I’m sure its been said before, but it clearly needs to be said again.
GET OUT OF THE WAY OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE VEHICLES!!!
Is that really that hard to do? Contrary to your quest to get home early, or pick up little Billy from [insert extra-curricular activity here], this might actually BE a matter of life and death!
The few seconds the ambulance, police or fire truck need to take to get around your lazy cell-phone-talking, SUV-driving ass might actually be the difference between saving someone’s life or having a horrible tragedy occur (which you will no doubt be horrified at on the phone to your friends on your next commute!)
Seriously, folks, how hard is it to understand that there is a reason these vehicles are trying to move quickly, flashing red and blue and white lights and sounding sirens you can hear miles away? How hard is it to merge to the right on a two lane (each way) highway which isn’t all that busy?? Why the FUCK should that EMERGENCY vehicle have to go around you, by using the shared left turn lane (which is not clear down the entire highway since it has physical medians at intersections and might actually have a car coming in the other direction in it!)?
I saw this on the way home this evening. Two…TWO!…separtate cop cars, an ambulance AND a fire truck all had to swerve around cars (In 3 of the 4 cases, the car was an SUV, in one, the driver was on a cell phone) and use the left turn lane, even though this was a non-busy highway with two lanes going in each direction. I was in the oncoming lane, and even I merged right, just in case some fuckwit made the emergency vehicle have to use an oncoming traffic lane. I even stopped at the intersection where the accident was, since there was an ambulance trying to turn, and people were just driving on through!!!
Are people really that self-absorbed, and think that they are so important that a rescue vehicle has to take second place to them? Was that cellphone conversation so important that you couldn’t glance in your rearview at the flashing lights, OR hear the sirens behind you?
What are people thinking? Do they see the ambulance go around another fuckwit, and so they figure it can do the same for them? THAT TAKES TIME! Not much, but add it up over many vehicles, and precious time might be lost! Any accident that requires that many emergency vehicles being dispatched must be at least somewhat serious!
This is a fast-paced, busy area, in and around Toronto. But I hate to see that it is that fast, that busy, that people think they are going fast enough with an ambulance behind them, or so busy that they can’t even be bothered to move. I think NOT moving is against the law, but unfortunately the ones who can enforce that are too busy trying to get past to try and help someone who needs it.
So just to get the message out one more time: “For the love of all things living, GET OUT OF THE WAY!!”
:mad: