Flipped an ambulance

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harkj

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Last night at work I was driving and a lady ran a stop sign and hit the back end of the passenger side box. The driver hit with such force that it broke the back axle and in the end caused the ambulance to flip over onto its side. Both my medic and me where able to climb out, neither one of us where badly injured just banged up.The driver in the other car has a few injuries. It had the potential to be a lot worse than it was. We both were wearing our seat belts, we didn't have a pile of our crap in the front with us, and I was going the speed limit (which was 35mph). I have pictures that i will put up later. Just a little reminder please everyone wear your seat belts, because i know there are people out there that refuse to wear them.
 
wow! I'm so glad you & your partner, & other driver were OK.
good reminder. as I've seen a great deal too many, of people without seatbelts. :S

What happens in terms of the ambulance & you? Are you guys responsible for anything that happens to the rig you take out, even if you're not at fault?

-C-
 
I was not a fault there was nothing I could have done to have avoided it. It wont effect me being able to drive and I'm not responsible for any damage with the ambulance.
 
I know, clearly, you were not at fault. I was just wondering what became of you if the ambulance got damaged.

It was just something I recently wondered about. It would be a huge bummer if on top of being in an accident, the EMTs were also responsible for any damages. Like Taxi cabbies are.

thanks for the reply. :)
-c-
 
What are they going to do, dock your pay? That would last two minutes, till I quit!
 
Wow, never seen that happen before. I consider the vehicles to be "tanks" and had them get hit on the side at pretty high speed. I guess it was just bad luck that it resulted in a flip. It's good that you didn't have a patient in the vehicle or that would been a lawsuit
 
looker said:
Wow, never seen that happen before. I consider the vehicles to be "tanks" and had them get hit on the side at pretty high speed. I guess it was just bad luck that it resulted in a flip. It's good that you didn't have a patient in the vehicle or that would been a lawsuit
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When hit from the side it's pretty likely they might flip. Too top heavy and unstable as it is.
 
I've never seen one that was hit in the rear axel, that did not flip. Happens all the time. They are very unstable vehicles.
 
GLAD your okay! Sounds scary!

Did you by chance grab your trauma bags from the flipped rig and attend to the driver that ran the light? lol
 
thats the side that got hit and also landed on.
 

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Do you know what kind of vehicle the other driver had? Car, Truck, Train, etc?
 
harkj said:
thats the side that got hit and also landed on.
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that doesn't LOOK too bad... im sure my company would just replace the axel and have it back on the road in less than a week, forget the aesthetics... it'd still look prettier than the rig i've got now... glad everyone is ok though.
 
Doesn't look too bad, but looks can fool you.

Our county lost a newer ambulance about 5-6 years ago. Had fund raisers and grant money to buy it. Only had it for about 3 months. Was transporting a patient to a larger hospital and was hit broadside as it went through a 4-way stop. It was not running lights or sirens.
The other driver just didn't stop. Their insurance company had to buy an ambulance for us.
 
Actually its totaled both front and back axles are broken and the box is now disconnected from the frame I get a better picture to show that. The car that hit us. was a Buick 4 door.
 
If you look above the captains chair... thats not supposed to be like that. The box has been disconnected.
 

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I'm glad everyone is OK. So what it sounds like is that you weren't transporting anyone, and you and your partner were both up front? Lucky neither of you was in back to bounce around when it flipped.
 
harkj said:
If you look above the captains chair... thats not supposed to be like that. The box has been disconnected.
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This looks identical to the rigs I get assigned to every shift. :P

Takes 30 minutes just to get everything situated for the day!
 
Thank DOT and NHTSA

When they started really regulating ambulances, it was not required to even fasten the ambulance add-ons to the frame at more than a few points. Modules broke free, and I mean FREE, and the old Suburban conversions' roof caps would fly off and the the entire deck fly out the roof on a roll at speed, basically cleaning out the interior.

Even though this one was NOT your fault, I hope anyone who does something unsafe because "Well, no one was there!" will listen up. Happens at the speed of light.
 
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