No they don't. They merely intimidate pedestrians into getting out of their way in fear of their lives. By convention, people drive so as to make wandering across the road at will unsafe. But there is no legal basis (on most roads) for this priority.
I fitted a model aeroplane engine on the handle bars of my push bike until I was legally old enough to ride my motor bike
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Er, yes - the main users around my way are not the aged!
interspersing
Very rarely hear a siren around here. One or twice a year... Bigger give away of an "incident" is the air ambulance circling and landing.
Not inside a car, with the windows up, in a bullt up area. Too many reflections creating standing wave peaks and nulls. Move your head and the "location" of the siren changes. When in a city I'll often hear a wailing siren from a distance but not have a clue where it's coming from until I catch a glimpse of the blues or it switches to one of the lower frequency, broader bandwidth, noise sounds which immediatly and accurately locates it.
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