Tag Archives: Markings

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

Posted in Emergency vehicles, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Police, Reflective, Uncategorized, Warning Lights | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Australia Post trades up to high conspicuity lime-green motorcycles


Australia Post recently announced that all new ‘Postie’ delivery motorcycles would be coloured lime green and white with fluorescent green mail panniers. The iconic ‘red rattler’ 90cc and later 110cc motorcycles were legendary for their toughness and durability with retired postie bikes always being hot items … Continue reading

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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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

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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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Emergency Vehicle Markings Award of Excellence – Lethbridge Fire and EMS


Alberta, Canada Lethbridge Fire and EMS work in the City of Lethbridge which is about 220 kilometres south-east of Calgary. The latest markings on their ambulances display a fluorescent red waistline stripe with subordinate fluorescent yellow roofline and doorsill stripes. It can be challenging to design a … Continue reading

Posted in Ambulance, Emergency Vehicle Markings Award of Excellence, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Reflective | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

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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 , , , , , , , , , , | 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , | 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 , , , , , , , , , , | 1 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 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 , , , , , , , | 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

Posted in Ambulance, Chevrons, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Reflective, Research | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

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

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