EMTs & Speeding

[jeepmedic]

I am a LEO and a Paramedic and still got a ticket in an Ambulance. So I guess there is none.

 

[Emtgirl21]

I always wear my seatbelt in my POV. I wear my seatbelt "most" of the time in the ambulance....almost when we are going code when I'm in the front. Patient care is kinda different. If its a LONG distance trip most likely....if i am actively treating my patient chances are....not gonna happen. I preach seatbelts to all the new EMT's and EMT students that I get the chance to have in the back of my truck because i know it saves lives and i've seen it save lives but I think it's a habit ya just have to form and stick with.

 

[Chakram82]

I think it's best to just wear your seatbelt and obey the speed limit.

 

[firecoins]

I am a LEO and a Paramedic and still got a ticket in an Ambulance. So I guess there is none.

I will never understand why ambulances get pulled over for speeding. Sorry, I know my views are unpopular on speeding ambulances. I think speeding ambulances can be an exceptions. All emergerncy vehicles should be. If the driver is doing something other than simply speeding like cutting people off and driving wrecklessly outside of speeding, okay than. I just have a real problem with cops pulling over rigs.

 

[lostmedic]

Lead foot

I am one of those people with a lead foot. I have an ems sticker on my car and a sticker that says I am a Navy Corpsman. other than that, if I speed (which happens more than I like) and If I get pulled over, I think I deserve a ticket. I don't try to talk my way out of it. if the officer gives me "Professional Courtsey" so be it. but I don't ask for it.

a police officer once told me, "Hey everytime you have broken the speed limit, did you get a ticket?" which I said no. so then he said well then, all the times you did not get a ticket, you should consider that your "Lucky" time.

 

[jmaccauley]

I will never understand why ambulances get pulled over for speeding. Sorry, I know my views are unpopular on speeding ambulances. I think speeding ambulances can be an exceptions. All emergerncy vehicles should be. If the driver is doing something other than simply speeding like cutting people off and driving wrecklessly outside of speeding, okay than. I just have a real problem with cops pulling over rigs.

How often does this really happen? Seriously, I'm sure there are some police officers who would pull over an ambulance going code, but I personally have never seen it. Just for the record, I've been a cop for 27 years in a large metro area. I can honestly say that I have wanted to pull over some transport ambulances who are driving like mad when I know that the paramedics are already on scene, but I haven't personally done it. Now, off duty...well lets just say that professional courtesy exists, but it is not uniformly extended nor is it expected.

 

[VentMedic]

Sometimes the ambulance crews do not see the havoc their speed and manuevers can bring on busy roadways. I have had to respond to accident scenes that even though the police officers wanted to go after the ambulance crew, they was busy sorting out the mess created by frequent and fast lane changes of the ambulance on a busy highway.

Usually the LEO will just put the message through their dispatch to drive smarter. Sometimes it just takes a little reminder that the EMS vehicles are big, heavy and may not be able to maneuver like a POV.

 

[94accord]

I have been given professional curtesy on two occasions, both of which should have been a ticket and points on my license. I am torn between what i know is right and what a perfect world would be like. Yes I like prefessional curtesy, no I do not think we should get away with it. However, I am not going to complain on the off chance I get it. I am less than 6 months away from having a totally clean record and I am planning on keeping it that way and not having to rely on any LEO being nice.

 

[firecoins]

How often does this really happen? Seriously, I'm sure there are some police officers who would pull over an ambulance going code, but I personally have never seen it. Just for the record, I've been a cop for 27 years in a large metro area. I can honestly say that I have wanted to pull over some transport ambulances who are driving like mad when I know that the paramedics are already on scene, but I haven't personally done it. Now, off duty...well lets just say that professional courtesy exists, but it is not uniformly extended nor is it expected.

I have no idea how often it happens. Hopefully not much. I am responding to people who say it happend to them.

As I said, fast lane changes with car accidents left behind is not speeding. If an ambulance is causing destruction behind it is another story to a simple traffic infraction.

 

[babygirl2882]

What happens when u take ur ambulance for a joy ride


http://www.courttv.com/onair/shows/red/red_player.html?id=429&link=REDshlk

Don't be like this ambulance

PS That sight is AWSOME! It has some amazing video...check them out

 

[jmaccauley]

I have no idea how often it happens. Hopefully not much. I am responding to people who say it happend to them.

As I said, fast lane changes with car accidents left behind is not speeding. If an ambulance is causing destruction behind it is another story to a simple traffic infraction.

I thought maybe this has happened to you, since you have a problem with it. I guess that was just a hypothetical complaint.

O.K., I'll ask the group. How often do police pull over ambulances? Has anyone here been stopped while driving code to a call or enroute to the hospital? I'm asking as a legitimate question, not to challenge anyone. Is the problem work related or off duty?

 

[BossyCow]

I've been waved at as I pass, but never pulled over while in a rig driving code, either to or from a call. But, let me add, I'm not travelling at an unsafe rate of speed, nor am I weaving around cars, running red lights or otherwise being a hazard to those around me. I see running code as a privledge and a responsibility not permission to drive dangerously.

 

[firetender]

This is ancient history, though I wouldn't be surprised if it still goes on. When I worked in Florida, if an LD took us out of our home county we had to make sure we had a radar interceptor because the PD in other counties would pull us over for whatever they could pop us for. And with that, I wonder aloud if y'all find you tend to speed (and tweak the rules) a little more in your home territory?

 

[VentMedic]

I thought maybe this has happened to you, since you have a problem with it. I guess that was just a hypothetical complaint.

O.K., I'll ask the group. How often do police pull over ambulances? Has anyone here been stopped while driving code to a call or enroute to the hospital? I'm asking as a legitimate question, not to challenge anyone. Is the problem work related or off duty?

When I was a field supervisor of about 70 units on the road at one time, I can't even begin to tell you about some of the calls we got from LEOs, concerned citizens and partners who wanted a ride back to the station because they refused to get back into the truck because of the person driving.

Everybody had EVOC, but there are some people that get a big truck with a big engine and they can't control themselves. You combine that with job that can be high stress with someone yelling in the back, either patient or partner, and you can get a disaster. Not everybody is cut out to be an "Ambulance Driver". It takes skill, training and a steady nerve which may get better with experience.

Unfortunately experience rarely arrived for some. Turnover in employees was high due to the call volume. The EMT and medic factories were cranking them out including our own so we always had replacements.

Our company was lucky that only 3 employees were killed on the road in 10 years. 4 if you count the driver that committed suicide after getting the blame for speeding in the accident that killed the patient and his partner. And yeah it is bad to see one of your company's mangled units featured in EMS magazines.

We still see the horrific stories make headlines. The fender benders and the accidents that only disable employees rarely make the news. Tour the back lot of any large ambulance company sometime. We used to call it the graveyard because we kept one of the vehicles that was involved in a deadly accident for a training visual.

Of course for the number of emergency vehicles on the road, the statistics for safe and accident free driving is pretty good. But if an LEO offers you some friendly advice, take it.

 

[EMT007]

How often do police pull over ambulances? Has anyone here been stopped while driving code to a call or enroute to the hospital? I'm asking as a legitimate question, not to challenge anyone. Is the problem work related or off duty?

Honestly, I didn't even know that this happens anywhere (and short of an ambulance that is driving ridiculously dangerously, I don't think it really should). Police speed and otherwise disregard traffic laws for a number of reasons, and while they have more of a reason to do so, I think ambulances and other emergency vehicles should be given a break where speeding and other such minor traffic issues are concerned.

And getting pulled over while rolling code isn't even a possibility if you ask me. If I'm going lights and sirens somewhere, I will not (nor is there a legal responsibility for me to) yield to a police car with its lights/siren on behind me unless it is going significantly faster than me and I yield to let it pass. In fact, this could be considered a breach of your duty to respond to an emergency call. Besides, what kind of LEO would be stupid enough to even try to pull over an ambulance that is rolling code??

 

[jmaccauley]

A bit of a condescending answer, but at least you answered. I have never heard of a police officer stopping an ambulance going code at any time. I have often wanted to follow them and chew out the reckless driver driver at the scene, but haven't done so. I assume that they are responding to an emergency and let it go at that.
Now, as to your assertion (emt007) that you would not ever pull over if directed to, you would quickly learn that your assumption of your legal rights would be quickly trumped by a dose of reality. In other words, endangering the public is not in your job description. You would find yourself in a legal jam that could possibly cost you your job. Nor is it acceptible for LEO's to recklessly endanger the public. I can tell you that suspensions and firings have occurred over this.

 

[EMT007]

Now, as to your assertion (emt007) that you would not ever pull over if directed to, you would quickly learn that your assumption of your legal rights would be quickly trumped by a dose of reality.

But tell me, how would I be directed to pull over while I'm driving code-3? Thats what confuses me and makes the whole thing seem ridiculous. Short of the officer pulling up next to my window, getting my attention, and motioning me to pull over, I don't see how it can be done. And doing that would be extremely dangerous, which is why I say an officer would be foolish to try to pull over another emergency vehicle. Not to mention that it would stop that vehicle from responding to whatever it was responding to, which is another legal mess. If the officer wanted to follow and lecture/ticket/whatever the driver later, I can see that being a possibility.

In other words, endangering the public is not in your job description.

No and in fact, its my legal responsibilty to drive with due regard for safey, both mine and the public's, and I take that responsibility seriously. Perhaps I misunderstood the context, but I do not consider minor speeding and other such violations "endangering the public".

 

[VentMedic]

After reading about the Ohio collision, reading about ambulance collisions and criminal driving cases involving EMTs and EMT-Ps on the EMS news wire almost daily and looking at the number of deaths caused by ambulance collisions each year, many at the fault of the person driving the ambulance, I have come to another conclusion. The LEOs aren't doing their job. They should be pulling over the ambulances that push it over their allowed speed limits and "roll" through the stop signs without due regard. Professional courtesy? NO! That goes for ambulance or POV. Dead is Dead. If a LEO can save one life even if it bruises someone's ego, so be it.

Respect the law and the LEOs. They may have something to say of great importance about the patient, vehicle disrepair or road conditions and not about your driving.

I may be hard core after 30 years in the medical profession, but as I mentioned before, the police probably have a good reason for their actions and ambulance accidents are never pretty. Sure there may be some serious egos pulling their weight in a LEO uniform. But, when matched with another inflated ego in an ambulance: Two Wrongs Will Never Make a Right.

 

[jmaccauley]

I hope this doesn't become a 2 sided argument between myself an EMT007, however, if you are driving code and cannot see a marked police car if in fact it was tryingto signal you, I would submit that you are not driving with due care. Again, don't believe that you are above the law just because you have an important job. Prevention of tragedies is equally important and law enforcement has that responsibility. As I said, you probably would never be pulled over while driving to an emergency, but we have gotten off track with your concern about being stopped for driving slightly above the speed limit.

 

[Arkymedic]

After reading about the Ohio collision, reading about ambulance collisions and criminal driving cases involving EMTs and EMT-Ps on the EMS news wire almost daily and looking at the number of deaths caused by ambulance collisions each year, many at the fault of the person driving the ambulance, I have come to another conclusion. The LEOs aren't doing their job. They should be pulling over the ambulances that push it over their allowed speed limits and "roll" through the stop signs without due regard. Professional courtesy? NO! That goes for ambulance or POV. Dead is Dead. If a LEO can save one life even if it bruises someone's ego, so be it.

Respect the law and the LEOs. They may have something to say of great importance about the patient, vehicle disrepair or road conditions and not about your driving.

I may be hard core after 30 years in the medical profession, but as I mentioned before, the police probably have a good reason for their actions and ambulance accidents are never pretty. Sure there may be some serious egos pulling their weight in a LEO uniform. But, when matched with another inflated ego in an ambulance: Two Wrongs Will Never Make a Right.

I fully agree with this statement. We had a state trooper that attempted to pull over a unit one time yrs ago but they didn't stop and notified dispatch and the service owner and ASP spent a bit of time yelling on the phone.

We also had a situation yrs ago here in Arkansas where a police unit rolled through a stop sign and killed someone and seriously injured others.

We have the legal responsibility to drive and operate with due regard. Driving in general but especially operating emergency vehicles is a privilege not a right. I use to and still do like going code 3 however after having a unit involved in a rollover and seeing friends seriously injured and the near misses we all have had, it has made me think about my EMTs driving and how much more often I use C-3 then needed. Also remember that C-3 does not mean they will comply it just means you are asking for the right of way. A post earlier gave three reasons to return C-3 and this made me stop and think about this one for a bit and will be something I put to personal practice soon.