http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/rules/glazing-windscreen-wipe-and-wash-and-mirrors-1999.html#31

Something that came up recently.. again...

The Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004 states in part:

emergency vehicle means a vehicle used for attendance at emergencies and operated—

(a) by an enforcement officer:

(b) by an ambulance service:

(c) as a fire service vehicle:

(d) as a civil defence emergency vehicle:

(e) as a defence force emergency vehicle

enforcement officer means—

(a) a constable:

(b) a Police employee who is not a constable who is authorised for the purpose by the Commissioner of Police:

(c) a person who is appointed to that office by warrant under section 208 of the Act or who holds that office by virtue of the Act

Fire Authority has the same meaning as in section 2(1) of the Forest and Rural Fires Act 1977

fire service vehicle means a vehicle that is—

(a) owned by the New Zealand Fire Service Commission or a Fire Authority; or

(b) operated by the New Zealand Fire Service, a defence fire brigade, or any brigade responding under a co-ordination agreement and approved by the National Commander of the New Zealand Fire Service; or

(c) operated and approved by a Fire Authority

And also states

Use of beacons

(1) A person must not operate a beacon fitted to a vehicle unless the beacon has been approved for fitting to the vehicle, and is—

(a) a blue beacon or a red beacon fitted to a vehicle operated by an enforcement officer in the course of that officer's duty; or

(ab) a blue beacon fitted to a vehicle operated by—

(i) a customs officer (as defined in section 2(1) of the Customs and Excise Act 1996) to exercise a power to stop conferred on the officer under section 144 of that Act; or

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2008/0072/latest/DLM1102252.html?search=ts_act_fire+service_resel&p=1#DLM1102252

Policing Act, Part 3, Para 49

Use of term Police or New Zealand Police in operating name

(1) A person commits an offence who, without reasonable excuse, carries on an activity under an operating name that includes the word "“Police”" or the words "“New Zealand Police”", in a manner likely to lead a person to believe that the activity is endorsed or authorised by the Police or any part of the Police.

(2) A person who commits an offence against this section is liable,—

(a) in the case of an individual, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to a fine not exceeding $5,000:

(b) in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding $20,000.

Something I was inspired to look up post a discussion on Facebook...

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2004/0427/latest/DLM303083.html

Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004 (SR 2004/427) (as at 01 October 2011)

.1 Drivers must not exceed speed limits

(1) A driver must not drive a vehicle at a speed exceeding the applicable speed limit (being a permanent, variable, holiday, urban, rural, temporary, or other speed limit).

(2) The fact that a vehicle is driven at a speed that does not exceed the applicable speed limit does not excuse an alleged breach of a provision of any other Part of this rule.

(3) A driver who drives at a speed exceeding the applicable speed limit is not in breach of subclause (1) if the driver proves that, at the time the vehicle was being driven,—

(a) the vehicle was being used by an enforcement officer engaged on urgent duty and compliance with the speed limit would be likely to prevent the execution of the officer's duty; or

(b) the vehicle was an emergency vehicle being used in an emergency and was operating a red beacon or a siren, or both; or

(c) the vehicle was being used (on a road subject to a speed limit of 60 km per hour or more) to convey a member of the Executive Council engaged on urgent public business, or to convey any other person authorised for the purpose by the Minister and engaged on urgent public business in the execution of the person's functions.

Can't help but see an element of truth in this one. :-)

The image is not infact mine, but was posted to the NZFire Mailing List by David Millar, a regular contributor. Not sure if it's his or externally sourced, but I wanted to share it anyway...

Fire Police Constable on-duty at the scene of a collapsed frontage to a commercial property in Westmere, early this afternoon.

The family and I attended the Birkenhead Santa Parade this year as our 'local'. They put on a good show!

I have Photos and also a brief video - it only shows the Birkenhead VFB Appliances... one camera couldn't do everything at once! :)

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I have to give a lot of credit to David Millar (and others) for giving those of us in the NZFIRE group a steady stream of updates from Christchurch in the aftermath of one of NZ's most significant natural disasters. The affects of the magnitude 7.1 quake which hit last weekend will be felt for years.

One interesting point of note is the value the new Hazmat-Command Units NZFS has recently fielded have brought into play, with their integrated communications systems, etc. Here's some photos taken by David and posted to NZFIRE today:

Larger versions can be found in my South Island Album.

Yeah, i'm getting old in a day or two. :-) So in celebration we had a few friends around tonight for some food and drink, and to share in this remarkable birthday cake that my good wife made for me this week.

What can I say? It rocks. Or Rocked, until we performed a 'front cut'. ;-)

We also found one of the best uses ever for an iPad.