Posted by
john Dungloe, Co. Donegal on March 25, 2008:
I must say I'm amazed at drivers not pulling over for ambulances, fire trucks etc.
I have been driving for over 60 years in Scotland, England and Ireland. In all that time I have never once seen a case of anyone intentionally blocking any of these vehicles.
Hard to believe if you come from USA but this is true. Why are these fools not prosecuted?
Thanks for my favourite e-mail of the week.
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We're definitely not saying they're doing it intentionally. They're just not paying attention as they're guiding a 2-ton missile down the road. They need to be more aware of what's going on around them. -rc
Posted by
Mike from Dallas on March 27, 2008:
I have to disagree, Randy. It really IS intentional. Here in Dallas a couple years ago, we had an incident of road rage in which a driver went out of his way to deliberately cut off and continue to interfere with an ambulance which was "acting like he was all that." Obviously the driver was arrested or it wouldn't have made the news, but since then, in my travels around the country, I've noticed that it's quite common for drivers to actually work at impeding emergency vehicles.
I should amend that to say in the metropolitan areas since I remember that you're more of a ruralite.
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I used to drive ambulances in the San Francisco Bay Area -- definitely not rural. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do it intentionally. I didn't say it never happened, though. Glad they busted the bastard in Dallas. Hope he gets jail time and a big fine. -rc
Posted by
Ernest Junee, NSW, Australia on March 28, 2008:
Here in Australia it's an offence NOT to get out of the way for emergency vehicles. I think in the USA they may need to introduce something I've seen happen down here some years back. The ambulance came up and the driver had extremely load music on and stopped at STOP sign without pulling out of the way, being a one-way street with steel poles closing off the other side at the entrance, the ambulance couldn't go on the other side as they often do, so they pulled over as far as they could then drove up beside the offending vehicle and nudged it over until they had enough room to leave the street. The driver of the car was shocked when it happened and further shocked to learn they had to pay for the damage to the ambulance as well. The ambulance got to the scene in just enough time to save a girl's life. The car's driver got no sympathy in the media or in court when charged for obstructing an emergency vehicle.
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We do have such laws here, but I like the way it's handled there better! :-) -rc
Have Readers Learned? - Comments
Posted by john Dungloe, Co. Donegal on March 25, 2008:
I must say I'm amazed at drivers not pulling over for ambulances, fire trucks etc.
I have been driving for over 60 years in Scotland, England and Ireland. In all that time I have never once seen a case of anyone intentionally blocking any of these vehicles.
Hard to believe if you come from USA but this is true. Why are these fools not prosecuted?
Thanks for my favourite e-mail of the week.
---
We're definitely not saying they're doing it intentionally. They're just not paying attention as they're guiding a 2-ton missile down the road. They need to be more aware of what's going on around them. -rc
Posted by Mike from Dallas on March 27, 2008:
I have to disagree, Randy. It really IS intentional. Here in Dallas a couple years ago, we had an incident of road rage in which a driver went out of his way to deliberately cut off and continue to interfere with an ambulance which was "acting like he was all that." Obviously the driver was arrested or it wouldn't have made the news, but since then, in my travels around the country, I've noticed that it's quite common for drivers to actually work at impeding emergency vehicles.
I should amend that to say in the metropolitan areas since I remember that you're more of a ruralite.
---
I used to drive ambulances in the San Francisco Bay Area -- definitely not rural. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do it intentionally. I didn't say it never happened, though. Glad they busted the bastard in Dallas. Hope he gets jail time and a big fine. -rc
Posted by Ernest Junee, NSW, Australia on March 28, 2008:
Here in Australia it's an offence NOT to get out of the way for emergency vehicles. I think in the USA they may need to introduce something I've seen happen down here some years back. The ambulance came up and the driver had extremely load music on and stopped at STOP sign without pulling out of the way, being a one-way street with steel poles closing off the other side at the entrance, the ambulance couldn't go on the other side as they often do, so they pulled over as far as they could then drove up beside the offending vehicle and nudged it over until they had enough room to leave the street. The driver of the car was shocked when it happened and further shocked to learn they had to pay for the damage to the ambulance as well. The ambulance got to the scene in just enough time to save a girl's life. The car's driver got no sympathy in the media or in court when charged for obstructing an emergency vehicle.
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We do have such laws here, but I like the way it's handled there better! :-) -rc
Read the article that everyone's commenting on, or post a comment about it.