USe of emergency lights at a scene

[AnthonyM83]

Good article (few typos, though).

The end is confusing where they say to have one rear red light to the right in addition to the yellow arrow stick. I thought they were previously saying not to have any red to the rear since it attracts drivers. What's the benefit? (other than to just show you're PD?)

[bbbrammer]

We use lights on scenes because we are extremely rural and that is usually the only way that anyone would ever know we are there. Especially in the dark.

[Dustdevil]

The darker it is, the less lights you need to be seen.

Elementary physics.

[JPINFV]

More biology actually. Your eyes detect differences in light from the ambient enviroment.

[akroeze]

And I think semantics falls under the category of languages

[tearsanddreams]

i always leave it on until i get to the hospital. why not ? its not such a big deal here. if your going to be distracted by a few lights and crash into it then you need to have your licence revoked and taken off the road cause im the one thats gonna be scrapin your butt off the road.

[akroeze]

i always leave it on until i get to the hospital. why not ? its not such a big deal here. if your going to be distracted by a few lights and crash into it then you need to have your licence revoked and taken off the road cause im the one thats gonna be scrapin your butt off the road.

So... you're ok with increasing your risk because you don't think stupid people should be on the road?

I hate to tell ya but.... they're out there

[tearsanddreams]

trust me i dont want to increase the risk for any or my crew or officers on scene they come first then the patient. What i was trying to understand is the fact of how it bothers people. i can drive by with a slew of emergency trucks and not be phased. if you cant do that then there must be consequenses. like careless driving. and as far as idiots out there..LOL...know about that all too well. i think everyone here in EMS knows about those.

[AnthonyM83]

I think the point is not to have the mindset that if others are too stupid to handle the lights, then it's their fault. B/c it puts you and patient at risk...that's the primary concern. The drivers who crash are secondary concern.

[NREMT-Basic]

As I recently learned after a local accident where an ambulance parked at a scene at night with all primaries on was rear ended, the problem can often be not just the lights, but the object they are attached to, being able to judge how wide it is, knowing whether one is allowed to go around or not. My city has adopted an ordinance that makes it ticketable to pass an ambulance or squad parked at a scene at night. This can definately add to scene clutter and subtract scene safety which is why the police are often out there waving people around. One of our local services is experimenting with some retrofit scrolling LED signs on the back of the ambulance that can set to run different messages from "Ambulance-Stay Back" all the way to "Patient Onboard-Stay Backor Patient Onboard-Pass Carefully" They are trying out the practice of being on scene, kicking on the secondary ambers and this sign. It makes it easy to tell what you are rolling up on in the dark, and if people do pass, they tend to do much more carefully if the know that the rig has a patient on board. The sign can even be programmed to read "Accident Scene-Drive Carefully" or the ever popular "Emergency Crew on Roadway-Please Drive Carefully" Im sure this has its detractors but they have had good success with it so far and find that people tend to pay alot more attention and be more mindful if they are able to go around the rig. Coupled with the Neon Lemon Vests with reflectors, they seem to have struck on something that is helping them, without having 3 rigs and some LEO vehicles all running their primary light sets.