Tag Archives: reflective 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

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

Posted in Ambulance, Chevrons, Emergency vehicles, EMS, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Police, Reflective, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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

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

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 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

Posted in Emergency vehicles, Fire, Fluorescent colours, High Visibility, Markings, Reflective, Rescue | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

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 , , , | 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

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

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