Feedback left on the site has been very positive. The most recent comment comes from BGG Emergency Medical Services, who told us: We wholeheartedly support this initiative for making drivers aware of what to do when an emergency vehicle approaches. It has been needed by drivers for a long time and we applaud the companies and bodies concerned with both its concept financing and making.

“It is difficult enough these days driving safely and although having training for driving with blue lights gives an emergency driver a degree of greater knowledge and confidence; and does to some extent prepare that driver for the antics of road users who may be surprised to find an emergency vehicle coming towards them then panicking and causing an additional obstruction or hazard which often happens. Official publications (DSA, Highway Code) have in the past been quite vague in their advice to drivers, concerning what to when an emergency vehicle approaches. I hope this initiative will lead to better official published information and be made more prominent in future driving tests.

“Hats off to the guys that planned and made this film for making my life, my employees lives and those of all emergency drivers a little safer.”

For emergency services time really does count and speeding up their progress does save lives. Watch the video and be prepared.

ITV Daybreak is broadcast on weekday mornings between 6 and 8.30am.

Deputy Chief Constable Ian Shannon of North Wales Police is the lead on Police Driver Training for the Association of Chief Police Officers. He was happy to endorse the video, saying: “This video is a useful educational tool to assist drivers to respond appropriately and safely to emergency service vehicles responding to calls for help from the public.”
   
Other positive comments have come from a wide range of organisations:
 
First class and professional. It is well shot clear and edited very well. In many respects in my opinion it is well overdue as recently we have been discussing this issue with some of our local ADI drive trainers as this is not actually a competency for learner drivers, which no doubt has prompted your work! Well done.
Gareth Morgan, South Wales Police and Chairman of National Blue Light Users Conference

I have reviewed the footage and feel this can only add to the information already out there regarding how to act when confronted with a blue light situation.  In fact it supports the information we have given to those ADIs in the treatment group for the ADI Trial we are currently running.
Paul Hebling, Assistant Chief Driving Examiner, DSA

This production is excellent and provides a great message. Well done.
Sgt Paul Sochon, Kent Police

It’s a good common-sense approach video.
Susan Storch, Dyfed Powys Police

I think for a 5 minute awareness video it hits the mark well. The bus lane and traffic light one is always a grey area and one which requires a common sense approach which the courts by all accounts fail to have when tested so therefore your advice is sound. Well done, you put a lot of hard work into this and it shows.
Frank Johnstone, Norfolk Fire and Rescue

We think the video is very good.
Robert Thomson, Central Scotland Fire and Rescue

Overall, very good.
Kevin Day, West Midlands Fire and Rescue

Overall this film is very good, congratulations.
John Lepine, Motor Schools Association

A fine effort.
Ian Grant, Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue

It is a good source of information and we feel it may be a good thing to include showing this video when a person sits the theory test, that way we are getting people from the start of their driving career, as this will be shown from time to time it will serve as a refresher.
Adrian Garner, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue

Overall in my opinion it is very good and should be of great benefit to other road users. I very much like the calming influence in the video. Well done.
Chris Harrison, Cornwall Fire and Rescue

This looks good to me. It will be a really good training aid for us as well as for the general public.
Jon Porter, South Central Ambulance

Informative and good advice.
John Mapstone, Avon and Somerset Police

I’ve watched it several times now and I thought it was very good.
Simon Macartney, South East Coast Ambulance

Beeston Media

PRODUCERS OF the Blue Light Aware video chose Beeston Media for the recent two days of filming, as well as the video editing.

Beeston Media was founded in 2005 by ex-BBC professionals and now works solely for the non-broadcast market.Creative Director Hamish Beeston said he and his team ‘learnt a great deal’ from filming the project. “It was an education for us to read and understand the script,” he said. “In some ways, it felt like we were all needing to do some revision before taking the driving test, so in that respect it was a thoroughly worthwhile refresher.
   “From a creative point of view, the subject of ‘blue light driving’ seemed to have a few too many grey areas, and we could tell that the project set out to bury these in favour of clear, concise advice that everyone – members of the public and 999 drivers alike – could work by.
   “We wanted to maximize the visual appeal of the video, and to ensure a strong narrative spine, so that viewers would not lose interest after too much of the same thing.”

James Luckhurst, who oversaw the Blue Light Aware research and scriptwriting, said Beeston Media had done a first-class job. “All the feedback has been excellent and the result is a video that we hope will fulfill its role of educating drivers, improving safety, reducing damage, minimizing risk and eliminating confusion,” he said.
   

Providing clear guidance for this specific issue was central to the thinking behind the Blue Light Aware resource, and a great deal of time was put in to consult with the emergency services on what should be said. Rule 219 of the Highway Code gives no specific advice, yet the truth is that it is against the law form anyone to ‘run’ a red traffic light, unless they’re an emergency service vehicle on a blue light run. The requirement is for the emergency vehicle to find its way through, or around other traffic. That’s why, on most occasions, an emergency vehicle needing to make progress across
a traffic light junction would not put itself behind another vehicle in the traffic light queue, but would, where the road layout and traffic conditions permit, move out to present itself and its intention to cross the junction.

Of course, there will be times when there simply is no room for an emergency service vehicle to get past, or perhaps its crew are activated by their control room to respond to an emergency while they are waiting with everyone else at the traffic lights. On these occasions, they know that other motorists are not allowed to ‘jump’ the red light, and the emergency vehicle would ideally not activate its sirens and lights until it was safe for the vehicle in front to cross the solid white line at the junction.

On the (hopefully) rare occasions that a blue light vehicle, in ’emergency mode’,  is sitting behind another vehicle at a red traffic light, it’s important to appreciate that it would be both very dangerous and illegal for the other vehicle to move across the solid white line. The exception to this is that a uniformed police officer can direct a motorist through a red traffic signal. This sometimes happens if a police motorcyclist is part of a ‘special escort’ team and needs to clear and secure a junction, thus allowing a security convoy to pass through the junction.