Failure to Yield !!!

[Guest]

This article really sums it up!!

Failure to yield!

Joe Harris and Chris Campbell

Of the Suburban Journals 

Jefferson County Journal 

Wednesday, Jun. 15 2005

After 23 years as a firefighter, Trent August has seen almost everything – except motorists consistently yielding to his truck's flashing lights.

"You have days when people do what they are supposed to do, and I'm really surprised when that happens," said August, a captain for the Rock Community Fire District.

August is not alone in noticing indifferent or even dangerous behavior from motorists toward emergency vehicles.

"We find that over the years, if somebody does what the law says, it surprises you," said Gary Cronin, Valle Ambulance District administrator. "We're a big billboard with a target on the side."

It's one of the first rules learned in driver's education – when an emergency vehicle approaches with its lights on, pull over to the side of the road. Motorists can receive a ticket for failure to yield, but it is seldom enforced.

Ken Baker, Rock Community assistant fire chief, said motorist behavior has deteriorated greatly throughout the years. He said cars are becoming more soundproof, radios are getting louder and cell phones distract drivers.

"We do everything possible with sirens and warning lights to catch people's eye when we're approaching them," Baker said.

Rock Community even has protocol to follow while responding to calls. The fire truck stops at all intersections, even if it has a green light, and the driver only turns on the emergency lights and siren if the crew is responding to a potentially life-threatening call.

Even those safety precautions aren't enough. August said close calls are commonplace, especially at intersections.

"Our first challenge is getting onto Jeffco Boulevard (from the fire house), even if there is a red light," August said. "Then it's another challenge to get from here to where we are going."

August compares navigating Jefferson County roads to going through an obstacle course.

"They will look right at you and pull right in front of you when we're going code three (emergency response)," August said. "They'll look right at you and be like, ‘Don't inconvenience me.'"

Festus Police Chief Tim Lewis said people are more distracted today. He has seen motorists concentrating on cell phone conversations, eating, or checking what's on their stereo rather than the road.

That inattention means police officers have to be extra cautious.

"If we are running lights and sirens then it's serious," Lewis said. "It is possibly a violent crime and they need our assistance."

Lewis believes Jefferson County's growing population has put more cars and congestion on the road.

Ambulance drivers have a name for a particularly dangerous type of driver behavior – the "Startle Effect."

"They see the light behind them for the first time and when they are startled you don't know what they'll do," Cronin said.

Usually startled drivers have three options: turn left, turn right or slam on the brakes. In many cases, the ambulance driver has to anticipate what the driver will do.

Emergency vehicle drivers have a special way of interpreting motorist behavior. To compensate for the motorist being unaware, emergency service drivers must be hyper-aware and attentive to even the smallest detail.

"You have to watch for body motion, body language of the driver," Cronin said. "If they drop their left hand from the steering wheel, they may be turning. If they glance to the right, they may turn that way."

Emergency personnel also have to deal with another dangerous driver behavior – tag alongs.

"A lot of people will stay close to the back of an ambulance because you are clearing the way for them," Cronin said. "They tag along for the ride."

There are serious consequences for all involved in poor motorist behavior. The most obvious is that it takes longer to respond to emergency calls for both fire and ambulance crews. Those extra seconds could mean life or death.

"You have four to six minutes to get to an individual in cardiac arrest and try to revive them," Baker said. "If that time is stretched out, the likelihood of revival goes down."

The other consequences are a domino affect. A motorist could be killed or seriously injured if their poor behavior causes an accident. If the emergency crew gets into an accident on their way to call, then nobody gets help.

"That's why everybody in the truck keeps everybody in check," August said. "We've got to get there before we can help anybody."

Furthermore, the driver of the ambulance or fire truck could be charged with vehicular manslaughter if they kill a motorist, even if that motorist is at fault. And of course, there are the lawsuits.

"There are more lawsuits that are being filed against fire departments and ambulance services because of the accidents they are involved in," Baker said. "It's hard to stop people from suing. They can sue for whatever they want."

Emergency personnel are asking for some common courtesy on the road. If every motorist followed the law and yielded, response times would go down, more people would be saved and accidents would decrease.

The best thing a driver can do is to pay attention and be alert.

"If an emergency vehicle is approaching you, please be courteous and move over to allow the truck to pass through," Baker said. "At intersections, pay attention. Don't try to beat the truck through it."

[Guest WolfEMT]

In Jersey, we don't have "the startle effect;" we have "the @$$hole effect." If only people knew that the big white box or the big red truck that are going down the road with lots of lights and making lots of noise get priority on the road!

[doug_e 0]

This article is being too kind to John Q. Public.

My observation is that people just don't "play along" with the rules of the road anymore. There is too much of an "I'm more important than anyone" and "If I can get away with it, it's OK", attitude today. Another observation is that people don't want to get behind a piece of fire apparatus for fear that it will stop ahead of them and block them from getting through to their destination. I see this almost every time I drive an engine out of our firehouse, on the main drag in the village.

Having recently moved up to Assistant Chief I'm now driving a Crown Vic. What a pleasure! People think I'm a cop and they bale as soon as they see me. They know a fireman can't give them a ticket. I would love to have a camera installed on all apparatus that could take a picture of an offending vehicle and mail a failure to yield ticket to the registered owner. Then you'd see compliance.

I was discussing motorists actions with a colleague and we argeed that there is too much ambiguity in the emergency lighting system we currently use. Fire apparatus and ambulances in NYS have red and white emergency warning lights. When they are responding they display these lights. When they arrive at the scene, they still display these lights (even the secondary lights are a combination of red and white.) There is no diferentiation between needing/requiring a right of way and not. The new NFPA lighting standard kills all white lights when the vehicle is not in a forward drive gear, thus displaying only red lights. This too is ambiguous.

Our stab at a solution was this:

Red and white lights displayed when responding and requiring the right of way.

When on the scene the only lights displayed are amber, the international warning/caution indication.

This way the motorist has no question as too the intent of the apparatus operators action.

Red and white = Responding, Yield the right of way!(Apparatus is moving)

Amber = Warning use caution! (Apparatus does not require the right of way)

This would be similiar to the school bus law. You see red, you stop, period.

[Guest]

Doug,

There are times (especially when I was with Archville) when operating the engines that I would prefer drivers just to keep moving wheter I was using lights and sirens or not. As you know from your own experience on the Route 9 corridor that is often the safest thing.

You mentioned that a firefighter cannot issue a summons, but guess what!!!!!! We can sign a supporting deposition after a police officer issues the summons.

[doug_e 0]

If we could get the public to react in a consistant manner that would be great. (I know I'm being too idealistic) It's the fact that some stop and others slow and a few speed up that keeps us on our toes.

Just an aside: As for Rt.9, the State is planning to rework the roadway throughout the area to eliminate the 2 lanes in each direction. FINALLY!!! - 4 people killed in a year in the Arch Hill stretch. If not for public safety, then for our sanity, please.

They will have a north and a southbound lane with a turning lane in the middle from Tarrytown to Croton.

[Guest E53LT]

I don't know if it's too late to post a reply in this one, but I have to get this off my chest. Last Friday, I was the officer on the first due engine responding to a call. We left HQ, lights, siren and air horn sounding. A woman cut us off, and I got the plate #. I asked a patrol officer at the scene to take down the number and just hold it since I planned on making a summons out. He handed me the woman's address on a piece of paper. I decided to try and be diplomatic instead, and since it was on the way back to HQ, I stopped and had a chat with her. I spoke softly, and since she started by apologizing, I let her off the hook gently but with serious words about yielding in the future. She called the chief and said her husband is pissed, and she felt she was berated and threatened. No good deed ever goes unpunished.....

[HCFRFF 0]

I understand being cut off, but for you to stop at her house on the way back from the call was out of line. I would have just let teh cops handle it. You never know what you could have been walking into, angry husband with a gun, at the front door or a nasty dog let loose on you. you never know waht people are gonna do these days ](*,)

[SHAC7301 0]

Police, Fire and EMS all face this growing problem. I should know....I have been driving a police car, ambulance or fire truck since 1993. Someone earlier said it best....people just don't care. The world revolves around them and how dare us to delay their commute. Of course, these are the same people who will complain about our response times to their own emergencies.

The bottom line is....drive with caution....don't become a headline, defendant or statistic

[Guest E53LT]

Thanks for opening my eyes a little HCRFF. I made the assumption that since she was a woman in her 40's, the angry husband factor never entered my mind. Hopefully I'll make it through this without anything but a bruised ego, but I do hate the fact that I tried to educate and instead wound up on the hotseat.

[Guest WCDES636]

E53LT

Issue the summons. You have up to one year to do so. You tried to be nice and to your face she was nice as soon as hubby got home the story changed.

Screw it let her deal with the courts.

[HCFRFF 0]

you guys can give out tickets? summons? for that?

[Guest E53LT]

In NJ, anyone can sign a motor vehicle complaint against another driver. It falls upon the complainant to do the legwork to find out the info on the driver. I only told the cop on scene the plate number because I wanted it documented on the CAD at the police station, I didn't expect him to give me the plate info. It really falls on several of us as far as blame goes, but on my part, I was just trying to do the right thing.....