MissMichigan
A most peculiar mademoiselle
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2012
- Messages
- 458
I've never personally been in a situation where I needed to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle, but if/when I am, I will (if I can without causing an accident) get over and stop. As far as I have ever been told, that's the law. Any vehicle i've been in when an emergency vehicle was coming has always gotten as far to the right as possible, and slowed or stopped depending on the situation. However, i've seen a lot of people who don't.
I think part of it is people who honestly don't see or hear the emergency vehicle coming (because of distraction, hearing loss, etc), then when it's right up behind/next to them they panic and aren't sure what to do...so they slam the brakes, or try to outrun the vehicle, or try to jump over, etc.
Part of it is people who honestly don't care. Wherever they are going is way more important than the fact that may be keeping another human being from receiving emergency care that could save their life. It isn't the driver's own life, so it doesn't matter to them.
I don't know about other cities, but here in Tucson when an emergency vehicle is coming, in addition to their lights and siren, the traffic light automatically changes to give them a green, and a little white flasher goes off to all traffic as a indicator that an emergency vehicle is near that intersection. There is really no way to NOT KNOW here, but people still try to outrun them anyways. I've actually seen people get out of their lane INTO the emergency vehicle's lane to keep going.
I'm actually not sure how I feel about doing it that way, though. It's great in theory, but not as much in practice. When the light changes for the emergency vehicle, it happens immediately with no warning/yellow light. I've seen several near accidents because of this. Also, since it turns green for all traffic going in the direction of the emergency vehicle, it helps encourage the belief that if it's going the same way as you, you should keep moving, not get over out of its way.
I think part of it is people who honestly don't see or hear the emergency vehicle coming (because of distraction, hearing loss, etc), then when it's right up behind/next to them they panic and aren't sure what to do...so they slam the brakes, or try to outrun the vehicle, or try to jump over, etc.
Part of it is people who honestly don't care. Wherever they are going is way more important than the fact that may be keeping another human being from receiving emergency care that could save their life. It isn't the driver's own life, so it doesn't matter to them.
I don't know about other cities, but here in Tucson when an emergency vehicle is coming, in addition to their lights and siren, the traffic light automatically changes to give them a green, and a little white flasher goes off to all traffic as a indicator that an emergency vehicle is near that intersection. There is really no way to NOT KNOW here, but people still try to outrun them anyways. I've actually seen people get out of their lane INTO the emergency vehicle's lane to keep going.
I'm actually not sure how I feel about doing it that way, though. It's great in theory, but not as much in practice. When the light changes for the emergency vehicle, it happens immediately with no warning/yellow light. I've seen several near accidents because of this. Also, since it turns green for all traffic going in the direction of the emergency vehicle, it helps encourage the belief that if it's going the same way as you, you should keep moving, not get over out of its way.
