raybrag said:
They have used blue lights in Europe for a very long time, and it works well. Having lived there, I can tell you that there's very little confusion when an emergency vehicle heads down a street . . . everybody knows what's coming.
At first: Yes, it's me again. ;D
You're totally right in what you are saying about knowing that an Emergency-Vehicle is coming. That's because it's standardized (it doesn't vary from department to department or from State to State) and every little child learns how to behave when they see a truck with blue-lights.
In Germany the blue lights were chosen because they stick out so much because there isn't much blue in the environment and not even on unnatural things like billboards etc. Red however IS far more common and orange is already in use for the city-services (Garbage-Trucks etc.)
But even down here there are some very very very dumb people who are texting while driving or they drink coffee or they drop something or they are drunk etc...
And then they're crashing into a FireTruck. Now matter how bright it is or which colours the lights are.
These people even overlook reflecting materials or traffic control trailers (http://www.new-facts.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/12-2655_start_vsa4_fw-turkheim_new-facts-eu.jpg ) which are used by some departments.
There was very bad accident near the city of Hanau not long ago.
A Truck-Driver didn't see the emergency units which were operating at another MVA.
He crashed into a policecar, an Ambulance and a Fire-Truck at full speed.
2 Paramedics and 1 Firefighter suffered life-threatening injuries.
http://www.op-online.de/region/obertshausen/lkw-kracht-unfallstelle-obertshausen-a3-bilder-5310635.html