Motorway 'Highways Patrol' Units....

[Cheshire Cat]

http://www.chp.ca.gov/
http://www.fhp.state.fl.us/
http://hp.state.sd.us/

...and so on for every state in the USA

Colonel Daniel C. Mosteller

...makes ours look a little sad by comparison

http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/601.aspx

 

[Bry Nylon]

Are the real emergency services ACTUALLY allowed to exceed the speed limit legally? Or is it something which is just overlooked?

On driver training we are told we can exceed the posted speed limits when responding to emergency calls and are permitted to treat red traffic lights as you would a "Give Way" sign. Fire appliances shouldn't exceed the posted speed limit by more than 20mph (ie, must do no more than 50mph in a 30 limit etc).

As with all these things, you just have to use judgement and drive accordingly and appropriate to the life risk. (ie, you would drive with more urgency to a house fire with persons reported trapped, than you would to a school basement flooded in the middle of the night).