Car driver rant #318

[Drago]

Walking the dog this morning. Returning to Schloss Drago along the footpath through the village, when an ambulance comes along towards me at speed, strobes and wailers going.

The road is narrowed a little bit at that point, and the cars coming up behind me decided they needed to get out of the way of ambo, and the best way to do that was to drive up onto the footpath. The same bit of footpath I was stood on.

Now, lacking the ability to sprint to high speed in a fraction of a second, or to levitate, or to walk through solid walls, I was a bit buggered for going anywhere, and the BMW driving brain donor side swiped me out the way, leaving me trapped against the wall at the side of the footpath. Fortunately, neither I nor the dog were injured, but I'm still a bit shaken up.

Reg number duly taken and will be passed to the Five-O, not that I suspect there's much they can do with no corroboration.

 

[Katherine]

Sounds scary. Glad you are ok.

 

[mjr]

The road is narrowed a little bit at that point, and the cars coming up behind me decided they needed to get out of the way of ambo, and the best way to do that was to drive up onto the footpath. The same bit of footpath I was stood on.

High-speed pavement driving is so common now, not just for getting out the way for blue lights, but also passing people waiting to turn right across traffic, avoid potholes and so on. And no, they don't look. It's a growing danger.

Contact the ambo service too. Some(all?) have dashcams.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Cars mounting the pavement is totally unacceptable,but is sadly and madly becoming accepted by pedestrians! I know it's been talked about many times on CC before,but it's getting worse by the day! Only the other day i had a driver crawling behind me at about 5 mph,trying to make me pin myself up against the wall while he parked half the car on the pavement. I didn't so he pipped his horn as if to say "move you're in my way". I turned and mouthed to him, saying that it was a fecking pavement,meant for pedestrians to walk on and feel safe.

 

[I like Skol]

As a driver myself it never fails to amaze, annoy and ashame me how road users react to the approach of one of the emergency service vehicles.

The usual scenario is that the vehicle is still a long way away and the best course of action would be for everyone to continue the journey normally, thereby clearing the road and allowing the emergency vehicle to pass them at an appropriate point once they catch up (if indeed they don't head in a different direction before then).
The typical reaction is for everyone to panic and start trying to swap lanes to 'clear' the lane they are in and in the process blocking any and every other alternative route the emergency vehicle could have used to pass the traffic queue. The one lane that does get cleared is typically in front of Mr Jonny Oblivious, the BMW driver who then thinks it is his lucky day because everyone has just got out of his way and takes the opportunity to roll up to the red light at the front of the queue, thereby blocking the way for the emergency vehicle!
Then there is the 'It's a red light and I am not going through it' driver who will sit at the lights with emergency vehicle trapped behind, waiting for a green light to allow them to move out of the way.

 

[Dirk]

Then there is the 'It's a red light and I am not going through it' driver who will sit at the lights with emergency vehicle trapped behind, waiting for a green light to allow them to move out of the way.

http://www.bluelightaware.org.uk/?p=239
People have been prosecuted, in the past, for going through a red light to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle.

 

[Drago]

Yes, one should not commit an offence in order to help Ambo, and Ambo (and Dibble and Trumpton) are trained not to pressure people into doing so, although it doubtless happens.

 

[I like Skol]

http://www.bluelightaware.org.uk/?p=239
People have been prosecuted, in the past, for going through a red light to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle.

Yes, one should not commit an offence in order to help Ambo, and Ambo (and Dibble and Trumpton) are trained not to pressure people into doing so, although it doubtless happens.

I appreciate that but I have seen multiple instances in the past where vehicles have sat at a large junction waiting for the green when they could easily have pulled across the stop line and over to one side safely without even entering the junction. Each case is different and needs to be assessed individually by the driver but I would rather (safely) break the law and maybe have to discuss it with the authorities afterwards than hold up an ambulance that is rushing to save the life of a seriously injured person who's life blood is draining from their body. It makes the risk of a few points on the licence seem quite inconsequential when you think about it. It could be your wife that has been stabbed by a mugger, your child that has suffered a head injury on the school sport field, your husband that has been knocked of his bike when cycling home from work.........

 

[Levo-Lon]

Be on the ambulance dash cam?

Lady I used to know through work was killed by an ambulance on a shout.
Skidded on ice and rolled over her and her dog while out having a morning walk.
Very tragic as she was a lovely girl.

 

[Drago]

Alas, by crossing the line and going through the lights, no matter how carefully done or how noble the intention, is an offence. To do so to make way for an emergency vehicle is mitigation, not a defence.

The reason is that people flap, panic, make a mess of things, and in their haste to be helpful end up causing accidents. This means the ambo/trumpton/copper has to stop and deal, and wife/child/husband is greatly delayed in getting the assistance they need.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Be on the ambulance dash cam?

Lady I used to know through work was killed by an ambulance on a shout.
Skidded on ice and rolled over her and her dog while out having a morning walk.
Very tragic as she was a lovely girl.

Heck that is very sad indeed.

 

[Dirk]

I appreciate that but I have seen multiple instances in the past where vehicles have sat at a large junction waiting for the green when they could easily have pulled across the stop line and over to one side safely without even entering the junction.

This.
⬇

Alas, by crossing the line and going through the lights, no matter how carefully done or how noble the intention, is an offence. To do so to make way for an emergency vehicle is mitigation, not a defence.

 

[Tin Pot]

Were you wearing hi viz? I think not.

If you’d listened to the advice about wearing helmets and helmet cams you’d be sitting pretty now!

 

[mjr]

I appreciate that but I have seen multiple instances in the past where vehicles have sat at a large junction waiting for the green when they could easily have pulled across the stop line and over to one side safely without even entering the junction. Each case is different and needs to be assessed individually by the driver but I would rather (safely) break the law and [...]

Maybe you'd do it well, but many drivers seem unable to tell what is safe and see no problem with shoot like driving along an occupied footway or cycleway at speed, so frankly I wouldn't trust motorists to decide whether it's safe to jump a red light to clear the way for a blue light, so I think the law is correct and it should be 3 points for every offence, no matter how well-intentioned.

One of my most-used roundabouts is under 2 miles south of a hospital and is the meeting place of routes from west, south and south-east to it, so it often has ambulances on blue lights pass through. Many motorists seem unable to recognise that what they think is dead space between the stop line and the circulatory carriageway of the roundabout are mostly Toucan crossings, to the point where I think some of them now have yellow boxes to discourage motorists suddenly driving towards people crossing who, as @Drago correctly observes, cannot levitate to avoid a collision.

 

[I like Skol]

Maybe you'd do it well, but many drivers seem unable to tell what is safe and see no problem with shoot like driving along an occupied footway or cycleway at speed, so frankly I wouldn't trust motorists to decide whether it's safe to jump a red light to clear the way for a blue light, so I think the law is correct and it should be 3 points for every offence, no matter how well-intentioned.

One of my most-used roundabouts is under 2 miles south of a hospital and is the meeting place of routes from west, south and south-east to it, so it often has ambulances on blue lights pass through. Many motorists seem unable to recognise that what they think is dead space between the stop line and the circulatory carriageway of the roundabout are mostly Toucan crossings, to the point where I think some of them now have yellow boxes to discourage motorists suddenly driving towards people crossing who, as @Drago correctly observes, cannot levitate to avoid a collision.

This is a whole separate discussion. Reality shows that there is a large portion of the driving population that certainly should not have a licence, let alone be let loose in what is potentially a killing machine in the wrong hands.....