Heard of a case recently where they mounted one of those police dash cameras in a fire truck, and recorded the traffic in front of them. Then after calls, they would turn the videotape over to the local police, who would view it, take down the license plate numbers of cars that failed to yield to the fire truck, look up the owners, and mail out tickets to them!
Sounded like a good idea to me.
I’m aware, of course, that in the US, the police have certain requirements for “going code 1” or “code 2” or whatever the current terminology is. For example, the police officer can drive up behind someone on the highway and then trigger the police car’s roof lights to indicate the other driver needs to pull over. Here in Korea, the police officer does two things (since, obviously, he already has his roof lights running): (1) quick blast on the siren, followed by a bullhorn command, and (2) if the first thing doen’t work, he kicks in the wailing siren full-time and radios for assistance.
I saw the result of that method in Bucheon a few months ago. A young man on a delivery scooter decided he didn’t need to obey the police officer’s command to pull over. Although I was on foot, I still saw the entire chase as it didn’t take long at all for other police officers to show up.
So, I guess the system here does work after all. It’s just not what I’m used to seeing.
That sounds pretty similar to what they do in Japan. Like Brain Wreck said:
no lights or sirens = Meh, whatever. Don’t bug me by doing anything too outrageous.
lights only = I’m keeping my eye on you guys, so smart yourselves up.
sirens (with or without lights, usually with) = either Get outta my way! or, YOU! Pull over!
Ambulances and fire trucks seem to do the same thing.
As an added bonus, there are also the police cars sitting near busy intersections all day with their lights flashing the whole time. If you take a closer look, you often find that the car is an empty frame and the officer is a mannequin.
I’ve seen a lot of Ohio cops over the years, and have been on some ride-alongs with patrol officers in Cleveland. Normally, no lights or sirens are used at all (just headlights and running lights at night). They use the “gumball machine” on top of the police cars if they’re responding at higher-than-normal speed to some emergency, OR are actually engaged in a chase, OR if a traffic-enforcement officer has someone pulled over to the side of the road (they’re left on for the duration of the traffic stop, so that passing drivers will pay attention and not sideswipe the officer, his car or the stopped motorist). Sirens are used only during a rapid response or chase, OR as a quick “bloop” to get someone’s attention or to clear an intersection.
Years ago in my hometown, an ambulance driver was fired on his first day of work when it was revealed that he’d used the lights and sirens to get a patient to the hospital as quickly as possible. Problem was, the patient was unquestionably DOA.
That makes no sense, can you elaborate?
i’ll second that WTF?
Depending on the level of staff involved lights and sirens transport for a pulseless non breathing patient unless called dead on scene by obvious signs.
DOA usually means loaded in bad shape but didn’t make it to the hospital, running lights and sirens with a dead body would be inappropriate.
Just so we are clear obvious signs would include things like:
Decay
rigormortis(sp?)
blood pooling
decapitation
unrecognizably mangled
Upon review…I call bullshit or UL. IF it was his first day of work, even some pretty bass ackwards ambulance companies still have some kind of feild training often including at least a week or two with a 3rd wheel along to help the FNG until he gets a handle on things. Not doing it that way is dangerous since a certain percentage of noobs to the biz will freeze up and you still have to have a functioning team.
In the US, emergency lights these days are mostly LED bars, at least in the Police market.
US Police use a code system:
Code 3: Lights’N’Noise - to be used when you need to be somewhere urgently, and subtlety isn’t needed.
Code 2: Lights w/out Noise - to be used when you need to be somewhere urgently, but don’t need to announce yourself 5 blocks in advance of your arrival.
Code 1: Neither Lights nor Noise - to be used when you need to get there, but don’t need to expedite things.
That was drachillix not Cyn
drachillix- that’s pretty much what I was getting at, too.
re: the fired ambulance driver…
Perhaps I used the term “DOA” incorrectly. The person being carried was unquestionably a corpse; no amount of medical attention was going to revive him. The ambulance driver used the lights and sirens because it looked cool and made for an open route to the hospital. I was told this story within days of it happening by my dad, who was general counsel to the only hospital in town, and was no fibber (or UL purveyor). Poor training for the ambulance driver? Wouldn’t surprise me at all.
I’ve seen NSW cops just driving around with the red and blues on, no sirens. One time, coming back from Central Western NSW at the end of the Bathurst car race weekend, I was with all the racing hoon fans going home. The cop cars were just cruising between Orange and Lithgow, doing the speed limit with the rest of us, not rushing to any emergency, but letting the young petrolheads knows they were there by using the lights. In light of the criticism of cops hiding behind trees with radar units and other accusations of revenue-raising over road safety, I think this was a good thing.
I’m still not following you. If the patient was being transported to the ER, then a lights-and-siren transport was absolutely appropriate. If the transport was to the morgue, then it would be inappropriate.
Huh. I guess the ambulance management saw it differently. As they saw it, the corpse was in no rush, while the ambulance driver was just having fun/showing off/trying to beat traffic. So they fired him.
Huh. It still doesn’t make sense to me. It’s scary to think there’s an ambulance service out there that doesn’t want apneic, pulseless patients transported emergent to the hospital.
Submitted too soon.
The only reason to transport a patient in cardiac arrest is if there’s a chance at getting a “save.” If there’s no chance, then they should be pronounced on scene, it resuscitation is started at all.
Most US states require a Medical Doctor to officially pronounce someone as dead. The first responders on the scene probably are not MD’s. So the body that everyone knows is dead is transported to a hospital, where a doctor there pronounces it dead. “DOA” – Dead on Arrival – is common in such situations.
Not true. In every state that I’m aware of a paramedic (and in some cases an EMT) can pronounce someone, either by protocol or in consultation with a physician.
St. Urho
Paramedic