Blocking ambulances?

subway

Saw this on the way home from work the other day.
just thought id post up to get some opinions.

the road in question is 3 lanes wide at a particular junction,
ie, extra lane for drivers turning right off the main road onto the adjoing road on a T juction.

so an ambulnace comes up the road in the side of the road that has 2 lanes,
sirens blaring the whole way, fairly fast, and to me it seems pretty serious.
obviously does to every other motorist on the road.

im stopped at a red light going in the opposite direction of the ambulnace, as are the cars in the lanes with the same direction as the ambulance.
watching the ambulnace come towards me as the 2 lanes split down the middle with cars mounting the kerb and crossing the white line to make room for it.
that is, until they got to the car right at the front of the queue,
the driver made absolutely no effor to move out of the ambulnaces way,
save to move a few feet closer to the red light.
he looked up at the light a few times to see if it was green,
evntually moving forward and to the side when the lights changed.

i was pretty pissed off by the drivers behaviour say the least,
as were the ambulance drivers who were sounding the horn/flashing lights, everything to get this guy to budge 1 yard over thewhite lineand let them past.

just wanted to get that off my chest as despite every other exampe of inconsiderate driving i see on the road,
ive never seen anyone be that inconsiderate to what very well may be someone elses life on the line.

subway

Töpher

:eek: Imagine being the guys driving the ambulance, if I was one of them I'd be wanting to hop out and push the car out of the way!

BrianD3

Nothing surprise me about Irish driver behaviour anymore. The twat in question may have been drunk, on his mobile or else just a dopey idiot not paying attention. Or it could have been some nutcase out to prove a point with an "I'm not legally obliged to pull in for a ambulance" type of attitude.

No matter what the reason he/she deserves a wheelbrace across the face

subway

im going for the last option,
i was at the front of my queue and he was clearly aware of the ambo' behind him,
mobile phone and pulled off safely after the ambulance finally got past him.

Gandhi

One day I was sitting in a line of cars stopped at a red light. The sound of sirens is coming from behind us so everyone pulls over to the side to let a fire engine go past.

This one genius at the back of the line decides he'll be a rock star and pull out right after the fire engine, and follow it past the line of pulled-over traffic, thus leapfrogging to the front of the queue.

Problem was, he forgot to look to make sure there was not another fire engine responding to the same fire right behind the first one. There's this almighty whack as the forty-ton fire engine rips the side panels off his car. Then the fire engine had to stop as the cops were called and the mess sorted out. I passed by the same junction again twenty minutes later and the whole melee was still going on.

AMurphy

subway wrote:

....
just wanted to get that off my chest as despite every other exampe of inconsiderate driving i see on the road,
ive never seen anyone be that inconsiderate to what very well may be someone elses life on the line.

subway

Seen it here a few times also. I think some drivers have no idea how to get out of the way or get confused or blinded by the lights....or some such brain seizure, cause even when the guy got on the speaker telling them to move left or right, they still do not get out of the way, or do something stupid.

Not sure about your situation, but what I have observed here is; The engine will come up the wrong lane (against traffic) to the light, then cross back into the normal lane going through the light.... then out into the oncoming lane again further (50yds or so from the light), may be to prevent the confusion you may have witnessed. or it's an easier/better way to get about oncoming traffic at a light.

mike65

I think some people genuiely panic, "ohmygod what do i do now??????" mode.

Mike.

jayok

Kinda funny story I heard a good while ago about a Fire-Engine driver (don't know if true or not) He'd been driving the engine for years and one day he simply 'snapped' with drivers that wouldn't get out of his way. So what did he do in his 600hp machine????

Excusing me coming through, let me just push you out of the way, I'm sorry did I shove you out of the way? He totalled six cars before the other firemen onboard managed to get him to stop. Didn't lose his job though as pleaded a mental breakdown. He got a deskjob in the fire-service after that!

Sorry I don't have any more specifics, I believe it was in the US and I only remember thinking: "Good Man!"

Back to Topic - no driver in Ireland is under any legal obligation to let any emergency service pass. It is simply a courtesy to other drivers. In the US, I believe you can be prosecuted, but I don't think here.

To the OP - the driver who wouldn't move, why legally the driver didn't have to, he was still a knob. Imagine YOU or someone you loved were in the back of the ambulance clinging on for dear life needing a A&E crash team and you died en route because some muppet wouldn't get out of the way. I can understand why you're pissed off.

subway

possibly a bit of both what mike and amurphy have said.

usually taking the wrong [contra flow] lane is the easiest option,
but in this case traffic was already building up there,
red lights on the main road and green for the adjoing road.
poor visibility and sound travel would contirubute to drivers on that road not realising how close the emergency vehicle was.

the 3 drivers that came out blocked the lane but worked in conjucntion with the drivers in the opposite lane to create space.

its hard to explin but the front driver in the middle lane could not physicaly drive any further.
the guy on the inside blocking had other people in the car and must have been mid 30 - 40 yrs old.
nice car too.
cant remember make but 03 or 04 saloon car so doubtful it was his first time seeing an ambulance.

anyway im drunk now and wandering by the pc to reply.
adios

5500

Actually has anyone ever seen firebrigades and ambulances driving the wrong way down the belgard road(ie towards oncoming cars) when the traffic is heavy?Seems to happen all the time when the traffic is backed up abit but you see people jamming on in shock at a big red engine coming towards them!

AMurphy

mike65 wrote:

I think some people genuiely panic, "ohmygod what do i do now??????" mode.

Mike.

Something along those lines. "Deer in the headlamps".

watsgone

Some people are just ignorant, I had been in the back of ambulances while they are transporting patients and some people on a wide road, with a fine hard shoulder(no potholes etc) just do'nt bother pulling in.

No respect or regard for human life

RuggieBear

could be worse.

my father is a GP and the odd time on a house call he has had to call an emergency ambulance to get a patient to hospital quickly...once while riding with a heart attack patient in the back, the ambulance was rammed a few times by joy riders:eek:

jayok

RuggieBear wrote:

could be worse.

my father is a GP and the odd time on a house call he has had to call an emergency ambulance to get a patient to hospital quickly...once while riding with a heart attack patient in the back, the ambulance was rammed a few times by joy riders:eek:

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: Feckin' shlits... this is incredible.

Looks like we are going to have to fit Ambulances with some James Bond style surface to surface missiles

murphaph

BrianD3 wrote:

No matter what the reason he/she deserves a wheelbrace across the face

Ouch, you'd need an ambulance after that!

Litcagral

As a previous poster has said, one is not legally obliged to pull over for an ambulance or fire engine but naturally most will do so as a matter of courtesy. AFAIK they are subject to the same rules of the road as anyone else. If an ambulance driver breaks a red light, he does so at his own personal risk. I think it is a different matter for the Gardai - you are obliged to get out of their way. Several years ago, I damaged the alloys on my car when forced to mount the roundabout at Dublin airport to allow Tony Blair's convoy pass. When I refused to initially, I was threatened with arrest by a motorcycle cop.

Our man in Havana

Under what charge?

Litcagral

Bond-007 wrote:

Under what charge?

He said something about infringing security. He was with a large group of advance Garda motorcycle outriders who were clearing a path for Blair. (I didn't know who it was for until he passed by). The road was extremely congested at the time (pre M1 extention) and they appeared to be under duress. Their manner was extremly aggressive and confrontational and not the attitude that I am accustomed to from the Gardai. Most other drivers at the scene were forced to do the same.

Borzoi

Litcagral wrote:

As a previous poster has said, one is not legally obliged to pull over for an ambulance or fire engine but naturally most will do so as a matter of courtesy..

True, true.

Litcagral wrote:

AFAIK they are subject to the same rules of the road as anyone else. .

That used to be the case, but the law, was changed a few years back to exempt them from some legislation

Litcagral wrote:

If an ambulance driver breaks a red light, he does so at his own personal risk. .

His own risk of injury sure - and the Dublin Fire Brigade amulances are made from cardboard so it's a possiblity - but very low risk of any sort of prosecution. I think that on the two occasions that my brother had an incident while driving for the DFB, the cops threatened to prosecute the car driver for 'undue care and attention';)

Litcagral

Thanks for clarifying that.

ciarsd

Borzoi wrote:

His own risk of injury sure - and the Dublin Fire Brigade amulances are made from cardboard so it's a possiblity

fibre-glass

the condition of the fleet is pretty bad but getting better. At least they're not accepting ex.UK fleet now and are finally being given some budget to get their own.

Back to topic... blocking an appliance on a call is not an offence legally, but maybe it is morally.

watsgone

RuggieBear wrote:

could be worse.

my father is a GP and the odd time on a house call he has had to call an emergency ambulance to get a patient to hospital quickly...once while riding with a heart attack patient in the back, the ambulance was rammed a few times by joy riders:eek:

Sad to say I have heard of that before, it seems that emergency crews are now a new choice target for attack.

Do the little f*ckers realise they could have blowed themselves sky high, ramming a ambulance, carrying oxygen which is highly flamable and a cylinder can act as a missle.

Some people

Capt'n Midnight

Part of the problem is that modern cars are too soundproofed. A lot of people simply don't hear the sirens because they have the radio too loud. Also they aren't paying attention when they do. I usually roll down the window a tad if I can't see the vehicle, to get a better idea of where the noise is coming from.

Cars are too comfy. You are not supposed to be lulled into a relaxed state. Cars are modelled on your living room, radio , AC , plushness, tinted windows, warmth etc. It's not like those old straight back chairs you get in school that tend to keep you awake and alert.

N_Raid

Borzoi wrote:

His own risk of injury sure - and the Dublin Fire Brigade amulances are made from cardboard so it's a possiblity - but very low risk of any sort of prosecution. I think that on the two occasions that my brother had an incident while driving for the DFB, the cops threatened to prosecute the car driver for 'undue care and attention';)

Yeah no court in the land is gonna convict an EMT for speeding or dangerous driving in an ambulance - as long as it's justified and they didn't cause an accident or anything. I know of one driver who, while speeding through Navan town at rush hour, was followed all the way to Our Lady's in Navan by a Garda and when he got out to unload the trolley was told he "Better have a fu<king good reason for that." He did of course and the Garda was soon on his merry way when he saw the condition of the patient in the back. So they're in no way above the law but it's just common (or maybe not so common any more) decency to get the hell out of the way

ramming a ambulance, carrying oxygen which is highly flamable and a cylinder can act as a missle.

I'm not normally the pedantic type but the oxygen cylinder can act as a missile yeah but the oxygen itself isn't flammable. It supports combustion very well though everything else would burn much better than usual.

stevenmu

N_Raid wrote:

I'm not normally the pedantic type but the oxygen cylinder can act as a missile yeah but the oxygen itself isn't flammable. It supports combustion very well though everything else would burn much better than usual.

Seeing as you got pedantic first You obviously don't remember in the run up to hurrican Rita when a bus evacuating elderly patients caught on fire causing the oxygen tanks to explode, linky

watsgone

N_Raid wrote:

I'm not normally the pedantic type but the oxygen cylinder can act as a missile yeah but the oxygen itself isn't flammable. It supports combustion very well though everything else would burn much better than usual.

Oh believe me it is flamable it also says so on the cylinder.

Alun

watsgone wrote:

Oh believe me it is flamable it also says so on the cylinder.

I can believe there may be a warning on the cylinder to avoid naked flames or the like, but that doesn't mean that the oxygen itself is flammable but that if it was released in the area of something that was burning already it would make whatever it was burn much (very, very much!) more vigorously. Oxygen does not burn, it's an oxidant

testicle

Fire needs Oxygen, Fuel, Heat and a continuous chain reaction. oxygen itself does not burn.

RuggieBear

Oh for god sake.....:D

Type 17

Litcagral wrote:

...they appeared to be under duress. Their manner was extremly aggressive and confrontational...

So, another normal day for the motorcycle cops...

Not being smart, but I have yet to hear a story of how a Dublin motorcycle cop interacted with a member of the public, and wasn't "extremely aggressive and confrontational". (A few years ago, my wife was pulled over and sworn at for being in the wrong lane(!), and came home in tears...)

jayok

Ok, I'll post one.

A good few years ago (1998) while come home late from work, I was going straight through a set of traffc lights and when I glanced at them I thought I saw green. Went straight through them. Now the lights were actually green, but only for the right-filter lane. See the problem?

On the way through breaking the Red-Light I had a near miss with on-coming car (who had the green and right of way). I braked, blew the car horn and thinking "What a muppet!". I was reflecting on this "near-miss" as I continued my journey, next thing I spotted the blue-flashing in my mirror I pulled over and a Motocycle Garda pull-up along side me. He explained to me, very nicely, that I broke the red-light. Well my face dropped. I apologised and said I really though it was green. He asked if I was ok and to be more careful of the filter lights in future. He wish me well and went off on his way!