A local fire chief is now in a body cast with his back broken in two places, thanks to another driver not appropriately pulling over as the fire chief was on his way to a bike accident site. I drove by the accident scene on the way home from dropping Nelson off at the airport and remember wondering how come an emergency vehicle had ended up off the road. Now I know. You can read the complete story here.
I’ve often been disgusted with how few people have the decency to pull over for emergency vehicles. The fire chief estimates that in his experience about 20% pull over. The other 80% are all on their way to meetings that are more important than the emergencies that fire departments deal with?? Here are my two suggestions:
1) My favoured solution would work particularly well for fire tankers full of water: mount really sturdy blades on the front of the truck and then just barrel through the traffic and watch the cars bounce off into the ditch. That way the right people end up there. Besides, I bet pretty soon most people would no longer be in too much of a hurry to get out of the way.
2) For lighter emergency vehicles, mount cameras on the front and film everything as you’re trying to get to the emergency sites. Then send the film on to the police and let them collect license plate numbers. The huge numbers of fines for failing to yield to emergency vehicles should be a substantial source of income.
Sydney
Alan Schmierer