, one side moves over to the left and the other side moves over to the right so that the emergency vehicles have a clear run through the clear way in the centre and they would get to the scene much quicker.
The UK is usually very good for moving for emergency vehicles but with the construction work and lane restrictions, it’s difficult to do so in this video. Go watch UK blue light responses by the critical care paramedic, his videos are great and give many angles etc.
I personally think every british emergency vehicle should have a PA System installed so that if in heavy traffic and the drivers are stupid they could just use the PA to get their attention
I don't understand the level of criticism of drivers here, it was pretty well gridlock, most if not all seemed to do their damnest to get out of the way when there was no space to move into, what am I missing?
A lot of comments about moving to the edges of the lanes can they not see there is a steel barrier along the right hand side of the road. I think most of the drivers in this clip did a good job in what was a pretty challenging situation.
if that was the best the drivers can do I really don't want to be in the situation to require any kind of emergency service there. Damn even though it doesn't always work as it's supposed to do, as some idiots won't follow basic traffic laws, I'm indeed happy to have emergency corridors over here; Then emergency vehicles can usually rush through a traffic jam at a relatively high speed
Audi driver at 5.15 just as 1 example. What the actual heck was he doing for 20-30 seconds before it suddenly clicked that he was capable of moving his car into space to the left!
This is probably the worst of these videos I’ve seen for absolutely gormless b****** drivers not knowing what to do, seriously some of them cars that left their arses hanging out need to re do their test, they’re a danger to the rest of us.
The driving standards in the UK have fallen dramatically in the last 30 yrs and the bell end in the 09 plate Audi is a perfect example of this, the gap was obviously not big enough for that car ? i reckon 2 cars would of gone in there, steering wheels where a fantastic invention,,
I had to get out of my car the other day and bang on the window of the car in front of me.A young lad with headphones on oblivious to everything around him did not see an ambulance behind him..
One thing that struck me is that those who are planning maintenance work and putting down cones don't appear to give any thought as to where emergency vehicles are going to go.
As an senior incident commander it is my role to either take over or maintain scene safety to allow the on scene commander to continue to deal with the incident. It is sometimes more hazardous in the closing stages as people tend to become a little more lazy with their safety...
I've always wondered if a busy motorway is blocked by an accident would it not be faster to drive up the wrong way from the next junction as there would be no oncoming traffic.
What you are talking about is called Reverse flow This is deployed when emergency or highways authority vehicles are required to travel the wrong way down the motorway, to access the scene of an incident. Reverse flow needs to be carried out under strict guidance by specialists fully trained in motorway procedures. It can only take place once the motorway is confirmed as fully shut in the normal direction of travel. I have only seen this done once or twice in my career as it is incredibly dangerous and requires a very much greater level of control
@@EmergencydriveUK Thanks for the quick reply. Makes sense. I suppose police also want the traffic moving so will allow it to pass if possible preventing Reverse Flow.
my dad was an advanced driving instructor, he got that training in the British army based in Germany. when he taught me to drive and conversations years on after, he kept saying how the UK teach drivers to pass a test (a test that if you pass, you know enough of the basics you can drive without supervision) and then told me many times a driving licence is a licence to learn. after leaving the army in late 70s, early 80s, he joined BSM, and only had 1 person come back a year later for advanced driving.
even in parisian highways it's easier for emergency vehicles to get through traffic, and if you've ever been to paris you know how bad it is there. this is shocking.
This is why I always leave at least a cars length in front of me when queuing. The problem is most drivers are too impatient, and see that gap and fill it themselves.
the majority of motorways in the UK have hard shoulders. it was a recent trial idea to turn some of them in England into Smart motorways. a decision that has been paused for now as the gather information on why deaths and injurys increased on smart motorways. i am not sure if this motorway is a smart motorway or because of the road works closing the outside lane, they used the hard shoulder to keep 3 lanes aviable for traffic.
Hi Jan Tom, just had a read of the Rettungsgasse and it really is a great concept if it can be put into practice. You will note here the lanes were narrowed down due to road work and therefore i think it would have been difficult to have created a Rettungsgasse...perhaps we should make this law over here
.. should've used a chopper, surly the control center knew of gridlock, depending on the level of emergency this is a clear representation of a communications failure but don't let that get confused with asking someone to pop down the shops to buy a loaf of bread.
On "SMART" motorways the operators are supposed to close one of the lanes off to enable emergency vehicle quick access to the incident. This relies on [1] the operator/monitoring/stationary traffic detection system all being active [2] the drivers moving out of the lane with the big red "X" over it, however a significant number of drivers see the clear lane and charge on regardless. The penalties for that action should be much harsher than they currently are.
@@mipamat5804 Exactly, I saw a perfect example on the M3 Boxing Day, fast lane was closed due to 3 car collision yet cars flew down at 50mph + and then had to slam on the breaks when they got to the accident!
A Fire Appliance is a clearly marked Emergency Services Vehicle. Drivers are less likely to move for an unmarked vehicle - no matter how many flashing lights it has on it.
@@pedantik Point is, these people were trying their best to move, there just wasn't any room TO move. No matter what the vehicle is marked, if you can't move, you can't move.
@@Species1571 - no, you missed the point - quite a few drivers were slow responding - my point is that emergency services vehicles should be "liveried up" for maximum visibility. I'm not certain of the role the OP plays but one could question why he needed to be on the scene that quickly unless he was a paramedic.
us there no law in the Uk about keeping clear an emergency lane? this ambulance is all over all lanes :/ in Germany the left lane go totally to the left and all other lanes goes to the right.
why is it not possible to move to the side when there is a traffic jam .. We always lose so much time or life in the hospital if we simply have too long to be on site. Always remember that you or your family could use your help .... Please think along.
When I posted in Germany, if there was a an RTA on the autobahn all drivers would pull over and leve a lane open for all emergency traffic, works a dream, non of this sitting in 3 lanes, common sense really but then this is the UK
This is a stretch of roadworks with narrow lanes. We can say everything we want about Germany, but their 30km long roadworks without hard shoulders a even worse than what we see here.
They need to make the Emergency corridor a legal requirement here like in Germany across all dual carriageways. Expecting the current system to cope without a hard shoulder is going to be lethal for too many people.
The hard shoulder can be a blessing and a curse. In conditions like these it MIGHT have made attendance a bit quicker but when traffic is stopped altogether, if there is a vehicle stopped on the hard shoulder (which there often is because people do break down in standing traffic and others like to try and use the hard shoulder to skip the queue) then you're stuck. Lane 1 can't move over enough to allow you to move past so lane 2 and 3 have to move with them. Its usually much better to try and work between the offside 2 lanes.
@@deedoor30 You mean aside from those that use your emergency lane to get ahead using it illegally? Those that stop for a pee or answer a phone call or take a drivers hours break on the emergency lane or the fact that 100 people a year die on one? That emergency lane?
Can't the road horn be disabled when the horn button is used to control the siren tone? It sounds so stupid to have a beep every time the siren is activated or the tone changed.
easiest to change tone as its one less thing to think about. Horns usually help over sounds of peoples spotify or radio. long presses of the horn works wonders on the half asleep driver
@lightningPete totally agree, sometimes a good old horn blast works better than sirens, especially for the half asleep idiot that trys to pull out just as you are about to overtake...
I reckon I would knock a few minutes of that time in a old Mondeo estate. So many yyyyyy . I really think that our emergency drivers need a fresh trainer. Chess masters of the rds do exist . Maybe the 999 boys need to hire 1 fast.
Watching some of drivers just give up trying to manoeuvre their cars is skin-crawlingly painful. If you can't work out how to do a full lock turn or even do a quick reverse to get a better approach angle then you should seriously consider handing in your licence to the DVLA. It's embarrassing to watch them!
@@EmergencydriveUK I would imagine that is because they are really not suited to carry the sort of equipment fire calls generally require though no? The police can begin securing a scene with fairly minimal equipment that can be carried on a motorcycle. Similarly a medic can begin stabilising many medical emergencies with a backpack sized kit. Just don't see many situations where you are going to contain a fire or brace an unstable structure to protect a trapped person etc with such minimal gear. So seems you would usually still be stuck not able to do much to try and get the emergency under control until additional technical and/or fire units arrived with essential equipment. But perhaps I am missing something I just always figured this was probably the reason why motorcycle response units have not been a priority for fire and rescue services as they don't fit their needs.
Rettungsgasse ffs, rettungsgasse. Come to Germany and learn what motorists have to do when they see an emergency vehicle in a traffic jam on the highway... 98% of these people have no clue at all.
I cannot believe , how LITTLE the other drivers move out of the way . I am shouting "get out the F way " ...... MOVE !!!!!!!!! RV09 get over !!! WTF matter with folk .!!!!
it should be law like Germany*- lane 1 should go to left side of lane , lanes 2+ should move over to the right side as soon as you come to standing traffic - opens an emergency lane - though no doubt it will get abused. *if the opposite in Germany as they drive on the other side of the road
Smart motorways are fine. The lanes are wider which gives traffic much more room to move out of the way. This is a roadworks section with very narrow lanes and likely, a lack of signals to be able to set a lane closure. The traffic officer and fire engine managed to get through!
🤣🤣🤣. Yeah luckily accidents don’t happen on the hundreds of thousands of mile of dual carriageways we have so this doesn’t happen there. Think before typing.
@@911HRW I don’t rely on papers. Most of the time they don’t ease congestion in my opinion and if you do break down you are left in a very dangerous position. It’s not worth the dangers for marginal improvements in some cases where it works as intended. Most reports coming out do also say that it’s not safe nor as efficient as claimed initially. I hope to see them scrapped. And dual carriageways aren’t really comparable to motorways as drivers aren’t going to be easily distracted nor would they be less likely to spot an issue if a car was broken down quite far ahead of reaching it - motorways are more congested and drivers are more distracted, it explains why even people working on the motorway get hit even with the massive signs and full protections in place.
WOW us UK drivers are shocking - why with the new highway code updates was it not included to mention when in traffic to move to the outer edges of the carriageway....think how many lives we could save!
Maybe the BBC/ITV should be mandated to make Public Serve Broadcasts [ instead of the endless self-publisizing and indoctrination with woke adverts] to publisize changes to the Highway code, and remind drivers about defensive driving, and what to do during incidents like this
Fbo194, the problem here wouldn't be sorted with a bull horn - that would cause even more problems as the bull horn panics drivers even more. I would expect that every driver actually knew I was there but they just had no where to go. More noise doesn't mean more progress...
They know I am there and if they can't move then neither can I. Pointless to keep the noise on, that would then just panic people who in turn may make dangerous manoeuvres causing even more chaos in an already desperate situation
@@EmergencydriveUK I saw one from an Eastern European country, those in the right pulled right, those in the left pulled left, hardly any delays. Maybe the rules are different there.
@@brianbickle7395 they doi a similar thing in Germany called rettungsgasse, apparently its law for the traffic to make a passing lane. I think it should be adopted over here too...
A word to motorists. Those shiny things on the side of your vehicle are called "Mirrors" and used corectly, they help you to see emergency vehicles that are lit up like Christmas tress, behind you!
All see anything. People seem to think indicator means I don’t need to check mirror
If no siren and sitting going no where, why check mirrors when stationery.
In Germany on autobahn, there aren't any hard shoulders. People have to yield left or right to leave emergency services a clear passage when traffic comes to a stop . We need the same law here.
Their is another Boris's emergency responder channel I follow, and he made a video with several vans not moving out the way, I made the comment of it being typical and a van driver said it's because their mirrors are set to 'cover blind spots of people overtaking' but they could only see 2 car lengths behind them as a result. To which I said rubbish it's so you can see to reverse more easily and those mirrors are not set properly. And then you have these people who don't move and as you say don't seem to remember they have mirrors either.
@@marksapollo yup every single car has a blind spot - it's why you can't just use your mirrors and need to glance over your shoulder to look into the blind spot too. Obviously vans can't do that as easily as they don't have the rear side windows to look out of, but the issue with not seeing the lights is definitely because they aren't set correctly
In this instance it's quite clear that many drivers are fully aware that an emergency vehicle is trying to negotiate a path through, but have absolutely no where to move to.....the traffic all around is solid. Unfortunately this type of situation will increase with the increasing amount of 'SMART' motorways which decrease space for emergency vehicles to use even further.
This is a reminder never to need emergency services attention during rush hour.
@Fast Cara Bless.
Poop services seriously flawed . However or whatever training these people take its way to soft . Minutes could have been saved , new trainers for our emergency drivers. Before its to late
I see such a difference in how people react having moved from UK to Norway. If motorway traffic comes to a full stop like this, most drivers move towards the outsides of the road, so on a 2 lane stretch we can open up a 3rd lane down the middle for emergency services. Also people don't tend to stop so close to the vehicle in front, so if we do hear sirens behind, or more normally just lights, sirens are used far less often, there is more space to move out the way. Obviously on a roadworks section like this with narrower lanes, it's going to be harder, but the situational awareness some drivers showed is pretty poor.
Sad thing is if you even attempt to do this in the UK - some **** will try and use the space to gain 2 seconds ahead.
Couple of times I've moved out the way of emergency vehicles only to be blocked from re-entering the road by people who had a full view of the situation and shown zero consideration.
This is the case in Germany as well (I am not German). It’s called a Rettungspasse/Emergency Corridor. Unfortunately I haven’t seen many other countries use it.
"Also people don't tend to stop so close to the vehicle in front"
This is something that annoys me, I try to leave a gap so that I have options but drivers over here all too often sit on each other bumpers.
@@inoperative_ I count Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Austria and Latvia... so quite a lot actually ;)
@@inoperative_ We have hard shoulders for emergency services to take in emergencies, otherwise emergency services would never be able to reach emergencies. Thankfully most of the UK isn’t like this video. Usually the UK is very good at moving for emergency vehicles, as shown in most blue light videos.
That was painful to watch people just too slow to react to makeway Huge shout out to emergency crew X
Soft as shit and twice as runny . So many improvements need to be made to their training.
I can’t believe how amazingly slow drivers were to get out of the way. Even when there was space they crawled across lanes and left the smallest of spaces. Kudos to the driver for keeping their cool.
I was thinking the same. In other European countries people know the system and get out of the way far quicker.
Not having sirens on means “I don’t need you to do anything”. It’d help if this driver actually put his sirens on half the time.
I'm tempted to blame the drivers for not moving out of the way soon enough, but then you realise that our motorways are constantly rammed with road works and cones so there's not too much extra room to pull over. Doesn't help that the traffic is bad enough without the road works as well.
And they decided getting rid of hard shoulders is a good idea because you know... Money.
Would help if when in stationary traffic lane three moves to the right and lane 2 to the left of their lanes like encouraged elsewhere. UK tends to have lane 3 trying to move to lane 2 to let ES overtake.
Everybody's tendency to pack in as tight as possible as well. Partly to stop lane hoppers, but also just because they creep and creep and creep, so you end up with 2ft gaps between everything so it's solid.
the joys of smart motorways when heading to an RTC
don't have an issue with that over here, but well thatfor we have the emergency corridors
Yeap the best idea the government came up with.. not. Has to be one of the most stupid decisions ever made for British motorways. Causing more danger and accidents and traffic jams purely to save building more roads.
To ALL drivers. Leave space in front of you & use your mirrors regularly. Having room to move, and doing so when you realise you need to can mean the difference between life & death. As you can see from this, when you’re queuing, on major roads, it’s not likely you’re waiting for a set of lights to change so more important you follow the above
That’s the issue people pack so tightly because of selfishness as they know some lane hopper will try to cut in if they don’t
Additionally dont have the radio/music blasting so you can not hear the sirens behind you!! Maybe the emergancy vehicle need the USA Emergency Vehicles low frequency air horn to wake some of the dozzy drivers up?
@@mipamat5804, I’ve seen enough footage of drivers not noticing when an emergency vehicle is behind them with all lights blazing and bullhorn blowing over the sirens to know that some people just should not be driving.
@@paulcollyer801 we should be far more willing to hand out driving without due care and attention penalties. You get points and a fine for doing 80 on an empty motorway, but nothing for having no idea there’s an emergency vehicle with lights and sirens right behind you!
Regarding gaps in between vehicles, with my LGV training I was taught to always ensure you can see tarmac in front of you.
We are too, of you can ser tarmac then you are guaranteed to always be able to get out if needed without reversing.
The two Ts my driving instructor always said to me. Tyres and Tarmac! Be able to see them both!
The cam car doesn't have a rear camera but you can bet your life that the moment the cam car passed by each vehicle, they immediately closed down this new "free" lane. None of them would give a moment's thought to the possibility that there maybe another emergency vehicle following.
Like the parting of the Red Sea. Patience and positioning pay off. Good job
Awful drive so much time lost. Horrid
Fantastic driving. Its a impressive way to get through traffic without hitting a car van or lorry. Your training paid off we'll done.
Thanks very Much Richard, yes the training and experience really does pay off, but you do also have to rely on the public making the right choices too...
This is the worst example i've seen! literally useless ! Training needs updating.
@@petervankas1352get yourself along to specsavers
That's exactly why we have the mandatory emergency corridors in Germany and some other countries. People will not always follow the law, but most of the time it works rather well
I can't get my head around the rettungsgasse. Even when the hard shoulder is free, they'll try to squeeze through the rettungsgasse in Germany. Here in the Netherlands there is a free hard shoulder 90%+ of the time and it works way better. You can just go over the hard shoulder with 60 km/h without anyone needing to manouvre.
@@Meneerification there's a whole bunch of very good reasons why the Rettungsgasse / engl. emergency corridor, is the standard approach in Germany even if the hard shoulder is free:
1. the standard width of the hard shoulder is 2,50m
1.2 the standard width of a commercial truck is 2,50m without side mirrors
1.3 most large emergency vehicles are based on commercial trucks. You might see the point that it already gets tight under normal conditions
1.4 there are also larger, also in terms of wider, emergency vehicles than the average large fire truck. They wouldn't have a chance to pass the traffic jam on the hard shoulder. Some examples are e.g. ARFF Crash Tenders, fire and rescue tanks, large Tankers etc
2. besides the standard width, the hard shoulder might also be narrower, especially old sections are affected by this. Then already the plain normal average sized fire trucks don't have a chance to pass by on the hard shoulder
3. there are lots of sections which don't have any hard shoulder at all. For example old bridges, lots of tunnels, first and last miles of a highway, urban areas where the acceleration lane of one on-ramp might be continious as deceleration lane of the upcoming exit; Also some mountainious stretches of highway don't have any hard shoulder
4. the only places where the the hard shoulder has a wider standard width of 3.75m is when it's temporarily free to use as driving lane; It's wide enough for emergency vehicles if it's closed, but once it's free to drive on, where're back to aspect 3 = no hard shoulder left
5. if emergency vehicles drive on the hard shoulder they would have to cross traffic at every on-ramp and exit, which then is usually cramped with just as many vehicles like on any other lane
6. also a hard shoulder which is empty might be blocked a mile further down the road, e.g. by a broken down vehicle; Getting through the long line of trucks on the 1st lane then is very difficult. I've seen it multiple times already, even smaller emergency vehicles have their issues with that already.
7. KISS - keep it safe and simple. It would be way too much to expect from drivers to arrange themselves according to the condition of the hard shoulder, if there's one at all, if it's wide enough or not. So, in order to keep in simple, there's one universal traffic law which works on all sections of highways with the one and only exception for tighter highway construction zones.
If done right, you can go through the emergency corridor at 60 kph or more as well. Just depends on how well people react in advance
Nightmare - well navigated though
Jeez, imagine a fire engine through that, impossible! Wow, one did get through.
The trouble with British motorways are the constant endless endless roadworks, usually without a single workman in sight! And the utter traffic chaos they cause, probably building 'Smart Motorways' thank God they've finally ditched that stupid dangerous idea.
personally, i prefer the part the waves method, go down the middle between lanes 2 and 3 have both move half lane over
The problem is though when some idiots in either lane see that the other one is moving 2 car lengths per minute faster than theirs, they cross over to it in a long, drawn out, slow manoeuvre. This slows down the lane they are moving into so they then repeat the process back to their original lane a couple of minutes later, they do this repeatedly and don't make any more progress than anyone else and it means there are always cars straddled between the two lanes.
These motorists are clueless that they don’t use their mirrors properly both their wing mirrors or the interior mirror.
Why are the Uk drivers educated to drive like they do in other countries as when an emergency vehicle is coming through heavy or congested traffic, then the part in the middle, one side moves over to the left and the other side moves over to the right so that the emergency vehicles have a clear run through the clear way in the centre and they would get to the scene much quicker.
I'm not sure whether or not some of these drivers have passed their driving tests, their road/traffic awareness is so poor...........
Looks like parting the waves would have been more efficient; the hard shoulder was crying out to be used as well
The amount of drivers that are slow to react and not using mirrors is shocking
The UK is usually very good for moving for emergency vehicles but with the construction work and lane restrictions, it’s difficult to do so in this video. Go watch UK blue light responses by the critical care paramedic, his videos are great and give many angles etc.
That Audi driver @ 5:30. Why do the worst people always drive German cars?
They actually don't ! its people in little cars in a coma they are the worst
You should crash on the M1 during the Rush Hour as the M4 is only for off peak RTC's
the lack of awareness of some people should have their license revoked.
That Audi ... holy christ.
Wow, holy. I thought the situation in Germany was bad but in comparison it's actually unbelievable good
Maybe because we are getting hammered in that there has to be a Rettungsgasse - albeit most don't care for it.
I personally think every british emergency vehicle should have a PA System installed so that if in heavy traffic and the drivers are stupid they could just use the PA to get their attention
Brings back memories, Stoke Mandeville to The National Heart hospital in central London
I don't understand the level of criticism of drivers here, it was pretty well gridlock, most if not all seemed to do their damnest to get out of the way when there was no space to move into, what am I missing?
Exactly, I would like to see the guys in these comments get a 40ft artic over in a 1 metre space.
A lot of comments about moving to the edges of the lanes can they not see there is a steel barrier along the right hand side of the road. I think most of the drivers in this clip did a good job in what was a pretty challenging situation.
if that was the best the drivers can do I really don't want to be in the situation to require any kind of emergency service there. Damn even though it doesn't always work as it's supposed to do, as some idiots won't follow basic traffic laws, I'm indeed happy to have emergency corridors over here; Then emergency vehicles can usually rush through a traffic jam at a relatively high speed
Audi driver at 5.15 just as 1 example. What the actual heck was he doing for 20-30 seconds before it suddenly clicked that he was capable of moving his car into space to the left!
They would of moved a lot faster if the right technician was in the blue light siren mumble
This is probably the worst of these videos I’ve seen for absolutely gormless b****** drivers not knowing what to do, seriously some of them cars that left their arses hanging out need to re do their test, they’re a danger to the rest of us.
What is with all the people only turning their wheels like 2 degrees when they're moving over. Crank it!
The driving standards in the UK have fallen dramatically in the last 30 yrs and the bell end in the 09 plate Audi is a perfect example of this, the gap was obviously not big enough for that car ? i reckon 2 cars would of gone in there, steering wheels where a fantastic invention,,
Every time I go out I see at least one who can't move their steering wheel more than 1/8 turn in either direction.
This is a disaster.
Especially when there were 3 lanes and only cars there shouldn't have been any obstructions!
And if people left bigger gaps rather than getting as close as possible to the car in front it'd make life so much easier
Only takes one to break down and no-one is going anywhere.
I had to get out of my car the other day and bang on the window of the car in front of me.A young lad with headphones on oblivious to everything around him did not see an ambulance behind him..
It should be (if not already) against the law to drive with headphones/earbuds on (driving without due care and attention?)
One thing that struck me is that those who are planning maintenance work and putting down cones don't appear to give any thought as to where emergency vehicles are going to go.
May I ask, if the emergency has already been made safe why do the emergency services still travel to the scene on blues? Just a query not a criticism
As an senior incident commander it is my role to either take over or maintain scene safety to allow the on scene commander to continue to deal with the incident. It is sometimes more hazardous in the closing stages as people tend to become a little more lazy with their safety...
I've always wondered if a busy motorway is blocked by an accident would it not be faster to drive up the wrong way from the next junction as there would be no oncoming traffic.
What you are talking about is called Reverse flow
This is deployed when emergency or highways authority vehicles are required to travel the wrong way down the motorway, to access the scene of an incident.
Reverse flow needs to be carried out under strict guidance by specialists fully trained in motorway procedures. It can only take place once the motorway is confirmed as fully shut in the normal direction of travel.
I have only seen this done once or twice in my career as it is incredibly dangerous and requires a very much greater level of control
@@EmergencydriveUK Thanks for the quick reply. Makes sense. I suppose police also want the traffic moving so will allow it to pass if possible preventing Reverse Flow.
Fuck me I wouldn't even do that . Shit that. Most drivers are in coma
Germanies system is far more efficient i must say 😅 also their driving schools hugely emphasise on situations such as these and as should the UK ones.
my dad was an advanced driving instructor, he got that training in the British army based in Germany. when he taught me to drive and conversations years on after, he kept saying how the UK teach drivers to pass a test (a test that if you pass, you know enough of the basics you can drive without supervision) and then told me many times a driving licence is a licence to learn. after leaving the army in late 70s, early 80s, he joined BSM, and only had 1 person come back a year later for advanced driving.
A lot of those drivers have no clue whatsoever and really should not be on the roads !
even in parisian highways it's easier for emergency vehicles to get through traffic, and if you've ever been to paris you know how bad it is there. this is shocking.
This is why I always leave at least a cars length in front of me when queuing. The problem is most drivers are too impatient, and see that gap and fill it themselves.
Your siren sounds really odd. Nice drive though.
Shows that UK needs to implement the German 'Rettungsgasse' - or rescue path ...
I don't understand why so many roads/highways in the UK don't have shoulders.
the majority of motorways in the UK have hard shoulders. it was a recent trial idea to turn some of them in England into Smart motorways. a decision that has been paused for now as the gather information on why deaths and injurys increased on smart motorways.
i am not sure if this motorway is a smart motorway or because of the road works closing the outside lane, they used the hard shoulder to keep 3 lanes aviable for traffic.
there should be a separate lane in the middle for emergency vehicles
The words you don’t want to hear from “ control “
“ any mobile not at scene, can cancel”
sucks to have no extra lane for police
I can fit 2 vehicles on most of these spots but those drivers are having a hard time moving over ffs
I think part of the problem is that the driver is not running their siren constantly... At the start they kept turning it off, I'd keep it going.
And that’s why you don’t upgrade the M4 to a smart motorway
This also proves why we should NOT have smart motorways with NO hard shoulder.
Zere iz zis very German conzept called a Rettungsgasse. Look it up, iz very effizient, ja?
Hi Jan Tom, just had a read of the Rettungsgasse and it really is a great concept if it can be put into practice. You will note here the lanes were narrowed down due to road work and therefore i think it would have been difficult to have created a Rettungsgasse...perhaps we should make this law over here
In germany we call it "Rettungsgasse"
Rather than blame the motorists why don’t people blame the state of the roads and road works in the uk, that doesn’t help
.. should've used a chopper, surly the control center knew of gridlock, depending on the level of emergency this is a clear representation of a communications failure but don't let that get confused with asking someone to pop down the shops to buy a loaf of bread.
So many people, so little awareness 😕
Wow wot a diffrence a dard shoulder would have made
Scary how slow drivers reactions are
And I thought german "Rettungsgassen" are bad (because 1/3 of the drivers ignore to form one). This is is so bad it's mindblowing.
And *that* is why we need hard shoulders!
On "SMART" motorways the operators are supposed to close one of the lanes off to enable emergency vehicle quick access to the incident. This relies on [1] the operator/monitoring/stationary traffic detection system all being active [2] the drivers moving out of the lane with the big red "X" over it, however a significant number of drivers see the clear lane and charge on regardless. The penalties for that action should be much harsher than they currently are.
@@mipamat5804 Exactly, I saw a perfect example on the M3 Boxing Day, fast lane was closed due to 3 car collision yet cars flew down at 50mph + and then had to slam on the breaks when they got to the accident!
How did the fire engine get through?
I can only guess they witnessed the incident and stopped there and then, well, that or a passing chinook dropped them in :)
Maybe he turned his lights and sirens on!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣😉
A Fire Appliance is a clearly marked Emergency Services Vehicle.
Drivers are less likely to move for an unmarked vehicle - no matter how many flashing lights it has on it.
@@pedantik Point is, these people were trying their best to move, there just wasn't any room TO move. No matter what the vehicle is marked, if you can't move, you can't move.
@@Species1571 - no, you missed the point - quite a few drivers were slow responding - my point is that emergency services vehicles should be "liveried up" for maximum visibility.
I'm not certain of the role the OP plays but one could question why he needed to be on the scene that quickly unless he was a paramedic.
us there no law in the Uk about keeping clear an emergency lane? this ambulance is all over all lanes :/ in Germany the left lane go totally to the left and all other lanes goes to the right.
We do :) just this time the emergency lane was having work done to it so it was inoperable
why is it not possible to move to the side when there is a traffic jam ..
We always lose so much time or life in the hospital if we simply have too long to be on site.
Always remember that you or your family could use your help .... Please think along.
meant to have been hard shoulder obviously
When I posted in Germany, if there was a an RTA on the autobahn all drivers would pull over and leve a lane open for all emergency traffic, works a dream, non of this sitting in 3 lanes, common sense really but then this is the UK
This is a stretch of roadworks with narrow lanes. We can say everything we want about Germany, but their 30km long roadworks without hard shoulders a even worse than what we see here.
The drivers in this video are painful to watch.
And to think they taking the emergency lanes away too.
No such thing as emergency lanes in England
@@BucksBlueLightVids I meant the Hard Shoulder.
They need to make the Emergency corridor a legal requirement here like in Germany across all dual carriageways. Expecting the current system to cope without a hard shoulder is going to be lethal for too many people.
The hard shoulder can be a blessing and a curse. In conditions like these it MIGHT have made attendance a bit quicker but when traffic is stopped altogether, if there is a vehicle stopped on the hard shoulder (which there often is because people do break down in standing traffic and others like to try and use the hard shoulder to skip the queue) then you're stuck. Lane 1 can't move over enough to allow you to move past so lane 2 and 3 have to move with them. Its usually much better to try and work between the offside 2 lanes.
@@deedoor30 You mean aside from those that use your emergency lane to get ahead using it illegally? Those that stop for a pee or answer a phone call or take a drivers hours break on the emergency lane or the fact that 100 people a year die on one? That emergency lane?
Can't the road horn be disabled when the horn button is used to control the siren tone? It sounds so stupid to have a beep every time the siren is activated or the tone changed.
easiest to change tone as its one less thing to think about. Horns usually help over sounds of peoples spotify or radio. long presses of the horn works wonders on the half asleep driver
It sounds so stupid? 🤣🤣🤣.
@lightningPete totally agree, sometimes a good old horn blast works better than sirens, especially for the half asleep idiot that trys to pull out just as you are about to overtake...
I reckon I would knock a few minutes of that time in a old Mondeo estate. So many yyyyyy . I really think that our emergency drivers need a fresh trainer. Chess masters of the rds do exist .
Maybe the 999 boys need to hire 1 fast.
Watching some of drivers just give up trying to manoeuvre their cars is skin-crawlingly painful. If you can't work out how to do a full lock turn or even do a quick reverse to get a better approach angle then you should seriously consider handing in your licence to the DVLA. It's embarrassing to watch them!
Must drive you potty LG when you can't get through quickly, like threading a needle
Thanks LB
It's rather concerning how slow some of them are.
Our roads are not built for emergency vehicles we should a dedicated lane for emergency
The problem is 2 too many wheels
Yes, two wheels would certainly have made a difference but the fire service don't have a two wheeled response....
@@EmergencydriveUK I would imagine that is because they are really not suited to carry the sort of equipment fire calls generally require though no? The police can begin securing a scene with fairly minimal equipment that can be carried on a motorcycle. Similarly a medic can begin stabilising many medical emergencies with a backpack sized kit. Just don't see many situations where you are going to contain a fire or brace an unstable structure to protect a trapped person etc with such minimal gear. So seems you would usually still be stuck not able to do much to try and get the emergency under control until additional technical and/or fire units arrived with essential equipment. But perhaps I am missing something I just always figured this was probably the reason why motorcycle response units have not been a priority for fire and rescue services as they don't fit their needs.
Rettungsgasse ffs, rettungsgasse. Come to Germany and learn what motorists have to do when they see an emergency vehicle in a traffic jam on the highway... 98% of these people have no clue at all.
I cannot believe , how LITTLE the other drivers move out of the way . I am shouting "get out the F way " ...... MOVE !!!!!!!!! RV09 get over !!! WTF matter with folk .!!!!
it should be law like Germany*- lane 1 should go to left side of lane , lanes 2+ should move over to the right side as soon as you come to standing traffic - opens an emergency lane - though no doubt it will get abused. *if the opposite in Germany as they drive on the other side of the road
Would have gotten there at half the time if it weren't for all those pointless traffic cones.
ban the car !! ---- free public transport 24/7 with a bobby on every bus :)
All that unused space in the centre just going to waste.
Any reason why you didn't just go to the hard shoulder? (for the first 3-4 minutes)
There is no hard shoulder on the slip road and the motorway hard shoulder was closed for the road works....
To many drivers with music blaring out. We should be more like Germany or Holland and keep a center lane free if possible .
This is a perfect example of why smart motorways are such a bad idea.
Smart motorways are fine. The lanes are wider which gives traffic much more room to move out of the way. This is a roadworks section with very narrow lanes and likely, a lack of signals to be able to set a lane closure. The traffic officer and fire engine managed to get through!
@@pentaveratevideo they are dangerous and pretty pointless.
🤣🤣🤣. Yeah luckily accidents don’t happen on the hundreds of thousands of mile of dual carriageways we have so this doesn’t happen there. Think before typing.
@@Horizon301. Actually, factually safer, also make a massive contribution to congestion busting. Try not to read the papers for your “facts”
@@911HRW I don’t rely on papers. Most of the time they don’t ease congestion in my opinion and if you do break down you are left in a very dangerous position. It’s not worth the dangers for marginal improvements in some cases where it works as intended. Most reports coming out do also say that it’s not safe nor as efficient as claimed initially. I hope to see them scrapped. And dual carriageways aren’t really comparable to motorways as drivers aren’t going to be easily distracted nor would they be less likely to spot an issue if a car was broken down quite far ahead of reaching it - motorways are more congested and drivers are more distracted, it explains why even people working on the motorway get hit even with the massive signs and full protections in place.
Did half the doughnuts ever pass a test!
WOW us UK drivers are shocking - why with the new highway code updates was it not included to mention when in traffic to move to the outer edges of the carriageway....think how many lives we could save!
Maybe the BBC/ITV should be mandated to make Public Serve Broadcasts [ instead of the endless self-publisizing and indoctrination with woke adverts] to publisize changes to the Highway code, and remind drivers about defensive driving, and what to do during incidents like this
Why not get onto the hard shoulder ASAP ? Or, approach the accident on the 'wrong side' of the Mway up, from the next downstream junction !
The hard shoulder was closed due to road works and reverse travel was not an option as the carriageway was not closed by the police
What agency are or were you with?
I was with the fire service but now retired....
@@EmergencydriveUK Ahh.
@@EmergencydriveUK happy retirement - from Green.
@@findthebadger418 thank you
Some folks are real slow to move
It’s annoying how everyone moves to the hard shoulder to let you through. As they are then blocking a clear path.
There wasn't a functional hard shoulder here. They removed it for the road works.
Hopefully they weren’t having a heart attack or something
Most of 'em couldn't drive a nail in a piece of wood
motorcycles.... wonderful things they'd be in this situation innit?
Very good for getting to the incident quickly. Not so good for carrying all the necessary equipment you'll need to when you get there.
I can't believe the ignorance.
1:30 The highway maintenance should really know better right?!
Where else are they to go? Ram through the car right infront of them?
@@charliew6024 Place the Car at the right shoulder as soon as Traffic slows down. Instead they seem to peak through the middle.
Bullhorn needed here!
Fbo194, the problem here wouldn't be sorted with a bull horn - that would cause even more problems as the bull horn panics drivers even more. I would expect that every driver actually knew I was there but they just had no where to go. More noise doesn't mean more progress...
Why switch OFF the siren???
They know I am there and if they can't move then neither can I. Pointless to keep the noise on, that would then just panic people who in turn may make dangerous manoeuvres causing even more chaos in an already desperate situation
@@EmergencydriveUK I saw one from an Eastern European country, those in the right pulled right, those in the left pulled left, hardly any delays. Maybe the rules are different there.
@@brianbickle7395 they doi a similar thing in Germany called rettungsgasse, apparently its law for the traffic to make a passing lane. I think it should be adopted over here too...
4:40 and i would have been loosing it
Are some of these drivers asleep.😠