[sarathlal]

Normal day, normal commute to n fro office, happen to witness yet another scene, where an ambulance had a tough time negotiating around one 'dumb' fellow. It was an unforgivable and saddening thought to think how one idiotic fellow took precious minutes away from an unknown fellow inside that ambulance.
Once the ambulance got freed from the mess and started gaining speed, it was followed by a trail of motorists, mercilessly making use of the space created by the ambulance.

And after reaching home, this was the first video to hit up in FB, so thought of sharing it here, just an attempt to spread the awareness.
This time, failed to see if this fits in as a separate thread, or should go into Street Experiences, mods please feel free to move accordingly.

The video simply compares our condition with some foreign country road behavior. Request the viewers to kindly ignore that comparison, and just try to spread the message the creators are trying to spread. If this harmless behavior could save some lives, let us do that.

• Never park in front of a parked ambulance.
• Always move to the left and come to a complete stop.
• At signal, if an ambulance ask for way from behind, do the same, move front, move to left and stop.
• Donot tailgate an ambulance.

The video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH9qY3ZmMeI

[batterylow]

Basic etiquette aside, the biggest issue is lanes, from what I have seen abroad there is always extra space in between two lanes through which an emergency vehicle can always squeeze through, which is not the case here. We hardly have a concept called lane and every conceivable gap is filled by two wheeler's.

So even if a car has the good intent to move, there is no space to move!

OTOH parking in front of a parked ambulance is sheer insolence.

[ad3952n]

Originally Posted by sarathlal

happen to witness yet another scene, where an ambulance had a tough time negotiating around one 'dumb' fellow. It was an unforgivable and saddening thought to think how one idiotic fellow took precious minutes away from an unknown fellow inside that ambulance.

Sad but true! Indian roads are filled with drivers of moronic mindset. I very clearly remember a senior bollywood actor's remark in this context where in he said "India shall improve on the day when people start giving way to an ambulance"

The motorists think that the Ambulance is misusing it's authority so at times they try and block it's way which is nothing less than a crime in my opinion.

Even for a moment they don't think that someone might be in rather critical condition and has to reach the hospital earlier than him/ her reaching to office/ shopping mall.

This time, failed to see if this fits in as a separate thread, or should go into Street Experiences, mods please feel free to move accordingly.

There is a parallel thread to right of the way. Link: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...e-driving.html

[*]Never park in front of a parked ambulance.[*]Always move to the left and come to a complete stop.[*]At signal, if an ambulance ask for way from behind, do the same, move front, move to left and stop.[*]Do not tailgate an ambulance.

These guidelines are for a sensible community like all of us. But, in general, we seldom come across people who can even understand the importance of these rules.

Thanks.

[rajeev k]

The video depicts the Indian style of bad driving all around. Blocking emergency vehicles may be made a punishable offence.

But on the converse, when we were on our way from Kochi to Trichur, there was a Force Traveler Ambulance cruising with us perhaps on its return after an emergency trip. What was interesting was that while approaching the many signal lights en-route the driver would switch on the hooter and lights and speed up merely to jump the red signal light.

[vickzkool]

Agree that the lack of a lane system in India is a major hindrance for every emergency vehicle , however not all countries abroad have extra space between lanes , classic example being U.K. , every city and town including London have the most narrowest lanes I've ever come across , in fact most of the main roads are narrower than the roads in India , however every emergency vehicle is given right of way immediately by simply moving aside and bringing the vehicle to a complete halt , even if it means the car / bus being parked on top of a kerb , it is a criminal offence not to give right of way in those situations and you get points on your license if you start tail gating an emergency vehicle , I feel it's all about people's attitude and in India unfortunately we have become utterly heartless and oblivious to our surroundings , people on their phones whilst driving 2 and 4 wheelers gives me a shudder down the spine as you can easily end up getting killed or handicapped or worse kill / maim somebody else who is completely innocent and paying the price for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time ! when will we ever learn

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by vickzkool

Agree that the lack of a lane system in India is a major hindrance for every emergency vehicle , however not all countries abroad have extra space between lanes , classic example being U.K. , every city and town including London have the most narrowest lanes I've ever come across , in fact most of the main roads are narrower than the roads in India , however every emergency vehicle is given right of way immediately by simply moving aside and bringing the vehicle to a complete halt , even if it means the car / bus being parked on top of a kerb , it is a criminal offence not to give right of way in those situations and you get points on your license if you start tail gating an emergency vehicle , I feel it's all about people's attitude and in India unfortunately we have become utterly heartless and oblivious to our surroundings , people on their phones whilst driving 2 and 4 wheelers gives me a shudder down the spine as you can easily end up getting killed or handicapped or worse kill / maim somebody else who is completely innocent and paying the price for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time ! when will we ever learn

Good example. I do believe its down to attitude and nothing else. In most European countries and the USA when drivers hear or see siren/flash lights, they will pull over and let them pass, no matter what. It doesn't matter how many lanes there are, you will make room for that ambulance or fire engine to overtake.

My two years experience in India is that nobody seems to take a blind bit of notice. I have said so in other posts, Indian drivers seems to be extremely selfish and do not care or even acknowledge the fact that there are other people using the same roads as they are.

Very sad.

Jeroen

[VW2010]

Not to boast but i want those who really experience the callous attitude of indians to my city, chennai. I think in chennai i am witnessing people trying their best to give way to ambulance. From auto drivers to even the rude cab drivers.

Except for bad signals. but even there, people are just letting the emergency vehicle pass. A few may have witnessed other wise, but for all my experience on road the 108 service gets huge respect from the public and the chennai crowd does seem to give a lending hand.

Back to the topic of comparing, the punishments vetted out for violation is very high in these countries and they have the jail capacity to manage this violations(not crime).


Our law is from 1900 which never took inflation into account for fines. Change it, fine heavy, seize vehicle, make the experience of paying fine and getting their vehicle out so bad that you would rather stick to rules than go through the process.

Even in US the process of paying fines and getting out of a summon or ticket is so tedious you rather not commit a simple crime like minimal overspeeding to save 2 minutes. YOu will waste atleast a couple of days getting your things sorted out.

Try parking violation and you will know the process is so tedious you rather not buy a car in the first place.

[drmohitg]

Sorry I do not subscribe to everything shown in that video. It is very easy to draw parallels from a foreign country where traffic volume is so less. The same cannot be expected in India. Yes one should never park in front of emergency vehciles and try to give way to such vehicles. But few instances where its not possible is:

1. While standing on a signal and an emergency vehicle is behind you somewhere stuck in the signal too. Now what do you do? Humanity says that you break the signal and move ahead to let the emergency vehicle pass. But in reality that is not a good idea because the other lane for which the signal is green is not going to stop and might not even have an idea that an emergency vehicle is stuck.

2. Most of the times in bumper to bumper traffic there is no way for the cars ahead to move. The video shows all cars moved to the left in the foreign country. Where is the luxury of that much space in India?

Having said that there are quite a few morons that really do not give way, are too self occupied, are downright dodos or just plain dumb.

Also since we are discussing this I would really like to point out another thing. From all my foreign visits, I have noticed that Emergency vehicles there have much better flashing lights and the alarm horn ( in terms of volume of sound). One can hear it from a large distance. In India so many times I am unable to hear the siren from an emergency vehicle parked 2-3 cars away from me. Hope they try and change that too.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Good example. I do believe its down to attitude and nothing else. In most European countries and the USA when drivers hear or see siren/flash lights, they will pull over and let them pass, no matter what. It doesn't matter how many lanes there are, you will make room for that ambulance or fire engine to overtake.

My two years experience in India is that nobody seems to take a blind bit of notice. I have said so in other posts, Indian drivers seems to be extremely selfish and do not care or even acknowledge the fact that there are other people using the same roads as they are.

Yes, but one major difference I think is the noise level. In developed nations, the siren/flash lights are an exception. But in India, its a way of life. The roads are so noisy with consistent honking and buses and taxis flashing headlights to get their way. So much that even an emergency vehicle's alarm may get lost in the chaos.

More than being selfish, I think its the lack of education in road manners. Since the chances of learning road manners from experience are minimum, I guess it may really help if it gets in as a compulsory subject in schools, so that at least the upcoming generation of drivers get a bit more road sense.

[bravo6]

Till date the best traffic sense I've witnessed is in Coimbatore. People rarely cross the posted speed limits. That includes two wheelers. When the bikes in front of me saw an oncoming ambulance (undivided road), they put on their left indicators and came to a crawl, making enough space for the ambulance to overtake the car in front of it. I was like

OTOH, people waiting at signals are sometimes eager to make way for an ambulance, since it means they can legally jump a signal. Trouble is, they don't stop afterwards to let the ambulance pass. They just ride along.

Idea: Every ambulances should have a dash cam. Anyone not making way, or otherwise obstructing should be fined heavily. Most Indians don't understand the value of a life, and won't make way until it directly affects their pockets.

Originally Posted by rajeev k

...there was a Force Traveler Ambulance cruising with us perhaps on its return after an emergency trip. What was interesting was that while approaching the many signal lights en-route the driver would switch on the hooter and lights and speed up merely to jump the red signal light.

How do you know he was returning after dropping off a patient? He could have been on the way to pick someone up.

Ambulances seldom use their strobes and sirens on the highway. They use it only in congested parts so other vehicles (hopefully) make way for them. Whether the use of strobes/sirens was legitimate or not, a delay of 15 seconds is worth it if it saves someone's life.

[Octane_Power]

I had people sharing this video on FB since many days now and I didn't bother to watch.

But after watching it here, I must say I'm touched and really appalled looking at the attitude of us Indians. It is just so sad, people are cutting in front of the ambulance, trying to stay ahead of it, blocking it and what not, they are just not aware that it is not any normal vehicle. It is out there to save someone's life.

People just don't pay any heed to the siren, plainly ignoring it. Nowadays people have got so busy in the dogged desire to reach their goals, satisfy their own needs, in other words make more and more money that they are becoming more and more inconsiderate towards others. It is really like "apna kaam banta, bhaad mein jaye janta"

"I'm getting late to work", "I'm getting late for the meeting", these are the kind of excuses which people consider to be valid enough to block an ambulance, break other traffic rules and not have any qualms about it.

One thing which is said very correct in the video : "You blame the law, the police, but look at yourselves, how you are!"

I really pray that this video reaches and is seen by a large number of people, so next time they hear a siren and see an ambulance in their rear-view mirror they know what they should be doing.

-Bhargav

[Captain Slow]

While totally Agree with you that emergency vehicles should be given the right of way and I always do so, but and this is a Big but (I am sure all of the readers here have the same question in their heads)
What is the driver is just using the lights and sirens just to jump a signal or get ahead of the line or maybe the driver is in a hurry to go and meet his girl?
3 out of 10 times this is the case!

Not all ambulances attend SOS calls

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/...ttend-sos.html


Here is one more

He zoomed in ambulance to meet GF

Traffic Cops Penalize 857 Errant Drivers

http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/...=&publabel=TOI

Before we start blaming the car drivers lets think about the Traffic cops? They should also have enough sense to release the signal when they see or hear emergency vehicles. But does that even happen very often, yes sometimes if the Cop is sensible he does open the signal and let the ambulance pass but this doesn't happen too often.

[ecenandu]

As far as what I have seen in Chennai, people do give way to Ambulance better than what is shown in the OP video.

In fact today, I saw cars, even auto coming to a complete halt to give way for Ambulance('108') and that too on a narrow road.

[prasadee]

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

What if the driver is just using the lights and sirens just to jump a signal or get ahead of the line or maybe the driver is in a hurry to go and meet his girl? 3 out of 10 times this is the case! .

May I know the source of this statistic? Even if true, still give the right of the way to the Ambulance, and complain to the hospital to investigate that driver. There is no need to be skeptical about the Ambulance driver's ethics. The patient could be a year old baby that is not visible to others from the street. Give the benefit of doubt to the victim (in this case the patient and the ambulance driver), instead of calling 30% of them unethical. When a stone idol is drinking milk there is no skepticism, but when an ambulance is blaring siren, all the skeptic detectives are awake!

Also, denying the existence of a problem, or blaming the cops/the roads does not help resolve the issue. The video may have some exaggeration, and incorrect comparisons - but the key message is still valid.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Good example. I do believe its down to attitude and nothing else. In most European countries and the USA when drivers hear or see siren/flash lights, they will pull over and let them pass, no matter what. It doesn't matter how many lanes there are, you will make room for that ambulance or fire engine to overtake.

My two years experience in India is that nobody seems to take a blind bit of notice. I have said so in other posts, Indian drivers seems to be extremely selfish and do not care or even acknowledge the fact that there are other people using the same roads as they are.

Very sad.

Jeroen

I will beg to differ on this. In my experience i have seen most Indians upon hearing an ambulance siren try to give way asap. I live in NCR region and you can easily see an ambulance on road at least once a day here. Yes, there are some morons who do not understand the importance of giving right of way to emergency vehicles but classifying all Indians in such category is ridiculous.

@OP- A good thread to create more awareness among people.