How can I help emergency services on a blue light journey?
Ambulance  Ensuring that you create a clear path for an emergency services vehicle on a blue light journey is a key part of helping them out. It can be stressful on occasions; blue lights appear in your rear-view mirror and youre not sure where to go in front of you in order to let them through. Fortunately, GEM Motoring Assist has revealed some key ways that drivers can help clear the path for an ambulance when its on a blue light journey. At traffic lights  An emergency services vehicle wont want you to go through a red light, so dont feel pressured to break the law and run a red. If youre the first in a queue of traffic waiting at a light, then stay calm, patient and allow the ambulance to find a path around you. At roundabouts and junctions  You should always leave space for an ambulance trying to pass  If youre coming up to a roundabout and can see an ambulance approaching, look at its position and youll be able to judge where its planning to go. If youre at the junction, be patient and wait for the emergency services vehicle to pass  be mindful that there might be another vehicle behind it, so check carefully before moving off. Solid white lines  An emergency corridor can help an emergency vehicle through  When youre travelling on a road with solid white lines, a blue-light vehicle will likely switch off its siren as overtaking isnt allowed on these roads. So keep going  at the speed limit if possible  until the solid white lines end. At this point, it will no doubt switch its sirens back on and overtake you. On dual carriageways and motorways  Whenever youre travelling on a dual carriageway or motorway, always keep to the left when an emergency vehicle is approaching. When youre in slow-moving or stationary traffic, an emergency vehicle will use the hard shoulder so keep out of it unless youve got an emergency of your own. However, if theres no hard shoulder, you can allow an emergency vehicle through by creating an emergency corridor whereby the lanes of traffic divide to create a clear path through the middle. Smart motorways