NEED EXTRA INFORMATION? Visit the Ambulance Visibility site CLICK on the logo aboveLINKS
FATIMA KILLEEN Website & portfolio
Category Archives: Research
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
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
1 Comment
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
1 Comment
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
2 Comments
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
4 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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
2 Comments
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
2 Comments
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
5 Comments
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
Link to an inspiring book written by Dr Stephen Solomon
Here is a really good read especially if you seek top-class information on emergency vehicle visibility and safety and it’s now free. When I was working on my first research report in the late 1990’s this was often quoted as … Continue reading
Posted in Ambulance, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Police, Rescue, Research, Significant & Important Blogs, Warning Lights
Tagged conspicuity, fluorescent, sirens, vehicle, visibility
Leave a comment
Ambulance Visibility Blog 