Ambulance

[Sara_H]

[QUOTE 3183913, member: 45"]"Give as much room as you would when overtaking a car"? No he didn't.

And nobody has mentioned yet that the driver failed to slow sufficiently when approaching an amber to red light. Both the overtake and the RLJ are contrary to the training that he would have received. It shouldn't be a complaint, but this bloke needs a little reminder of what his driving standard should be.[/QUOTE]
I think this is the important point, his driving was below the standard that he has been trained to. People who drive emergency vehicles often get a bit carried away. I personally think its worth reporting from the point of view that the driver needs a little bit of a refresher/reminder around their blues and twos training.
Having spent a large part of my career in the back of an ambulance responding to an emergency I know that there is no such situation that entitles the driver to endanger other road users. Our drivers would not have been allowed to drive like that.

 

[ianrauk]

Something over nothing.

 

[roadrash]

pity there isnt an unlike button for some of these responses

 

[benb]

I've already said I'm not going to report it.
I felt it was too close. What if I hadn't been so quick to get over? (and I got over as quickly as I could)

I don't really understand why some people feel the need to be quite so unpleasant.

 

[benb]

[QUOTE 3183839, member: 30090"]Stopped, gof off and pulled my bike onto the pavement.

Or if you want to stay on the road ge sure to maintain eye contact.[/QUOTE]

There wasn't time to get onto the pavement.

 

[benb]

Seriously this was nothing major. It doesn't need yet another thread. I have a cam but don;t feel the need to put up every last time someone comes fairly close to me. They were attending an emergency, it wasn't that bad.

Nor do I. If I did I'd be putting up half a dozen videos a day.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I wouldn't report that but would pass it on as feedback as I did with one experience a good while ago. For the speed, it was closer than I would have liked but far from dangerous. It was only on lights and caught me by surprise.

Now that's what I'd call unsettling!

GC

 

[tadpole]

I don't really understand why some people feel the need to be quite so unpleasant.

It's the internet, sadly full of ******es, but unlike the pub they are too far away to punch in the face, and they know it. So they are free to talk crap and get away without getting their just deserts.
I'd not report it myself but the driver was going to fast when approaching the traffic lights, and was too close to you.

 

[Sara_H]

I've already said I'm not going to report it.
I felt it was too close. What if I hadn't been so quick to get over? (and I got over as quickly as I could)

I don't really understand why some people feel the need to be quite so unpleasant.

See I would, not to get anyone into trouble, but because the driver needs a refressher about driving safely. In my ICU career I've met people who've been killed or seriously injuries after RTC's with emergency vehcles - there's no excuse, no emergency warrants putting other road users at risk.

 

[Origamist]

Looking at the clip, the vehicle was moving quickly and you do did not have a huge amount of time to react (you were also going downhill). What’s more, no one on the internet allows for reaction time or the possibility that you will not always make the perfect decision in any given situation. That said, there was possibly an opportunity to take to the pavement as the kerb was dropped just before you slowed, but we are now in the "counsel of perfection" phase of the discussion.

There were numerous hazard perception triggers for the driver – such as the opposing lane was not clear, the slowing cyclist, the pinch point and road furniture, the car waiting to turn right, the sign on the approach warning of children crossing and the traffic lights changing just before they arrived the junction.

Given your position – you were likely to get a close pass (it looks like 2-3ft), but I do think the speed at which you were passed was excessive given the conditions and I can understand why this is likely to have shook you up a bit.

 

[GrasB]

Showed this to my son ,he's is a first responder same as the driver in the video ,his opinion is you were given room , could have stopped well before the pinch point , driver did nowt wrong and if you think that it needs reporting ,your a tool...happy to help.

3 from first hearing the siren on camera to starting to brake. First he has to work out were it's coming from & sometimes that takes a good 2 or 3 seconds then he has to work out what to do. All in all 3 seconds from first being audible to a response is quite good. This is assuming that the OP could actually hear the ambulance as early as the camera. In my experience you often can't.

As for the driver. He fell bellow the standard of driving given in the highway code let alone any advanced driver training. Passing someone at speed with 1m or less room is not what I call advanced & responsible driving practice.

 

[CopperBrompton]

I think the driver expected you to stop rather than slow, so wasn't expecting you to get so close to the pinch-point. You can see if you freeze the video that he was as close to the traffic island as possible.

I'd say the driver was going too fast approaching a light (emergency vehicles have to treat red lights as give-way signs), but you also could have stopped or gone onto the pavement.

 

[benb]

It certainly felt at the time as though I stopped as quickly as I could.

@User I was stopped, can't recall whether it was my left or right foot I was resting on.

 

[benb]

[QUOTE 3184175, member: 30090"]No time to hop onto the pavement?

BS Ben that is.[/QUOTE]

I can't do bunny hops.

Funny how everyone who wasn't there is an expert on what was possible and what wasn't.

 

[Paul99]

Six of one and half a dozen of the other is my opinion.

Driver could have done things differently, cyclist too. Again my opinion.

A lot of the posts on here are saying that the driver shouldn't be passing so close at speed, well if they are responding to an emergency they should get there as quickly as possible. I don't believe @benb was in any danger, his perception of the incident is different. He was there and I wasn't but I don't think I would have been shook up, unsettled or felt endangered. Maybe I'm made of sterner stuff.

If the emergency services followed the highway code to the letter the death rates in this country will go through the roof.