Making Room on the road for emergency vehicles is a legal requirement

Normal drivers do not have the authority to go through red lights or drive in bus lanes, as ambulances and police cars do.

Road safety and breakdown management GEM Motoring Assist encourages all road users to be ‘Blue Light Aware,’ and to help emergency vehicles in a safe and legal manner.

“We all want to help emergency service drivers,” says GEM CEO Neil Worth, “and most of the time it’s just a simple case of pulling over to let them pass.”

However, we must ensure that everything we do as drivers is safe and legal. This is due to the fact that we must all follow the rules of the road, even when yielding to an emergency vehicle. Blue light drivers enjoy certain advantages that the rest of us do not. So, if we drive through a red light or into a bus lane to make room for an ambulance, we risk receiving a hefty fine, even if we were only trying to help.

GEM has created a series of videos to help drivers understand how they can assist and avoid large fines.

It is clear that while emergency drivers appreciate the assistance we provide when it is safe and legal, they do not expect anyone to endanger themselves or others.