Best member of the public driver was the SUV at the roundabout 0:42 He reacted early and decisively, put the boot down and then got out of the way safely. 10/10.
Yeah, the answer doesn't have to be weigh anchor if it isn't appropriate - people should be _extremely_ careful when they do things like that though the courts haven't always been forgiving on for example jumping red lights (even if only partially) to get out the way or where people caused accidents etc.
@@streaky81 But in this situation he didnt jump a red light he came out pretty safely and got out of the way. But yeah you’ve got to be very careful doing that.
Yeah I agree, most peoples reaction is just to stop. Sometimes best speed is appropriate. Done it a couple times in hull where you can’t always pullover due to the roadworks, so I’ve just sped up and made sure the car behind isn’t being held up
Regarding hard shoulder running, there was a major bushfire here in Australia, an inbound strike team (5 fire appliances) used the hard shoulder as the motorway was blocked due the fire. 4 of the 5 received multiple punctures and had to stop.
the amount of concentration and awarness is amazing, your doing a fantastic job even though it is a very stressfull one, i love these videos as it puts a full perspective on what your doing. maybe later on you could do a video on what you do to destress and relax
@@legallyfree2955To me driving an ambulance with code is, as for anybody else probably, both exciting and stressful. Depending on the call it can be more stressful than the call itself, it depends ^^
Enjoy watching your videos Chris. I was a Road Traffic Police Officer for many years working the M1. Lost count of the number of punctures using the hard shoulder but more often that not its the only choice. Carry on the good work.
It’s been a long time! I’ve missed your blue light runs! Stevenage is a pain in the bum the best of times, so great control! I love how you make a parting of the waves look so simple 👍
Also, even though there are flashing blue lights and sirens on the unmarked VRS too, the reflective green and lightbar would definitely make the car stand out...
The more visible the vehicle is the better - hence why marked are better than unmarked. Like, I remember my dad almost colliding with an unmarked before - so, hencewhy it better to be seen than not seen.
Throughout there seemed to be generally good observations and reactions from other motorists, which isn't always the case. Clearly you made the best of these and it must be rewarding to know you've done your best and kept yourself and others as safe as possible. Thanks for sharing and your work.
It's nice to see how you progress through such heavy traffic. I wonder how long it took you to learn the width of your car so well! How often do you get punctures from using chevrons and hard shoulders?
As a previous blue light responder myself, that was a fine demonstration of blue light driving, well controlled, yet progressive, with justified use of the exemptions throughout. Five stars!!
Chris, good to see you back. Now one question that I'm sure a lot of us would like to know is how does your current car compare to the VRS... Naturally having a marked car I would assume you are held up less by white van men, but that aside, performance wise ????
@@gary63693 If this is the Scout version of the Octavia, it could also be the 184HP engine which is also used in the vRS. Due to 4WD it has even better acceleration then the FWD vRS.
Welcome to the hard shoulder. I must get 2 or 3 punctures a month easily responding on the hard shoulder ( National Highways Traffic Officer ) . Sadly it’s just one of those things and can’t be avoided. Great driving and love these vids by the way.
Chris Many thanks again for the video and I think these are teaching drivers on our roads that if they see blue lights coming up behind them or on a roundabout make room for them to get through they my need you some day stay safe and take care.
You and everyone in the medical profession. No matter how many times I say it will never be enough of how much love I have for you all. Having first hand experience with my wife's cancer before she passed away. I can never thank you enough 💙
It's almost therapeutic watching the traffic actually yield to you. Over here in the US it's awful. I've sat behind cars who refuse to move just cycling through sirens until I just give up and hop the curb lol.
Wow that was very good drive. Hard shoulder can be dodgy but your professional and know what your doing. Good job tyre did not blow. Thanks for your service and video 👍
It never ceases to amaze me just how much room is available but when a motorcycle or even a scooter wants to filter the cars, vans & HGVs are practically mirror to mirror in places & they see the motorcycle but they be damned if they will move !
Il y a de quoi avoir peur, vu la vitesse à laquelle ça défile. Encore une belle démonstration de maîtrise de soi. Merci pour cette excellente vidéo. Un salut amical depuis la France.
Great video and driving. Thank you for sharing. Does make me tense up when seeing the busy traffic. How blue light drivers stay calm and focused is testament to their skills.
Hi, first I really like your videos. Keep on this good job :) Second, excuse my bad English, I'm French, I don't use google translate, and we're so bad with languages in France 🤣 As a French Graduated Ambulancer (we don't have Paramedic grade in France...so sad...) I really hate to use hard shoulders because of exactly the reasons you wrote in this video and many other. But one of the biggest reason is the possibility of bad reactions of other drivers. Few years ago, two colleagues had a bad crash as they were driving onto the hard shoulder. A truck wich, wanting to do well, pulled over onto the hard shoulder at the last moment. If the ways are completely congestioned, why not use the hard shoulder at a low speed and a lot of precautions, but at this speed, I think it's really "tricky" and unsafe... 😕 Both colleagues had only minor injuries as they wasn't driving very very fast, they were lucky. But fast enough to kill the ambulance. Have a nice day/night/evening/morning (strike bad answers ^^) Take care and keep on your really good job 😜
It is humbling how many of us react instantly and make a path for you, glad to see those who aren't checking their mirror every three seconds are few and far between.
Thankyou for your regular uploads Chris, I've had a keen interest in advanced driving for years and your videos are always a pleasure to view. Excellent balance of caution and confidence as always. I was worried about potential punctures the whole time you were on the hard shoulder. It must be a tough call to run in the hard shoulder for so long with such a high risk of punctures but I guess it comes with the territory. Of course, no guarantees that's where you picked up the screw, but more than likely if it was nearside. Take care out there Chris.
While watching the video I was thinking the hard shoulder contains a lot of debris. What is the general protocol should you pick up a puncture? Was the call abandoned to another unit? or were you just delayed? As driver are you responsible for changing the tyre or maybe putting in a tyre sealant? Presumably a sealant would restrict your speed?
My understanding is that there are two types of tyre "sealant". The type you put in after a puncture as a temporary fix (which obviously will cause delays and limit speed en route) and the "tyre goo" type which you put in your tyres as a preventative measure prior to any puncture, which then seals any subsequent puncture via centrefugal force. I would be curious to know if any EVs are fitted with the latter type to reduce the likelihood of having to abandon an emergency run part way.
Good driving, good use of the wailers, too many times you see emergency service vehicles using the low volume rise and fall siren and traffic just does not hear the approach. This driver gave the public time to react and adjust to give space, well done. It all looked safe and you made very good progress!
Great to see driving skills being put to good use. Do emergency vehicles fit runflat tyres if available? My car has runflats that enable you to continue for up to 50 miles at reduced speed (50mph max) so just wondering if they would be of any use at least giving you the option to continue if no other responder is available?
Also I’m not sure what the implications would be if an emergency vehicle crashed whilst driving with a flat tyre, even on runflats. It wouldn’t be able to continue at any sort of pace anyway so there’s no point pushing it with a flat and therefore not much point continuing with the call
Cant speak to ambulance but for fire we use regular normal tyres on all vehicles. If we have an issue with the vehicle be it flat tyre or engine failure or flat battery we advise dispatch we are unable to proceed to the event and to page out the next brigade, then about 30 seconds later we ask them to contact the maintenance office and have them send the repair truck to our location. A few minutes after that they will get back to us with an ETA on how long they expect it will take for the repair truck to get to us. If you have done something to the truck that cannot be handled by the maintenance team (I bogged a truck in mud up the axles once) they will then call for 3rd party contractors to come and do whatever is required.
Can see your back in a marked car, what's the situation with your personal vehicle? guessing its still being kitted up for service or is your new role most involve marked vehicles now? unlucky about the tyre situation but just something you can't control, great drive as always.
A lot of (mostly European) emergency services have strict limitations on the use of hard shoulders during response. One I know is that in the Netherlands, emergency services are permitted to use the hard shoulder but only with a maximum speed of 50km/h. Otherwise, great to see you back, love the content!
Smart driving as always. That ending was a let down. A question - Does driving on smart motorways present 1stRes with any unique issues? Thanks for the upload.
Oh please don’t start on about smart motorways ! Hard shoulders date back to the early days of motorways & have little to no value in this age of roads & vehicles.
@@WhiskeyGulf71 well , saw a vid telling otherwise. Where guy broke down on smart motorway and nothing happend, nobody noticed him and eventually car took him out and he died. So no matter how what age we live in, hard shoulders are always safer to have rather than trust blindly some technology
Or to one of the many people killed because they broke down , including one I was witness too, smart motorways are lethal and should have never been allowed A) far too many people ignore the signs B) the signs are often not turned on at all despite vehicles been broken down sometimes for up to an hour in live lanes
Thats not actually too far, only Stevenage to Hatfield, some 12 miles roughly. Although hes also done videos as far out as Luton and Dunstable. So he does cover quite a large area
I ended up asking that question the other day to the ambulance crew that picked me up they said their ambulance station is in Stevenage(hertfordshire) & they could end up as far as southend (essex) but they also cover north mid hospital (North London tottenham)
@@grime_garage Yup, gone are the days where most towns had an A&E and ambulance crews covered approx 10 mile radius of it. Now for Hertfordshire, it seems anywhere down the A1 corridor. - A few years back we witnessed a car leave the road and hit a tree. The driver had a nasty head wound, and we called for an ambulance.... an hour and a half later (and this was before current delays) a crew turned up, having driven all the way from Grantham to arrive at Welwyn (where the motorway goes from 2 lanes to 3 in the video above) a journey roughly 90 miles !
@@grime_garage North Mids my area so wow they've a hellova patch to cover, knew Barnet General also take LAS and East of England Ambulances as well. Seems many hospitals to multiple areas.
I am Glad i found this channel , watched a few videos and I am honestly impressed with how smooth the planing ahead is and decisions made ! I do in average just under 2k miles a week in an HGV and it’s not all the time I see such level of competence and confidence!👌 For a good while I have been thinking of putting my skills to good use and become an emergency response driver myself to help others but I am not really sure where to start , or what’s the best path , and pointers you could give me Chris please ?
Not sure if Chris will reply, but in case he doesn't... I'd venture a guess that the "driving" part of the job is somewhat secondary. It's a means to the end of getting a person qualified to do X to a specific location, quickly. Therefore, the thing to focus on is the skill X that would be needed. Ambulance drivers are primarily paramedics; fire engine drivers are primarily firefighters; etc. The only "emergency response" drivers that I can think of that are purely there for the "driving" bit would be blood/organ transplant.
Good to see at long last some lessons are being learnt from Germany reference making space between lanes by drivers so emergency vehicles can basically white line the route through
I always enjoy watching your videos and have absolute respect for the job you do. I do wish you didn't fast-forward sometimes though as I like the journey and a long video is great. Keep up the great work :)
Thanks for the feedback and I’ll try and reduce the fast forward then, just didn’t want viewers to get bored with long motorways or where there is no traffic but will reduce some of the edits. Thanks
Very entertaining video. Do you find the diesel Octavia station wagon adequate with power? We use the Isuzu MU-X here in Australia for similar roles, although our medical director who likes to play on big jobs uses a Kia Stinger from the same batch as the Highway Patrol cars. Not sure I'd enjoy driving priority (we call it code 1) on British roads. They seem so narrow and congested. Like you we can cover a fairly large area- about 40km from one end to the other; that's halfway across town. In one rural area I worked it took 4 hours to get to a chest pain patient! 230km of dirt track, and he had to flown out by RFDS plane. Take care out there.
while the Skodas are pulling strong even if they've chosen an underpowered version, the engine noise at high RPMs can be quite annoying, when pushing it to its limits, accelerating and getting it up to 5000 or 6000 rpm Personal experience: although a large station wagon, and perfect to do family stuff with it, it barely offers sufficient space for being used as emergency vehicle. Our spare unit, a Skoda Octavia Scout, is packed using every inch of available space After the Octavia Scout we used the Octavia Superb, which is a bit worse as it's a pure on road vehicle. Afterwards we got the BMW X3, a rather compact SUV with poor handling but at least a bit ground clearance; Right now we use the BMW 2 Gran Tourer, with better handling and better interior layout but again with no ground clearance - can't even mount a curb; Next up we'll finally switch to a van, a Mercedes-Benz Vito
@@EnjoyFirefighting Very informative response. Always keen on hearing what other countries use. I've found ground clearance a key feature in a suitable response vehicle. Here our critical care paramedics and operational supervisors use wagons, rather than stretcher fitted vans (Mercedes Sprinters and Toyota Landcruisers). Our first such units were V6 and V8 police spec Holden Commodore station wagons but as they no longer make these, Hyundais, Subarus and Isuzus have filled the spot.
@@coover65 you're welcome although we barely have any unpaved roads, and dirt roads can also be driven with unsuitable cars like a Smart ForTwo, for me it's important to be able to e.g. mount a curb, drive across some grass, slightly "rougher" paths like e.g. in a quarry or alongside a river bank and thus prefer units with at least a bit of ground clearance; For the ALS Emergency Ambulances we use Sprinters with a box body, putting close to 5 tons on the scale. 98% of all ALS Emergency Ambulances here are Sprinters Some clips showing the former and current emergency doctor cars we're using: The former Skoda Superb and Skoda Octavia Scout: ua-cam.com/video/C3NP8qz3DcY/v-deo.html The former BMW X3: ua-cam.com/video/gXm_xNcR5VE/v-deo.html And the current generation of BMW 2 series Gran Tourer: ua-cam.com/video/evdK1vOC7Dc/v-deo.html
@dbracer, ignore Dubious. They obviously Don’t have any idea about tyres actually blowing out. Trucks it happens to as well. In many accidents on dash cams wheels come off of trailers as you have remarked. And at high speed hitting debris in hard shoulder as police use can still happen. I’ve no time for people like that.
Nice to see your blue light runs back on UA-cam. I hope the sabbatical you took, gave you some breathing space. Everyone needs a break now and again :)
Significantly increase the chances of them losing a paramedic though. Motorcycles also lack in the amount of equipment they can carry which is mainly an issue, or most commonly an issue, for oxygen.
Have to say, near the beginning when you came to the first queue of traffic (you briefly paused to put some writing on screen) credit to everyone in that queue as they all made space, and in good time also. Well done to them.
There was a UA-cam channel that I used to followed about ambulances in the Netherlands,and they had one “rule” LOLO = Leave Open Lane Open,and in a roundabout…drive one more time thru the roundabout to make room for you and your colleagues ,I that that was an awesome “rule” from us road user,to help you in your very importen line of duty :) :) :)
Thank goodness it was a really smart motorway with a proper hard shoulder for emergency vehicles. All the high tech dumb motorways near me are often fully stationsry accross all four lanes.
I watched some of your Videos, and really enjoyed then, everything is well explained, so I only had one thing to do, subscribe to your channel, really nice videos, keep going!
I'm happy every time I can skip the Octavia Scout emergency doctor car on my shift, absolutely hate it; It 's still strong, but offers way too little space, and the engine noise can be really annoying especially when pushing it to 5000 or 6000 rpm when accelerating. And when loosing tire pressure, it only tells you that it does, but not which tire ...
One of the risks of driving on a 'hard shoulder' is encountering debris - including screws - broken mirrors - cast-aside beer cans and so on. All sorts of these small things are unlikely to be spotted and can make the rush completely pointless. Anywhere else, especially on busy roads, it's likely that other vehicles will have 'cleared' the road of such things days before you get there. Some of that hard-shoulder driving was unnecessary.
Another good drive, pity about the screw though. Do you find your new car as quick as your Black VRS?? Presumably this is Diesel over your Petrol VRS??
Great video. Place: Hertfordshire,beginning: Stevenage Old Town,then shortest way to A1(M) via J7 going southbound (London),leaving motorway at J4 (Hatfield),video finishes close to Galleria
Been a Medic for 6 years now. Traffic still gets on my nerves. We had a toyota corola that would not move for us to get past last week.. Anyway stay safe out there
Great content as always Chris, may I ask if the sat nav in these ambulances is a specialist model/version? I like how it gives very prompt and clear directions.
With such high density population found in the UK - I am surprised at the distance covered if this was an actual emergency run, or was it training? If a real emergency, surely there would have been closer units to respond.
in the UK EMS units might have long routes to cover, and some patients might have to wait long, I mean really long for an ambulance to arrive; Patients with actual, real emergencies might have to wait an hour or even longer only because there are more serious emergencies around in the area and a few ambulances will be stuck at the ER, waiting to hand over a patient ...
His skill set is higher than your average Paramedics staffing ambulances. This means that his skills cover a larger area and will generally assist in high priority emergency cases.
Hello Chris! Love the content you release, and I enjoy watching them, all though, you should make a secondary channel where you keep all the videos you release raw. When I mean raw, then I mean that there's no cutting parts out of the video, or speeding up the video in any way, since a lot of people also just enjoy watching ride along videos.
Been watching your videos for a while now and am most fascinated. A few question for you and bear in mind I'm just a regular driver, so please excuse my ignorance as to how things work for emergency vehicles: 1. If you as driver are the sole occupant, how do you manage to vary the siren tone for each situation, bearing in mind you have to have full concentration on piloting your vehicle through traffic. I've watched some of your other videos that also show you in the driver's seat via the in car camera and notice the changes in siren and yet you still appear to have both hands on the wheel. So how do you switch between the different siren notes? 2. Are all these filmed runs actual emergency runs or practice / demonstration runs? Not looking to critizise your reasons for doing these runs, just curious. 3. It's a shame that the Uk doesn't have the same protocol for Motorists when in a traffic jam on a motorway as is the case in Germany (look up "rettungsgasse") and Holland where it is law when in slow or stationary traffic to leave an emergency lane in between the outer two lanes. As a result, I see you are constantly having to analyze whether to lane split or use the hard shoulder, sometimes switching between the two (which obviously also involves having to allow for the hard shoulder being blocked). The very fact that you have to vary between lane splitting and hard shoulder running means drivers have no consistency in what to expect (through no fault of your own of course). It also means an EV driver in the UK has extra decisions to constantly make...and an increased risk of punctures. In Germany and Holland, emergency vehicle will always lane spilt between the outer two lanes due to the rules in place re: compulsory for drivers to leave room there when in traffic. I am very surprised this has not become law in the UK.
1 In Germany the driver of the emergency vehicle will take one hand off the wheel to change the siren or siren mode; To switch it on and off, many modern emergency vehicles have a foot switch 3. It's a shame that drivers of emergency vehicles in Germany don't get any actual emergency vehicle driver training and that basically unexperienced new drivers might be behind the wheel of an emergency vehicle
Chalk and cheese comparison in cars, they may be very similar but them vRS do handle and can move too.... I know I know most comments are about it but I'm sure you miss it. Poxy screws, I had to get 4 new tyres, within 2 weeks 2 blow outs, screw and chunk of metal, both new tyre destroyed.... So 6 tyres in total 😭
Great vid but kinda cut off at the most important part. Were you able to continue? Was someone else sent out? So many questions :D Also the question about runflats was a great one, would make perfect sense on emergency vehicles.
yes! please @chris martin EMS In instances like that these show your self pulling over and say what happened next, tho i hope there isn't an next time.
Best member of the public driver was the SUV at the roundabout 0:42 He reacted early and decisively, put the boot down and then got out of the way safely. 10/10.
Fr
Yeah, the answer doesn't have to be weigh anchor if it isn't appropriate - people should be _extremely_ careful when they do things like that though the courts haven't always been forgiving on for example jumping red lights (even if only partially) to get out the way or where people caused accidents etc.
@@streaky81 But in this situation he didnt jump a red light he came out pretty safely and got out of the way. But yeah you’ve got to be very careful doing that.
Yeah I agree, most peoples reaction is just to stop. Sometimes best speed is appropriate. Done it a couple times in hull where you can’t always pullover due to the roadworks, so I’ve just sped up and made sure the car behind isn’t being held up
Yes I noticed (and admired) that too. Most impressive!
Regarding hard shoulder running, there was a major bushfire here in Australia, an inbound strike team (5 fire appliances) used the hard shoulder as the motorway was blocked due the fire. 4 of the 5 received multiple punctures and had to stop.
The Michelin man waving goodbye to that tyre at the end.
Good to have you back 👍
the amount of concentration and awarness is amazing, your doing a fantastic job even though it is a very stressfull one, i love these videos as it puts a full perspective on what your doing.
maybe later on you could do a video on what you do to destress and relax
as a retired EMT in the US... You probably don't want to know...
I don't think the main stress to paramedics is the driving, its the shite they have to deal with once they get there.
@@legallyfree2955To me driving an ambulance with code is, as for anybody else probably, both exciting and stressful.
Depending on the call it can be more stressful than the call itself, it depends ^^
Enjoy watching your videos Chris. I was a Road Traffic Police Officer for many years working the M1. Lost count of the number of punctures using the hard shoulder but more often that not its the only choice. Carry on the good work.
Thanks and one of my next ones will be M1 Beds so will be good to get some thoughts from you on that one.
*THE GOAT IS BACK*
Oh the joy of debris off the regular driving line in the gravelly bits. As a motorcyclist I feel your pain. Nice to see you back fella.
It’s been a long time! I’ve missed your blue light runs! Stevenage is a pain in the bum the best of times, so great control! I love how you make a parting of the waves look so simple 👍
Do you think having an obviously marked car has made a difference to people's responses to you? or is that too early to tell still?
White vans actually moved out of the way (multiple times). So I'm going to hazard a guess and say yes.
Also, even though there are flashing blue lights and sirens on the unmarked VRS too, the reflective green and lightbar would definitely make the car stand out...
@@davenz000 could just be the drivers in this part of the country. There is an obvious change when you drive to different places
The more visible the vehicle is the better - hence why marked are better than unmarked. Like, I remember my dad almost colliding with an unmarked before - so, hencewhy it better to be seen than not seen.
Most of the time yes.
Throughout there seemed to be generally good observations and reactions from other motorists, which isn't always the case. Clearly you made the best of these and it must be rewarding to know you've done your best and kept yourself and others as safe as possible. Thanks for sharing and your work.
Who doesn’t like a bit of tunnel siren! 👍🏻 Superb stuff Chris, thx for sharing 🙂👍🏻
It's nice to see how you progress through such heavy traffic. I wonder how long it took you to learn the width of your car so well! How often do you get punctures from using chevrons and hard shoulders?
As a previous blue light responder myself, that was a fine demonstration of blue light driving, well controlled, yet progressive, with justified use of the exemptions throughout. Five stars!!
Chris, good to see you back. Now one question that I'm sure a lot of us would like to know is how does your current car compare to the VRS... Naturally having a marked car I would assume you are held up less by white van men, but that aside, performance wise ????
Going by that registration, it's only a 2.0 diesel. So my guess he is losing about 30bhp over the VRS and maybe an extra 2 seconds on the 0-60mph
@@gary63693 If this is the Scout version of the Octavia, it could also be the 184HP engine which is also used in the vRS. Due to 4WD it has even better acceleration then the FWD vRS.
@@MikeFoxtrot87 Yeah but the vRS is standard 200bhp? My old Octavia vRS was 200bhp petrol
@@gary63693 I am pretty sure these guys use diesel engines. The newer Octavia vRS models have up to 245bhp with petrol engines.
@@MikeFoxtrot87 nope, these are NHS vehicles… boggo standard 150bhp is all you get
Welcome to the hard shoulder. I must get 2 or 3 punctures a month easily responding on the hard shoulder ( National Highways Traffic Officer ) . Sadly it’s just one of those things and can’t be avoided. Great driving and love these vids by the way.
Chris Many thanks again for the video and I think these are teaching drivers on our roads that if they see blue lights coming up behind them or on a roundabout make room for them to get through they my need you some day stay safe and take care.
You and everyone in the medical profession. No matter how many times I say it will never be enough of how much love I have for you all. Having first hand experience with my wife's cancer before she passed away. I can never thank you enough 💙
It's almost therapeutic watching the traffic actually yield to you. Over here in the US it's awful. I've sat behind cars who refuse to move just cycling through sirens until I just give up and hop the curb lol.
I wish my sat nav was a clear and precise as yours!
You're an amazing driver, love watching your clips. Keep up the good work.
Wow that was very good drive. Hard shoulder can be dodgy but your professional and know what your doing. Good job tyre did not blow. Thanks for your service and video 👍
Tires only blow in movies, and sometimes in America.
@@dubious6718 Or at 50mph on a left hand bend on a trailer you're towing. In other words, it happened to me.
@Dubious your wrong it happens in uk. Go Troll else where.
@@Andy-tm9ns No it doesn't. and you are the Troll.
@@dbracer It punctured.. it didn't blow.
It never ceases to amaze me just how much room is available but when a motorcycle or even a scooter wants to filter the cars, vans & HGVs are practically mirror to mirror in places & they see the motorcycle but they be damned if they will move !
Il y a de quoi avoir peur, vu la vitesse à laquelle ça défile. Encore une belle démonstration de maîtrise de soi.
Merci pour cette excellente vidéo.
Un salut amical depuis la France.
Great video and driving. Thank you for sharing. Does make me tense up when seeing the busy traffic. How blue light drivers stay calm and focused is testament to their skills.
Hi,
first I really like your videos. Keep on this good job :) Second, excuse my bad English, I'm French, I don't use google translate, and we're so bad with languages in France 🤣
As a French Graduated Ambulancer (we don't have Paramedic grade in France...so sad...) I really hate to use hard shoulders because of exactly the reasons you wrote in this video and many other.
But one of the biggest reason is the possibility of bad reactions of other drivers.
Few years ago, two colleagues had a bad crash as they were driving onto the hard shoulder. A truck wich, wanting to do well, pulled over onto the hard shoulder at the last moment.
If the ways are completely congestioned, why not use the hard shoulder at a low speed and a lot of precautions, but at this speed, I think it's really "tricky" and unsafe... 😕
Both colleagues had only minor injuries as they wasn't driving very very fast, they were lucky. But fast enough to kill the ambulance.
Have a nice day/night/evening/morning (strike bad answers ^^)
Take care and keep on your really good job 😜
It is humbling how many of us react instantly and make a path for you, glad to see those who aren't checking their mirror every three seconds are few and far between.
Thankyou for your regular uploads Chris, I've had a keen interest in advanced driving for years and your videos are always a pleasure to view.
Excellent balance of caution and confidence as always.
I was worried about potential punctures the whole time you were on the hard shoulder. It must be a tough call to run in the hard shoulder for so long with such a high risk of punctures but I guess it comes with the territory. Of course, no guarantees that's where you picked up the screw, but more than likely if it was nearside.
Take care out there Chris.
Great driving as always Chris, and I thought it was only me who got screws in the tyres, Drive Safe, Stay Safe.
While watching the video I was thinking the hard shoulder contains a lot of debris.
What is the general protocol should you pick up a puncture?
Was the call abandoned to another unit? or were you just delayed? As driver are you responsible for changing the tyre or maybe putting in a tyre sealant? Presumably a sealant would restrict your speed?
Sealant is no good for anything bigger than a pin hole in the middle 2/3 of the tread and it wrecks your tyre
@@88SPIKE thats not really a priority for them though, speed is all that matters and its certainly faster than changing a tire
I’m guessing they might use that foam stuff you put in but that’s normally limited to 50 or 60MPH
My understanding is that there are two types of tyre "sealant". The type you put in after a puncture as a temporary fix (which obviously will cause delays and limit speed en route) and the "tyre goo" type which you put in your tyres as a preventative measure prior to any puncture, which then seals any subsequent puncture via centrefugal force. I would be curious to know if any EVs are fitted with the latter type to reduce the likelihood of having to abandon an emergency run part way.
Good driving, good use of the wailers, too many times you see emergency service vehicles using the low volume rise and fall siren and traffic just does not hear the approach. This driver gave the public time to react and adjust to give space, well done. It all looked safe and you made very good progress!
Great to see driving skills being put to good use. Do emergency vehicles fit runflat tyres if available? My car has runflats that enable you to continue for up to 50 miles at reduced speed (50mph max) so just wondering if they would be of any use at least giving you the option to continue if no other responder is available?
I feel like those would be too expensive for the amount of tires police departments probably go through
those tyres handle awfully in corners and high speeds so id be surprised of they used them
Also I’m not sure what the implications would be if an emergency vehicle crashed whilst driving with a flat tyre, even on runflats. It wouldn’t be able to continue at any sort of pace anyway so there’s no point pushing it with a flat and therefore not much point continuing with the call
Cant speak to ambulance but for fire we use regular normal tyres on all vehicles. If we have an issue with the vehicle be it flat tyre or engine failure or flat battery we advise dispatch we are unable to proceed to the event and to page out the next brigade, then about 30 seconds later we ask them to contact the maintenance office and have them send the repair truck to our location. A few minutes after that they will get back to us with an ETA on how long they expect it will take for the repair truck to get to us. If you have done something to the truck that cannot be handled by the maintenance team (I bogged a truck in mud up the axles once) they will then call for 3rd party contractors to come and do whatever is required.
What I like most is that you are now using a *marked* vehicle. Makes a BIG difference.
Can see your back in a marked car, what's the situation with your personal vehicle? guessing its still being kitted up for service or is your new role most involve marked vehicles now? unlucky about the tyre situation but just something you can't control, great drive as always.
Depends if he's working as an officer aswell or the new role is just clinical inwhich case he probably won't have a need for an unmarked car
Another great video Chris, enjoy watching these thank you!! Not all hero’s wear capes.
So great to have you back! Love your videos.
A lot of (mostly European) emergency services have strict limitations on the use of hard shoulders during response.
One I know is that in the Netherlands, emergency services are permitted to use the hard shoulder but only with a maximum speed of 50km/h.
Otherwise, great to see you back, love the content!
I think in the UK the max speed is 40mph
every country has different regulations on this topic; Thus in Germany emergency vehicles won't use the hard shoulder at all
Smart driving as always. That ending was a let down.
A question - Does driving on smart motorways present 1stRes with any unique issues?
Thanks for the upload.
Oh please don’t start on about smart motorways ! Hard shoulders date back to the early days of motorways & have little to no value in this age of roads & vehicles.
@@WhiskeyGulf71 Try saying that to the owners of the three cars on the hard shoulder that Chris passed just after he re-joined the carriageway
@@WhiskeyGulf71 well , saw a vid telling otherwise. Where guy broke down on smart motorway and nothing happend, nobody noticed him and eventually car took him out and he died. So no matter how what age we live in, hard shoulders are always safer to have rather than trust blindly some technology
Or to one of the many people killed because they broke down , including one I was witness too, smart motorways are lethal and should have never been allowed A) far too many people ignore the signs B) the signs are often not turned on at all despite vehicles been broken down sometimes for up to an hour in live lanes
38 officially recorded deaths due to smart motorways, I would put money on that number been higher in reality
That seems a huge distance to have to travel! How much area do you cover? (Great video, by the way!)
Thats not actually too far, only Stevenage to Hatfield, some 12 miles roughly. Although hes also done videos as far out as Luton and Dunstable. So he does cover quite a large area
I think he's pretty specialised and very well trained with advanced skills. So he probably covers quite a wide area.
I ended up asking that question the other day to the ambulance crew that picked me up they said their ambulance station is in Stevenage(hertfordshire) & they could end up as far as southend (essex) but they also cover north mid hospital (North London tottenham)
@@grime_garage Yup, gone are the days where most towns had an A&E and ambulance crews covered approx 10 mile radius of it. Now for Hertfordshire, it seems anywhere down the A1 corridor. - A few years back we witnessed a car leave the road and hit a tree. The driver had a nasty head wound, and we called for an ambulance.... an hour and a half later (and this was before current delays) a crew turned up, having driven all the way from Grantham to arrive at Welwyn (where the motorway goes from 2 lanes to 3 in the video above) a journey roughly 90 miles !
@@grime_garage North Mids my area so wow they've a hellova patch to cover, knew Barnet General also take LAS and East of England Ambulances as well. Seems many hospitals to multiple areas.
The public responded very well !!!
I am Glad i found this channel , watched a few videos and I am honestly impressed with how smooth the planing ahead is and decisions made ! I do in average just under 2k miles a week in an HGV and it’s not all the time I see such level of competence and confidence!👌 For a good while I have been thinking of putting my skills to good use and become an emergency response driver myself to help others but I am not really sure where to start , or what’s the best path , and pointers you could give me Chris please ?
Not sure if Chris will reply, but in case he doesn't...
I'd venture a guess that the "driving" part of the job is somewhat secondary. It's a means to the end of getting a person qualified to do X to a specific location, quickly. Therefore, the thing to focus on is the skill X that would be needed. Ambulance drivers are primarily paramedics; fire engine drivers are primarily firefighters; etc. The only "emergency response" drivers that I can think of that are purely there for the "driving" bit would be blood/organ transplant.
Wonderful stuff as always Chris - "smooth is fast". Bad luck with the tyre.
Amazing driving & as always great insight…smooth is fast, 😍 that. Thanks Chris 👍👏🏻🇬🇧
Good to see at long last some lessons are being learnt from Germany reference making space between lanes by drivers so emergency vehicles can basically white line the route through
Great to see you again, Chris! Great driving! We got a lot of Skoda Octavia's here in Israel! 🇮🇱
Good to see you back out and about again, stay safe.
I always enjoy watching your videos and have absolute respect for the job you do. I do wish you didn't fast-forward sometimes though as I like the journey and a long video is great. Keep up the great work :)
Thanks for the feedback and I’ll try and reduce the fast forward then, just didn’t want viewers to get bored with long motorways or where there is no traffic but will reduce some of the edits. Thanks
Good to see you back
Very entertaining video. Do you find the diesel Octavia station wagon adequate with power? We use the Isuzu MU-X here in Australia for similar roles, although our medical director who likes to play on big jobs uses a Kia Stinger from the same batch as the Highway Patrol cars. Not sure I'd enjoy driving priority (we call it code 1) on British roads. They seem so narrow and congested. Like you we can cover a fairly large area- about 40km from one end to the other; that's halfway across town. In one rural area I worked it took 4 hours to get to a chest pain patient! 230km of dirt track, and he had to flown out by RFDS plane. Take care out there.
while the Skodas are pulling strong even if they've chosen an underpowered version, the engine noise at high RPMs can be quite annoying, when pushing it to its limits, accelerating and getting it up to 5000 or 6000 rpm
Personal experience: although a large station wagon, and perfect to do family stuff with it, it barely offers sufficient space for being used as emergency vehicle. Our spare unit, a Skoda Octavia Scout, is packed using every inch of available space
After the Octavia Scout we used the Octavia Superb, which is a bit worse as it's a pure on road vehicle. Afterwards we got the BMW X3, a rather compact SUV with poor handling but at least a bit ground clearance; Right now we use the BMW 2 Gran Tourer, with better handling and better interior layout but again with no ground clearance - can't even mount a curb; Next up we'll finally switch to a van, a Mercedes-Benz Vito
@@EnjoyFirefighting Very informative response. Always keen on hearing what other countries use. I've found ground clearance a key feature in a suitable response vehicle. Here our critical care paramedics and operational supervisors use wagons, rather than stretcher fitted vans (Mercedes Sprinters and Toyota Landcruisers). Our first such units were V6 and V8 police spec Holden Commodore station wagons but as they no longer make these, Hyundais, Subarus and Isuzus have filled the spot.
@@coover65 you're welcome although we barely have any unpaved roads, and dirt roads can also be driven with unsuitable cars like a Smart ForTwo, for me it's important to be able to e.g. mount a curb, drive across some grass, slightly "rougher" paths like e.g. in a quarry or alongside a river bank and thus prefer units with at least a bit of ground clearance; For the ALS Emergency Ambulances we use Sprinters with a box body, putting close to 5 tons on the scale. 98% of all ALS Emergency Ambulances here are Sprinters
Some clips showing the former and current emergency doctor cars we're using:
The former Skoda Superb and Skoda Octavia Scout: ua-cam.com/video/C3NP8qz3DcY/v-deo.html
The former BMW X3: ua-cam.com/video/gXm_xNcR5VE/v-deo.html
And the current generation of BMW 2 series Gran Tourer: ua-cam.com/video/evdK1vOC7Dc/v-deo.html
@ Chris What do you think of the formation of Rescue lanes law in Germany ?
@dbracer, ignore Dubious. They obviously Don’t have any idea about tyres actually blowing out. Trucks it happens to as well. In many accidents on dash cams wheels come off of trailers as you have remarked. And at high speed hitting debris in hard shoulder as police use can still happen. I’ve no time for people like that.
The hard shoulder driving was a very scary one to watch you find loads of diffrent things on the hard should dangerous thing as well 😳
Good to see you back Chris !
Nice to see your blue light runs back on UA-cam. I hope the sabbatical you took, gave you some breathing space. Everyone needs a break now and again :)
Full marks to Joe Public on that one too.
Also... do you have run-flats? You think they'd be standard.
Your driving and observational skills are good enough to be able to significantly reduce your attendance times if they gave you a good motorbike! (y)
Significantly increase the chances of them losing a paramedic though. Motorcycles also lack in the amount of equipment they can carry which is mainly an issue, or most commonly an issue, for oxygen.
Not saying motorbikes don't have their place in places where traffic is really really really bad though...
Have to say, near the beginning when you came to the first queue of traffic (you briefly paused to put some writing on screen) credit to everyone in that queue as they all made space, and in good time also. Well done to them.
There was a UA-cam channel that I used to followed about ambulances in the Netherlands,and they had one “rule” LOLO = Leave Open Lane Open,and in a roundabout…drive one more time thru the roundabout to make room for you and your colleagues ,I that that was an awesome “rule” from us road user,to help you in your very importen line of duty :) :) :)
You always speed up the best bits....
Haulin ass is the best bit
Thank goodness it was a really smart motorway with a proper hard shoulder for emergency vehicles. All the high tech dumb motorways near me are often fully stationsry accross all four lanes.
I watched some of your Videos, and really enjoyed then, everything is well explained, so I only had one thing to do, subscribe to your channel, really nice videos, keep going!
I'm happy every time I can skip the Octavia Scout emergency doctor car on my shift, absolutely hate it; It 's still strong, but offers way too little space, and the engine noise can be really annoying especially when pushing it to 5000 or 6000 rpm when accelerating. And when loosing tire pressure, it only tells you that it does, but not which tire ...
One of the risks of driving on a 'hard shoulder' is encountering debris - including screws - broken mirrors - cast-aside beer cans and so on. All sorts of these small things are unlikely to be spotted and can make the rush completely pointless. Anywhere else, especially on busy roads, it's likely that other vehicles will have 'cleared' the road of such things days before you get there.
Some of that hard-shoulder driving was unnecessary.
Far fewer traffic islands on Danish roads. Must make it a lot easier for emergency services.
Hi Chris, what is the purpose of having and using multiple siren sounds? You change them using the horn right? Regards!
Another good drive, pity about the screw though. Do you find your new car as quick as your Black VRS?? Presumably this is Diesel over your Petrol VRS??
His VRS was diesel. The Scout has the same EA288 diesel, DSG box but is slightly down on power 150PS instead of 184PS of his previous Octavia Estate.
I would LOVE this job, legally speeding with people moving out of my way 💯💯
Great video. Place: Hertfordshire,beginning: Stevenage Old Town,then shortest way to A1(M) via J7 going southbound (London),leaving motorway at J4 (Hatfield),video finishes close to Galleria
Been a Medic for 6 years now. Traffic still gets on my nerves. We had a toyota corola that would not move for us to get past last week.. Anyway stay safe out there
Great content as always Chris, may I ask if the sat nav in these ambulances is a specialist model/version? I like how it gives very prompt and clear directions.
*assess (sorry, I am a pedant :-) ) Fantastic video as always - sorry you're not in the VRS any more.
Thanks, hate when typos slip through :)
Good morning @@ChrisMartinEMS
AMAZING, they actually move over and yield!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With such high density population found in the UK - I am surprised at the distance covered if this was an actual emergency run, or was it training? If a real emergency, surely there would have been closer units to respond.
in the UK EMS units might have long routes to cover, and some patients might have to wait long, I mean really long for an ambulance to arrive; Patients with actual, real emergencies might have to wait an hour or even longer only because there are more serious emergencies around in the area and a few ambulances will be stuck at the ER, waiting to hand over a patient ...
Was the black Octavia in for servicing?
It's incredible that you can get with the stress of that driving then leap out and save lives.
Literal Chad stuff there mate.
Chris can you do a siren demo video of this car?
Now the smart motorways are up and running, how ard these effecting you run times when all lanes are blocked. Have you come across this problem yet.
Is this length of blue light run typical? It’s seems you cover huge distances in your videos?
His skill set is higher than your average Paramedics staffing ambulances. This means that his skills cover a larger area and will generally assist in high priority emergency cases.
Hello Chris!
Love the content you release, and I enjoy watching them, all though, you should make a secondary channel where you keep all the videos you release raw.
When I mean raw, then I mean that there's no cutting parts out of the video, or speeding up the video in any way, since a lot of people also just enjoy watching ride along videos.
Lovely parting traffic there. Nice alert bunch mostly, always helps 😎
Shame about the screw.
Hi Chris, has your move to LAS been postponed or is this an older upload with EEAST?
Hi and no, have moved to LAS but still hold a contract in EEAST to do the odd shift which this one was.
Oof.. a screw to ruin your day and potentially cost someone their life. Do you just carry on but cautiously to the incident?
Been watching your videos for a while now and am most fascinated. A few question for you and bear in mind I'm just a regular driver, so please excuse my ignorance as to how things work for emergency vehicles:
1. If you as driver are the sole occupant, how do you manage to vary the siren tone for each situation, bearing in mind you have to have full concentration on piloting your vehicle through traffic. I've watched some of your other videos that also show you in the driver's seat via the in car camera and notice the changes in siren and yet you still appear to have both hands on the wheel. So how do you switch between the different siren notes?
2. Are all these filmed runs actual emergency runs or practice / demonstration runs? Not looking to critizise your reasons for doing these runs, just curious.
3. It's a shame that the Uk doesn't have the same protocol for Motorists when in a traffic jam on a motorway as is the case in Germany (look up "rettungsgasse") and Holland where it is law when in slow or stationary traffic to leave an emergency lane in between the outer two lanes. As a result, I see you are constantly having to analyze whether to lane split or use the hard shoulder, sometimes switching between the two (which obviously also involves having to allow for the hard shoulder being blocked). The very fact that you have to vary between lane splitting and hard shoulder running means drivers have no consistency in what to expect (through no fault of your own of course). It also means an EV driver in the UK has extra decisions to constantly make...and an increased risk of punctures. In Germany and Holland, emergency vehicle will always lane spilt between the outer two lanes due to the rules in place re: compulsory for drivers to leave room there when in traffic. I am very surprised this has not become law in the UK.
Siren is wired in to the horn, if you listen closely you can hear the horn briefly as he taps to change tones.
1 In Germany the driver of the emergency vehicle will take one hand off the wheel to change the siren or siren mode; To switch it on and off, many modern emergency vehicles have a foot switch
3. It's a shame that drivers of emergency vehicles in Germany don't get any actual emergency vehicle driver training and that basically unexperienced new drivers might be behind the wheel of an emergency vehicle
Many fire trucks in Australia have a foot switch near the clutch that will change the siren tone.
Right in the sidewall too. That won't be a repair. Hopefully you were able to get to your destination.
the screw was in the tread, stick a patch inside, good as new, ex tyre fitter.
at 2:30 that truck driver was on point. Perfect!
That was one hell of a drive. Nice one.
Car looks like treacle against the VRS
Love that siren. Anyone know what it’s called?
Edit: MCS-32 by StandbyRSG, with a flute speaker.
Think that was from running up the hard shoulder?
Looks like the traffic is very slow during the rush hour
Chalk and cheese comparison in cars, they may be very similar but them vRS do handle and can move too.... I know I know most comments are about it but I'm sure you miss it.
Poxy screws, I had to get 4 new tyres, within 2 weeks 2 blow outs, screw and chunk of metal, both new tyre destroyed.... So 6 tyres in total 😭
i always panicked when i heard a siren on a roundabout, i had no idea where i needed to get out of the way of.
great video chris martin EMS great job brother keep up the good work
Nice drive Chris but the marked Diesel car must feel very different to your Petrol version?
Great vid but kinda cut off at the most important part. Were you able to continue? Was someone else sent out? So many questions :D
Also the question about runflats was a great one, would make perfect sense on emergency vehicles.
yes! please @chris martin EMS In instances like that these show your self pulling over and say what happened next, tho i hope there isn't an next time.
smart driving & what’s the camera set up ? as that’s smooth & smart the way it’s move etc
So, I heard about 3 or 4 different siren chimes there..
What are the reasons to use a specific one at a specific time?
1:17 that's why emergency vehicles don't drive on hard shoulder unless its absolutely necessary
Difficult for me too judge but is there a kind of maximum time you have to arrive at an accident, emergency etc?
Did you have to cancel the shout because of the screw in the tyre?
After you mentioned debris on hard shoulder i was gonna ask if you've ever had a puncture on one of these runs, quess thats answered then