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Rangat

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So what are your opinions on the masses of paramedics who act like rally drivers, and die of old age?

These are all photos taken during responses in SA.
 
Though fun as it may be; better late than dead on time.
 
that is just crazy...then I am not one to say anything..when I was a cop I did the same thing. Every situation is different, and you have to remember that priority is ... Self, partner, patient, public...
 
We have a speed restriction in our Ambulance service 130Km (81Mph) on the open road (100Km is normal speed limit). 80Km in towns (50Km normal speed). And 100Km in 70Km zones. All our ambulances have a locater and speed monitor on them (sorry, I have forgotten the name of it), so that communications know where we are and what speed we are going. If we are to going over our speed limit, they would be on us very quickly to slow down.
The police in this country go at whatever speed they wish.
The Fire service are only allow to go 10Km over the speed limit because of the size of their trucks (which are a lot smaller than the ones you have in the States).
Safety first!

Cheers Enjoynz
 
In the State of TN, anything above 85; regardless of situation is termed: wreckless endangerment.
 
Here in Mississippi, we have "due regard". There is no actual "speed limit".
 
i dont know your service area, response times, vehicles etc but i can tell you this; no call in my career has ever needed me there badly enough for me to drive 130+ to get there.

now, if your in a fly car and not a bus; looking at a 60min+ response over flat deserted terrain, well hell let loose but you couldnt get away with that over here.

my rig is governed atlike 90 anyway. oh, and big brother is watching via the gps so.
 
KEVD18 said:
i dont know your service area, response times, vehicles etc but i can tell you this; no call in my career has ever needed me there badly enough for me to drive 130+ to get there.

now, if your in a fly car and not a bus; looking at a 60min+ response over flat deserted terrain, well hell let loose but you couldnt get away with that over here.

my rig is governed atlike 90 anyway. oh, and big brother is watching via the gps so.
Click to expand...

You need to work on your situational awareness a bit young padawan... :D
 
KEVD18 said:
i dont know your service area, response times, vehicles etc but i can tell you this; no call in my career has ever needed me there badly enough for me to drive 130+ to get there.

now, if your in a fly car and not a bus; looking at a 60min+ response over flat deserted terrain, well hell let loose but you couldnt get away with that over here.

my rig is governed atlike 90 anyway. oh, and big brother is watching via the gps so.
Click to expand...

Kevd18. Sorry, if you were refering to my post about the 130. I did put Km meaning kilometres (Which is the measure we use in New Zealand) not miles per hour. I did tack next to the KM (81MPH) for my American friends!;)
If we travelled 130MPH on our roads, there wouldn't be any Ambulance officers (EMT's) in this country at all, they'd all be dead, as we don't have any salt lakes to race on! LOL. :P
Also I assume everyone figured those speedo's were in KM's as well, being South Africa!

Cheers Enjoynz
 
The orginal poster lives in South Africa. The pictures are in Kilometers.
 
All our units have throttle control (governed) at 80 mph, and we respond in rural areas as well, some > 35 miles away from EMS. Unfortunately poor response times is the understanding of living in the rural areas.

R/r 911
 
I'll admit it, I've hit top speed in my old company's ambulances before they actually started watching the speeds (that happened and it was 65 + cruise control on the freeways). Apparently ambulances top out at 85 to 90ish. That said, that was the speed of traffic in the left lane at the times that I've gone that fast.


On that note, speed doesn't kill alone. Speed plus lack of following distance (I was a good distance back at those speeds) and rapid lane changes are deadly. Unfortunately, there are too many stupid drivers out there that are willing to weave in just about any vehicle to save 2 seconds that are willing to kill people.
 
Location: Boston, MA

And you're complaining about the drivers. Well I never. It's especially fun when a few inches of snow fall, traffic backs up, and the idiots are still weaving in and out of lanes at about 10 mph. What goes on in those minds, I wonder? What twisted analogue of thought makes you think that cutting off an ambulance is a good idea?

We don't have speed monitoring, but I don't really feel the need to shave 2-3 minutes off and risk becoming national news. Besides, anything over 70 in the ambulances I've driven feels a little scary.
 
Well, I grew up and worked in Southern California (Orange County). I'm in Boston for grad school and I generally don't drive here unless I'm going shopping someplace with free parking. Californians are only crazy on the freeways and, for the most part, everyone follows the "rules" so it works out with traffic doing 70-80 mph. Boston drivers are just nuts without any rules whatsoever.
 
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Speaking of the other drivers.
Do you have many folk tail gate you when you are travelling at speed?
We had one behind us when we were heading to an MVA the other week. I guess they figure they won't be seen or picked up by the police, if they are travelling behind you at speed.
Very dangerous if you ask me. As you have cars pulling over in front of you, not expecting to have someone riding your tail, when they pull out again.

Cheers Enjoynz
 
I'm pretty sure a good number of the times people go over 80MPH in the ambulance, aren't because they're stressed out about getting there quick...they just like to drive fast. That might be normal driving speed for them. Part of being young...which is why maturity should play a bigger factor in the hiring process (though, honestly, I haven't heard of many ambulance freeway crashes at high speeds...but that's NO excuse).

What really does scare me, though, is the few who actually do go that fast b/c they're stressed about getting to the patient in time. That's very frightening.
 
Anthony, just wondering here. If speeding is no excuse, why set the bar at 80 mph when the speedlimit is 65 in So Cal? I do agree, though, that a lot of times it's either just habit or a need for speed. I'm much more concerned about the latter than the former though.
 
I said "that's no excuse", was just referring to the fact that I haven't heard of many freeway ambulance crashes. There are excuses to speed, though. For the 3AM weeknight trauma when I have four open lanes of highway, I can break 65.
 
Lets see 230kmh that still equals around 140 mph. Why in the world would you need to run that type of speed? We dont need the publicity that kind of junk brings. We should use enough common sense to get there safely. Remember do not add to the problem.
 
140MPH!?!?
How do you get an ambulance to go that fast? Can you guys confirm they do go that fast? Those pics were for sure from an ambulance?
 
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