Kovoet - For all we know, shortly after you were passed by the ambulance, their control centre cancelled the call due to a false alarm.
Still not clear on how you knew it was the same ambulance ...on this occasion and the other times you claim to have seen it happen & as others have pointed out, even if it was the same ambulance, there are a number of scenarios where using the sirens/lights would be perfectly valid.
Are your eyes on the back of your head? ...the ambulance drove past you at speed from behind, yet you had time to see the driver clearly enough to identify him as the same person sitting drinking coffee further down the road, not just once but on several occasions ...hmmmmmmn.
He was not coming from behind (love these snooty comments). I saw him at a traffic circle and he was coming from the right. Just trust me it's the same person.
So the ambulance had right of way. Yet you say in your op you had to get out the way? ---------------- So says the guy slating the emergency services ..even after they have saved your son.
No argument & you've already created a silly thread so why stop now? ...I would just like to know how it's possible you had to get out of the way of an ambulance( coming from the right) on a roundabout, while you're waiting to enter that roundabout?
More irritating than that is people not using hazard lights when pulled over on the side of the road and being a genuine hazard. I've stopped at night several times in the past few years to give assistance to stranded motorists, be it a break down or a flat tyre, and the first thing I ask them to do is put their hazard lights on. The two teenage girls in a broken down 206 on the cross harbour flyover off-ramp at the Odyssey arena a couple of years ago come to mind I came off the flyover, onto the off-ramp and there in my path round the sweeping bend was this 206, sitting in the middle of the road. I parked up on the hard shoulder and walked back to it to get them to let the handbrake off and roll down out of the way before they got written off. Even after explaining how dangerous it was for them to sit there, the driver was still reluctant to let the brake off and neither of them could understand why I was doing this. I was horrified by their stupidity Anyway, I don't agree with emergency services drivers using their sirens unless it's an emergency. The PSNI are renowned for it and I believe it should be punishable offence. I've also seem PSNI officers throwing cigarette butts out through patrol vehicle windows - not only are they not permitted to smoke in a place of work, they're also the people who hand out £50 littering fines to the public for the very same behaviour.
This is a very good point. I find it hard to believe ambulance drivers do this. I've heard of American cops doing it, and somehow I can believe it (police work is more combative, insular and hostile, so I imagine them having less of a problem disrupting traffic to get donuts - and American cops are notorious for being self-involved and antagonistic in part) but I can't imagine ambulance crews doing it. The very nature of their job is public assistance and service through and through. I also have a hard time imagining them using a siren this way because, frankly, why would they need to? Even if I could get away with it, and even if I had no scruples about doing it, it barely seems worth the noise and high-speed concentration just to get a drink 60 seconds sooner. I get coffee all the time, and I've never thought immediately before buying a cup, "****, I REALLY need this coffee, if there were any way to get it 60 seconds sooner I would do it." It's just...who cares that much about getting a drink or a snack? I call ********. I don't believe this happens (or at least, I don't believe it's widespread or routine).
I don't know dude, there are times that I've been jonesing pretty hard coming out of work after supervising P5 all afternoon and trying to get the outdated, PoS school computer system to keep up with client demands! Just kidding! I totally agree with you. It's hard to believe a paramedic would do such a thing, and if it is true I'd certainly hope that it occurred under some exceptional circumstances like what IanW mentioned.
