WE SEE THEM at work every day and we are in do doubt that our Emergency Ambulance Service is staffed by men and women with a passion for saving lives. That’s a commendable disposition to have, especially in today’s world that seems so often to be characterised by selfishness and a lack of caring for others.
We, therefore, have no doubt that those in that emergency service who are worried about the possible negative effect of a new rule that compels them to drive more cautiously, and generally avoid excessive speeding, are well intentioned. Their motivation is never to lose a patient in their care.
But while they argue for the right to determine the speed at which they can travel, given the circumstances surrounding the patient they are trying to reach or to take to the hospital, we admonish them and others who share their position to consider that even with good intentions dangers don’t disappear.
Perhaps they do not recall the case of the member of the Royal Barbados Police Force who some years ago was charged internally after he got into an accident while responding to an emergency call. He exited the gate at Central Police Station in a police vehicle with flashing lights and blaring siren and turned right rather than left, going the wrong way on a one-way street.
What about the case of another lawman, who while transporting an unruly and apparently violent prisoner, travelled up Cheapside, along Chapel Street going the wrong way at the back of KFC in the direction of Swan Street. He, too, was using lights and siren when he got into an accident and was subsequently charged.
It would be good for our saviours in the EMS to keep in mind that “the road to hell is often paved with good intentions”. Ambulance personnel should also be aware that because they have escaped prosecution so far does not mean they are not being observed.
We point to the case of one veteran police officer who drew our attention to an incident he witnessed at Eastmond Corner in Bank Hall during the final days of Crop Over this year when an ambulance with lights and siren on drove through a red light at high speed and narrowly missed a car that was proceeding slowly in response to the green. That officer insisted that had there been an accident he would have recommended the prosecution of the ambulance driver.
Again, we stress that we understand the motivation of the ambulance personnel, but it is perhaps in their best interest and that of other road users as well as their patients that they exercise the greatest caution possible. To the victim of a stroke or heart attack, or someone who has come out at the wrong end of the violence that now plagues our society, a few minutes may make the difference between life and death, or a permanent versus temporary disability. But flashing lights or blaring siren will never correct a miscalculation and misjudgment by a driver – and the consequences may be deadly for even more persons.
While we are at it, however, we cannot put all the weight on the shoulders of the lowly ambulance drivers because there is hardly a road user today who does not complain about the inadequacy of sirens on many emergency vehicles, including some ambulances, police cars and fire trucks. Too often it is only a glance in the rear view mirror or your peripheral vision that alerts you to their presence because you never hear the siren until they are mere feet away. We admonish those responsible to address this with urgency.
We close with this quote of a law from one United States jurisdiction: “Any police officer of the city shall be authorised to ticket any ambulance driver when he sees an ambulance driver operating his ambulance in violation of the traffic laws and regulations of the city, and such action of the ambulance driver is not exempted by this chapter; provided, however, if the ambulance is on an emergency run, the police officer shall wait until after the run has been completed before ticketing an ambulance driver for a violation of the traffic laws and regulations.”