20 replies to this topic

[Bubble2Bubble]

I was near a intersection today and a ambulance pulled right behind a white car with its lights on..everyone, including the cars with the green light yielded for the ambulance. the white car just sat there so the ambulance turned on its siren... the white car just froze. finally the ambulance driver back-up about 10 feet and turned into the on-coming lane, entered to intersection and turned left, than sped away. this left me wondering if the driver of the white car was a blank? or a blank ? or did the right thing..again ? I think if I was the driver of the white car I would got the blank out of the way.



Bubski

[ScubaHawk]

Did the white car have a red or green light. In every part of the US I've ever been in, you are supposed to pull as far to the right as you can and stop without blocking an intersection. You are not supposed to run a red light to do this however. If the white car's light was red, he was supposed to stay right where he was so the emergency vehicle could go around him.

[Hipshot]

I remember one time, on a two-lane road, when I pulled off to the side of the road to let an ambulance by. Believe it or not, none of the cars behind the ambulance would let me back onto the road.

Rick



The Woodstock Music Festival is 40 years old this summer. Those who attended have changed quite a bit. They still do drugs. But now there's a $15 co-pay.- Alan Ray

[Bubble2Bubble]

Hawk,
Yes the white car had a red light while in the turning lane... so the driver of the white car did the right thing..It just looked like the ambulance diver was trying to force the car to break the law then..Interesting..

Rick,
People are just plan rude ! ...sometimes

Several years ago I saw a ambulance (with lights and siren on) enter and intersection only to be broadsided by a car...now that car had a green light.. that accident happened in the state of New York, I just shook my head and said..well the police will most likely get involved with this one (driver)

[scubaski]

This past April I was at a red light waiting to cross a main state divided road when I saw a police car with lights and siren on 1/4 mile ahead of fire truck. I stayed pat when light turned green waiting for the cars ahead of police to get the idea and move out of the way. BANG!!! read loud car CRASH!!!. You guessed it I was rear ended and the second ambalance and cop stoped to put me in the meat wagon. So I tend to be gun shy around lights and sirens. True story.

[pmarie]

About one year ago I was approaching an intersection that had a fire turck getting ready to come through with lights and sirens; my light was green I slowed and stopped. Amazingly enough I even had eye contact with the driver of the fire truck....wham...rear-ended. Those guys were over to me so fast I could barely register that I had been truly smacked almost into the middle of the intersection. The first thing those guys said, "Thanks for stopping for us"

[scubaski]

See, Being a good citizen is dangerous.

[Victoria]

See, Being a good citizen is dangerous.

No good deed goes unpunished...

[shadragon]

I was told a while back that in Canada only one vehicle is exempted from traffic laws. Red lights, stop signs and speed limits have to be followed by Police cruisers, fire trucks and ambulances. The only vehicle allowed to break the rules of the road is a Post Office vehicle believe it or not. Yet, the only mail that arrived quickly was junk and bills.

[Bubble2Bubble]

See, Being a good citizen is dangerous.

No good deed goes unpunished...

Simon,
Really ?
Only in Canada

I mean this with the utmost of course.

Mike

[Bubble2Bubble]

Scubatooth aka Dan has been so busy lately that he ask me to post this e-mail responce he sent to me a few weeks ago reguarding his work as a EMT.

Dan

Umm when it comes to peoples reactions when were running with lights
and sirens it's really a mixed bag. By law a drivers is supposed to
get out of our way and pull as far to the right as possible so that we
have a big enough hole to get through and not slow down. Now mind you
were not drving fast because we can but because the situation warrents
it's and we have to drive with"just prudence". Most people get out of
our way and let us get through.

With that said I gave had people pull right in front of me and hit the
brakes causing me to have to stand on the brakes so I didn't hit the
idiot because I have 3x the weight to try and stop compared to the
average car or truck. I have also had people tailgate me so they
could make better time which is dangerous because if I have to quick
stop your gonna end up in the patient compartment of the box with your
car. When it comes down to it if you see or hear me coming pull as
far to the right as possible unless I have to make a right turn then
I'm going to that lane.

When I drive code (which isn't often because normally I'm the one in
the back if were running code) basically I have alot going on mentally
as you have to be thinking a few steps ahead and all possibilities if
what drivers may do. First one is that I put my seat a little closer
to the wheel to shorten the distance I have to press the pedals and
the seat back is all the way up then I tighten my seat belt down so
if something were to happen there's no slack in it. Then I have our
destination address inputted into the gps so that I have the fastest
route as possible (in time and miles and least number of obsticales
and lights). When we start to roll first thing I engage is our
primary lights and light bar and any other flashers in the truck.
Before activating the siren I set it to wail which is that sound you
hear when were going down the road. Then I set the switch for our air
horn so when I press the horn on the steering wheel it changes to the
the air horn so I limit the number if times I have to take my hands
off the wheel. Once that's all set I make a call on the radio to our
dispatcher notifying them we are transporting, what our priority is,
we will be running code, our projected route/time/distance. This is
so that our dispatcher can notify the cities we will be going through
so they can inform there personel so that we don't have a collision
with other apparatus. Once all of that is done I turn the siren on
and start moving. When I'm driving code you have to be hypervigilant
of your surroundings and be thinking about what's in front of you and
five steps down the road. Example would be when I'm coming to a
intersection I slow down and change the siren from wail to a high freq
sound to let people know I'm coming that and I make judicious use of
the air horn. At the intersection I will come to a complete stop look
all directions make sure it's clear then proceed through. Once I'm
clear siren is set to wail and off we go. On the highway I tend to
use the far left lane or one just to the right. Now in all cases we
have to be smooth because of everyone in the back and not wanting to
throw them around. In all cases I start to make my moves well in
advance of were I will need them. If I'm gonna change lanes I signal
for 5-10 sec before I do it so people behind me know it. Then when i
get off the highway I start doing lane changesvto get over about a
mile out so that I don't have to make sudden turns. That's pretty
much the gist if running code from our end. If I get a chance to
record us running code sometime I will.

( this were I think the law should be changed so if you get in the
way if a ambulane running with lights and sirens and we end up hitting
them that driver that got in the way should be liable to pay for the
damage to the ambulance, any injuries of the crew/patient and any bad
outcomes to the patient because of the other driver.)

Also the term ambulance driver is one that alot of ems people take
offense to( our title is our certification - EMT, Paramedic). That's a
term that's a hold over from the 60's when ems didn't exist and the
ambulance was run by a funeral home and no care was done the people
driving it litterally put you in the back of a hearse and took you to
the hospital. Back then you probably got Bruno from the local goon
squad driving who wasn't the brightest person but could drive real
well. In contrast to today were the amount of training required at my
level is the same as a nurse both in time and knowledge. I hope answers your question Bubski.

[ASDmike]

Reminds me that I was gunna ask Tooth about Texas law regarding highways and highway speeds. In other states I have seen Emergency vehicles travel way faster than the speed limit, but not here (or not much more than the posted speed limit).

So I see an ambulance get on more than 1/4 mile behind me with lights and siren blaring, and they fall quickly behind, since the highway is wide open and I am still on cruise control, and might be doing 6-9 over.
Seems wrong that an ambulance for a couple miles keeps getting smaller and smaller in my rear view mirror , but eventually (in Texas) they disappear.

[Scubatooth]

Reminds me that I was gunna ask Tooth about Texas law regarding highways and highway speeds. In other states I have seen Emergency vehicles travel way faster than the speed limit, but not here (or not much more than the posted speed limit).

So I see an ambulance get on more than 1/4 mile behind me with lights and siren blaring, and they fall quickly behind, since the highway is wide open and I am still on cruise control, and might be doing 6-9 over.
Seems wrong that an ambulance for a couple miles keeps getting smaller and smaller in my rear view mirror , but eventually (in Texas) they disappear.

sorry to drag up a older post.

B2B thank you for posting that

Mike - there is no state law that dictates how fast we can drive. We have to drive with just prudence and be able to document and justify our speed, as its if we have a accident that we have to be able to defend our driving. Im not going to mention some of the speeds i have gone in a ambulance but for the call i was on it was justifiable typically i wont push it beyond 10-15 above the posted limit. One thing is that not all ambulances are designed to do more then 60 mph as there are some that have electronic or mechanical governs on the motors especially the international chassis and heavy duty ambulances as they weigh so much that they cant get to highway speeds. For Example when i was on hurricane deployment last year we had to maintain a max of 60 mph as there were 2 international ambulances in our strike team so thats all we went so they could keep up with us. Didnt matter much for most of the time because the traffic jam we averaged about 20 mph from galveston to about 100 miles west of houston, now once clear of that we stepped up the speed.


If you havent read the post above please read it as there was call recently were a neonate team was on-board transporting a neonate (<1 day old) that was in bad shape and couldn't be flown. on the way back there was a driver that came off a on ramp crossed 4 lanes (far right to far left) nearly hitting 2 other cars and right in-front of the ambulance (lights & sirens going full tilt) and locked up the brakes because they dropped there coffee while they were talking on there phone and then happened to see a car wreck a half mile down the road (didn't hear the ambulance apparently). The ambulance had to do a panic stop (mind you this was a 4+ ton vehicle doing highway speeds, and doesn't stop on a dime) to keep from hitting this idiot. During the panic stop the trucks on-board accelerometer (tattle tale) recorded 9.6Gs (9.6 times the force of gravity so 10lbs would equal 96lbs in that situation) of force on the truck. anything that wasnt secured flew forward, thank goodness the all on-board were in seat belts or harnesses and no one got hurt, just shaken up. The idiot driver on the other hand was pulled over by PD and given the nth degree amongst other things for there stupidity.

Tooth

[Wakemaker]

I remember one time, on a two-lane road, when I pulled off to the side of the road to let an ambulance by. Believe it or not, none of the cars behind the ambulance would let me back onto the road...

Last month, in Costa Mesa (California) I reported a local fire engine was code 3 approaching an intersection where a car did not yield to dispatch. I've seen so very may emergency response vehicles actually stop at the intersection to ensure their safe crossing. This slows the response. California drivers have created that dilemma by their nasty driving habits around emergency vehicles. (Always report drunk and/or reckless driving).

A couple of weeks ago, while driving out of Oklahoma through TN (I still can't spell Tennessee yet), one side of the highway became completely stopped. Emergency vehicles eventually passed us on the right. Not long after that, some people started using the shoulder too. The shoulders were the only areas left for emergency responders to approach the scene by road.

Last week or so, driving North on the I-95, I observed not only discourteous drivers who used emergency vehicles as a traffic screen, (tailgating emergency vehicles is not safe for the emergency responders and it is also illegal), and thus not let other personally owned vehicles re-enter the driving lanes, they would not move out of the obstructed lane until they had cut to the front of the line. That's a gurney in the pic; someones life was in jeopardy and the people delayed by the accident, obviously driving in a hurry, were annoyed by this.

Emergency responders have to drive cautiously. This helps ensure their success. However, it slows the response. I've never seen a fire truck or an ambulance get pulled over for speeding, driving on the wrong side of the road, parking in the intersection or any other such issue. California issues special driver's licenses to these people for these jobs, which seem to be more dangerous than ever before.

Public service. (Public servant). The ones who do their jobs well, never seem to get appreciated enough.

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[Scubatooth]

Wakemaker -- tailgaters are a big problem for us. I have had them literally so close that I could open the backdoor of the ambulance and make a small step and be on there hood. It is illegal and if your caught you can expect a lecture from the officer. This is why when i have vehicles following us (family, officers, etc) I tell them i need them 1-200 yards behind me so if i have to change priority or stop quick during transport there not on my rear as my reaction times are better then most as I you tend to get hyper-vigilant running code instead of tunnel vision that most people get in a intense situation.

The other one is that i have had offers from PD to offer a escort when we have had to run code and declined, because it greatly increases the likelyhood of getting hit by someone as they see the first set of lights and sirens but not always the second especially if there close behind the cruiser running interference.