By Dr. Tom Gross
Marin Independent Journal (California)
Copyright 2007 Marin Independent Journal, a MediaNews Group publication
All Rights Reserved
Editor’s note: Tom Gross is the EMS director for the Novato Fire Protection District.
You’re minding your own business, waiting for a left-turn signal at a stop light, maybe quietly listening to music or screaming at your kids who are throwing food in the back seat, when you hear loud horns and sirens.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, you see a large red vehicle bearing down upon you, red lights flashing. Instantly, your blood pressure goes up and your hands get all sweaty — unless of course they already were that way from driving your children around.
What do you do?
The light is red. The firetrucks are coming and they are screaming to get through.
Your kids look at you with a wide-eyed stare that calls out, “DO SOMETHING!”
In this situation, some drivers panic. Of those who do, half jam their foot on the brake and leave it there, and they stay put when even the light changes. The other half of the panickers jam their foot on the accelerator and, believing that they are doing the right thing, zoom out into the intersection against the traffic to make way.
Believe it or not, there are some regulations that tell you just what to do.
When in doubt, always slow down and move to the right. The drivers of the ambulances and firetrucks learn to expect this, and they are looking for room on your left to get by.
If most cars move right and a few move left, then there is a big jam in the middle and nobody can get by. This happens a lot on the freeway, especially up by the Novato Narrows. We get stuck in the middle and cannot move.
Please do not bear to the left. Go right.
What if the shoulder is muddy or on a steep slope? We do not expect you to drive off a cliff on our behalf. After all, that just makes more work for us. Slowly pull to the right as best as you can safely. If we need to enter the oncoming lane to pass you, we will when we can do it safely.
But what if you are at a stoplight?
As we come up to the intersection behind you, we can see that you are stuck between a rock and a big fire engine. We will not be impatient. We will shut down the siren and wait for you to pull forward safely.
Sometimes, if we see an opening — even on your right — we might take it.
Do not enter the intersection against the red light. Wait for the light to change, cross the intersection on your intended path and then start your move to the right.
If you are stuck in a left-turn lane, turn left when the light changes and ease over into the right lane and to the shoulder, watching of course for any traffic that might be there as well.
Once we go past you, do not pull back out right away. We travel in packs of two or more, depending on the nature of the emergency. So before you pull out again, look in your mirror and listen if other emergency vehicles are still coming. In that case, it is better to stay put than to have to pull over again later.
Too often after the first engine goes by drivers will pull out in front of me in the second vehicle, which slows my response to the emergency.
But, don’t you hate it when the fire engine goes by and the car behind you pulls out and passes you? We all hate that. Fortunately, so does the California Highway Patrol. They really hate it and — guess what? — they are probably on their way to the same emergency.
The CHP has a financial incentive plan to discourage this type of maneuver: a very expensive ticket — more than $400 — for failing to maintain proper distance behind emergency vehicles. That proper distance is 100 yards, so if you’re not a football field behind us, you are eligible for that special CHP financial incentive plan.
We cannot drive with lights and sirens (called Code 3) anytime we feel like it. We are on our way to an emergency. More than half of our calls are for medical emergencies, such as chest pain, choking or children having seizures. We need to get to the emergency fast, but we need not hurt anyone while enroute.
Please help us help our community. Please slow down and bear to the right.