Nothing irks me more then hearing an Ambulance of a Fire Engine coming down the street and then watching people try to race past it. I see it almost daily either on my way to work or my way home from work, makes me wonder how some people get drivers licenses. People are in such a rush to get no where these days...

There was an incident that happened last night in Virginia Beach where a man was killed when he was stuck by an ambulance on an emergency call. The Virginia Beach Police Department has yet to give the official reason behind the accident but I would not doubt it being the driver just trying to get past like we see everyday.

Here is the link to the story by the Virginian Pilot

- Chris

 

At least in CA, an emergency vehicle does not automatically have the right of way, especially at intersections. They are supposed to slow down to 15 at a stoplight. A forward-facing red light is a request to yield only, not an absolute demand. The ambulance company can be held liable if it runs a red signal or stopsign and strikes another vehicle.

Jim

 

i drive on average 300 miles a day, and have come to the conclusion that almost all the people on the road would not let an ambulance pull out in front of them, even knowing that their own mother was in the back of it, dying of a heart attack.

 

I seen that just recently on my daily run (I leave at 2am so this would have been about 3.15am in another town) I was coming up on the firestation had already seen a couple of emergancy vehicles headed the other way so was on the watch, and was in the right lane (4lane non divided city street) I got pretty close to the station,a nd the ambulance came to the stop sign, I stopped and gave him the room to go but the car behind me got mad swung around me, and headed up the street fast I hit the horn, and waved the ambulance to a stop luckily (he was directly in front of me when he stopped and the car went screaming by me missing the ambulance by inches flipping me the bird as he went by. Ambulance driver waved and went on but sure wish that the city cops hadn't been already headed to the accident would have loved to see him get nailed for that.

 

Sirens are of course audible

Driving doesn't depend on one to be able to Hear.

It has everything to being able to SEE

Now Being Blind is different.
Although is may appear many people on the road are blind.... Being blind results in poor driving

Once the person sees the emergency lights that person must pull over to the far right or far left to allow the E/vehicle to pass or ..at least not impede its travel.

 

I agree with Jimandmandy. Emergency lights are only a request to stop (mind you, if you get caught not doing it, failure to yeild to an emergency vehicle is a stiff fine and heafty on points). In Ontario, all emergency vehicles must come to a complete stop on reaching a red light or stop sign. An emergency vehicle cannot pass a school bus with it's lights flashing. Trust me, I've been a paramedic for 10 years, both urban and rural. I'm the PO'ed medic driving down the yellow line, forcing both sides of traffic to pull over. Because I can (just kidding), it offers more "routes of escape" if someone does something stupid, like pull out in front of a stopped car. My favorite, is going down a two lane road (one in either direction), the first few cars pull over and the next one swings out to try to pass them.

I know this annoys people, but sometimes we run "hot", but are going fairly slow (around the speed limit), it has to do with timing of traffic lights (less red lights and less turns means less possibilites of accidents) or the medic in the back is trying to do something difficult (like starting an IV-trying to puncture a vein, while bouncing around is not the funnest thing to do).

I don't know about stateside, but in Canada, the only vehicle able to run a red light or stop sign is a postal truck.

A postal truck? Yup, it's a federal offence to stop or detain the mail. Traffic violations is a provincial offence. That being said, I wouldn't want to try it out in reality

 

in my town we do our best to get out of the way of emergency vehicles. The people i hate are the ones that moved in from Bellevue, Seattle, or any other city,they HATE it when they have to pull over to let the ER's go by. Us locals like to block these city folk off to keep them out of the way of the fire truck or ET's. I guess people in the cities don't care about getting out of the way. One thing that does help is that all emergency vehicles, including the police, is that they can trigger a green light a head of them and all others go to red.

 

Those are nice for firetrucks (it's a bear to get that much weight up to speed, then have to slow and start up again). The only problem with them is that they are usually set up for 35mph. (Not that you really want to go much faster in a populated area).

Yup, big city folks, they hear the siren's so much, they just tune it out. (well, some of them anyway).

 

They also slam on there brakes and stop in the middle of the road when the see our squad(73 F250 4X4) coming up from behind.

Those light changers are $400 in the galls catalog.

 

I have always and was taught that flashing lights means get over. I hate these people that decide they wanna run with the ER vehicle. I have a lot of respect for the men and women working on these calls. I want to get out of their way so they can get there on time and do what ever they need to do quicker and possibly save someones life by getting there seconds earlier. Around here, when an emergency vehicle approaches a red light, they usually have lights, siren, and horn going as they creep through the intersection. Most people have the common decency to stop and let them pull through, but some, eh, won't go there, had my confrontation with a Charlotte driver yesterday over nothing, but anywho. I see that emergency vehicles have the right of way as long as they are on call with the lights on. Lights mean get over, not drive down the center of the road like nothing is going on.

 

Been working Fire/EMS 16 years........

I'm happy when people dont make any sudden movements. I've learned not to expect too much.

 

I seem to remember from drivers ed that it is the law for the oncoming traffic to pull over too. is that true? cuz nobosdy does here. I always do if I'm on a non-divided road, or near a place where the emergency vehicle could be turning. if there's a median I don't figure it'd do any good. but I make allot of people mad pulling over when the ambulance in on the other side of the street.

 

Yes, both sides of traffic are to pull over, unless it is a divided highway (a definate median). But like Peppy, most fire and ambulance personel don't expect much anymore (I left out police, most stop for police, or atleast here they do), no sudden moves is good, pulling over and stopping is better (not that it happens very often).

 

I know in RI as long has the lights ans seriens are one they have the right of way no matter what, part of this is because all fire/police/ambulances in the state are town or state controlled. the only reason police/fire/ambulance drivers are liabile is if they are recklessly driving and cause an accident, this does happen on occasion.

 

How about the ambulance chaser's? Those are the cars that follow right behind it as its cutting through heavy traffic. Everytime I've seen that happen, its either a Vette, Benz, Beemer or Porche...

I remember one time sitting at a light, it turned green and the first car didn't go, for like 20 seconds. I was on my way to an exam (always get there early to study the last few minutes), so I honk the horn... so then what comes racing down the street? An ambulance. Yeah, I felt like the biggest jackbutt in the world .