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Require emergency service vehicles to use two-tone “nee nah” sirens.

Submitted by Jason Chown on Thursday 27th February 2025

Published on Wednesday 23rd April 2025

Current status: Closed

Closed: Thursday 23rd October 2025

Signatures: 45

Relevant Departments

Tagged with

behave ~ British ~ Capitalism ~ Cops ~ Distance ~ Emergency ~ Loss ~ mistake ~ Pitch ~ Represent ~ SIREN ~ view ~ Viewing

Petition Action

Require emergency service vehicles to use two-tone “nee nah” sirens.

Petition Details

We feel there has been an increased use of American style “wailing” sirens on our emergency service vehicles. We think this is a mistake, and that these are less safe. We believe they also represent a loss of a small but important bit of cultural capital.

Additional Information

A wailing siren's constantly changing pitch can disguise Doppler effects and interaural timing cues, which can make it difficult to discern the direction and distance.

We think a two-tone siren provides more predictable and consistent auditory cues that the brain can use for localisation.

Also, we want our emergency personnel to behave - and be treated like - British bobbies, not American cops. We view the siren an important subconscious nudge as to who we are and how we should behave.


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