Today’s question is
I live in Western Australia and lately we have seen an explosion in private ambulance companies.
When I was at a school event I noticed a vehicle there providing first aid however it wasn’t your Traditional Mercedes Sprinter Van ambulance. It was a small SUV with the word ambulance. And it also had a light bar on the top. My question is, is there any regulation around who is allowed to put the word ambulance and have light bars on their vehicles because it appears that there are so many private companies that don’t respond to emergencies but have the word ambulance on their vehicles.
In WA there is no law that says who can or cannot put the word ‘ambulance’ on their vehicles or operate an ambulance service.
With respect to flashing lights, the Road Traffic (Vehicles) Regulations 2014 (WA) r 327(2)(a) says ‘unless subregulation (3) applies, a vehicle must not display — (a) a light that flashes…’ Sub-regulation 3 says ‘an exempt vehicle may be fitted with any light or reflector approved by the CEO’. An exempt vehicle includes an ‘emergency vehicle’ (r 327(4)). Relevantly the term emergency vehicle includes an ‘ambulance’, but that term is not further defined (r 226).
It follows that anyone in Western Australia can put the word ‘ambulance’ on their vehicle and if the Department of Transport accepts that a vehicle is an ‘ambulance’ then it can have any light, including a flashing light, that the CEO has approved for fitting to emergency vehicles which, presumably, includes red/blue flashing lights.
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Australian Emergency Law 
I have recently commissioned 2 new Mercedes type ambulances for a Mine site in WA and the process to get them registered as an “Ambulance” included a revision of the need for it to be an emergency vehicle. Considerations were; our location and if the area was serviced by a state ambulance service, driver qualifications, (Drive Under Operational Conditions) and fit for purpose. This was reportedly assessed by a State Ambulance Service, DFES and Department of Transport committee. Once it was approved as an Ambulance, it was considered an Emergency Vehicle so was approved for Red/Blue lights. If it was NOT approved, it was to be named “Patient Transport”, not an ambulance. This only allowed it to “Fit Emergency beacons” which are only red/amber or red/white.