An emergency vehicle is a vehicle used by
emergency services
Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while others deal wit ...
. Emergency vehicles typically have specialized
emergency lighting
An emergency light is a battery-backed lighting device that switches on automatically when a building experiences a power outage.
In the United States, emergency lights are standard in new commercial and high occupancy residential buildings, ...
and
vehicle equipment
A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), wate ...
that allow emergency services to reach
calls for service
A call for service (also known as a job, hitch, incident, callout, call-out, or simply a call) is an incident that emergency services or public safety organizations (such as police, fire departments, and emergency medical services) are assigned ...
in a timely manner, transport equipment and resources, or perform their tasks efficiently. Emergency vehicles are usually operated by authorized government agencies, but some may also be operated by private entities where permitted by law.
Emergency vehicles are usually given
right of way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
in traffic, and may be exempted from certain basic road laws to reach their destinations in the fastest possible time, such as driving through a red
traffic light
Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traf ...
or exceeding the
speed limit
Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...
; however, this is almost always done with emergency lights and sirens on, to alert traffic that the emergency vehicle is approaching. In some jurisdictions, the driver of an emergency vehicle can face legal action if the driver shows "reckless disregard for the safety of others".
Types
There are many types of emergency vehicles. Which service operates which vehicle depends on the jurisdiction. Examples of emergency vehicles include:
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Police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
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Police car
A police car (also called a police cruiser, police interceptor, patrol car, area car, cop car, prowl car, squad car, radio car, or radio motor patrol) is a ground vehicle used by police and law enforcement for transportation during patrols a ...
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Police van
A police van (also known as a paddy wagon, meat wagon, divisional van, patrol van, patrol wagon, police wagon, Black Mariah/Maria, police carrier, or in old-fashioned usage, pie wagon) is a type of police vehicle, vehicle operated by Police, po ...
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Police motorcycle
A police motorcycle is a motorcycle used by police and law enforcement. They may be custom designed to meet the requirements unique of a particular use. A police motorcycle is often called a "motor" by police officers in the United States. Units t ...
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Police bicycle
A police bicycle is a bicycle used by police forces, most commonly in the form of a mountain bicycle, used to patrol areas inaccessible to police cars or cover a wider area than an officer on foot.
Bicycle patrols are often assigned to locations ...
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SWAT vehicle
A SWAT vehicle, also known as an armoured rescue vehicle, a vehicle used by police tactical units to respond to incidents. These are often non-military armored vehicles which offer protection to the passengers and can additionally be used to trans ...
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Mobile communications vehicle
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Police bus
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Police aviation
Police aviation is the use of aircraft in police operations. Police services commonly use aircraft for traffic control, ground support, search and rescue, high-speed car pursuits, observation, air patrol and control of large-scale public events ...
**
Police watercraft
Police watercraft are boats or other vessels that are used by police agencies to patrol bodies of water. They are usually employed on major rivers, in enclosed harbors near cities or in places where a stronger presence than that offered by the ...
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Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...
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Fire engine
A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an i ...
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Fire command vehicle
A fire command vehicle, also called a fire chief car or fly car, is a vehicle used by a senior officer of a fire department to respond to firefighting incidents. Its markings typically indicate the rank of the senior officer.
In the 19th centur ...
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Fire bike
A fire bike is a motorcycle used by a fire department. Several countries around the world use fire bikes, often to beat traffic congestion, and the equipment carried ranges from simple extinguishers to jet guns with hose rigs. Firefighters also us ...
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Light and air unit An air and light unit, also known as a breathing support unit, is a specialized piece of firefighting apparatus used by firefighters to provide supplemental lighting and SCBA air bottles at the scene of an emergency. During prolonged emergencies, p ...
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Water tender
A water tender is a type of firefighting apparatus that specialises in the transport of water from a water source to a fire scene.[Aerial firefighting
Aerial may refer to:
Music
* ''Aerial'' (album), by Kate Bush
* ''Aerials'' (song), from the album ''Toxicity'' by System of a Down
Bands
*Aerial (Canadian band)
* Aerial (Scottish band)
* Aerial (Swedish band)
Performance art
* Aerial sil ...]
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Fireboat
A fireboat or fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipmen ...
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Emergency medical services
Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...
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Ambulance
An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport.
Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...
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Ambulance bus
An ambulance bus is a type of ambulance with the capacity to transport and treat multiple patients. An ambulance bus is used primarily for medical evacuation of mass casualty incidents and non-emergency medical transport of care-dependent patient ...
**
Nontransporting EMS vehicle
A nontransporting EMS vehicle, also known as a fly-car, response vehicle, quick response service (QRS) vehicle, or fast response vehicle, is a vehicle that responds to and provides emergency medical services (EMS) without the ability to transp ...
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Motorcycle ambulance
Motorcycle ambulances are a type of emergency vehicle which either carries a solo paramedic or first responder to a patient; or is used with a trailer or sidecar for transporting patients. Because of its size and performance, a motorcycle ambul ...
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Air medical services
Air medical services is a comprehensive term covering the use of air transportation, aeroplane or helicopter, to move patients to and from healthcare facilities and accident scenes. Personnel provide comprehensive prehospital and emergency and cri ...
**
Water ambulance
The water ambulance is a boat used for emergency medical care in island areas such as the city of Venice, Italy, the Isles of Scilly, UK or the Norway fjords.
Dubai
Dubai Ambulance Foundation has launched the "maritime ambulance project" in ...
* Other
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Rescue vehicle
A rescue vehicle is a specialised vehicle used in technical rescue. It is designed to transport and provide the specialized equipment necessary for technical rescue. They carry an array of special equipment such as the jaws of life, wooden c ...
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Hazardous materials apparatus
250px, The Santa Barbara Fire Department Hazmat vehicle staged at an incident.
A hazardous material (hazmat) apparatus is a vehicle used by emergency services to respond to calls involving potentially hazardous materials. These vehicles are cust ...
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Tow truck
A tow truck (also called a wrecker, a breakdown truck, recovery vehicle or a breakdown lorry) is a truck used to move disabled, improperly parked, impounded, or otherwise indisposed motor vehicles. This may involve recovering a vehicle damaged ...
Equipment
Many emergency response vehicles (especially those of the main police, fire and ambulance services) are likely to be fitted with
audible
Audible may refer to:
* Audible (service), an online audiobook store
* Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks
* ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player
* Audible finish or rush ...
and
visual
The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (the ...
warning devices, which are designed to facilitate their movement through traffic to reach their destination, and to provide some protection on the scene.
Depending on local laws, vehicles on the road may be required to yield the right of way to emergency responders who are using their warning devices. For example, in Utah, when an emergency vehicle is on the road while using its warning devices, all cars are required to pull over to the side of the road, stop, and wait for the vehicle to pass before resuming normal driving, unless doing so would cause an accident or if stopped at a red light or stop sign. Even in areas where no such laws exist, many motorists may allow the vehicle to pass as a matter of courtesy.
Livery
Liveries are graphic designs on emergency vehicles that are intended to identify the vehicle's respective emergency service, improve visual identification, and differentiate emergency vehicles from regular traffic. Each service's design choices reflect different needs, but typically include:
* Identification of the service – Text or
logos
''Logos'' (, ; grc, wikt:λόγος, λόγος, lógos, lit=word, discourse, or reason) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric and refers to the appeal to reason that relies on logic or reason, inductive and deductive ...
identifying the emergency service to which the vehicle belongs, and its purpose to the public and other services. Occasionally, the name of the service ("police", "ambulance", etc.) may be written in reverse lettering on the front of the vehicle; this lettering is reflected properly in
rear-view mirrors.
* Vehicle ID number – A fleet number or unit number, typically printed on the roof, trunk, or fender of the emergency vehicle, allowing for easy internal identification and fleet maintenance.
* High visibility markings – A design or paint scheme that makes the emergency vehicle distinct or highly visible, and thus easily identifiable as an emergency vehicle from a distance. These can be as simple as unique paint schemes (such as black and white for police, or bright red for fire) or stripes, or as complex as
Battenburg markings
Battenburg markings or Battenberg markings are a pattern of high-visibility markings developed in the United Kingdom in the 1990s and currently seen on many types of emergency service vehicles in the UK, Crown dependencies, British Overseas T ...
or intricate images evoking the jurisdiction they serve. Police are typically exempted from this, and they may be able to use
unmarked police cars that lack any markings whatsoever, thus resembling civilian traffic.
* Contact information – Appropriate contact information for the emergency service operating the emergency vehicle, or appropriate methods to request their assistance. The most common contact information printed on an emergency vehicle is an
emergency telephone number
Most public switched telephone networks have a single emergency telephone number (sometimes known as the universal emergency telephone number or the emergency services number) that allows a caller to contact local emergency services for assista ...
, usually a national uniform number, but also a service's respective dedicated emergency number if they have one. The service's
phone number
A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices f ...
or
website
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...
link may also be used, though these are often less emphasized so as to not confuse
See also
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Automotive safety
Automotive safety is the study and practice of design, construction, equipment and regulation to minimize the occurrence and consequences of traffic collisions involving motor vehicles. Road traffic safety more broadly includes roadway design ...
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ISO 9001
The ISO 9000 family is a set of five quality management systems (QMS) standards that help organizations ensure they meet customer and other stakeholder needs within statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. ISO 90 ...
certification
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ISO 14001 certification
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Emergency management
Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actuall ...
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Safety car
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Vehicle recovery
Vehicle recovery is the recovery of any vehicle to another place, generally speaking with a commercial vehicle known as a ''recovery vehicle'', tow truck or spectacle lift.
Recovery can take the form of general recovery, normally of broken down ...
References
External links
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