Shocking footage shows fire engine driver responding to emergency call hitting cyclist

Unfortunate collision.

My one comment here is that I want directional sirens with the white noise pulse.

From a New Statesman article about the rise of armchair detectives and other ghouls making entertainment, on-line "status" and money from True Crime events they actually know nowt about at all other than what's drummed up in the mass media, often by themselves!

"This is an ugly human impulse, exacerbated by social media, in which unaffected individuals clamour to be part of a shocking societal event, no matter how tragic or disturbing that event may be, hoping their involvement will bestow on them relevance or authority". 

It's a slippery slope, probably, perhaps starting with an impulse to be an armchair expert on the various skirmishes of the car vs cyclist war imagined then created by mass media opinion-ghouls disguised as journalists, selling both newspaps and clicks.

The two pedestrians in top left of video spotted the engine coming and waited. The cyclist crossed 3 seconds after they appear to have stopped and looked at the engine. A pedestrian is crossing in front of the cyclist. 3 seconds is not a lot of time for the cyclist to take appropriate action for the pedestrian crossing in front of them and hear and detect where the engine is coming from. It is unfortunate that they did not seem to slow down for the pedestrian and might therefore have noticed the engine or at least not been right in front of it. Reckless driving from the engine driver and inconsiderate cycling combined.    

A couple of more points for discussion.

a. The cyclist appears to be riding one handed. I know it's terrible quality video, but look the angle of his body and at his left arm. It's all sort of tilted and at a funny angle right up to the last fraction of a second.

b. The Fire Engine stops very promptly. It's impssible to tell from the video at where the driver would have been able to spot the rider and exactly when the driver hit the brakes, but given as the fire engine stopped in a very short distance, maybe the driver had slowed down. Only other CCTV and the Tachograph will tell us that though.

There's a HC requirement on both sides to mitigate any problems in this scenario but I'd hesitate to apportion blame as a %.
I'm assuming the fire engine did have a siren on. I only ask as Saturday morning I watched an ambulance stuck behind a Merc driver who was oblivious to their presence until they added the siren to the blue lights.
There are some TL junctions where I take a bit more care due to poor sightlines even in a car, but not all such junctions.

How many motorists slow down when approaching a green light, just in case there's something coming through on the opposing red?

Most of them speed up to get through before it changes even when it's amber, never mind green!

The fire brigade was going I think too fast even for siren operations, unless the camera is misleading. The proper siren use I have seen, is proceed to junctions, slows down and then with the help of siren the others give priority and the emergency vehicle passes without fully stopping. In this particular car, I would have heard the siren, but until to understand what is fully going on, I am not sure I would have managed to give way to a vehicle going at full speed throught a junction.

On the other hand I know it is cool riding in headphones, especially if they are white Apple and wireless (I think headphones are now kind of fashion statement, since they became cool), but to me it just seems crazy. I feel very aware in the bicycle because I have very good visibility from high and unobstructed hearing apart from wind (I am not that fast!). Car drivers with dirty windscreens, wipers changed a decade ago, lately huge almost horizontal A-pillars and near deafening sound systems, can understand very little what is going on the road BUT, they ride a 1,5 ton steel box with multiple safety systems that has been certified for a full head on crash at 40mph. Cyclists have at best 2cm of foam, so they need all the sensory input they can have to avoid crashes.

Rule 219 of the Highway Code states:
"Rule 219
Emergency and Incident Support vehicles. You should look and listen for ambulances, fire engines, police, doctors or other emergency vehicles using flashing blue, red or green lights and sirens or flashing headlights, or traffic officer and incident support vehicles using flashing amber lights.
When one approaches do not panic. Consider the route of such a vehicle and take appropriate action to let it pass, while complying with all traffic signs."

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/road-users-requiring-extra-...
Remembering that a green light does not mean "GO". It means proceed *if safe to do so* (links further down this thread)

So there you go. It may be a should, but the obligation is on you as a road user to be aware of emergency vehicles.

This does not give responding drivers carte blanche to do what they want ... but it does mean that *you* fellow road user and cyclists, have an obligation and a duty of care.

No requirement for car drivers to be able to listen for nee-naws, or any other aural clues. See also "in-car entertainment" / "must have had my music blaring" 

Car or motorcycle licence

You don’t need to tell DVLA if you’re deaf.

https://www.gov.uk/deafness-and-driving

As the article correctly states, fire service drivers are taught to treat red lights as a give way sign, slow to walking speed and then only proceed through the red light once they have confirmed it is safe to do so. The driver has his driving licence on the line if it goes wrong or they don't stick to those rules which would unfortunately appear to be the case here and I have no doubt this will be subject to investigation by both the police and the LFB. What amazes me though is just how many people are either so situationally unaware or so unbothered as to be totally oblivious to approaching sirens.

From the video, it doesn't look like there was much of an effort to slow for the red by the fire engine.

I don't know the junction, but I would have thought that it would be on the drivers 'careful' list [a1] and would be part of their practice response drills [a2].

It doesn't look like the driver sees the cyclist until either fractionally before impact or until impact itself.

You would like to think that the cyclist would have heard the sirens and would have been slowing down ... but that doesn't look like that happens. The cyclist also looks like they are riding one handed and doing something with their left hand. I'm watching on a mobile, and it might be clearer on a full screen.

Legally ... the driver of the fire engine is at fault.
Not sure if the LFB operate a driver and spotter - so the driver has other eyes at junctions - if that's the case then the spotter could be in for an internal disciplinary ... but not legal action.

Morally... hate to say it, but I'd suggest that the cyclist is morally wrong here. The fire engine was operating under siren, so the cyclist *should* have heard the noise, been aware of the risk and have been ready to stop.

Emergency drivers have a shit job (and I owe my life to a couple if them), however ... they are not above the Law, even when responding to a situation.

[a1] this maybe unofficial and part of a verbal risk assessment between response drivers ... you like "watch that junction/bend as its unsighted / sharp / narrow and you need to slow down" etc.
[a2] if there is a budget to allow these to happen