Letting emergency vehicles pass.

[Brandane]

This clown seems to think that his journey is more important than a fire engine on an emergency call. I hope he never needs them in a hurry himself. What a complete and utter plank.

 

[John the Monkey]

I've seen it happen on the local roads, once in a while. People are dicks.

 

[ScotiaLass]

On the bike I always raise a hand to tell them I've heard them and stop to allow them past me safely - at some of the speeds they have to drive, it's safer!
In the car I slow up if the way ahead is clear, if not I indicate and pull over out the way.
I've made several journeys on a blue light with ill, premature babies from the hospital i worked in, to Great Ormond Street, and have the utmost respect for the emergency drivers. It's definitely a skill!

 

[helston90]

The case in the link above is obviously an exception but I drive an emergency vehicle occasionally with lights and sirens and amazed at where some people decide to stop- as if coming to a complete halt on a blind bend is going to somehow help me get where I'm going- just carry on swiftly until you see a lay by or open road where I can pass.
We find it's normally quicker not to have lights and sirens on as people go into rabbit in headlight mode and lose all common sense.

 

[Piemaster]

We find it's normally quicker not to have lights and sirens on as people go into rabbit in headlight mode and lose all common sense.

I'm quite wary because of that on the bike, drivers (for once!) paying more attention to mirrors than what's in front of them when pulling over - like the fat bloke on the bike in front of them. I've had to dip into a side road to avoid a Transit pulling over and need an ambulance myself.

 

[jayonabike]

just carry on swiftly until you see a lay by or open road where I can pass..

This happened to me the other day, an ambulance was behind me when I was in my lorry, a couple of cars had pulled over in front of me, but me being in a truck there was no room to pull over. So I overtook the cars in front knowing further down the road there was a roundabout with a crawler lane up the hill on the other side. The Ambulance driver guessed what I was doing, switched the siren off and happily sat behind me at 56 mph until I hit the roundabout and pulled over into the crawler lane. He passed, siren back on and gave me the thumbs up.

 

[arch684]

I,am a retired firefighter/driver the people who don't want to let you passed are very few, Its the people that panic that are the real problem

 

[GrumpyGregry]

What does the law say on the matter? Specifically. Is a driver obliged to slow or stop or otherwise get out of the way and if not why not?

 

[snorri]

What does the law say on the matter? Specifically. Is a driver obliged to slow or stop or otherwise get out of the way and if not why not?

Don't panic and take appropriate action to let it pass.

 

[cd365]

The case in the link above is obviously an exception but I drive an emergency vehicle occasionally with lights and sirens and amazed at where some people decide to stop- .

I have seen cars stop in the most of stupid places when they see/hear the blues and twos, I find their stupidity incredible

 

[snorri]

I have seen cars stop in the most of stupid places when they see/hear the blues and twos, I find their stupidity incredible

Spare a thought for ordinary drivers, you may find their stupidity incredible, but being a driver of such vehicles you have considerably more experience of such situations than the vast majority of drivers.
I can't remember the last time I as a driver was required to take any action to assist the progress of an emergency vehicle. As a cyclist I'm usually standing on the verge before they come anywhere near me.

 

[summerdays]

I try to get off the road completely sometimes as someone said, you get the motorists pulling over to the pavement to get out of the way, and at the back of my mind I sometimes wonder if it's a police chase. One of the few times a car and I have touched was when a car (which had been behaving oddly) saw a police car and then decided it wanted to go in the opposite direction very fast, and just caught me as it was making his turn.

 

[Saluki]

There was a bloke in our village who, not only refused to let the fire engine past, but actually slowed down along a country lane. He went along at about 5 mph, as he was a bit of an idiot. The country lane was a dead end, there were only 2 houses at the bottom of it too. One of which was his. It was on fire! Like I said, a bit of an idiot. Village gossip has it that the insurance company wriggled a lot and wouldn't give him anything like a full payout as he had 'impeded the progress of emergency vehicles'. What a numpty.

I, like the majority of people, get the heck out of the way to let emergency vehicles pass. The bloke in the newspaper report deserved all that he got, and more.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Don't panic and take appropriate action to let it pass.

A very well drafted statue!

If only....

 

[Ian A]

I always move out of the way like 99% of people. One day on my way home from work I moved out of the way only to find them parked outside my house along with an ambulance.when I got home. It was only due to the quick response from the fire crews that it was kept as a "minor" house fire. Impressive too as they weren't from our nearest station (which I can run to it in under five minutes) who were already out on a call and the ones who attended came from further away. They were based a short walk from my place of work in fact. Could have grabbed a lift!