# Ambulance vs Snowplow - YIKES!



## VelvetyOne (Mar 22, 2012)

Calgary, Alberta - ambulance vs. snowplow.  Thank God all survived (2 medics and a patient).

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Parame...+after+ambulance+runs+into/6343496/story.html


----------



## Martyn (Mar 23, 2012)

ouch, hope the snow plough was ok (no, really, just glad everyone is OK)


----------



## adamjh3 (Mar 23, 2012)

Hm... low visibility was likely due to some form of water in the air because of the snow, probably compounded by the flashy lights.


----------



## mycrofft (Mar 23, 2012)

Not everyone is OK, over hundred thousand dollars damage easy, patient care gone to heck.
Must have hit the siren and lights switches, but not the one that said "Shields Up".


----------



## Pavehawk (Mar 23, 2012)

What is this "snow" thing you speak of?

Glad the people were okay... things can be replaced!


----------



## VelvetyOne (Mar 24, 2012)

Everyone is OK - it's the material 'things' that aren't.  Life much more important than things and this is what insurance is for.

Pavehawk - a snowplow is a large truck (gravel truck size) with blades off each side on the front to clear roads in snowy areas.  When they are plowing, visibility virtually goes to zero depending on how much snow and if there is a wind.  Very scary coming up on one, I'll tell ya that!!  I grew up in Alberta, snowplows & salt trucks are everywhere during the winter.


----------



## Pavehawk (Mar 24, 2012)

VelvetyOne said:


> Everyone is OK - it's the material 'things' that aren't.  Life much more important than things and this is what insurance is for.
> 
> Pavehawk - a snowplow is a large truck (gravel truck size) with blades off each side on the front to clear roads in snowy areas.  When they are plowing, visibility virtually goes to zero depending on how much snow and if there is a wind.  Very scary coming up on one, I'll tell ya that!!  I grew up in Alberta, snowplows & salt trucks are everywhere during the winter.



heheh thanks... I was being facious... I live in Florida now so snow (and it's effects/tools) are something "other people" deal with!!!


----------



## ATrain (Mar 24, 2012)

Pavehawk said:


> heheh thanks... I was being facious... I live in Florida now so snow (and it's effects/tools) are something "other people" deal with!!!



I was stationed in Charleston, SC for a few years, and they really went out of their way to tell us in orientation about how bad the drivers were there, and how high the insurance rates are...  

One February, they got a very light dusting of snow there, and people were losing their minds.  It's odd to see that sort of reaction coming from a place where snow's not a huge deal.


----------



## Vetitas86 (Mar 24, 2012)

Paris, TX. 

It snows a little, or it starts raining a bit much, and peoples' driving skills go out the window. 

It was raining the other day, hardly a torrential downpour (or a turd floater, as we say in these here parts...) , and a car nails a telephone pole. No other cars around, nothing else in the road, just BAM


----------



## pcp (Mar 24, 2012)

That was a massive storm, I had 5 feet of snow behind my car in the parking lot and we only got the after math of their storm. Not hard to believe at all, no one could see any thing that day!!! Glad all three are safe.


----------



## Gstat (Apr 16, 2012)

Wow, that could have been much worse!


----------



## Bullets (Apr 19, 2012)

I was in DC, they got 1 1/2 inches of snow, and the mayor declared a state of emergency...Seriously, all mass transit stops, cab fare doubles


----------



## Steveb (Apr 19, 2012)

Thank God there a right.


----------



## YodaMedic (May 8, 2012)

Seattle, Wa it rains 9 mo out of the year there and they still cant drive in it. it snows 1 in and there are crashes everywhere.


----------



## perimeter (May 20, 2012)

wow! glad I don't live where it snows that much.


----------



## mediKate (May 29, 2012)

*Too fast for conditions?*



pcp said:


> That was a massive storm, I had 5 feet of snow behind my car in the parking lot and we only got the after math of their storm. Not hard to believe at all, no one could see any thing that day!!! Glad all three are safe.



Yup, it was a pretty bad one, alright!  Got a good foot of snow at least, in that dump.  The only weird thing is that if you look at the news photos, there's hardly anything on the ground...
Not that it makes much difference.  You can't see worth heck driving behind a plough on a sunny day - let alone during a storm. And when they're going down the highway at 40k, that can be a serious problem!
They really need to make the ploughs more visible.  I've nearly done the same thing several times before (not in the unit...), and honestly, all you see is a cloud of blowing snow.  Visibility suddenly gets worse, and then WHAMO - there's the flashing lights! It's impossible to see the plough until it's almost too late.
:Y
Driver musta been going at a pretty good clip to do that much damage, though.  Too fast for conditions?


----------



## Achilles (May 29, 2012)

The issue with the snowl low driver, is that his air bag probably didn't go off.


----------



## heatherabel3 (May 29, 2012)

YodaMedic said:


> Seattle, Wa it rains 9 mo out of the year there and they still cant drive in it. it snows 1 in and there are crashes everywhere.



Amen to that. The ice storm this year was complete and total chaos! There was a call here on base and the cops responded and hit head on pulling up in front of the house because neither had the sense to take into account that they were going to slide on the ice.


----------

