Okay, listen up, people. When an emergency vehicle has its sirens on and lights flashing, that means there is an emergency and time is critical. A house may be burning down, someone may be bleeding profusely, a person could be trapped in a burning car, or somebody might be about to get murdered. It might not be happening to you this time, but the next time it could be your house, your deep cut, your accident, or you getting attacked. Whether they are responding to someone else's emergency or your own, the emergency personnel need to get to the scene PRONTO!
That means drivers on the road need to get the hell out of the way. On a two-way road, everyone is supposed to pull over to the right-hand curb and avoid blocking any side roads, driveways, or intersections. Generally if on a divided road - you know, where there is a physical barrier in between the two directions of traffic, only cars on the side the emergency vehicles are on need to pull over. At intersections, pull over to the right (never the left) if possible. If there is nowhere for you to move to get out of the way, then just stop and let the emergency vehicles wind their way through. They have training for this but need the drivers on the road to be predictable.
How will you know if there are emergency vehicles on the road when you're driving? Easy. Pay attention. Stop yakking on the phone, stop texting, stop reading a map, stop cranking up your car stereo, stop applying your make-up, and stop eating that cheeseburger. I know you think you don't have time to do those things except when you are driving but your callous disregard for the task at hand - that would be driving - could very well cost someone their life. Are ya good with that? I'm not!
And while we're on the subject of idiots on the road, jockeying for a better position in traffic while pulling over for a siren and then pulling back out into traffic is so not cool. It's dangerous and could easily spark a road rage incident. Heck, look at how pissed off I am but at least I'm venting my anger in an educational post rather than screaming at other drivers. Okay, I screamed a little but my windows were rolled up.
Are we clear now? Pay attention to your driving when driving and pull over for emergency vehicles.
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4 comments:
Bravo!!! Bravo!!! Standing ovation for this - thank you for putting it out there.
Tumultuous applause! You shoulda rolled down your window! Thanks for posting...
Yes, there are so many people who need to go back to driver's ed for this reason alone. I'm just amazed at how many drivers try to get ahead of those of us who pull over to give the emergency crews the right of way.
This is such a huge pet peeve of mine. I'm appalled at how often I see drivers completely ignore emergency vehicles. The worst are the drivers who honk angrily at the those who have pulled over. Ugh. Thanks for the post!
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