need mirrors for commmuting?

[Mr Skid]

Oh thats just cheap and untastfull, my mirrors are flushed into my fairings, duh - zxr's are like omg so much better.

I don't know about my mirrors being flush, but some might argue my 'fearings' are flushed..

[Zed]

Thats what your ears are for.

Tell that to the 'mirrorless' bikers who wear ear plugs! So Glen, what is the purpose of all those flashing lights on an ambulance then - to make it look pretty?

Statement: mirrors on bikes are a necessity on the road even when lanesplitting!

[wkid_one]

Main rule of driving - don't give a fuck about what happens behind you - worry about what is about to happen in front of you.

Lights on ERV are principally for vehicles coming towards, sirens for vehicles in front of ERV facing other way - hence why sirens are facing forward.

Emergency vehicle flashing light recommendations have passed through several evolutions of NFPA standard changes since the 1970's. With each edition, the number of lights has increased. But, there does not appear to be any documented decrease in emergency vehicle accident rates. As of this writing there are some serious questions pertaining to the appropriate number, color, and placement of flashing lights needed for safety.¹ To complicate the issue is the addition of amber to the light inventory.
More than three decades ago some police agencies, possibly in California or Illinois started to roof mount a flashing amber light to be used when a working police car was parked on the road shoulder or along a curb. This tactic was in response to a number of collisions involving a civilian driver striking a stationary police car displaying the typical emergency lights. Many of the vehicle operators were thought to be involved in alcohol consumption, fatigued, and/ or under the influence of drugs.

The law enforcement approach of using the amber light initially seems to have been an informal trial and error methodology rather than a formal flashing light study. However, from these early experiences and observations there appeared to be reductions in collisions involving civilians rear- ending or sideswiping police emergency vehicles utilizing an amber light.

Unlike many of the topics we have addressed in this series on EMS myths, the scientific literature related to use of emergency lights and sirens is quite limited—and what literature exists does not clarify the issue. First, do lights and sirens save a significant amount of time? Researchers in North Carolina compared lights and siren transport to non-lights and siren transport in an urban setting where transport time to a university medical center involved distances of eight miles or less. They found that lights and siren transport only averaged 43.5 seconds faster than non-lights and siren transport. They concluded, "Although the mean difference is statistically significant, it is not clinically significant, except in rare circumstances." ¹ A similar study conducted in Syracuse, NY, found that lights and siren response reduced response times by an average of 1 minute, 46 seconds. They concluded, "Although statistically significant, this time saving is likely to be clinically relevant in only a few cases." ² Researchers in Minneapolis, MN, similarly studied the role of emergency lights and sirens in emergency response times. They studied 64 runs over a nine-month period and concluded that responses with lights and sirens saved an average of 3.02 minutes over non-lights and siren responses.³ Additional studies are needed to clarify this issue. But, geographical differences, distances to hospitals and other variables may never allow this question to be adequately studied.
So, should patient condition, and nothing else, guide usage of emergency lights and sirens? This may be a little clearer. Pennsylvania researchers studied a county-wide, single-provider, private EMS system that used 11 ALS ambulances. Annual call volume for the service area was 14,000, and the county population was approximately 90,000. A medical protocol was developed, and carried on each ambulance, that provided medical criteria for lights and siren transport. A total of 1,625 patients were entered into the study. Based on the medical protocol, 92% of patients were transported without lights and sirens, while 8% were transported with lights and sirens. No adverse outcomes were identified as being related to non-lights and siren transport.⁴
How much time makes a difference? This remains unclear. Much EMS practice is based upon the concept of a so-called "Golden Hour." However, recent studies have shown that there is little evidence to either support or refute the concept of a "Golden Hour."^5,6 Intuitively, some emergencies may benefit from rapid response and transport; however, most probably will not. With this in mind, we must weigh the benefits of lights and siren response (which appear fairly minimal) with the potential risks (which appear to be fairly significant).
Do the benefits of lights and siren transport outweigh the possible risks? Again, this must be a local decision. A recent study estimated that the fatality rate for EMS personnel is 12.7 fatalities per 100,000 EMS workers annually, which compares with 14.2 for police, 16.5 for firefighters, and a national average of 5.0 during the same time period. Most fatalities were due to traffic accidents.⁷ Some industry experts have estimated that there are 12,000 ambulance-related crashes annually in the United States, causing nearly 120 deaths.⁸ Numerous accidents have been attributed to use of emergency lights and sirens.⁹ But, there are several factors to consider. Many EMS and fire services poorly prepare their personnel for emergency vehicle operation, especially when compared to training of law enforcement officers. Second, in many areas, EMS provider knowledge of basic traffic safety laws pertaining to emergency vehicle operation is poor.^10,11 We need to address these issues to assure that lights and siren response is as safe as possible and used as little as possible.

[Madmax]

try riding a ZX10R might as well not have mirrors at all
(all you can see is your elbows)

[Coldkiwi]

yeah, I guess having read these posts and thinking more about it (emergency vehicles that may (police) or may not (ambos) be trying to catch up with you!) some sort of mirror is kinda necessary to at least keep some sort of tabs on whats happening behind. And for once, I'm thinking that the likes of MV F4 mirrors/998 style little stumpy things might fit the bill nicely! Really narrow but if you want to see behind quickly, just lift a wing and have a gawk. For a proper gawk, you always need to turn around of course.

It does stagger me about the amount people that don't see or hear emergency vehicles trying to get past even when they're almost practicing proctology on the back of their car. A casual glance in a mirror to see where the next gap might come from if the traffic is flowing makes them pretty easy to spot. I guess it goes to show how tuned out some cagers get huh? (no biker ever got to that stage and stayed upright I'm sure!).... well, apart from that spanish dude who apparently got hypothermia and froze solid but didn't stop last year