Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

I was today out in my Scoob, whilst stationary, at a set of red lights, the ambulance with it's blues and twos going pushed me so far over I hit the kerb, now my question is can I claim for a new wheel,from the ambulance service I thought I was over enough but he just kept coming and if I did not move I sure he would have hit the back of me, now I know these guys are pretty good drivers but I do feel Pi**ed off about it.
Any advice welcomed
Cheers
Colin

misty

Take it from me mate they are no better than the average driver!! In the fire service we get no advanced driving instruction, so i would doubt that the am/service does!!
dave

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

Dave I was on the understanding that these guys had to take a special test like the police to drive fast in a situation, I must be wrong.
Cheers
Colin

julian N/W wrx my93

take em for every thing!

Sith

My dad had a friend in the Ambulance service. They are allowed to move cars out of the way using their vehicles.

burnz

iTrader: (1)

Im sure they would argue the toss and put the ball back in your court by saying that it was your responsibility to pull over in a safe place and to which effect there was no need to touch the kerb.Any how all the best whatever you decide to do.

Famine

Few people are aware of this, but it is entirely legal to drive straight through a set of red lights - if you judge it safe to do so - in order to get out of the way of an Emergency Vehicle...

Speaking of no extra training, I once saw a fire engine hanging it's tail out down Fulham Road - he came SO close to losing it in the middle of traffic, parked cars and pedestrians it wasn't even funny.

misty

Ther are crap drivers in every job mate!!
dave

easyrider

They do get advanced tuition---well,in the S.East anyway.

jjones

someone could well have been dying in the back. get out of the way, use a bit of common sense as to where the safest place is to move to. it isn't rocket science. maybe you would benefit from some advanced driving tuition?

Jiggerypokery

Yesterday I saw an ambulance making its way through two lanes of stationary traffic when the two lanes in the opposite direction were clear. The car infront of me bumped up onto the high kerb (with alloy wheels) for no reason whatsoever (seems to be a knee-jerk reaction for a lot of people when they see blues + sirens) .

Proving that they *would* have hit you had you not moved will be virtually impossible. I have no problem with driving through red lights to clear the road for them.

You are responsible for your own actions. The same applies when some muppet cuts me up when my wife is in the car, it always seems to be my fault no matter how bad their driving My response is that I can only drive one car at once, the other driver is responsible for the control of their vehicle.

IanA

Scoob99, sorry to hear about your wheel but I have to put the record straight in one area:

I don't know which Fire Service Misty is in but he is talking absolute bull****. There may be a few of the smaller brigades who don't do advanced driver training but I'm not aware of any.

In London the course is three weeks long and tutored by people who have been trained by the police. It includes skid pan training and very thorough understanding of what you can and can't do as regards the law.

Public Authority Ambulances are the same. Bear in mind also that anyone driving a fire engine or ambulance will have taken a second driving test (LGV or PSV) so the odds are they've had more driver training than most people even before they do an emergency course.

How many of you pull up so close to the car in front you can't see their back wheels and a small piece of tarmac? If everyone did this they would find it alot easier to move out of the way.

I am not claiming that emergency service drivers are all beyond reproach but the suggestion that they have no training is totally wrong.

lmsbman

The vast majority of drivers just panic when they see/hear an emergency vehicle. That usually results in them slamming the brakes on and swerving out of the way.

Heres a few tips for you all when you have an emergency vehicle behind you:-

1) Don't slam the brakes on.
2) Look for somewhere safe to pull over.
3) If there isnt anywhere safe, don't crawl along at 10mph hoping that by some magic the vehicle will get past.
4)If you have to, speed up, untill you can find somewhere safe to pull over. Use your local knowledge.i.e. if your in a series of bends but you know there is a straight coming up, drive safely through the bends then look for a place to allow the emergency vehicle to pass.
5) Don't stop on the blind crest of a hill. If you cant see what is ahead, then neither can the emergency driver.
6At red traffic lights, if it is safe pull forward, to create space for them to get past.
7) Remember, a fire engine or ambulance is a heavy bit of kit. They don't stop very quickly or accelerate that fast.
8) Don't be tempted to tailgate them through heavy traffic. You will be surprised that once the vehicle has past, a lot of drivers pull back out, without ever looking in their mirror.
9) For those of you that do number 8, have you checked to see that there isn't more than one emergency vehicle?
10) Use your mirrors and turn your stereo down!!!!

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

Ian thanks for that mate, I thought it might be a bit iffy.

jjones, I for one move out of the way very quick for emergency vehicles, I was the first car at the lights if I'd had gone any futher I would have been hit by something coming the other way so keep your comments to yourself or even better go stick your head up a dogs ****.

Fizz

iTrader: (1)

Just remember... That ambulance could be for you one day... I'm sure you'd want it to get there as quickly as possible..

As said above you should pull over safely where you can. There is nothing worse than drivers stopping in dagerous positions to allow vehicles past. I have driven ambulances for voluntary services and believe me the things I have seen will horrify you.

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

Fizz the thing was I was stationary and had no where to go!!!!!!!!!

Daz34

What Brigade is that? Are you wholetime? We certainly get advanced instruction & have to go on refresher courses.
All emergency services have the odd bad driver, but saying that the public can do some stupid stuff when you approach them ie mounting the pavement, pulling over on bends, pretending you are not there & hope you disappear, racing off ahead.
Emergency appliances should treat a red light as a 'give way' & pushing cars off the road or into the traffic flow is a no no.

Daz

IanA

Good advice above. In cities especially fire engines often turn out in pairs. If you want to listen to music in a city situation open your windows. Saw a bump recently involving a 996 Porsche. £43k damage and the driver "never heard the fire engine coming" over his music.

jjones

well if you are first at the lights you have the easiest route to get out of the ambulances way.

i replied in an honest way to your question and then insult me when i gave you an answer you don't like.

jjones

well lets exmaine the facts as stated by yourself:

so he rammed you with the ambulance resulting in your car being pushed into the kerb?

oh no it was your driving error that caused the collision with the kerb and the ambulance didn't touch your car.

because you cannot maneuver your car in a safe manner and you crashed into the kerb you are wondering if you can blaim your mistake on someone else and get the local authority to foot the bill for your incompetence?

you asked for any advice and i gave the best advice that seems appropriate in these circumstances.

and you got a bitch on.

Famine

True. And even the non-crap drivers make mistakes too, I guess.

Still, I was shocked at the time, seeing as I was walking down the pavement, watching a two ton missile coming at me at 80mph... I stood up on the train on the way home...

Daz34

Make that 10+ ton mate

K9VYN

jjones,

i think the reason Scoob99 was a bit miffed with your retort was because it may have come across a litte sharp. re read it and read his inital post. you have good advice to give, so give it, but perhpas be a little more understanding or compassionate (his car is damaged, he's pi$$ed off, who wouldn't be).

Scoob99 obviously made every effort possible to not cause any inconvenience to the ambulance. that he hit the kerb or who is to blame for it or even whether or not he has a case is not really the point i am taking up here.. others have also given good and proper advice.

but, it looks like you are slamming him in your post for driving crap and getting in the way of the emergency services, thus putting a patient at further risk. this is obviously not the case. he was there, we were not and he took whatever action he felt necessary and within his power to aid the ambulance's progress.

actually, regarding his car's damage, i agree he may not have a case to claim for damages, but that's all that needs to be said - i'm sure he'd appreciate that better than the implication that he is a poor driver!

hope this smooths things over - after all advice was requested and i don't really see the need for criticism in this case. hopefully the damage is not too bad/expensive.

Kevin

Allan

iTrader: (1)

Kevin, you've put very nicely what I was thinking, always a shame to see threads go this way.

Allan

Simon C

And bad judgement is not limited to this ambulance either, whilst going home on sat I met a fire truck head on. Those of you that know Hatfield, herts will know excatly where I mean, when I say between Oldings corner (tesco's) and the Airfield Pub. Now is single carrage way, and there was a que of traffic waiting to get on the island so the fire tender came up my side of the road!!!! I was able to dive off into tesco's as was the car infront, but the artic unit behind be had just got his cab off the island when the fire truck met him head on, and expected him to back up to let him past!! Back a 40 foot trailer onto a busy main island??? Luckily whilst he was blocking the oncoming traffic the first few cars moved so the tender could onto the right side of the road. I swear some pleople don't think, oh and part of this road has a central reservation so the tender couldn't even drive up the centre of the road.

Added to this I kerbed the GF's 2 month old Legacy getting out of a cop car enroute to an RTA, and I kid you not he must have been doing 60 in a residential area for hin to make the ground up between when I first saw him and where he caught me.


Simon

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

K9YVN, Thanks for that mate much apprciated, I properly have not got a hope in hells chance of claiming for a new wheel and the point to my post was really to point out that it could have been a lot lot worse.
Cheers
Colin

K9VYN

no problem, i'm fairly sure jjones probably didn't intend to appear so damning of you either. that's the problem with written dialogue - its open to interpretation, especially if people don't give much thought to how they respond/write!

Tim Taylor

I have nicked my husbands login to have my two peneth worth.

As an ambulance driver i can assure you that we do not intentionally force people off the road or up kerbs. If people had a little bit more forsight in general and didn't panic as soon as they here us coming we would get to calls with out causing to many problems.

At the end of the day we are only driving transit vans standard ones at that, they do not have uprated brakes, gear box etc but weigh at least 3.5 tonnes and certainlly don't run on nitrous as most of joe public seam to think they do. If in any doubt indicate left and STOP leaving us enough room. I'm sorry you kerbed your wheel but as the ambulance didn't actually hit you there is no proof of the incident.

Last point in Essex you have to do a three week driving course as part of your basic training.

rickydiver

Sorry misty but I must disagree, in my brigade we do get extra driving called an EFAD course. Emergency Fire Appliance Driver. This is an advanced driving course designed to help the driver whilst responding to emergency calls. As someone else said you get crap drivers in every job, believe it or not you even get crap Subaru drivers

misty

Sorry to p*ss on your glory mate but having been a fire appliance driver for over twenty years (in fact I've probably stood on a branch longer than you've been in the job!) I have never yet received any advanced training, Yes my brigade isn't as big as London we've only got 40 stations! but then again my brigade isn,t holding up the pay award by refusing to come into line with other brigades, in order to keep your jobs in your over staffed brigade!!!


Yes EFAD training has been standard in my brigade for a few years now, but it is only in the last 12-18 months that this has been done under blue lights. So if you want to call a jaunt to sheffield, or kirby lonsdale, once every couple of years advanced driving, then I can't imagine why the police go to all that trouble with traffic officers???
dave