I absolutely hate drivers who zoom ahead through an intersection, forcing an ambulance or a fire truck to slow down.
Yesterday I was at an intersection, on a one way street. The light was green to me but I did not proceed because, approaching the intersection on the crossing street was an ambulance. Loud sirens, you know the drill. So in the lane beside me a car goes zooming through the intersection, and the ambulance had enough time to see it and slow. Asshole drivers like that car piss me off. What if the ambulance was carrying someone important to you?
And not so long ago I saw a firetruck have to slow because some idiot thought that their green light trumped the right of the firetruck to proceed down the road. I hope it was that driver’s house burning down.
Now I know that most drivers do pull over, or don’t rush a light when they hear sirens. But when it’s a police car siren I’ve never seen this happen. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Some drivers just don’t pay attention. Some are distracted and some are just plane stupid.
One of my friends is a paramedic. This is one of his biggest complaints because when they are responding with lights and sirens, that means seconds count.
One fine spring day, we got together for lunch and a ride. At lunch, the paramedic ranted yet again about people who don’t give emergency vehicles the right of way. As we were riding along, paramedic in front, I saw flashing lights in my mirrors and blatted my horn so people would know to pull over. The paramedic just kept on riding until another guy rode up on him honking his horn and got his attention.
I’m not sure I’m understanding your story fully, but maybe if the guy behind your friend pulled over because there was an emergency vehicle behind him instead of tailing your friend and honking his horn, your friend would have saw the flashing lights and pulled over because of that, and not because some guy is behind him honking. I don’t think honking horns to make others aware of an emergency vehicle is the correct course of action. Just pull over.
I followed an emergency vehicle through an intersection and was confronted by a line of cars on the shoulder. Of course I stopped and let them all get back into traffic, but I easily could have been an asshole and blazed past them.
We were on Harleys and my friend is really bad about watching his mirrors when he’s riding because he’s totally focused on what is in front of him. We all did get off the road without impeding the ambulance, but that was because I watch my mirrors and saw it coming long before I could hear it.
Almost worse are those who are very clear on the fact that they need to pull over but not clear on why. I was sitting in a left turn lane last week when a car on the opposite side pulled over in response to a fire trucks sirens. They managed to do so in such a way that they blocked 1.5 of the lanes the firetruck was trying to get through. The fire truck sat on his back bumper for at least a minute blowing the horn loudly before he finally moved forward inch by inch until the truck could get past.
I’m so glad someone started this rant. I probably should have a long time ago[sup]*[/sup]. Another one that bugs me is when the cars pull over, but do it to where they’re blocking a side street. A lot of times, the ambulance may need to go down that street.
[sup]*I’ve been an EMT for the last 6 years, and never think about these things when I’m off[/sup]
I swear the most common issue with bad drivers is tunnel vision. People focus on what is directly in front of them to the exclusion of all else. Lights and sirens behind them? They have no idea. A bunch of cars with their brake lights going on out in front? If they’re more than 50 away, they don’t see them. Side to side, It doesn’t exist.
I was once riding shotgun with a known bad driver. He was always getting into accidents that were never his fault, of course. We were driving down a highway at 55 mph, and up ahead to the right was a perpendicular street that had only a stop sign to manage traffic. A car was coming up to the crossing and going way too fast to be able to stop in time. It was obvious that the driver was distracted or didn’t see the stop sign. My driver just keeps cruising along, oblivious. I thought for certain he could see the other car, it was right there. I finally had to scream “STOP!” and he slowed down just enough so the other car just missed us as it blew through the stop sign. His response was “What an idiot, he went right through the stop sign!” I hurt my brain rolling my eyes.
All emergency vehicles should be fitted with multiple cameras to catch idiots who don’t yield. Hold them both criminally and civilly liable for any potential damage they could have caused by delaying emergency service.
