Ok, so this is something of a poll question. I'd love to hear your responses.
Do you believe that there is such a thing as "driving too slow" when using lights and sirens?
AND,
Do you believe that, while using lights and sirens and patient loaded, it is your duty to "test the limits of the ambulance's performance?"
I sincerely want to hear your responses. This isn't a completely hypothetical question.
Keynote
5 weeks ago
6 comments:
I drive pretty slow when running emergency traffic (oft compared to somebody's grandmother), and even slower when a patient is in the back. Moreover, the taxpayers in my area haven't exactly funded the world's smoothest of roads...Fast driving means a really bumpy ride, meaning your bagging is probably ineffective at best or you're liable to stab yourself with sharps.
Sad that this is not a hypothetical question. As to the second one, hell no.
The first is a little more complicated. Safety and patient care need to dictate speed, but I have noticed a tendency of traffic to become very confused if you obey the letter of the law and come to a complete stop at all red lights. Of course, the law was not written by the people who actually have to drive in accordance with it.
No and no. I think that many EMS providers drive way too fast to the hospital most of the time. In most cases, the emergency is over soon after EMS arrives. In very few cases is driving like a maniac required.
No matter how safe the "safety advocates" want manufacturers to make ambulances more safe, the truth is that the only real safety feature is the driver.
I have actually had someone call and complain that I was driving too slow. I know, me right?
I have tested the limits for an infant not breathing and an officer down but most of the time lights and siren aren't needed at all. John Q. Public doesn't pull over for us because he knows that as well.
I'd rather have an Opticom than a siren any day.
A lot of new people can't resist driving like maniacs. It's up to the officer to slow them down. Too much can go wrong at high speed.
To change the focus here slightly... One of my pet peeves is the ambulance driver who is trying to get through a controlled intersection, around stopped traffic, etc. with short little "Blip" "Bloop" siren taps. Are we trying to be polite here, or what's the deal? It is so hard for the civilian drivers to get a lock on where that noise is coming from with these little chirps. These drivers have enough challenges whith texting and putting on makeup. Give them half a chance to figure out what you're doing by just putting on the siren. Don't tease them.
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