Emergency!!!
B and I were cruising down a long and empty highway out in the country. Out of the horizon we both noticed the familiar flashing blue and red lights of an emergency vehicle heading towards us. We kept an eye on it the whole time as it approached us and eventually passed by. It was an ambulance. It clearly wasn’t speeding.
What the fuck???
Why should this vehicle be screaming, “Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!”, for five minutes of our lives?
I’ve seen this happen all the time, even in my nanny state, the U.S. If there’s an emergency, why aren’t these EMT’s speeding? Why should this vehicle be calling out for our alertness and attention when for all intent and purpose it is just another truck? Could we be pulled over by a cop for not stopping on the shoulder and waiting for it to pass? Isn’t that a serious offense? Failure to yield to an emergency vehicle?
How come I roll my eyes in annoyance whenever I hear a siren any more? Have emergency vehicles been crying “Wolf!” at us far too often? Does some incredibly rich woman have a hangnail? I sure won’t call 911 because it would be such an unknown and likely extravagant expense.
And the bottom line is that these EMT’s are creating a SAFETY HAZZARD!!!! If half of the vehicles on the road brake and pull over and the other half don’t or not as fast, isn’t this creating a situation for a collision?
If I was having a heart attack, would the ambulance be speeding for me? Is their safety more important than mine? Are they incapable of making any calculated risk any more due to their training? Has the incorporation of zero risk into our emergency services made them worth less? Do they really risk their lives for us that we should hold them in such high esteem, and pay them the big bucks? Are their rates of injury and death significantly larger than construction workers?
I think not.
This is about inflated and growing egos. This is about too much government. Do you remember in your past lives when we had to stop and bow when the king and his escort passed by? Does the ego of each emergency vehicle grow with each rotation of their flashing lights?
I think so.
In conclusion, if you’re not speeding, turn those damn things off! If you’re pulled over on the shoulder, turn those damn things off! I really don’t want to look at you. After all, this is about SAFETY!
In a perfect world, we would not be able to see anyone else, for they would all be invisible. We would see ourselves as the only person on earth, the world would be entirely ours, and we would truly be free.
We’re so fucked.
Um…you’re kidding, right?
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Um…you’re kidding, right?
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Um…you’re kidding, right?
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There are some instances where someone needs to get to the hospital but it’s not exactly a life and death situation. When I was 8 years old, I was bitten by a dog on the back of the leg. 9-1-1 was called and an ambulance was dispatched because my mom was in no position to take me to the hospital herself. The ambulance ran with the lights on, but no siren, because yes – they were transporting someone to the hospital – but I wasn’t in danger of losing my life. If I had been, then of course they would have been speeding. There’s a ton of different places where ambulances have ended up in accidents when the ambulance was speeding and there was no necessary reason to speed. Just because an ambulance isn’t speeding doesn’t mean that the emergency isn’t any less of a concern to people. Unfortunately, it’s the people who roll their eyes at the siren/lights of an emergency vehicle that cause many of them to not make it to an accident scene in time, or to a house in time, because those people tend to think, “Oh, well they’re not driving fast enough so it must not be an emergency.”
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There are some instances where someone needs to get to the hospital but it’s not exactly a life and death situation. When I was 8 years old, I was bitten by a dog on the back of the leg. 9-1-1 was called and an ambulance was dispatched because my mom was in no position to take me to the hospital herself. The ambulance ran with the lights on, but no siren, because yes – they were transporting someone to the hospital – but I wasn’t in danger of losing my life. If I had been, then of course they would have been speeding. There’s a ton of different places where ambulances have ended up in accidents when the ambulance was speeding and there was no necessary reason to speed. Just because an ambulance isn’t speeding doesn’t mean that the emergency isn’t any less of a concern to people. Unfortunately, it’s the people who roll their eyes at the siren/lights of an emergency vehicle that cause many of them to not make it to an accident scene in time, or to a house in time, because those people tend to think, “Oh, well they’re not driving fast enough so it must not be an emergency.”
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There are some instances where someone needs to get to the hospital but it’s not exactly a life and death situation. When I was 8 years old, I was bitten by a dog on the back of the leg. 9-1-1 was called and an ambulance was dispatched because my mom was in no position to take me to the hospital herself. The ambulance ran with the lights on, but no siren, because yes – they were transporting someone to the hospital – but I wasn’t in danger of losing my life. If I had been, then of course they would have been speeding. There’s a ton of different places where ambulances have ended up in accidents when the ambulance was speeding and there was no necessary reason to speed. Just because an ambulance isn’t speeding doesn’t mean that the emergency isn’t any less of a concern to people. Unfortunately, it’s the people who roll their eyes at the siren/lights of an emergency vehicle that cause many of them to not make it to an accident scene in time, or to a house in time, because those people tend to think, “Oh, well they’re not driving fast enough so it must not be an emergency.”
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Read this once and thought ‘not sure I agree with you’ then read again and looked at a different perspective – thinking about the story ‘boy who cried wolf’ and also a story a DS (detective) told me once (when working together) about the (UK) police putting on their blue flashing lights to get out of traffic ….. so you do have something there. BTW, I have done a qjuick scribble on the pic ofyours you said I could use for art inspiration – can you tell me where the location is? One of my readers says it looks like mt Humphrey in North Arizona. It would be good to lable the final piece with the location. Many thanks again for letting me use your photo. Best wishes, A
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Read this once and thought ‘not sure I agree with you’ then read again and looked at a different perspective – thinking about the story ‘boy who cried wolf’ and also a story a DS (detective) told me once (when working together) about the (UK) police putting on their blue flashing lights to get out of traffic ….. so you do have something there. BTW, I have done a qjuick scribble on the pic ofyours you said I could use for art inspiration – can you tell me where the location is? One of my readers says it looks like mt Humphrey in North Arizona. It would be good to lable the final piece with the location. Many thanks again for letting me use your photo. Best wishes, A
Warning Comment
Read this once and thought ‘not sure I agree with you’ then read again and looked at a different perspective – thinking about the story ‘boy who cried wolf’ and also a story a DS (detective) told me once (when working together) about the (UK) police putting on their blue flashing lights to get out of traffic ….. so you do have something there. BTW, I have done a qjuick scribble on the pic ofyours you said I could use for art inspiration – can you tell me where the location is? One of my readers says it looks like mt Humphrey in North Arizona. It would be good to lable the final piece with the location. Many thanks again for letting me use your photo. Best wishes, A
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I don’t think I’d like a world with no one in it.
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I don’t think I’d like a world with no one in it.
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I don’t think I’d like a world with no one in it.
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Have to agree with the second note. Also there are times when it is an emergency but the speed and rapid rocking and turning of the vehicle would do the patient more harm.
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Have to agree with the second note. Also there are times when it is an emergency but the speed and rapid rocking and turning of the vehicle would do the patient more harm.
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Have to agree with the second note. Also there are times when it is an emergency but the speed and rapid rocking and turning of the vehicle would do the patient more harm.
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I changed lanes for an ambulance once and it sat behind me sirens wailing and lights flashing to get me to move back into the lane i had been in – long story short i followed it and the two assholes in it were heading to burger king. I was blocking their lane for them to get their LUNCH. Silly me assumed they were heading to a hospital. An abuse of “authority” if there ever was. I still change lanes for them where appropriate but i do always doubt their motives now. Sad.
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I changed lanes for an ambulance once and it sat behind me sirens wailing and lights flashing to get me to move back into the lane i had been in – long story short i followed it and the two assholes in it were heading to burger king. I was blocking their lane for them to get their LUNCH. Silly me assumed they were heading to a hospital. An abuse of “authority” if there ever was. I still change lanes for them where appropriate but i do always doubt their motives now. Sad.
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I changed lanes for an ambulance once and it sat behind me sirens wailing and lights flashing to get me to move back into the lane i had been in – long story short i followed it and the two assholes in it were heading to burger king. I was blocking their lane for them to get their LUNCH. Silly me assumed they were heading to a hospital. An abuse of “authority” if there ever was. I still change lanes for them where appropriate but i do always doubt their motives now. Sad.
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not sure about this world anymore xx
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not sure about this world anymore xx
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not sure about this world anymore xx
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tangent alert, tangent alert..!! :0P
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tangent alert, tangent alert..!! :0P
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tangent alert, tangent alert..!! :0P
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By law, an Emergency vehicle has to run it’s lights when transporting a patient. The patient may not have been in an emergency situation, for instance, when an Emergency vehicle is transporting a critically ill, but not dying, patient from one hospital to another. They only need to, and are allowed to, speed when time can mean the difference between life or death.
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By law, an Emergency vehicle has to run it’s lights when transporting a patient. The patient may not have been in an emergency situation, for instance, when an Emergency vehicle is transporting a critically ill, but not dying, patient from one hospital to another. They only need to, and are allowed to, speed when time can mean the difference between life or death.
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By law, an Emergency vehicle has to run it’s lights when transporting a patient. The patient may not have been in an emergency situation, for instance, when an Emergency vehicle is transporting a critically ill, but not dying, patient from one hospital to another. They only need to, and are allowed to, speed when time can mean the difference between life or death.
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