Once again the question of road rules arises, this time in Queensland and this time a very unique set of facts. The pilot of a rescue helicopter has written stating:
I am employed as a Helicopter Pilot in the state of Queensland providing emergency aero medical services predominately to the Queensland Ambulance Service…
Part of my management charter has been to provide my staff with inclusion to the emergency fraternity, training in the roles they currently undertake and, recognition for the essential services they provide. The best fit I could find and the most interest shown by an agency to include my rescue team was with the SES. They are now placing our team on the books, providing training and giving the team some recognition under the Australian Awards System … Additionally they are often required to drive Ambulances under urgent duty conditions or lights and bells as it is known.
So with the above situation here are my questions and rationale behind the concept.
Can I personally, exercise the privileges of an emergency vehicle in my role as a Rescue Pilot? Given that we have signed onto the SES, and are tasked from home for urgent medical jobs, is it reasonable to respond lights and bells accepting all the responsibility of using due care and attention? …
Must I inform Queensland Transport of the equipment fitted to my lease car? I recently learnt that the SES in this State are not authorised for use of Red and Blue Lights. Their vehicles only use amber unless they are an approved road rescue unit in which case they use amber and red cones. Given this fact, is the SES the best agency for my staff or does it still suffice to be a part of an emergency group for the purpose of exemptions from the road rules.
As noted earlier, the Road Rules are national but the definition of emergency vehicle varies from state to state. In Queensland the rules are set out in the Transport Operations (Road Use Management–Road Rules) Regulation 2009 (Qld). As with all the other jurisdictions the Rules say, in rule 306:
A provision of this regulation does not apply to the driver of an emergency vehicle if–
(a) in the circumstances–
(i) the driver is taking reasonable care; and
(ii) it is reasonable that the section should not apply; and
(b) if the vehicle is a motor vehicle that is moving–the vehicle is displaying a red flashing light or sounding an alarm.
In Queensland:
‘emergency vehicle means a motor vehicle driven by a person who is–
(a) an emergency worker; and
(b) driving the vehicle in the course of his or her duties as an emergency worker.’
The critical definition is who is an emergency worker? In Queensland:
emergency worker means–
(a) an officer of the Queensland Ambulance Service or an ambulance service of another State; or
(b) an officer of the Queensland Fire and Rescue Authority or a fire and rescue service of another State; or
(c) an officer or employee of another entity with the written permission of the commissioner.
Clearly an officer of the SES is not an emergency worker; so the mere fact that you have signed up to be affiliated with the SES does not give any necessary authority. Even if it did, it would not authorise you or any member of the SES (or a member of the Ambulance or a member of Queensland Fire and Rescue) to attach warning lights and/or siren to their own car.
As I’ve noted elsewhere even if the vehicle is an emergency vehicle because it is being driven by an emergency worker, that does not mean that any exemption under rule 306 applies or that beacons or a siren can be attached to the vehicle. Deciding whether or not sirens and or red lights can be fitted depends upon the Transport Operations (Road Use Management—Vehicle Standards and Safety) Regulation 2010 (Qld). As expected that regulation does not allow the fitting of red lights or a siren except to an ‘exempt’ vehicle which includes an emergency vehicle (but unlike the Victorian regulation (see Red/blue lights on CFA Slip on unit there does not appear to be the equivalent of clause 118(2) in the Queensland regulation). In any event, if you are affiliated with the SES, you are not an emergency worker, your vehicle will not be an exempt vehicle.
A vehicle driven by an officer of Queensland Ambulance or Queensland Fire and Rescue is an emergency vehicle if it is being driven ‘in the course of his or her duties as an emergency worker’ but when would it ever be part of their duties to respond in their private vehicle. I’m sure paramedics responding from home are given an ambulance rather than expected to proceed in their private car. Rural firefighters may proceed in their own car but it is at that point you have to turn to the directions from their service and ask what does the service say is their duty; it is not for the individual to say ‘I’m responding in my car so as far as I’m concerned this is part of my duty’ rather one has to look at the service policy and whether it recognises that response to the scene of the emergency in a private car is part of the officer’s duty. Without checking ‘chapter and verse’ I am of the view that the emergency services consistently and properly say that turning out to the fire shed or ambulance station is not done on urgent duty; that is you drive to the station in a normal manner, it is not part of anyone’ s duty to do otherwise. It is part of the duty to respond with lights and sirens once at the station and in the ambulance or appliance. As I’ve noted before the private vehicle of a volunteer rural firefighter may be an emergency vehicle and they could hope to get an exemption if they park near the scene to report to the OIC and commence their fire fighting duties, but they’re never going to have an exemption to drive their vehicle on ‘urgent duty’.
I note that my correspondent says ‘Additionally they are often required to drive Ambulances under urgent duty conditions or lights and bells as it is known.’ I am unsure why a helicopter crew is driving an ambulance but I do not to be an emergency worker you need to be ‘an officer of the Queensland Ambulance Service or an ambulance service of another State’. Under the Ambulance Services Act 1991 (Qld) ‘service officer means a person employed under section 13(1)’ and an honorary officer is appointed under s 14. So the ambulance service has ‘service’ and ‘honorary’ officers, but in this context my correspondent is not employed by the ambulance service nor appointed as an honorary ambulance officer, so would appear not to be ‘an officer of the Queensland Ambulance Service’ and therefore not an emergency worker and not entitled to drive the ambulance. Though, to be fair, the argument would be that if they were driving at the request and direction of a service officer then the exemption would be extended to them. That argument, that is the service officer has the right to drive, or have the ambulance driven, in accordance with the Regulation, could be tested in court but I suspect would receive sympathetic hearing.
Let me return to the questions:
Can I personally, exercise the privileges of an emergency vehicle in my role as a Rescue Pilot?
No, you are not an emergency worker for the purposes of the Transport Operations (Road Use Management–Road Rules) Regulation 2009 (Qld).
Given that we have signed onto the SES, and are tasked from home for urgent medical jobs, is it reasonable to respond lights and bells accepting all the responsibility of using due care and attention?
No it’s not. You are not allowed to have lights and bells on your car; you are not an emergency worker and you are not proceeding in the car to a medical emergency but to a helicopter base to get the helicopter. You are akin to an emergency worker driving to their station to collect their appliance or ambulance. They would have no exemptions until they get there and get the properly marked, visible vehicle. You are going to the airport to get the helicopter; there could be no justification for driving contrary to the road rules unless your employer has been given the necessary approval by Queensland Transport and you are driving a marked, visible emergency service vehicle. The critical issue is the safety of other road users.
Must I inform Queensland Transport of the equipment fitted to my lease car?
‘Yes’. Given you are not an emergency worker for the purposes of the Queensland Regulation you would need to apply for and be given permission in accordance with sub-paragraph (c ) of the definition of emergency worker.
In short, no you can’t put lights and siren on your leased vehicle, you can’t respond with lights and sirens and you have no exemptions under the Queensland Road Rules. To put it bluntly, the helicopter pilot is there to fly the helicopter, not drive an emergency road vehicle.
Australian Emergency Law 
Michael,
A good response. No offence to your blog (which I enjoy wholeheartedly, especially the debate it brings) but I would believe the first port of call for any clarification to an act, regulation or permit would be the state government department governing this. However, my dealings with the Department of Transport in WA have been a bit on the iffy side at times. Every public servant fears a “ministerial” so by writing (a letter in the old fashioned method) to the minister’s office is guaranteed a reply.
There is an animal ambulance service in Victoria that over uses the word “emergency” and is soliciting support for red/white/blue lights and warning devises to be fitted to his “emergency animal ambulance” and “rapid response emergency unit”.
Where do we draw the line with this issue? Let every person who makes a claim they are involved in the “emergency service industry” (yes it is an industry with the amount of privateers that have appeared in recent times) fit red/blue lights and sirens on their private cars?
The only ones that will profit from this is insurance companies, equipment resellers and ebay.
Geoff
Thanks again for your contribution which is always valuable even if we don’t always agree. You said ‘I would believe the first port of call for any clarification to an act, regulation or permit would be the state government department governing this.’ Actually the lawyers answer is to go to the law, because government departments often put a policy line that is actually inconsistent with the law; they interpret the law as they want it to be, often not as it is and it’s the role of lawyers to point that out. That’s a point of difference between us in the past, I think. For example I’ve said a private car can be an emergency vehicle which you’ve disagreed with. I suspect the government departments, the police, the ‘law as its applied’ agrees with you; but it’s not always the law ‘that’s written’ which at least keeps lawyers employed. Notwithstanding that going the department and getting their view at least gives some indication on what their attitude is likely to be and whether there’s going to be a fight. If you know their attitude you can decide whether it’s easier to play by their rules even if the letter of the law is different or challenge them using the law as written (and just look at what happened to the Malaysian Solution when the commonwealth government tried to rely on the law as they wanted it to be, rather than the law as it was).
Certainly getting the governments view will be more helpful, in the first place, than my blog, but my blog can provide a second opinion which I hope is helpful. Of course no-one can rely on my blog to justify their actions either to fit red/blues or sue or not sue or anything else. This blog is no substitute for proper, individually considered, legal advice.
It is indeed true that the emergency services are becoming an industry and there are more and more private players in the field; I still wonder at the number of ‘ambulances’ on the road (again an issue we’ve debated before).
I think we do agree, regardless of my interpretation on whether or not the private car of the SES or RFS volunteer proceeding directly to an emergency and parking illegally, is an emergency vehicle, no-one is allowed to put red/blue lights on their private car without express written approval from the relevant road authority or from the service for which they work if that service has the necessary written authority and they are fitted and used in accordance with that service policy. No one can decide for themselves that their work is sufficiently ‘like’ the other emergency services so that they should have the same rights and put their own lights on.
Michael
Dear Michael
A very interesting situation. I do wonder what advantage there would be to the helicopter pilot and his team in aligning themselves with the SES. The writer mentions they receive training and get some recognition under the Australian Honours System but at the very beginning of his correspondence, he states that he provides emergency aeromedical services predominantly to the Queensland Ambulance Service. He fails to say whether he is employed by the Queensland Government or by a community rescue helicopter that provides services to the Queensland Government.
In any case, it strike me as strange that he is concerned about whether there are provisions for him to fit and use emergency warning devices and to operate his “lease” car as an emergency vehicle. I suggest the helicopter pilot should be taking his concerns to the Queensland Ambulance Service as the predominant user of the services he provides. By attempting to gain an advantage by somehow aligning himself with the SES he appears to be attempting to circumvent his primary obligation as an aeromedical services provider. In addition, it seems that he is using the SES to gain an advantage and I wonder whether he and his team fulfil the duties and responsibilities of an SES worker.
Regards
James McLachlan
Thanks James
I presume they’ve teamed up with the SES as it does allow them some training and affiliation with the sector. Not sure exactly what they do with the SES. Aligning with Queensland Ambulance wouldn’t really help; he’s not employed by Queensland Ambulance; the alternatively would be to appointed as an honorary ambulance officer, which could be useful if they are called to drive the ambulance, but still wouldn’t allow them to fit lights/sirens to a private car.
Michael.
James,
In the mid 90s, all community based organisations had to have WorkCover insurance for workers compansation as well as increased third party insurance. Many went to the wall over the premiums.
One service, Southern Pensinular Rescue (SPR), a singular purpose group that offered helicopter marine rescue then became a VICSES Unit for the sole purpose of insurance coverage. It was registered as Flinders Unit due to its location in Rosebud Vic. It was run by an ex copper who was the main pilot. This organisation also had VICPOL callsign for VKG radio network. Air 499 I recall.
SPR would often refuse to follow VICSES administrative protocols (returns, training logs, wearing of SES badges etc) however gained public liability insurance, workers compansation insurance and emergency vehicle status (EVS) under the VICSES umbrella.
This above senario is not dissimilar to what you have just inquired about. There are many case senarios of other services” doing the same over the years.
Good point you made James
But for the sake of fairness let me say that we don’t know the exact circumstances of my correspondents links with the SES in Queensland and we shouldn’t attempt to draw any inferences on that relationship, its purpose or its mutual benefits. Other than to point out that in Queensland, SES workers do not fall within the definition of ’emergency worker’ for the purposes of the road rules, the issue is not important to the discussion.
Michael Eburn.
Michael,
I am curious about the definition of emergency worker, particularly relating to clause (c), which states ‘an officer or employee of another entity with the written permission of the Commissioner’. If the Police Commissioner were to authorise employees of EMQ (which includes SES workers) wouldn’t they then be considered emergency workers and then subject to Rule 306?
Kathy
Yes, if the Commissioner approved a class of people, such as members of the SES or members who had particular qualifications, such as members of the SES who were nominated drivers for rescue units, then yes they would be emergency workers and the vehicle they drove, as part of those duties, would be an emergency worker.
Michael.
So potentially this could be an option for the helicopter pilot posing the original question?
Indeed that is an option; my conclusion was “‘Yes’. Given you are not an emergency worker for the purposes of the Queensland Regulation you would need to apply for and be given permission in accordance with sub-paragraph (c ) of the definition of emergency worker” but without knowing the practice in Queensland, I would expect that the Commissioner would be very reluctant to give a single person that permission. The normal process would give permission to a class of people, eg those authorised by the SES to drive rescue vehicles in a unit that has road rescue functions, or the like; rather than naming individuals.
Michael
You note in your reply, or at least assume, that rural volunteer firefighters can drive an emergency vehicle in Qld under lights and sirens. How I wish that were true! The very sad fact is that a rural fire volunteer, even a volunteer officer, is not a fire officer as defined under the QFRS provisions. Hence, none of the road rule exemptions apply and all rural fire vehicles have to be driven in accordance with all road rules. Would love to be proven wrong. The stupidity of the position is that a rural volunteer officer from interstate is covered, but rural fire volunteers within the State are not. Even a recruit under training for the urban service is technically able to as they are a fire officer as defined.
Thanks for that comment – you can see my reply at https://emergencylaw.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/queensland-road-rules-again/
Well written Michael.
Luke
Thanks, Luke.