My son’s car was hit by a fire truck on its way to a fire. My son was legally parked. The fire truck cut the corner too closely and the fire department is going to fix it, but it got me to wondering …
About 6 months ago, a BMW was parked in front of a fire hydrant when a fire broke out across the street. The FD smashed his windows to thread the hose through the car. Does the BMW owner get to fix his own windows as well as the $120 ticket?
I live on a street where the road is about 28 feet wide. It’s residential and in the burbs, so few use it for parking. Yesterday, two construction vehicles were parked on both sides of the street. If a fire truck had to get through, it would have no choice but to side-swipe at least one of the vehicles. What happens in cases such as this?
Obviously the rules (law) will differ, but over here the driver of a fire engine, even if he/she is on their way to an emergency, does not have any more rights than an ordinary citizen. Here too, there is no law that says I have to get out of their way (though I obviously would). The same applies to all the emergency services.
They are exempt from some rules - speeding for example, and they can drive through red lights and the wrong way up one way streets, but that’s about it.
The Beemer guy got what he deserved. It’s illegal to park in front of a fire hydrant precisely because the fire department might need to use that hydrant in an emergency.
You may be confusing emergency lights with courtesy lights or even the yellow typically construction vehicle warning lights.
Around here Emergency lights also must be accompanied by some audio warning system, you have to yield right of way legally if safe to do so. Courtesy lights, such as EMT, Volunteer firefighters use in their personal vehicle it is not required (though officers can have true emergency lights in their personal vehicle). The difference is usually the color of the lights, but that is somewhat changing as it appears that different colors have other drivers react differently and police especially seem to like to chose their color regardless of the standards based on the needs.
Warning lights really have to do with warning you that the vehicle may not be operating in a expected manner and has nothing to do with yielding.
Nope, he’s right for the UK according to the link he provided. It’s very clear that rule 219 is not a requirement or it would have MUST/MUST NOT. Since it uses SHOULD it is not enforceable. Odd to American ideas, but that’s the law.
AFAIK, the Beemer driver is screwed and deserves it. He’ll have to fix his own windows, and I’m pretty sure that the insurance company would refuse to cover the damages even if they were above his deductible.
As for the potential construction side-swipe…my guess would be that the city and construction company would work it out.
In Chicago, if the fire truck was not on an emergency run and was at fault, the city is liable. Expect it to take about a year for the check to arrive, though. (Source: personal experience. And the truck was in its way to a 9/11 memorial when it creamed me. Somehow I felt like the jerk there, even though it wasn’t my fault and nothing I could have done would have prevented it. Rookie didn’t know the clearance he needed.)
They would not be liable for the BMW parked in front of the hydrant. And, I gotta tell ya, firefighters love that shit. They will gleefully break the windows of a car and route the hose right through it. Can’t say that I blame them. Breaking glass is fun. Making an asshole’s day miserable is even funner.
Well, where I used to live if a firetruck hit a citizens car, the police would line up each fireman on that truck and slap them briskly, allowing the car owner to watch.
To the OP - sometimes some of the cost comes out of the insurance of the building owner who had the fire, so the claim may go against that, after all it was the fault of the fire, not the fire dept who was obligated to put it out. Whenever we use foam instead of water to put out water we usually put in a insurance claim for that cost (which they usually pay as foam causes less damage then water - saving them money).
Fire hydrants in the UK are in the ground under a metal lid, as you can see in the picture from your link. I don’t drive, but I’ve never heard that it’s necessary or even considerate to avoid parking near one here. Presumably, parked cars aren’t a significant problem when accessing hydrants here.
Indeed, the very link I posted says that “it is an offence to obstruct a fire hydrant, for example, by inconsiderate parking which could place lives at risk, or causing damage to a fire hydrant,” per the very law given in your citation.
A) The UK does indeed have fire hydrants. They are apparently not standpipes the way we on the left side of the Atlantic think of them, but they are hydrants nonetheless.
B) As of 2004, it’s as illegal to interfere with a fire hydrant in the UK (by, to give a very specific example, parking in front of it) as it is in most US jurisdictions.
I said I’ve never heard of it, not that it’s not true. I don’t need the SDMB to know my own experiences and reality aren’t the same. I was more interested in the fact that I have more knowledge of the laws regarding obstruction of fire hydrants in the US than here, and a quick Google search suggests a lot of other people are in the same position. The legislation you linked to doesn’t tell us what constitutes an “obstruction”, which probably doesn’t help. The idea that it includes parking near, rather than over, a fire hydrant seems to be just an assumption. But again, that doesn’t mean it’s not true that you should avoid parking near one, just that it’s unclear so far.
Ohio revised code; in part;
4511.68 Parking - prohibited acts.
(A) No person shall stand or park a trackless trolley or vehicle, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or to comply with sections 4511.01 to 4511.78, 4511.99, and 4513.01 to 4513.37 of the Revised Code, or while obeying the directions of a police officer or a traffic control device, in any of the following places:
(1) On a sidewalk, except as provided in division (B) of this section;
