Question for European Players

  • This question has been bothering me for awhile and Google searching the question does not come up with the results I'm looking so I'm asking you guys for the answer or why you think the answer anyways here's my question why do european emergency vehicles use blues and twos instead of the emergency light scheme that is in the U.S. and this goes for the sirens as well since I did ask Blues and twos. Why do European Emergency vehicles use a different siren than what is used in the U.S. like why can't fire engines in this case appliances just stick a Q siren ( Q refers to a siren made by the Federal Signal company called the Federal Q2B) on them and use that instead of using just wail or yelp and very rarely but not widely used anymore the classic Hi-Lo? I'm sure that I'll get some answers on this forum that actually answer my question unlike Google in this case.

  • Australia doesn't have the Q siren
    I know for NSW Fire and Rescue(full time) had a siren special designed for our needs plus they have rumblers https://www.google.com.au/url?…g2=4BbqXZGv6jkPyB7-WyBoLw


    And NSW Rural Fire Service(volunteer) uses a wail and high low https://www.google.com.au/url?…g2=4BbqXZGv6jkPyB7-WyBoLw


    It depends on the country, state,department,unit,ect


    Different places have diffrent regulations and requirements to meet i know the nsw police nsw ambulance and nsw fire rescue services have all done a lot of testing to figure out what works buest for our environment
    9plus i think the rural fire service uses just the two is because they go into bush fires and stuff like that gets damaged easily)

  • I read somewhere that a blue lights are more visible on these longitudes. Moreover, a law about this went in different way than in US.

  • yeah I think I also read that somewhere as well I think that's why in some of the cities over here the police department uses blue lights instead of the traditional U.S. red and blue. I know Michigan uses red and blue and some of Michigan's police cars just has a red bubble light on it some of the bubble red lights on the cars even date as far back as the 1950's.

  • In the U.K. our standards are that red signifies a rear of a vehicle. It's an offence to display a read light to the front of a vehicle and white to back.


    We have blue across all emergency services which may need to exceed speed limits etc. Red lights are used to face back to warn traffic. A bit like the US traffic advisors some highway patrols have.


    As to sirens, used to have two tone horns (hence the saying 'blues and twos') and some vehicles still use it. I know we use the new sirens because it varies and research shows people react more to the change of sound rather than the siren itself sometimes. If a siren slowly approaches you it's volume fades into ear shot and those not fully paying attention will not react to it. A change of hi-lo, wail and hyper help and a touch of bullhorn usually does the trick :)

  • In the U.K. our standards are that red signifies a rear of a vehicle. It's an offence to display a read light to the front of a vehicle and white to back.


    We have blue across all emergency services which may need to exceed speed limits etc. Red lights are used to face back to warn traffic. A bit like the US traffic advisors some highway patrols have.


    As to sirens, used to have two tone horns (hence the saying 'blues and twos') and some vehicles still use it. I know we use the new sirens because it varies and research shows people react more to the change of sound rather than the siren itself sometimes. If a siren slowly approaches you it's volume fades into ear shot and those not fully paying attention will not react to it. A change of hi-lo, wail and hyper help and a touch of bullhorn usually does the trick :)

    yeah exactly if someone's not paying attention that surely would make them pay more attention.

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