Blue lights added to ambulances in P.A. area

Ambulances and paramedic vehicles in the Prince Albert area will be a bit more visible now, thanks to the addition of blue lights.

According to Lyle Karasiuk, director of public affairs with Parkland Ambulance Care, their fleet added the blue lights following changes to the Traffic Safety Act announced in April of this year.

Those changes allowed blue lights to be displayed on ambulances, firefighting vehicles and other emergency vehicles as designated by the Highway Traffic Board or municipalities.

Previous amendments in 2015 and 2017 allowed blue lights to be added to snowplows, tow trucks and other roadside service vehicles.

“Parkland Ambulance Care has made the conversion that will see blue, red and white emergency lights on all its ambulances and emergency response vehicles,” Karasiuk said in an emailed statement, noting that white is the only colour required on ambulance vehicles.

“We applaud this improvement in emergency lighting to improve the safety for all our paramedics working on Saskatchewan roadways.”

The rules of the road remain the same around emergency vehicles, regardless of the colour of lights on display. That means all drivers must still slow to 60 kilometres per hour when passing emergency vehicles stopped on the highway with operating lights.