What It Means When You See A Green Flashing Beacon On The Road
Beacons play an important role when it comes to safety, especially on the road. These lights shine bright and clear even in the most extreme weather conditions because the message they convey needs to be recognised immediately in order for other road users to respond accordingly. In the UK, a green flashing beacon is used to indicate safety and security concerns on the road. When you see this light, you need to have the presence of mind to know what to do so you can help ensure on the road regardless of the conditions you may find yourself and others in.
Everyone is responsible for their safety and of others. To help you better understand the uses of flashing beacons on the road as well as how to respond to these, consider reading the following sections.
Construction Vehicles
Beacons – especially green ones – are the best being practice on construction vehicles. It signals that the operator is wearing seatbelt. For this reason, the use of a beacon has been standardised as a symbol of best practices in various industries. It has been adopted in wider array of construction products by private companies as well as on highways. Flashing beacon can be used on plant machinery when they are working on-site, or at works on the road as any area closed off is no longer as being part of the highway. These set the health and safety requirements for items of operated plant that are used frequently in civil engineering projects. A construction or agricultural worker must remember to disconnect the green beacon when their vehicle takes to the highway.
On the Road
A beacon on the road can be the sign of a medical professional who needs to let you know they are in a hurry but cannot contravene traffic regulations (usually a green flashing beacon). But it does not mean that the vehicles that uses green lights are exempted to road traffic act. Doctors who use these flashing lights cannot proceed through a red traffic signal or cannot even exceed to speed limits. There is a particular colour of light used by the doctors to be exempted to such road traffics. When you see a speeding vehicle with a green flashing beacon, consider your position and whether it is safe to slow down or pull over to allow the vehicle passage as courtesy.
Volunteer First
If you are driving and you see a vehicle with a flashing light on its dash, grill or pull-down visor – would you know what to do? In many communities, a beacon may be used by a volunteer first responder, such as fire-fighter, to indicate that they are responding to a call. Depending on where you are and your driving pace, you may opt to slow down, pull over, or give way to allow passage to the vehicle on the road.
Strong Warnings
Such colour light beacon used for strong warnings about hazards or danger and is most often seen on law enforcement or fire fighting vehicles. The implied meaning is to stop or move out of the way to safety. When combined with flashing or rotating lights, it sends a powerful nonverbal message to the viewer about the possibility of immediate danger. Once you recognise this signal, be sure to act accordingly using your best judgment of the situation, of course.
Associated with Safety or Security
There are several practical uses of flashing beacons. Colour beacons might be used for local emergency response teams, at mobile command centres, or on vehicles used by safety representatives. It sends the message that the crisis is being handled to ensure the viewer’s safety.
Everyone should learn about what flashing beacons are used for and the specific messages they communicate when out on the road as this can spell the difference between safety and danger, or worse, life and death of other road users. By keeping in mind all the facts listed regarding the use of a green flashing beacon in the above paragraphs, you can be more confident with the knowledge that you can respond to a certain road situation as safely and calmly as possible. That said, people might not think about as much as they should, but their decisions can directly or indirectly affect someone’s life, especially when driving on the road!
