This makes a bit more sense. The fine was fixed penalty notice based on a junction control camera - they are operated by the Manchester City Council and the place is lousy with them (and with cameras monitoring bus lanes :dubious: ). Looking at the picture in Daily Mail it is not obvious why the car is through the red light so the the letter would have been sent out by some lowly administrator, not by the police themselves.
I guess the question is how sensible the authorities are once they have had the circumstances explained to them. If they drop it quickly, ok; if you need to get the national press involved they’re idiots.
That’s our policy here, too. I’ll shut off everything but the Opticom and wait for the lights to switch. I can’t force you into an intersection and it’s dangerous to try and do so.
I hope you’re issued hearing protection. In Washington it’s required when running code. The noise inside the cab was worse when the siren was mounted in the grill. Now they are on the back of the cab roof so the dopler effect helps keep the cab quieter.
An aside: In Washington and in some other states, there are two kinds of ambulances, those run by the fire dept and those privately run like Rural Metro and AMR. They are less likely to need to run code, because the fire dept medics have assessed the patient. If the patient is deemed critical, FD medics transport themselves.
Unfortunately, the contract companies get paid extra for running code. They also hire less experienced, younger EMTs who may get off on the “rush” of running code.
We aren’t issued hearing protection, but the sirens are all cab-mounted, so it’s not that loud. If I was taking a patient downtown (usually to Shock Trauma), that meant going through the Harbor Tunnel - about 2 miles. In those cases, I’d leave the lights on and kill the siren. It was just too loud in there, with the sound bouncing off the tiled walls.
When I worked private ambo, most of what we did were transfers of stable patients. Yes, we (not me, the company) got paid more for running hot. If a patient crashed or something else happened, we had to call in to our Dispatch office and tell them *why *we were running hot.
If we didn’t have a damn good reason, we’d get in trouble. More than a few people were fired for running lights and sirens just to get back to the office to get off on time.
This is SOP in Toronto due to streetcars. Streetcars can’t change lanes, so if there are parked cars in the right lane and a streetcar in the left lane, there is no other option. During rush hour, I’ve seen ambulances travel several blocks this way. At least the oncoming traffic can see them coming, and they move over fast.
I have seen cop cars and ambulances traveling the wrong way on a one-way street, but those have been on low-traffic streets.
Now that the holiday is over, I made some checks. Based on my OPs description, I was told the ambulance driver was in the wrong. They should have just sat there with lights running until the light turned green. Intimidating the two drivers ahead into making left turns against the red arrows opened up a real can of works (liability) for the ambulance company had there been an accident.
You’re are welcome to continue your own anecdotes, or observations that don’t apply to my OP.
FF here. The best thing to do when I’m behind you is to use your signal and let me know which way you’re gonna move. Worst thing to do is to slam on your brakes. Second worse thing to do is to try to follow me after I pass you. (: