Tuesday, June 7, 2005

Get The Heck Outta The Way

My good friends at the Seymour Volunteer Fire Department have just re-fitted one of the most-used fire engines with new emergency signals.

These lights are so dazzling, Helen Keller would notice them. Really, they are bright warning lights, and a new siren. This equipment is not cheap. But it is neccesary. Why? Because people simply will not get out of the way of an emergency vehicle.

I have seen it countless times from inside an ambulance. People will actually slow down, and stare in the rear view mirror, and refuse to pull over to the right to get out of the way.

Did you know Rural Metro ambulance drivers are trained to ALWAYS pass on the left? There could be reprimands or worse if they refuse to follow this regulation. They always have to slow to at least a creep through red lights, and most of the time stop to make sure some chowderhead disregards all of the noise and lights, and plows into the intersection.

The other day, a Rural Metro fire engine was destroyed as the driver went off the road to avoid a pickup truck that pulled right in front of the fire engine on Emory Road. Come on people- these things are ten feet tall, twenty feet long, and make enough noise to wake the dead.

It has been a long time, but I have seen a fatal fire engine crash. I don’t ever want to see another one. But they happen with regularity in the United States. Many times, it is because another driver failed to yield to the emergency vehicle. You can check statistics and see what I mean by clicking on

www.firehouse.com

Check every few days for a while, and you will see why I am so passionate about this. And I haven’t even mentioned the danger to emergency workers at the scene of car crashes, when someone drives through the scene at speed and never sees the paramedic or fire fighter in the road.

(There’s been some talk about adding in-cabin cameras to fire engines to video tape the worst offenders, so they could be identified and cited to court for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. I know The City Of Knoxville was considering it at one point, because the problem was so serious !)

When you hear the siren and see the light…get yourself over to the right.

And say a prayer for the people on-board who are rushing to help save a stranger or their property.

Posted by Dave Foulk at 02:52:07
Comments

3 Responses to “Get The Heck Outta The Way”

  1. Mel says:
    June 10, 2005 at 6:48 pm

    I agree w/some people not paying attention to emergency vehicles. But on the flip side, most of the time you can’t hear them coming until they are right on you or you just happen to see them in your rear view mirror (I do have good hearing and my radio is not always on when this happens). I was not aware vehicles should move to the right, until I was informed by a cable tv program which took you through a "day w/ambulance drivers" and the drivers were making that comment about other vehicles on the road. I always knew you should pull over but not as to the specific direction of pulling over.
    I enjoy listening to you on Hallerin’s show every morning. I only have the opportunity to listen while I am exercising in the morning and you both make it go by faster….

  2. Bless their hearts says:
    July 25, 2005 at 12:15 am

    SON, dem boys what asked a running, heavy coat wearing, out of towner to stop in London should have shot his poor head off. HEY they DID!

    It is hard times in the town of Chuck and lady Di and if an odd ball in a big winter coat is running from cops who are yelling for him to stop he ought to LEARN their language! No joke, shoot the sucker and then check under the coat! What if there were a bunch of DuPont sticks taped together under there? Lots of folks would be hobbling home after that one, so he was NOT a bomber who give a rats behind! Figure it out people, if you are in a country where you do NOT speak the language and folks be a killing the natives you best be learning how to speak it or go the heck HOME!

  3. yanggguangg says:
    May 28, 2009 at 6:51 am

    It’s good to write, I like the look of your text and conversation!

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