Emergency Vehicles

I was in the unfortunate position the other day of riding with someone who was being transported in the back of an ambulance.  What amazed me is actually how slow we were traveling to the hospital.

I looked out the front and back of the ambulance a few times and noticed people not following what can only be called common sense.  Do you really need to attend some sort of Driving Safety School or take a Defensive Driving course to know that when an ambulance has its lights on, pull over to the right of the road?  It seems logical to me that if an ambulance has its lights on and occasionally hits its sirens, that there is an actual emergency they need to attend to.

People were still driving in the left lane and following closely behind.  Why?  To maybe catch a traffic light, to follow someone who is clearing the road for you?  People, please don’t use ambulances and fire trucks as a pathway to advance in traffic while others might be pulled over.

When I talked with the ambulance drivers at the hospital they told me what we experienced was all too common.  Thankfully we were not in an immediate life and death situation, but nonetheless, an emergency situation.  Again, please use some common sense.  You really don’t need driver safety training of any kind to know when an emergency vehicle has its lights on….get out of the way.  Pull to the right.  Slow down.  Stop.  Don’t follow closely.  Stay back at least 500 feet.

What if it was you going for an ambulance ride?  Have some courtesy.