I feel compelled to blog about Emergency Vehicle Operations. I have some friends and co-workers who are just now operating emergency vehicles for the first time, so I offer you some tips:
1. Stop at all red lights and stop signs - and SLOW down for ALL intersections regardless, even if you have the right of way. Some fool will run a light and you'll still hit someone - but if you've slowed down, the impact may can be avoided or not be as severe.
2. Watch your speed and follow your department's policy regarding what is acceptable. In some places it is no more than 10 or 15 mph over the speed limit. Remember, just because your department allows that, doesn't mean you have to drive that fast - operate at a safe speed for existing conditions.
3. Do not park anywhere but on a hard surface when it is raining and/or the ground is wet. This includes grassy yards and dirt driveways - stay on the street if it is wet!
4. ALWAYS pass on the left. The general statute tells motorists to pull to the right and stop. If you start to pass someone on the right, and the person does what the law tells them to do, they'll pull in your path and you will hit them - and it will be your fault.
5. Do not stay so intent on staying in the lane if you are the only person on the road. The wind blows ambulances easily - if no one is beside you, it may be a good time to change lanes if this happens. The "jerky" movements trying to keep a unit in perfect alignment throws your crew around and makes the patient and crew SICK.
6. Drive around curves (and start/stop the unit) as if you had a full glass of water sitting in the action area in the back of the unit and you don't want it to spill. Start and stop slowly - you will make up your speed once you get going.
7. DO NOT use a cell phone when operating an emergency vehicle.
8. DO NOT drive to a call with the AM/FM/CD player blasting. This is a major distraction.
9. ALWAYS drive a clean vehicle. The public and fellow public safety agencies know when your truck is dirty and they also know that it is a reflection of you!
10. You SHOULD get upset if you get lost while transporting a patient to the hospital. You should consult the map book/computer for directions if you need them. Remember, the patient is paying by the mile and I would be HIGHLY pissed if I was following you to the hospital with my loved one and you went around your elbow to get there - or missed all of your turns. Place yourself in that family's shoes.
11. DO NOT leave the back doors open on the scene in the summertime!!! BUGS are attracted to those lights and your attendant does not appreciate having to swat bugs off of the patient the entire way to the hospital.
12. It IS your responsibility to know where you are going if you get in the driver seat.
13. Do NOT speed back from the hospital. You should obey the same traffic laws as anyone else. As a Chief I have instructed our local law enforcement to NOT have leniency on my folks who speed all over town when they're returning from the ER or are not on a call. Don't ask me to try to get you out of a ticket!
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Sounds a lot like Dale's Rules for Ambulance Driving...
ReplyDeleteHey JT-
ReplyDeleteI know you have seen my Ambulance Driving Rules (I am in the process of updating them) and I have always emphasized keeping left, after all the law does say 'pull to the right and stop'. However, I have noticed lately that people are stupid. I have seen a lot of drivers, including an SHP car, pull to the left. This is in addition to just stopping.
What I am stressing is 'try and stay left, but be prepared to go right. And if you go right, go slow. You have to be ready for someone to do the right thing, which is pull to the right.
My biggest advice to everyone is-
1. Slow down, unless we are going to my house, my mother's house, or your house.
2. Slow down- nowhere in the protocols does it say "drive real fast".
3. Slow down. I am now in the 'no more than 10 mph over the limit at any time, except for residential areas, then not over the posted limit' mode.
4. Anticipate. Hope that they do the right thing but expect them not to and plan accordingly.
5. Be nice. No hand gestures, shaking your head, etc. Don't do anything that will not look good as a report series on WRAL or the N&O.
6. Don't use 'yelp' or 'phaser'. They don't work. People cannot hear it as well nor can they tell where you are coming from. We are not trying to scare them, only warn them. Wail does that. Wail only at all times. Don’t even use the 'horn' function unless you have separate air horns.
7. Both hands on the steering wheel.
8. Regarding JT's #13, you can only run them one at the time.
9. Unless you are working for one of those SSM systems (or 'dynamically deployed'), then there is NO EXCUSE for not know at least the high spots of your district. If you are new, buy your own map book and study it. Maybe street tests need to make a comeback.
10. Make sure your patient is secure in the back of the ambulance, inclding the shoulder straps. Don't have shoulder straps, you say? Insist that the powers-that-be get them and require their use. They prevent big lawsuit payouts. Patient on the bench? Get a seat bealt on them. And secure all of the equipment.
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