Actions for Traffic at Red Light?

adamNYC

adamNYC

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When I see a line of cars at a red light, I either drive on the opposite lane if its clear, or get behind the lane that has the least amount of cars. Sometimes cars wont move at all. I hate NYC traffic.

I will cycle through all kinds of sirens and sound the horn for about 10-15 seconds with no luck at times, so I will give up on the sirens and leave the lights on and resume sirens when light is green.

I notice firetrucks will sound their airhorn and sirens and wont give up until everyone moves. Some EMTs I notice will even use the PA and say "Drive forward!"

Whats the most appropriate actions for an ambulance to be doing in this situation?
 
adamNYC said:
Whats the most appropriate actions for an ambulance to be doing in this situation?
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If all lanes are blocked by cars then my companies policy states that I can oppose traffic (code 3 of course). If all lanes are blocked and I cannot oppose traffic then policy states that I reduce to code 2 (no lights, no sirens) until the light turns green then I go code 3 again. Forcing cars through a intersection (against a red) is a bad practice and will eventually end up in someone getting in a traffic collision and injured and you in a courtroom.

The most appropriate action for approaching a intersection where all lanes are blocked and you can't oppose traffic would be to reduce to code 2 and wait for the light to turn green then resume a code 3 response.
 
I won't force anyone into an intersection so if it's a red and too congested for people to move over safely I'll ease up as I approach the traffic and give the opticon a bit more time then move into oncoming and proceed cautiously. I wouldn't want to chance someone pulling into the intersection and getting t-boned, someone not seeing me and trying to move right and moving into me. I prefer my chances with traffic coming towards where I know I can be seen. I also tend to stay to the middle or left of the opposing lanes so that I'm more visible to left turning vehicles from the perpendicular traffic where I've otherwise be obstructed. If it's really slammed shut in both directions with no centre lane or bus lane than I kill the lights and sirens and wait or proceed slowly giving people a chance to zipper over to the right. (This one more for highways where the scene ahead has stopped everyone and I don't have a full paved shoulder)
 
If you're at an intersection and stuck beg nd cars just shut down and wait for a green. So annoying to see guys blasting the air horn behind a car that has NOWHERE to move.
 
CALEMT said:
If all lanes are blocked by cars then my companies policy states that I can oppose traffic (code 3 of course). If all lanes are blocked and I cannot oppose traffic then policy states that I reduce to code 2 (no lights, no sirens) until the light turns green then I go code 3 again. Forcing cars through a intersection (against a red) is a bad practice and will eventually end up in someone getting in a traffic collision and injured and you in a courtroom.

The most appropriate action for approaching a intersection where all lanes are blocked and you can't oppose traffic would be to reduce to code 2 and wait for the light to turn green then resume a code 3 response.
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Same policy for us and is what I've been doing for years.
 
WolfmanHarris said:
I won't force anyone into an intersection so if it's a red
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This. You're doing your existing patient and the general public absolutely zero good by causing another accident right in front of you.

If I can't oppose to go around I'll turn off the siren though I'll usually leave the lights on so people don't think I'm cancelling and then jump in front of me. When I do that I'll hang back a car length or two so no one feels pressured to move forward into an unsafe spot.

Now if the light is green and they're just not budging (or they stop in the left lane in the middle of the road right in front of me, especially with no one in the right lane) I will be liberally pressing the air horn peddle till they remember it's "pull to the right" not "stop right in front of them".
 
It varies by location.

Here in California, I was shocked to learn that if all lanes are clogged that the ambulance will simply turn off lights and hang out until the light turns green.

In my hometown, I was specifically taught that to clear a path for an emergency vehicle, I could temporarily ignore a red signal, stop sign, one way traffic flow, etc. The fire department would also do PSAs about "it's not as simple as move to the right and stop" whereas here in California that's about as much as they expect.

My original training was to coordinate with other drivers on the road as well as with the emergency vehicle to create a clear path for the emergency vehicle to its destination. It was implied that the same traffic exemptions given to an emergency vehicle are also given to a vehicle clearing its path, so I have in the past prudently entered intersections on red etc.

However, a simple glance at the newspaper suggests that perhaps holding your breath for two seconds and just waiting for the light may in fact be a safer solution.
 
RedAirplane said:
My original training was to coordinate with other drivers on the road as well as with the emergency vehicle to create a clear path for the emergency vehicle to its destination. It was implied that the same traffic exemptions given to an emergency vehicle are also given to a vehicle clearing its path, so I have in the past prudently entered intersections on red etc.
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Can you elaborate? How do you do this? Like I said, I would go crazy with different sirens for <15seconds and my crazy partner may sometimes use the PA with a firm voice "drive forward" sometimes it works, sometimes it don't. The less the amount of cars between the ambulance and the red light, the higher the success rate.
 
@RedAirplane, I'll go opposing as soon as I think I need to to smoothly move through a red light, I replied using the assumption that there's a median ot other obstacle physically blocking me from going around the stopped traffic in front of me. But yeah, if there's no blockage (like 95% of the time) and I see all the lanes have a stopped car at the upcoming red light I'll slide on over opposing lanes (once traffic is cleard, pulled over on that side) as early as practical before clearING the intersection and continuing on my way.
 
Jim37F said:
@RedAirplane, I'll go opposing as soon as I think I need to to smoothly move through a red light, I replied using the assumption that there's a median ot other obstacle physically blocking me from going around the stopped traffic in front of me. But yeah, if there's no blockage (like 95% of the time) and I see all the lanes have a stopped car at the upcoming red light I'll slide on over opposing lanes (once traffic is cleard, pulled over on that side) as early as practical before clearING the intersection and continuing on my way.
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Same here. In EVOC they tell us to scan about 12 seconds ahead so you know if you need to go opposing or not. Most roads here have a median so you have to look ahead to not get stuck at a red.
 
Do firetrucks or PD ever turn their sirens off and wait? Do they do anything differently than an ambulance does?
 
It's actually relatively rare to get stuck like that here, there's really only two roads that have those super long medians in them to get stuck by, and neither are near my currently assigned district....that being said it does happen where I've seen the engine in that position, and then I've seen both, they'll shut down the siren to wait or try and push thru, I think there it really all depends on the Engineer, the Captain, the call info, the specifics of how bad traffic is, etc.
 
adamNYC said:
Do firetrucks or PD ever turn their sirens off and wait? Do they do anything differently than an ambulance does?
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When I was a explorer for county fire we wouldn't force people through intersections. Don't know for PD but I would venture a guess that its the same way. On a side note PD has to have dispatch tell them to upgrade to code 3. Its not up to the officers discretion what calls are a code 3 or code 2 response.
 
Sorry. I meant that I entered intersections on red in my POV to clear way for an ambulance.
 
During hurricane Sandy I remember we were at a very crowded intersection on a one way street in Brooklyn and an FDNY ambulance was about 10 cars behind us laying on their airhorn and changing siren tones for a good couple of minutes for the light to change. It was pointless. All it did was piss everyone off.

Where I'm at (as many posters already stated) we turn off the lights and sirens and wait for the light to change. Too much liability to push cars into the intersection. Fire will also shut down and wait. PD very rarely responds lights and sirens for calls. For TCs they will normally follow behind us without lights or sirens.

If I get pushed into traffic and get hit because of it, there will be a nice little lawsuit/settlement
 
RedAirplane said:
Sorry. I meant that I entered intersections on red in my POV to clear way for an ambulance.
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And when you get t-boned, then what?

If all lanes are blocked and you can't get through, shut it down and wait. If you sit behind a bunch of stopped cars with your lights and sirens blasting, people get on edge and start doing stupid things, like running red light in their POV. If you're behind someone stopped with the L&S going and then do something illegal and get into a collision, guess who is at fault? You are.

Getting through the intersection 10-15 seconds faster isn't worth putting the motoring public at risk.
 
The safest ways ive seen cars run lights to clear a path for you if it is obvious theres no traffic coming from the left and the intersection has few lanes

If theres a traffic cop directing traffic they will usually give priority to the ambulance which is always nice. I also love getting behind emergency vehicles because they will L&S too, and even undercover PD & Hatzolah POVs ive seen help out.
 
I love opticom. Though, one intersection in our area in PS it's setup wrong... If you're going code3 westbound, it stops all the traffic and switches the southbound lights to green.... I wonder if they have fixed that yet.
 
Why doesn't NYC get opticoms!?
 
cprted said:
And when you get t-boned, then what?

If all lanes are blocked and you can't get through, shut it down and wait. If you sit behind a bunch of stopped cars with your lights and sirens blasting, people get on edge and start doing stupid things, like running red light in their POV. If you're behind someone stopped with the L&S going and then do something illegal and get into a collision, guess who is at fault? You are.

Getting through the intersection 10-15 seconds faster isn't worth putting the motoring public at risk.
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I don't do that anymore.

Where I live now that is illegal

In my old place of residence that kind of behavior was what you were supposed to do. You'd have lines of cars entering the intersection on red. We were taught that in driving school.

My point was simply that it varies by location. But unfortunately my posts could have been organized a lot better.
 
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