# EMTs - if the guy dies do you turn off the siren? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 4, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emts-if-the-guy-dies-do-you-turn-off-the-siren/199618 "2003-09-04T23:27:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emts-if-the-guy-dies-do-you-turn-off-the-siren/199618/21 "2003-09-10T01:56:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ltfire \* > \*\*I’ll mention something else, as it was brought up in a few posts. When I got promoted and attended first line supervisors school (fire dept.) Part of training was being familiar with vehicle and traffic laws as they apply to emergency vehicles. At NO time is the emergency vehicle allowed to blow stop signs, blow red lights, or exceed the posted speed limit. That is the choice of the driver. In my case, as supervisor of the apparatus, it was my responsibility to keep my driver under control. A department lawyer told us that there was no legal defence if an accident occured, and it was deemed that you disobeyed the laws in the code. It may be one thing if an emergency vehicle is speeding down a road where only the horizon is in the distance, but another thing entirely if you are on congested city streets. \*\* This is fascinating to me, that ANY state would permit blowing a red light. Under any circumstance. Period. In NYS, you risk losing your right to operate an ambulance if you blow a light. I don’t care if the patient is about to deliver a baby ( and, when I was “just” a driver many years ago, I HAD one of those calls. She delivered roughly 3 minutes after rolling her into Maternity ). It is against the law. Stop. Make eye contact with ALL drivers. Proceed with caution. Period. If you are alone at the light, stop. Then go. Period. Anyway, as to the O.P. In New York State, you arrive and unless the patient exhibits the signs described above, you start CPR and Defib attempts and you don’t stop the cycling until A) Paramedics arrive, and/or B) you get to the hospital so a Dr. can call the death. You may not stop once you start. To stop is to abandon a patient by interrupting care. It’s simply not done. Of course, at least where I live, it’s also illegal. Cartooniverse, NYS EMT. ---
**Author:** ![Morelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emts-if-the-guy-dies-do-you-turn-off-the-siren/199618/22 "2003-09-10T04:40:10Z")
Shortly before I moved off Long Island, NY a lot of the traffic lights were being fitted with a device so that the emergency vehicle going through it would have a green light, but no other traffic would. So you wouldn’t be running any red lights. It was a joy. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emts-if-the-guy-dies-do-you-turn-off-the-siren/199618/23 "2003-09-29T18:23:08Z")
Now, that is a nifty piece of hardware/software. Let’s say you are going 55 mph in a 45 zone, lit up and rockin’ like there’s no tomorrow. In NYS you can proceed with lights and sirens no more than 10 mph over posted speed limit.). You are a block from a standard boring 4- way intersection. No special turn lanes or anything. This idea mentioned by **Morelin** means that your ambulance would transmit a code to the upcoming light set, and turn 3 out of 4 lights red- DESPITE the fact that there may be traffic proceeding already through that intersection. I’d be darned nervous about the driver who was coming towards me, kept on since they had a green light as they started to enter the intersection, then you get a green and nobody else has one, they turn left and are t-boned by your truck/ambulance. What’s the excuse? " Hey, we hit our little transmitter, and we had the only green light in the 4-way ! Tough on them ! " ??? I’d stop anyway. It sounds great only in a perfect world. Then again, in a perfect world, nobody dies in car accidents anyway, do they? ---
**Author:** ![Morelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emts-if-the-guy-dies-do-you-turn-off-the-siren/199618/24 "2003-09-29T19:39:29Z")
I didn’t say we just zoomed through the intersection. It just made things easier for us. I know, because I often was in the passenger’s sea, acting as the ‘spotter’ in especially congested areas and blind turns. As I understand it, the lights go through the normal, yellow to red cycle so that everyone but the incoming amublance is red for long enough to clear the intersection. ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emts-if-the-guy-dies-do-you-turn-off-the-siren/199618/25 "2003-09-29T20:10:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Morelin \* > \*\*Shortly before I moved off Long Island, NY a lot of the traffic lights were being fitted with a device so that the emergency vehicle going through it would have a green light, but no other traffic would. So you wouldn’t be running any red lights. It was a joy. \*\* It’s called [OptiCom](http://www.qsl.net/kc0ngs/twincitiesfire/stuff/opticom.html) and it’s made by 3M. St. Urho EMT/Firefighter [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emts-if-the-guy-dies-do-you-turn-off-the-siren/199618.md?page=1)