Kingdom of the Blind

[denny]

The number of London drivers who leave it until a bit past the last second to move out of the way of police/fire/ambulance vehicles with their blue lights and siren on never ceases to shock and appall me. You'll see an ambulance charging up behind a car, lights blazing, siren wailing, and you'll see its nose dip as it has to brake because the stupid fucker in the car is still in the way, and then the car will move aside and the ambulance charges through. This happens hundreds of times a day, I swear - I see it at least once or twice a week and I'm not even near main roads that often.

The scariest thing about it is that, having watched it happen so often, I no longer think it's because London drivers are inconsiderate bastards who don't want to move out of the way. No, Hanlon's Razor applies here. They don't move out of the way because they haven't fucking noticed the siren and lights zooming up the road behind them.

And these people are driving cars and vans on our roads. No wonder there are so many ambulances on emergency runs.

Comments

[easternpromise.livejournal.com]

I have seen pictures of what happens when people don't get out of the way. One rather bashed about car, one pristine fire engine. :) People need to realise they can't just stop on a penny when they've got a tank full of water in the back - physics just says no! :)

[pooloftrees.livejournal.com]

There was an article in the local paper here in Milton Keynes aimed at people who park by the side of the road - with a picture of a fire engine not able to get through because there were cars parked up both sides of the road. Apparently they need 3 metres clearance to get through, and inconsiderate parking is a big issue on residential streets in some areas here.

I remember seeing an episode on the drama series "London's Burning" where this happened, and they ended up having to barge the fire engine through, but obviously arrived at the scene of the fire much later than they would have...

[fellcat.livejournal.com]

It might not be that the drivers haven't noticed. I find it very hard to work out where the sirens are coming from and so whilst I am frantically looking around a 360° arc for the blue lights, the ambulance can get quite close to me. Having seen it, I then have to work out how to get out of its way safely, by which time it's often stopped or slowed significantly. I think that a different siren sound—one that doesn't reflect off everything so much and hence doesn't sound like it's coming from everywhere—might help with the problem.