Bright yellow is the new white for eye-catching ambulances

John Stretton, St John Wanganui's territory manager, with the new yellow ambulance. Photo/Stuart Munro

What's fluorescent yellow and helps out in a crisis?

It is St John Wanganui's new ambulance, which arrived at the station on Monday. Unlike the other ambulances, this one is painted a vivid yellow with green trim.

St John Wanganui's territory manager, John Stretton, said the colour was designed to make the ambulance more visible.

"Yellow is the best colour for visibility - apparently the ambulance can be seen from 1km away at night. It enables crews to spot each other easily, and also helps prevent on-scene accidents," Mr Stretton said.

The colour was used for ambulances in Britain and Europe.

The Wanganui ambulance is only the third bright yellow one in the country. They are being rolled out throughout New Zealand as new ambulances are required.

"Each one costs $170,000, so they're not cheap," Mr Stretton said.

Wanganui has five ambulances in total and Mr Stretton expected it would take up to three years to replace all five with the yellow ones.

He said the ambulance crews liked the new colour, and there had been lots of positive comments from the public.