Drives not yielding for Ambulances or Fire Trucks

[ecureilx]

I have seen the same thing in KL, an ambulance pulled out into one of KL famous rush hour gridlock, and the cars parted like the red sea, people bouncing up payments etc to get out of its way, one car that did not move (probably a Singaporean on holiday the driver was yelled at. Which is why I always say driving in Malaysia is so much better than SG.

Well, and Malaysians have no qualms running their Wira in a partially flooded road, as my uncle does, confident that the engine air intake is on the top and will not flood the engine .. whereas Singaporean are terrified of driving their pretty expensive Land Rover Disco's up the pavement, for any emergency ..

That maybe a contributing factor, says me .. !!!!

[Strong Eagle]

This calls for another government-run campaign, just like the Kindness campaign and such.

Extremely funny!!!!

[ScoobyDoes]

I have made observations on this before.

How one can be sitting in traffic, and not one vehicle moves over to let a vehicle 'on blue lights' go by.

Okay, but remember what I said earlier, simply having lights on doesn't mean they are heading to an emergency and this is where confusion starts......even for all you guys.

The emergency vehicles here are often using lights but no siren. I mean, what the hell point is that? I had this discussion with the Fire Chief in HK some years back and he said to me; 'The engine you noted was on its way to another location to relieve a tender that had been called to an emergency elsewhere.'

Sorry, what? Simply by driving along the road emergency vehicles are allowed to use lights? The SIREN here is the key, and only the siren. If you hear it, then yes, get the hell out of the way and most of the time I've seen it done here......though not so much in HK. If it's only lights, no, there's no need to get out the way, as QRM's earlier post alluded to.

[the lynx]

My ambulance driver friend told me this:

Lights + siren = The person inside is battling between life and death = GTFO of the way.
Lights = He's gone = But we still need to bring the body to the morgue

[ScoobyDoes]

I have an ambulance centre just a few meters from me now so I frequently see them leave and return.......with lights on and no siren, or both.

I doubt there is a DB in the back when either they leave or return given its only a base and not a clinic or hospital, but lights are on and they stop at the traffic lights etc. as normal.

[PrimroseHill]

Well, and Malaysians have no qualms running their Wira in a partially flooded road, as my uncle does, confident that the engine air intake is on the top and will not flood the engine .. whereas Singaporean are terrified of driving their pretty expensive Land Rover Disco's up the pavement, for any emergency ..

That maybe a contributing factor, says me .. !!!!

Husband did that once in Hammersmith to let the police through. Less than 2 weeks later, had a fine in the post GBP100.

JR8, where do you plan to move to Newfoundland?

[x9200]

I have a theory to offer. They are taught and know they should give way to an ambulance but they just don't know how to do this or don't want to take the risk of doing something non-standard. On a highway this would require them to cooperate, stranger with stranger under non-typical condition. I just don't see it happened. I don't see any local driver to position his car on a sidewalk to create the space for the ambulance. For anything for that matter. This is high level off road logistics and they can't predict the possible change of the lane before they get to the rare of the preceding car.*
Yet at the same time you don't see or hardly see anybody taking over the ambulance. I've seen a number of times in a slow traffic the motorcyclists tailing next to an ambulance blocking the way between the lanes and not daring to overtake it.

*) Have you notice this? Two lane street in one direction. One car waits in lane 1 in front of the red traffic light. The lane 2 is empty. 200m away another car approaches the traffic lights also on the line 1. In 95% this car will first reach the other car within 10m distance and only after this change to the other lane.

[cookiesap]

Most things said are true, and it's the sad situation we're facing.

The complaining is done, let's move on to finding a solution.

Hopefully there are some Singaporean "readers" in this forum that can help make a change (us 'lao wai' don't stand much of a chance).

I'd propose that the local transport authority looks into this problem to assess how many lives can be saved by looking into this problem.
That will hopefully be an eye-opener.

Secondly, there needs to be a carrot-and-stick system, where good drivers that help can be nominated to a sort of a bonus (e.g. savings on road taxes) and bad drivers get points. A good driver would be someone who is clearly getting out of their way and influencing others to do the same, most likely at a cost (e.g. late for work, date, meeting, etc).

[sundaymorningstaple]

cookiesap, you are definitely local. Only a local would want a reward for following the rules. Pretty sad, innit.

[the lynx]

Well, to give him some credit, positive reinforcement helps BUT in Singapore, LTA does give demerit points and fine any driver for not giving way to emergency vehicles.

http://driving-in-singapore.spf.gov.sg/ ... /dips.html

We all should learn from the Germans; they even make way for other motorists to make way!

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/video-of-cars- ... 49141.html

Epic move!

[x9200]

Sorry, but nothing epic. This is the way it should be and the Germans are not the only ones doing it. For this particular video I am confused why the ambulance does not go the whole way on the emergency lane (the road shoulder). This is what is this primarily for.

Below 2 examples from Poland
http://youtu.be/1goWq8xZpeQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqiNkN4l ... WQ&index=3

Everybody is required by law to pull to the side and stop. Majority is doing just this.

[PNGMK]

This lack of courtesy for Ambulances drives me wild. IME the worst offenders are actually taxi drivers.

I also get seriously pissed off at both bus drivers for not pulling out more aggressively and car drivers for not letting them out by either slowing down or moving out of the near side lane when they see a bus indicating to pull out of a bay. In S. Korea you run the risk of having your car t-boned by a bus if you don't get out of the way - the bus has legal right of way in all cases - it should be the same here.

[rajagainstthemachine]

Here is what happens in India (of late) which is heartening to see..
but normally I've seen vehicles tailgating ambulances so they can get signal free access too. Thats pretty shameful

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 648762.cms

[sundaymorningstaple]

Here is what happens in India (of late) which is heartening to see..
but normally I've seen vehicles tailgating ambulances so they can get signal free access too. Thats pretty shameful

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 648762.cms

In the US that is pretty hard to do, as the space directly behind the ambulance is usually taken up around 3 cars deep by Ambulance chasing lawyers!

[Primrose Hill]

KL driving is just as bad as SG here.
Drivers here drives like a herd mentaliy. Hey, I want to pull out of the left lane and I just pull out. WTF, look who is driving on the right lane. Oh no I am on the right lane and I need to take this AYE exit coming up in 50m. No worries. I will just cross over 2 other lanes and make the exit. Did I hear honking? Why are the drivers yelling at me? Why is that woman giving me the finger?
Use the mirrors and use the indicators, for f*** sake. And use common sense and anticipate what's in front. Giving braking distance.

Was in KL over CNY the driving was just as bad accept the cars were in worse conditions, so, I was at the end of my teethers, in case I tapped one of their cars and the entire car just fall to pieces. We had cars pulled out in front of us in a junction and made a 180 degrees turn onto on coming cars when the lights are green. On E2 coming back to SG, all Msian cars and SG cars drove on the hard shoulder which of course somewhere along the way resulted in car accidents and then caused a huge gridlock as the emergency vehicles could not get through.


where do people get their driving license here?