Is legislation the answer to drivers who obstruct emergency vehicles? Jennifer Cunningham investigates

The flashing blue lights and piercing sirens are failing to penetrate our tin boxes or switched-off brains. Greater conspicuousness is the quality chiefly sought in police cars and ambulances, because too many drivers simply don't know they are there.

The complaint of Arbroath man James Buchanan that the ambulance taking his wife for emergency surgery to Dundee was impeded by drivers who refused to give way points to what a number of police forces and ambulance areas say is a growing problem of lack of awareness, but none describe as deliberate obstruction. Not uncaring, just careless, too often cocooned in their own world with their radio or CD system, motorists are forgetting the most vital point of the highway code: that it is the interaction between your vehicle and other road users - pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers - which causes accidents, say Scotland's traffic officers.

It's a common problem: drivers failing to realise that an ambulance is trying to overtake. But according to Richard Reynolds, the Scottish Ambulance Service's divisional manager for Tayside, it's a problem which has been growing in the past five years. He thinks a major cause is more powerful car stereo systems. ''You hear these cars travelling about like mobile discos and know their drivers are not going to hear a siren. It also depends on the road conditions. In cities, the volume of traffic is the problem, while in rural areas the difficulty is finding a safe place to overtake. We have a lot of tourist traffic in the summer months and caravans are a particular problem.'' He thinks that countries where failure to give way to emergency vehicles is an offence are recognising the seriousness of the problem, but stops short of supporting Buchanan's call for a change in the law. Instead, he

urges motorists to make better use of their mirrors and to renew their acquaintance with the Highway Code.

Tayside Police do not think it is a widespread problem. Inspector Dennis Gentles explains: ''This is the first complaint to the traffic management team of its sort that I am aware of in five years. We have every sympathy for the poor man who lost his wife, but I don't think changing the law to make failure to pull in an offence is the answer, because it would be very difficult to enforce. No-one is going to stop escorting an ambulance to charge someone who has not pulled over.''

From his days as a patrol car driver, he recalls: ''Someone is always going to react in a way you don't expect. The majority of people will get out of the way of an ambulance as quickly as possible, but a great deal depends on the road and the traffic. The A92 between Arbroath and Dundee is one of the roads which has been under consideration for upgrading to dual carriageway for years. It is a road with a lot of bends and blind summits, where it can be difficult to overtake.''

There is new research being done on a directional siren, which would make it clear which direction the emergency vehicle was coming from.

Chief Inspector Donald Urquhart of Lothian and Borders Police says: ''I have never come across anyone deliberately obstructing an emergency vehicle. On motorways and dual carriageways, as soon as you are going above 45mph, the sound is blown backwards and so sound systems are of questionable value.''

Research is going on into whether a different sound (three tones of different lengths at irregular intervals) is likely to be more effective in attracting attention than the present standard two-tone wail or the heart-stopping yelp favoured by some ambulance areas, and whether a directional siren will help motorists to move out of the way more effectively.

In Lothian and Borders, flashing outer headlights, installed over the last year, have proved particularly effective, ''but only when people look in their mirrors'', according to Chief Inspector Urquhart.

He adds: ''I use a car radio myself and of course police cars are fitted with radios, but everyone has a responsibility to pay attention to what is going on around them. Anyone caught speeding by a police traffic vehicle deserves a penalty, because police cars are very visible, which is a road safety aid at an accident to prevent more vehicles becoming involved.''

Inspector Euan Ross, in charge of traffic operations for Central Scotland Police, is less diplomatic: ''Anyone who does not hear our sirens must be totally deaf, and anyone who does not see our flashing headlights and roof lights must be totally blind.''

According to Angus Gellatly, Tayside Fire Brigade's divisional officer for Dundee and Angus, drivers of fire engines find motorists unaware of their presence only on the odd occasion. ''It is probably an advantage being a big, red lorry bearing down on someone because it will fill the rear-view mirror,'' he says. Although the fire brigades are also interested in the research into sirens, they are unlikely to abandon the standard two-tone horn, because they would lose the advantage of instant recognition.