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Category Archives: Emergency vehicles
Endeavour Energy response vehicles adopt Hi-Vis markings and highly effective synchronised warning lights
Endeavour Energy has updated the markings and warning lights on its fleet of response vehicles. They now display Hi-Vis fluorescent markings and a fully synchronised pattern of amber warning lights that simultaneously flash through 360 degrees and are visible from any viewing angle around the vehicle. Ambulance Visibility was engaged by … Continue reading
New high-visibility patrol cars for Western Australia Police
WA Police (WAPOL) recently announced the completion of a project to upgrade the markings, warning lights and sirens of not just the Highway Patrol cars, but all vehicles in the fleet. The project team reviewed current best worldwide practice and translated … Continue reading
Conflicting emergency vehicle pattern markings merge to create camouflage effects
Many earlier posts have described the problems associated with affixing a range of different patterned markings (especially rear chevrons) onto emergency vehicles. The problem is made even worse when a number of local agencies independently decide to display different pattern styles to brand their vehicles in an … Continue reading
Fluorescent marking creep is slowly improving the conspicuity of Australia’s emergency vehicles
It has taken many years but fluorescent markings are finally beginning to appear on more and more police, fire and ambulance vehicles around the country. While the response vehicles of some emergency services still wear the traditional Sillitoe scheme or a stylised variation of the … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Battenburg, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Motorcycles, Police, Reflective
Tagged AFP, Ambulance, Battenburg, conspicuity
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New Perth County EMS Sprinter ambulances
Michael Crawley from Perth County, Ontario has sent me some photos of their new Sprinter ambulances with high-visibility fluorescent/reflective markings. “We now have 3 Mercedes sprinters in our fleet and have had numerous positive comments about the graphics. Just wanted to thank you … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fluorescent colours, Markings, Reflective
Tagged Ambulance, AV Reference Library, Canada, conspicuity, EMS, high-visibility, Perth County
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Get out of the way: An article on the history of ambulance warning lights
This article was published on Gizmodo Australia in early June and provides a brief history of warning lights before discussing the important research undertaken by Michael Flannagan and his associates at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute. I have discussed Michael’s comprehensive work on emergency vehicle … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, AV Reference Library, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Police, Warning Lights
Tagged Gizmodo, Michael Flannigan, Rachel Swaby, UMTRI, University of Michigan
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Portraits of Hope on Aspen emergency vehicles
Every now and again my friend and colleague Howard Paul at EMSAC sends me interesting links or photos from Colorado and these really brought a smile to my face. Portraits of Hope a national non-profit art and social service program founded by brothers Ed Massey … Continue reading
MONOC – New siren safety video for emergency for Police, Fire, Ambulance/EMS responders
The Monmouth Ocean Hospital Service Corporation (MONOC) operating in New Jersey has released a short video that can be viewed and downloaded from their website. The video briefly summarises United States EMS crash statistics and goes on to discuss the … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, High Visibility, Markings, Police, Reflective
Tagged Ambulance Visibility, MONOC, New Jersey, siren test
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Ohio DOT add green warning lamps to snowploughs (snowplows) – HiVizTV
Changes to state legislation now permits snowploughs in Ohio to be fitted with any colour warning lights except red and blue. The state’s 1500 snowploughs will be progressively retrofitted with green flashing lamps alongside the current flashing amber and white lamps. While green lamps … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in Emergency vehicles, High Visibility, Warning Lights
Tagged conspicuity, DOT, Green, Ohio, ploughs, recognition, snow, snowplows, vehicle, visibility, Warning lights
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NSW Police highway patrol cars sacrifice officer safety with billboard graphics
The October three-day weekend holiday in Australia has just passed and earlier in the week the New South Wales Police launched their “Operation Slowdown” safe driving campaign with a display of new vehicles and sobering interviews for the gathered media. This year the … Continue reading
Posted in AV Reference Library, Emergency vehicles, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Police, Reflective
Tagged advertising, AV Reference Library, camouflage, collisions, conspicuity, fluorescent, Highway Patrol, hybrid markings, Markings, NSW Police, perception, Police, recognition, reflective, reflective markings, Sillitoe, stripes, visibility
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Almost right ….. finally a NSW Police PR Porsche displays an effective conspicuity band-of-colour
The New South Wales Police Force have taken possession of a $200,000 Panamera Sedan on loan from Porsche Australia. An article in the Sydney Morning Herald describes how the Porsche will be used as a non-operational community relations vehicle. Despite all the entertaining comments printed under … Continue reading
Posted in Emergency vehicles, Markings, Police, Reflective
Tagged conspicuity, fluorescent, Markings, New South Wales, Police, vehicle, visibility website
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Law & Order – 2012 Police Vehicle Design Competition
The results of this year’s police vehicle marking design competition have been published by Law & Order magazine. I think this competition is a great idea and it brings together a wide cross-section of police vehicles from all over the United … Continue reading
Posted in Battenburg, Chevrons, Emergency vehicles, Motorcycles, Police, Reflective
Tagged camouflage, conspicuity, contest, design, EMS, Law & Order, Markings, New, NSW Police, Police, recognition, reflective, reflective markings, South, vehicle, visibility, visibility website, Wales
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A ten-point toolkit for more effective emergency vehicle warning lights
This is the final part of three articles written for the Colorado EMSAC Star. This article discusses ten vital elements in a tool-kit that provides the basis for an effective warning light layout suitable for use on any emergency vehicle. The first article in the EMSAC … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, High Visibility, HiViz-TV, Police, Reflective, Research, SES, Significant & Important Blogs, Warning Lights
Tagged Ambulance, AV Reference Library, conspicuity, EMS, fire appliance, fire trucks, headlamps, perception, safety, siren, visibility website, Warning lights
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Three new features coming to the AV Blog
Over the next few days you will see three new icons and categories appearing between the usual blog posts. There are a great number research papers, video clips and successful emergency vehicle marking layouts that deserve to be recognised even though they do not make it into … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, AV Reference Library, Chevrons, Emergency Vehicle Markings Award of Excellence, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, HiViz-TV, Markings, Police, Reflective, Rescue, Research, SES, Significant & Important Blogs, Uncategorized, Warning Lights, Weekly Research Spot
Tagged Ambulance, AV Reference Library, Award, conspicuity, EMS, excellence, Fire, fluorescent, HiViz TV, Markings, pattern, recognition, reflective, reflective markings, safety, spot, vehicle, visibility, visibility website, Warning lights, weekly
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University of Ohio Driver Safety and First Responder Research – HiViz TV
The Russ College of Engineering and Technology at the University of Ohio is using a new driving simulator featuring the front half of a Ford Focus to study the most effective combination of colors, reflective stripes, lights and logos for emergency vehicles. … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, HiViz-TV, Markings, Police, Reflective, Research
Tagged Ambulance, collisions, conspicuity, Deborah McAvoy, Department of Justice, driving, emergency, EMS, Fire, fire trucks, First, fluorescent, Ford Focus, hazard, Markings, Office of Research Communications, Ohio, perception, Police, recognition, reflective, reflective markings, Responder, Russ College of Engineering and Technology, simulator, transport research laboratory, University, vehicle, vehicles, visibility, Warning lights
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Evaluating new trends in emergency vehicle markings
This is the second part of three articles written for the Colorado EMSAC Star. The first article in the series discussed the Ambulance Visibility ten-point toolkit for applying markings to emergency vehicles. This second article looks at advertising agency visibility, Battenburg … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, AV Reference Library, Battenburg, Chevrons, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Police, Reflective, Research, SES, Significant & Important Blogs
Tagged Ambulance, AV Reference Library, camouflage, collisions, contour, EMS, FEMA Emergency vehicle visibility and conspicuity study, Fire, fire appliance, fire trucks, fluorescent, hybrid markings, pattern, perception, recognition, reflective, reflective markings, vehicle, visibility, visibility website
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Why Bronto Skylift fire trucks and Battenburg markings don’t mix!
How do you make sure that large or oversize emergency vehicles are easily seen and quickly recognised? The answer is simple and straight forward – you paint the vehicle in a single colour and avoid using any complex marking patterns thus ensuring … Continue reading
Posted in Emergency vehicles, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Reflective, Rescue
Tagged ACT Fire brigade, AV Reference Library, Battenburg, Bronto, camouflage, conspicuity, contour, Fire, fire appliance, fire trucks, fluorescent, Green/yellow, Markings, pattern, recognition, reflective, reflective markings, reflective vest, safety, Sillitoe, Skylift, stripes, vehicle, visibility website, waistline
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Emergency Vehicles – Do not rely on sirens for an effective warning
When the Ambulance Visibility website was in its infancy over ten years ago one of the first webpages to be written was concerned with the inadequacies of sirens as an effective warning for fire, police and ambulance vehicles. Stephen Solomon, David Green and De … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, AV Reference Library, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Police, Research, Warning Lights
Tagged accoustic, adelaide, AFP, Ambulance, AV Reference Library, Canberra, characteristics, collisions, David Green, De Lorenzo, effective, EMS, Fire, frequency, high, Howard, low, Maddern, Police, Privopoulos, recognition, rumbler, siren, sirens, Solomon, soundproofing, University, vehicle, visibility website, warning, Warning lights
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Confusing high-visibility conspicuity pattern launched for motorways around Zurich
Earlier this year Leonardo Ferrazzi from Italy sent me this booklet titled Road Safety Inspectorate Signage. It outlines the details of a new conspicuity pattern now being used on the German high-speed motorways around Zurich. The booklet describes how the Canton of Zurich engineering department designed … Continue reading
Posted in Emergency vehicles, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, PPE, Reflective, Rescue, Significant & Important Blogs, Uncategorized
Tagged conspicuity, fluorescent, hybrid markings, Markings, pattern, reflective, reflective markings, reflective vest, stripes, vehicle, visibility
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The Ambulance Visibility Marking Toolkit for Emergency Vehicles
After presenting at the Colorado 3rd Annual EMS Summit in 2010 I was asked to write several articles for the Colorado EMSAC Star. The first article in the series discussed the Ambulance Visibility ten-point toolkit for applying markings to emergency vehicles. The article should be read … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Battenburg, Chevrons, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Police, PPE, Reflective, Research, SES, Significant & Important Blogs, Uncategorized
Tagged conspicuity, contour, FEMA Emergency vehicle visibility and conspicuity study, fire appliance, fire trucks, fluorescent, Markings, pattern, perception, recognition, reflective markings, reflective vest, safety, safety summit, stripes, vehicle, visibility, waistline
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Warning light guidelines for Fire, Police and EMS ambulance vehicles
After reading through a post on Elightbars about the excessive use of LED’s and viewing a video (embedded below), I thought it might be the right time to have another look at the warning light guidelines from Ambulance Visibility. Here is a brief summary of the eleven-point … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, AV Reference Library, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, High Visibility, Police, Warning Lights
Tagged Ambulance, Fire, fire trucks, headlamps, pattern, visibility website, Wake Effect, Warning lights
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A quick comparison of fluorescent reflective prismatic and engineering grade markings for EMS, police and fire vehicles
Have you ever thought about upgrading to fluorescent/reflective markings for your vehicle fleet? Most signwriters supply engineering grade reflective material unless you specify fluorescent/reflective grades that are manufactured with a layer of micro-prism reflectors. The well-known brands are 3M Diamond Grade, Reflexite Daybright, Avery Dennison MVP/prismatic grades and Nikkalite Crystal sheeting. The table below shows the difference in … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Police, Reflective, SES
Tagged conspicuity, fluorescent, reflective, reflective markings
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Why your paediatric [pediatric] ambulance transports deserve high-conspicuity safety!
I have a suggestion – go to Google images and type in pediatric ambulance (not paediatric ambulance for those of us outside the US that are using ‘proper English’). Look at the images; you can count on one hand the number … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Reflective
Tagged Ambulance, conspicuity, contour, EMS, fluorescent, Markings, neonatal, NETS, paediatric, recognition, reflective, safety, vehicle
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The difference between Battenburg high-visibility markings and Sillitoe chequers on Police, Fire & Ambulance vehicles
Almost every passing week sees another police, fire or EMS agency boasting at a vehicle launch that their response vehicles are now displaying a new world’s best practise Battenburg high-visibility markings. The agency chief always adds that the latest change to the HiVis markings has only taken place after a lengthy consultation period with … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Battenburg, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Police, Reflective, Research, SES, Significant & Important Blogs
Tagged Ambulance, camouflage, conspicuity, contour, EMS, Fire, fire trucks, fluorescent, hybrid markings, Markings, pattern, Police, recognition, reflective, reflective markings, vehicle, visibility
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ACT Ambulance reflective conspicuity markings in new medical EMS textbook
A quick post with just a bit of exciting news! Several years after designing the ACT Ambulance reflective markings I was approached by Cengage Delmar Learning publishing in the United States about supplying images for a new textbook. The authors, Richard Beebe and … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Reflective, Research
Tagged Ambulance, conspicuity, contour, EMS, Fire, fluorescent, Markings, Police, recognition, reflective markings, stripes, vehicle, visibility
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The pink steamroller vs emergency vehicle colour and markings
A few days ago the morning started out normally. I was up early so while I ate breakfast I quickly browsed through the electronic version of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper (SMH). One story with the headline The Pink Wash – Pink Ribbon Inc grabbed my attention. The … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Chevrons, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Police, Reflective
Tagged Ambulance, conspicuity, contour, EMS, Fire, fire trucks, fluorescent, Markings, recognition, reflective, stripes
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Conspicuity for emergency motorcycles – Battenburg vs Fluorescent markings
One of the first posts written in the early days of the AV blog was about the effectiveness of motorcycle conspicuity and markings during emergency response. A major part of that discussion was concerned with a growing trend in the UK to affix a modified pattern of Battenburg markings onto Police motorcycles … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, AV Reference Library, Battenburg, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Police, Reflective, Research
Tagged Ambulance, AV Reference Library, camouflage, conspicuity, contour, EMS, fluorescent, Markings, motorcycle, recognition, reflective, reflective markings, safety, vehicle
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A conference, two papers and retroreflective conspicuity at night.
Conferences are a great opportunity to attend presentations discussing the latest research, to see the newest products and meet with colleagues. At the trade exhibits we are bombarded with sales pitches and a gambit of differing viewpoints. As a matter of course we tend to filter out all the sales talk and seek out the more reliable information … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, AV Reference Library, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, High Visibility, Markings, Police, PPE, Reflective, Research, SES, Uncategorized
Tagged Ambulance, AV Reference Library, conspicuity, fire appliance, hazard, headlamps, pattern, perception, recognition, reflective, reflective vest, safety, visibility website
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Emergency workers and HiVis clothing – our perception of safety may be dangerously flawed!
Just how how safe are we as emergency workers at an incident scene when stepping out onto the road ? Our on-road activities are an integral part of life in an ambulance/EMS, police, fire or rescue response. We pull-on a ‘safety’ vest or fluorescent jacket over our uniforms and then start work, trusting … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, AV Reference Library, Battenburg, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Police, PPE, Reflective, Rescue, Research, SES, Significant & Important Blogs
Tagged Ambulance, AV Reference Library, camouflage, conspicuity, EMS, Fire, fluorescent, hazard, headlamps, Malcolm Palmer, Markings, perception, recognition, reflective, reflective vest, Shaun Helman, transport research laboratory, TRL, visibility, visibility website
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Ultrabright warning lights – never a brilliant idea for safety!
Last week I received an email from David Green urging me to read a new post from the Police Inspector Blog. The posts are written by the popular and accomplished book author who writes in the UK under the Inspector Gadget nom-de-plume. The blog … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, High Visibility, Police, Rescue, SES, Significant & Important Blogs, Warning Lights
Tagged Ambulance, collisions, conspicuity, David Green, EMS, Fire, fire appliance, hazard, Inspector Gadget, Police, safety, vehicle, visibility, Wake Effect, Warning lights
5 Comments
Denver Paramedics add enhanced ambulance markings
Immediately after the 3rd Annual EMS Safety Summit held in Denver CO, Denver Paramedics retro-fitted enhanced reflective markings to their ambulance fleet. White vertical and baseline contour striping were added to the patient care compartment to clearly outline the ambulance body at night. … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Chevrons, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, High Visibility, Markings, Police, Reflective, Research
Tagged Ambulance, conspicuity, contour, denver paramedics, EMS, Markings, reflective, reflective markings, safety, safety summit, stripes, vehicle, visibility, visibility website
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Ambulance Visibility website and AV Blog statistics for 2011
The yearly visitor statistics are in for 2011, They show that both the Ambulance Visibility website and the AV Blog have received over 50,000 visits between them during the 12 months. Much of the credit must go to the new AV Reference Library that for the first time … Continue reading
Announcing the new Ambulance Visibility Reference Library
It has always been exceptionally difficult to find accurate research without spending hours searching the internet. The new Ambulance Visibility Reference Library brings visibility and conspicuity research documents and information together in the one place for the first time. The AV Reference … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, AV Reference Library, Battenburg, Chevrons, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Police, Reflective, Rescue, Research, SES, Significant & Important Blogs, Uncategorized, Warning Lights
Tagged Ambulance, AV Reference Library, camouflage, EMS, Fire, fire trucks, fluorescent, Markings, perception, Police, recognition, reflective, safety, stripes, vehicle, visibility
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Chevron enquiry from Pikesville Fire Department
In late November 2010, I received a blog comment from Capt. John Berryman from Pikesville Fire Department asking the following question about using upright chevrons on the rear of fire appliances rather than the inverted-V pattern. John also forwarded a photo of a … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Battenburg, Chevrons, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Police, Reflective, Research
Tagged collisions, conspicuity, fluorescent, Markings, pattern, reflective, vehicle, visibility
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Fire Rescue News – 70s throwback: Lime-yellow fire trucks fade out
Pinellas Park Fire Department has decided to change vehicle colour from yellow-green to deep red according to an article written by Anne Lindberg in The St Petersburg Times and reflects the personal view of at least 60% of the department’s firefighter’s. Subsequently, a … Continue reading
Emergency vehicle chevrons – the AV Blog series Part 2
Welcome back to Part 2 of the Chevron Blog. This part will discuss the following topics: Chevrons on current and future vehicle fleets Current fleet markings with chevrons on different vehicle styles Differing expectations of Police, Fire & Ambulance Battenburg and … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Battenburg, Chevrons, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Police, Rescue, Research, Significant & Important Blogs, Uncategorized, Warning Lights
Tagged camouflage, conspicuity, FEMA Emergency vehicle visibility and conspicuity study, fire trucks, fluorescent, Markings, pattern, perception, recognition, reflective, safety, stripes, vehicle, visibility
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Emergency vehicle chevrons – the blog series Part 1
Chevrons have become the latest new look in safety markings on emergency vehicles. Regardless of whether you love chevrons or hate them, the inverted-V markings will be displayed on even more Police, Fire and Ambulance vehicles every day. The numbers will increase regardless of … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Battenburg, Chevrons, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Police, Rescue, Research, SES, Significant & Important Blogs
Tagged camouflage, collisions, conspicuity, contour, FEMA Emergency vehicle visibility and conspicuity study, fire trucks, hazard, headlamps, Markings, pattern, perception, reflective, safety, stripes, vehicle, visibility
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Enhancing motorcycle conspicuity – emergency response & at the roadside.
Last week, I was at an intersection in Sydney waiting for a red light to change. Off to the left and without warning, a white blur appeared in the corner of my eye. It took several seconds to recognize what was … Continue reading
Chevron markings on Emergency Vehicles – the blog series
Have you ever wondered why inverted V chevron markings are appearing on emergency vehicles? Is there any science behind the coloured patterns? These questions and many more will be answered in a series of blogs covering all facets of chevron markings; The series begins on Tuesday 1 … Continue reading
Lets clear up the confusion about reflectivity and vehicle waistlines!
The last few months have seen me answering questions (more than a few times) about one of the recommendations listed as an opportunity in the FEMA Emergency vehicle visibility and conspicuity study. This one statement about reflective material has caused as much … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Police
Tagged conspicuity, contour, FEMA Emergency vehicle visibility and conspicuity study, fire trucks, fluorescent, headlamps, Markings, reflective, stripes, vehicle, visibility, waistline
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Ambulance Visibility Blog 