VIC: 1 Ambulance smashed every week by bad motorists

[max_torq]

move over, mount the gutter, wave or indicate the guy past, on a dual lane road, if both sides move away from the centre, the ambulance can get through; don't panic! use your indicators... don't use the ambulance as an excuse to pass other people trying to get out of the way. If you see flashing lights and sirens to the rear look for the next opportunity to move aside.

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by BeansNoMore

Following on from my initial post, is it a lawful excuse after running a red light and get fined by a speed camera with the associated loss of points and costs, to claim that you were morally correct in assisting an emergency vehicle by getting out of the way. What does the law say, does it support you? I bet it doesn't. Do drivers of emergency vehicles including the police expect you to break the law to get out of thier way. I recon that you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

it takes a strong will to sit at a red light with an ambulance or police car with its lights and sirens blazing right behind you or to decide to break the law and run the red light. I've never known what to do and suspect that 99% havent a clue either.

I would assume I would react to what the emergency vehicle driver is doing.

If they pull up behind me and turn off the siren, but leave the lights flashing I assume they are comfortable waiting till the light turns green. But if they come up behind me at a red light and leave the siren wailing and beep there horns I would most certainly move into the intersection on a red light to let them pass.

I can understand people being confused as to what to do, however I would want motorists giving way even if it meant them getting in trouble if it was my kid dying while waiting for an ambulance. Im sure a letter to the authority would get you out of a ticket, I even suspect they wont send you a fine if in the camera photos they can see an ambulance shortly after going through.

[TheInterceptor]

Unf*****beleiveable.

[roberts]

who's training these ambulance drivers
Victorian roads are a battle ground, imagine driving one around vic,
slow, poor braking, blind spots every where except the windscreen.

Teach a truck driver to revive than teach a nurse to drive trucks

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by BeansNoMore

Following on from my initial post, is it a lawful excuse after running a red light and get fined by a speed camera with the associated loss of points and costs, to claim that you were morally correct in assisting an emergency vehicle by getting out of the way. What does the law say, does it support you? I bet it doesn't. Do drivers of emergency vehicles including the police expect you to break the law to get out of their way. I conclude that you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

It takes a strong will to sit at a red light with an ambulance or police car with its lights and sirens blazing right behind you or to decide to break the law and run the red light. I've never known what to do and suspect that 99% haven't a clue either.

its ILLGAL not to get out of the way for an emergency vehicle (safely). If you get flashed by a camera it will show the emergency vehicle behind you.

If you floor it and drive out into traffic while the light is red then your in big trouble. YOU MOVE OUT OF THE WAY. That means you drive forward and move either to your left or right, infront of the car beside you if your at a multilane intersection.

I have done this plenty of times. There is NO WAY in the world you drive through the intersection, you MOVE out of the way. There is usually enough room in front of the white stopping line for a car to sit safely.

Remember these emergency vehicles are attending a situation where someones LIFE is in danger.

[Matty4]

I've seen plenty of red light camera images and I can guarantee you that the ambo with its lights on will not be in the image if you creep over the pedestrian line and trigger the camera. The way they are here in Vic there is no chance in hell of having that fine rescinded.....

[TMC]

Originally Posted by BeansNoMore

Following on from my initial post, is it a lawful excuse after running a red light and get fined by a speed camera with the associated loss of points and costs, to claim that you were morally correct in assisting an emergency vehicle by getting out of the way. What does the law say, does it support you? I bet it doesn't. Do drivers of emergency vehicles including the police expect you to break the law to get out of their way. I conclude that you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

It takes a strong will to sit at a red light with an ambulance or police car with its lights and sirens blazing right behind you or to decide to break the law and run the red light. I've never known what to do and suspect that 99% haven't a clue either.

If I was in that situation I would still go through it and then fight it in court if they were stupid enough to fine you for it. If that is illegal then the law needs changing and the only way to do it, is to go through the light, go to court, get the media involved, get the minister for transport involved and make a huge stink about it.

I think this is a good point. The authorities are so flat out trying to raise revenue for the state by fining people for doing 1kmh over the speed limit, they've forgotten that it should all be about safety. In the meantime people are too scared to do anything due to the possible ramifications and they are not giving way to Emergency vehicles. I would think that the law should state that if you are getting out of the way of an emergency vehicle at a red light, it would be just the same if a cop on points duty asks you to run a red light.

[Bobman]

Has been much discussion about this in the past with regards to speeding infringements. You will still get booked and have to pay the fine (even if contesting) in most cases.

That said, always move safely out of the way, without becoming a hazard yourself or being flashed by a red light camera.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Basically, any time a fire engine or ambulance is going to a call out, they should be able to drive as fast as they safely can for the conditions, with no stupid bloody restrictions...if it turns out to be trivial, so what? They got there fast just in case.

Correct. Even completely disregarding all the great things that getting somewhere in a hurry can do for a patient, I would imagine that with the number of calls an ambo does in a day, being able to poke it along would result in more calls being done per shift too.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by Matty4

The way they are here in Vic there is no chance in hell of having that fine rescinded.....

Not sure about that:

Originally Posted by Road Safety Rules 2009

78 Keeping clear of police vehicles, emergency vehicles,
enforcement vehicles and escort vehicles
(1) A driver must not move into the path of an
approaching police vehicle, emergency vehicle,
enforcement vehicle or escort vehicle that is
displaying a flashing blue, red or magenta light
(whether or not it is also displaying other lights)
or sounding an alarm.
Penalty: 5 penalty units.
Note
Approaching, emergency vehicle, enforcement vehicle,
escort vehicle and police vehicle are defined in the
dictionary.
(2) If a driver is in the path of an approaching police
vehicle, emergency vehicle, enforcement vehicle
or escort vehicle that is displaying a flashing blue,
red or magenta light (whether or not it is also
displaying other lights) or sounding an alarm, the
driver must move out of the path of the vehicle as
soon as the driver can do so safely.
Penalty: 5 penalty units.
(3) This rule applies to the driver despite any other
rule of these Rules.

[TMC]

I think if you hold up an emergency vehicle and delay it, and someone dies or is injured due to the delay you caused, then morally you are at fault regardless of what the laws of the land say. If the law isn't moral (by fining people who happened to move out of the way safely yet still got flashed by a redlight camera) then that's it's problem. I'd rather be able to sleep at night personally.

[geckoGT]

Couple of things here and I am going to discuss here in QLD as that is where I am a Paramedic so I know the rules. Having said that, most states base their road rules heavily on the Australian Road Rules so there will be similarities. Also most state ambulance services are closely aligned in the codes of conduct and driver training so most paramedics will agree with what I say.

First off, these ambulance vehicles being hit is nothing new. Our station with a compliment of 6 ambulances had three written off or the subject of extensive repairs in a 12 month period. Not one of those crashes was the fault of the ambulance crew.

Ok, at a red light you are not allowed to proceed through in order to get out of the way of the ambulance. Try to defend that action and you are not likely to win because the prosecutor will argue that if you could drive all the way through and cross traffic, you could have moved forward and to one side so the emergency vehicle can pass, intersections are designed that way. If you were to move forward and to one side but remain out of the traffic flow, you would have a much better chance of defending the camera fine. Drive all the way through and you will probably cop the fine. Driving through a red puts your life, the occupants of your car and other road users at grave risk, we don't want you to do that. If in two lanes at a red, the ambulance will most likely split the lanes. Normally if the right lane moves forward and to the right, left lane forward and to the left, that will leave enough gap for an ambulance to go between the cars.

Best advice I can give is if you here a siren, look in you rear vision mirror and note where the ambulance is positioned in your lane. They will not normally be in the centre of the lane, they will be offset indicating which way they wish you to go. If you can not get out of the way safely as is often the case in grid locked traffic, do not run a red or do anything stupid. If the ambulance turns the siren off and just leaves the beacons going this means they know you can't move and they do not wish you to try. They will just sit there until the green, flick the siren on once traffic is moving and wait for you to move out of the way.

Think of it this way, if we are going to a cardiac arrest we only have one patient. If you run a red light and collide with a school bus, we have 20 patients. Paramedics are lazy people and we do not like volume of work.

[outback_ute]

One funny/stupid case I saw was in Brisbane a few years ago, I was in a line of 6 cars in the right turn lane on the stem of a t-intersection, with the left lane empty, when an ambulance came up behind us. Half the cars immediately jumped into the left lane... I think the ambulance went around on the opposite side of the road and was not held up, luckily

[MITCHAY]

I have to say the most annoying thing is when you're trying to get out of the way and people won't let you in to do so.