Ambulance Responding to urgent 999 call - Near miss
Ambulance responding to urgent 999 call - Van driver fails to see ambulance!
4y ago
119.8K
Many people blame the van driver! What do you think?
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Ambulance responding to urgent 999 call - Van driver fails to see ambulance!
Many people blame the van driver! What do you think?
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Comments (31)
I drive an ambulance and would say that I would not have attempted to overtake there. I would guess that the siren is on as the silver car traveling infront of the van pulls over to let the the ambulance pass. The van is clearly indicating in good time and with all the obstructions, parked cars, junctions and the silver car that the van is close to ( you can just see it from further back the road, but could easily be missed) you can't see if there is room to pass because of parked cars on both sides of the road. With the van indicating to turn right a few seconds to re evaluate the situation and let the van turn may make the difference in getting to the destination or not. I would expect that the van driver didn't check his mirror before turning, but may have heard the siren and thought that by turning off he would be getting out of the way. People panick and do stupid things that have to be seen to be believed.
no accident so no one at fault, the van driver was indicating, but obviously wasn't aware of whats happening behind him. ambulance was aware and was able to stop, it's what they are trained for
The van was turning, granted, and was indicating. Still had right of way to do so. The Ambulance, under Reg 19 Road Safety Act, has exemptions from speed and traffic directions, i.e traffic lights. The van made a silly move, obviously not paying attention to his surroundings immediately before his turn, but ambulance should anticipated the van driver's mis judgement, which in avoiding the accident, They did.
Unfortunately, The Ambulance may have been at fault
Nether technically are at fault. With blues n twos the van should stop not indicate etc and wait. The ambulance obvioysly slowed or this would have been an rtc. Both did wrong and both were lucky. Van driver be more respectful for emergency vehicles
Ambulance driver carry on your way x
Poor awareness on the van driver's part, but I'd expect much better from a highly trained, emergency responder... Yes, the van driver should've looked, but the ambulance driver should know better, I'd also assume the siren wasn't going, only the blues. Not sure what they're trained to do here, but surely the siren should be going in a built up area like this where anyone can come out of anywhere, it's there for the crew's safety as well, not just for everyone else.
It's also worth noting that the blues and twos are merely a request to give way, not a sign of priority. Ambulance driver took a risk and it almost backfired, and given that the van didn't pull in behind the parked up Focus, the crew should've known they hadn't been seen and shouldn't've attempted to overtake in such a place, especially with the van hiding a junction off to the left.