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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To expect that an ambulance car should not be travelling at 70 in a 30 zone near a school.

61 replies

smartiejake · 24/03/2009 22:32

Had a very close thing yesterday with an ambulance car that missed our car by a literally a whisker racing round a blind bend in a 30 zone at at least 70mph (we were pulling out of a side road). He was going so fast we didn't hear his sirens till he was in our faces.

One witness to the near miss was so shocked he turned round his car and followed us flashing us down in a side road. He had spotted a dent in the side of our car and wanted to check we knew it was there (it was an old dent). He was outraged at how fast the car had been travelling and pressed us to complain.

Is it really reasonable that an ambulance racing to someone's aid should really risk the lives of other road users?

If he had hit our car my dd and dh would have been toast.

OP posts:

Stayingsunnygirl · 25/03/2009 10:27

Well - I'd say that the driver was ignoring his responsibility to other road users in this case, Sassybeast - but maybe we'll have to agree to differ.

StealthPolarBear · 25/03/2009 10:30

yanbu

edam · 25/03/2009 11:05

My mother was saying the other day that it its far harder to tell where the siren is coming from than it used to be. Maybe something about newer ambulances/paramedic cars?

LEMAGAIN · 25/03/2009 11:05

This is difficult, ambulance drivers are meant to be trained i guess to get places quickly and safely - so, if he were simply going 70mph and it was safe to do so then YABU, but if it was not safe then actually YANBU as he was putting other road users at risk, him self at risk and his patient at risk - even if he had a slight prang with the patient onboard then he would have seriously delayed getting them to hospital.

LEMAGAIN · 25/03/2009 11:06

edam, ive noticed this too - maybe this is a point that needs raising, but with whom?

Sassybeast · 25/03/2009 11:06

Stayingsunnygirl - the way I see it, there are 2 drivers involved. The first one is driving an emergency vehicle , presumably to the scene of an emergency. A patient having an MI or a stroke, or a child with breathing difficulties or a meningitis rash - all scenarios in which seconds may mean the difference between life and death. He is driving fast, he is using his siren and he 'may' be driving on an unfamiliar road and unaware of the side road appraoching.

Driver 2 is familiar with the area, knows that she is pulling out on a blind bend and has children in the car (who may or may not be noisy) The stereo/radio may also be on. If I was the second driver, I would be stopping, looking AND listening before pulling out onto the road. If that meant hushing the kids, switching down the stereo and winding down the window to make sure there are no emergency vehicles approaching at speed, as indicated by a siren then I would do all of the above.

If I STILL went on to have a near miss with an ambulance, my first though would be 'Shit - crap - blimey' and then next yime I pulled out of the side road I would be even MORE careful and no doubt the ambulance driver would similarly be thinking 'Shit etc...'

It's not really a blame blame situation - and rather than wondering whether to complain or not, I'd be thankful that it wasn't me or mine needing an emergency ambulance car and then ringing the council to request a mirror to improve visability.

edam · 25/03/2009 11:11

Interesting you've noticed it, Lem - we were on a roundabout at the time and neither of us had a clue where the ambulance was until we could actually see it.

Poledra · 25/03/2009 11:11

In the situation where you can hear a siren but you don't know where it is coming from, you are safest to stop the car until you do know where it is coming from. I have a feeling that somewhere in the world (?Canada) you are legally obliged to pull over immediately upon hearing a siren.

I understand that the OP did not hear the sirens, BTW.

reach4sky · 25/03/2009 11:15

I agree, I find it increasingly hard to identify where the siren is coming from. Not always easy to stop where you are if you are in the middle of a junction say, that could well be right in their path.

LEMAGAIN · 25/03/2009 11:16

i don't drive poledra but i have often felt very panicked by sirens and how drivers know to do the right thing, stopping might not always be the best thing might it? Honestly, i havent a clue!

Poledra · 25/03/2009 11:19

True reach4thesky - I suppose I should qualify that you should stop somewhere safe, so leaving the junction and pulling into the side of the road for example. I was on a roundabout when I could hear a siren with no idea where it was. I turned off onto my exit, then waited there (where the road was wide) until I could see the ambulance, which was coming my way. He could then get past me without crossing onto the other carriageway. I suppose the important bit of info is that I knew my exit led to the local hospital, so I was pretty sure he was coming my way.

Poledra · 25/03/2009 11:32

LEMAGAIN, you just have to use your judgement. I know that sounds a bit smug, but when I started driving, sirens would panic me, as would aggressive behaviour from other drivers and so on. As you get more experience, you get calmer and more able to cope with these things. You have to read the road, what else is near you, what direction the emergency vehicle might be going in and so on.

It's just like having babies - you're all PFB with the first one, and then your DC3 thrives on benign neglect.

nailpolish · 25/03/2009 11:34

fire engines in edinburgh already have the new sirens that make it easier to tell the direction they are coming from

they really do work

Nabster · 25/03/2009 11:36

YABU and I really think you might want to get your hearing checked if you didn't hear the sirens before he was right near you.

My DD was blue lighted to hospital and some woman would not get out of the way so the driver blasted her with the siren and she still took her time moving and then glared at me.

Heaven help you or yours ever need a quick response ambulance, smartiejake.

Nabster · 25/03/2009 11:38

And the ambulance might not have been rushing to a patient but trying to get them to hospital ASAP.

luckymummy74 · 25/03/2009 11:40

my DH is a paramedic and he would say that they have to get there ASAP if it's a 'red call', and often if it's a car going there (as opposed to an actual ambulance) they are likely to be first on scene...however, he fully agrees that they still have to drive safely. 70mph in a 30 zone seems a little OTT?

They only should use sirens if they need to, i.e. heavy traffic. I heard sirens at 5am on Sunday .

One of DH's colleagues has just been let off a driving ban, he had 12 points on his licence. DH is furious, he's been on full pay for 3 months, and now been allowed back to work (via courts).

Some ambulance drivers do take the piss....so I don't think you are being unreasonable.

psychomum5 · 25/03/2009 11:40

YANBU. just becuase it is an emergancy does not give them right to ignore the safety of the road and other road users.

all the siren actaully gives them right to do is to warn others and give them priority. emergency vehicles still need to be safe!!

it has been raised time and time again, normally with the police, that they can cause, and indeed have caused, death by dangerous driving when in persuit of criminals. I know I state police here, and not ambulances, and obviously ambulances are there to save lives not catch them, but the same principle remains. they still need to be aware of others!

nailpolish · 25/03/2009 11:48

how do you know they were going 7mph?

nailpolish · 25/03/2009 11:48

Stayingsunnygirl · 25/03/2009 12:26

As I said, Sassybeast - we will have to agree to differ.

luckymummy74 · 25/03/2009 12:49

DH also says that if they go 20mph over speed limit and get caught by a speed camera then they get points on their licence.

DH whole-heartedly does NOT think you are being unreasonable.

There are definitely some dicks out there who put blues and twos on to go to an old dear who can't get off the loo.....

Stayingsunnygirl · 25/03/2009 12:56

Nabster - it wasn't just the OP who didn't hear the siren - neither did her dh nor the chap who witnessed the near collision. That would suggest that it's not the OP's hearing at fault, but that either some freak of sound meant that the siren's noise didn't carry round the corner or that the ambulance didn't have its siren on until it came round the corner.

And I have to ask again - how would it have benefitted the patient waiting for emergency treatment if the ambulance had been involved in an accident - even a minor one??

Driving far too fast round a blind corner, whether or not you know the area and if there's a turning coming up, is NOT safe driving - and the ambulance driver (presumably a trained professional, who's presumably been at the scene of road traffic accidents and seen the horrific injuries that can happen) should have known this.

Nabster · 25/03/2009 13:06

Obviously the driver wasn't trying to have an accident.

Stayingsunnygirl · 25/03/2009 13:41

But was he trying not to?

SirPuke · 25/03/2009 13:41

In my personal experience, YANBU.

I was hit my a police car on an emergency call a few years ago. I was going through a green light, he was racing through red at a junction. Like you I didn't hear the sirens. Luckily for me and my 15month old son, on that occasion the speeds involved were less than 40 so our injuries were minor. However there had previously been 2 fatalities at the same junction in recent years -one caused by an ambulance, the 2nd by a police car both on emergency missions.

The police officer that hit me was suspended from driving for a year.

I guess I am very biased on this issue!

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