Closed petition Allow lifeboat crew to use blue lights on private vehicles

Closed on 14 March 2023

Lifeboat crews, including the RNLI, can lose precious minutes battling traffic and lights. Crews must get to a station as quickly as possible. There is currently no way to alert other road users of the emergency. Allowing on-call crew to use blue lights should mean they can travel more quickly.

In emergencies, lifeboat crews using their own vehicles – whether they are cars, motorbikes or bicycles – to get to a lifeboat station can have difficulty passing other vehicles. Road users, pedestrians and local buses often refuse to let them pass. If lifeboat crews could use blue lights they should be able to get to the station and respond to the emergency faster.

Many of the crew members come from a distance therefore they have to deal with traffic. Allowing blue lights could ultimately reduce response time and save more lives. As we know with other emergency services, minutes save/cost lives.