Careless drivers are delaying ambulances from attending emergencies by failing to give way and follow the road rules, according to a paramedic.
Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance paramedic Alan Eade, who has 30 years of experience, is urging drivers to maintain awareness and remain calm when emergency services pass.
“I need people to be in control of their vehicle, and react gently and carefully,”
he said.
Mr Eade said the sirens and flashing lights sometimes cause panicked drivers to react poorly.
“I have to trust no-one to do the right thing,” he said.
“You have to assume that somebody will do something unpredictable at all times.”
How drivers react can make a significant difference to paramedics’ response, he said.
What are the rules?
In Victoria, drivers must give way to emergency vehicles when their beacons are turned on.
If motorists fail to comply, they could receive a fine of $346.
Mr Eade said the most important thing a driver could do is slow down.
“Most of the time we travel in the right lane and we want people to slow down and pull left,”
he said.
“It will allow you to evaluate what the emergency vehicle is doing and what its intent is, so that you can then help the other members of the community by not impeding their progress.”
Mr Eade said if motorists followed the road rules it would allow emergency vehicles to do the “unusual” things safely.
“Don’t stop dead in the middle of the road,” he said.
“When people stop trying to be helpful by crossing median strips and moving through red lights, that’s where we end up with problems.
“Anything [drivers] can do to not cause a potentially avoidable delay will be helping that other member of the community who they don’t know and will never likely to meet.
“It’s absolutely frustrating.”
Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said paramedics are frustrated with drivers who ignore the sirens.
“When we’re trying to transport a patient to hospital as quickly as we can and other road users don’t make way for the paramedic crews, it could be the difference between life and death for their patients,” he said.
Mr Hill said paramedics often have to stop in the middle of their journey to render help due to accidents that occur from drivers not giving way.
“Crews will hear over the radio an accident has occurred right in front of us [that] we now have to attend to,” he said.
He recalled one time, while he was attending a car accident, a driver attempted to overtake their ambulance, running off the road and causing a second accident.
“We don’t want people acting rash and driving into intersections and creating another incident,” he said.
