Ambulance driver called me a w****r

[pim]

Ambulance drivers are under a lot of pressure which is understandable in a emergency.

I try to pull over and let them get by if I see the blue lights.I wouldn't boot it and keep ahead of them.Swearing at you isn't right but they are human.

[Countdown]

I notice a lot of drivers use Ambulance blue lights for their own benefit - basically the road in front of them parts like the Red Sea did for Moses, so they hoof it (up to the next set of traffic lights). Just as bad are the knobbers that tailgate ambulances.

AmbyDriver may have assumed incorrectly that you were doing the same.

[anonymous-user]

pim said:

Swearing at you isn't right but they are human.

I'm not blaming the driver at all for that. He must encounter dheads on the road every day, and maybe he thought I was one.

[popeyewhite]

NinjaPower said:

As he gets a bit closer with no cars between him and me (he's still a good 300 metres behind), myself and the car in front both decide that the best way to allow him to progress quickly is to boot it ....

You can't possibly have known what's ahead and you might hold him up further. What were you thinking?

[madala]

I have mostly found ambulance drivers to be a bunch of moronic c88ts ....... but hey-ho .....

[waterwonder]

With him 300m+ behind I would've thought there would've been an opportunity to pull over and let him past without slowing him up over the course of a few miles. Even if that meant you waiting for a bit as he'd dropped someway back.

If there wasn't I don't know what his issue was. I'd probably have done similar.

[Sheepshanks]

Bright Halo said:

Dropped my drivers window and pointed to the right.

I know it's going back a bit but don't remember learning that as one of the standard hand signals!

Bright Halo said:

I didn't want to indicate as he may have thought I was stopping.

That would have been just fine.

[s2kjock]

I've been in a not dissimilar situation when I saw an ambulance coming up behind. There was lots of oncoming traffic which didn't present an opportunity for the ambulance to overtake unless I pulled onto the verge, but as the "verge" was protected by a very high concrete kerb I would have had to slow down to 10mph or less to safely pull onto it which I thought would have slowed him down more, so decided to keep my speed high as I could see a break in the traffic further ahead which he could have then overtaken me at.

As he then sat close behind me at 60 odd with continual oncoming traffic he was clearly getting unhappy with me, so perhaps I should have then just slowed almost to a stop (as I would have needed to have done) to drive up onto the kerb and let him sort it out?

[mph999]

madala said:

I have mostly found ambulance drivers to be a bunch of moronic c88ts ....... but hey-ho .....

Opposite for me, certainly around Newbury they will turn off the blues at lights if they can't through, I've seen fire engines do the same.
The Police on the other hand seem to bully people through the reds, which I thought they weren't meant to do, though perhaps this comes under being directed through by an officer ???

[RogueTrooper]

mph999 said:

perhaps this comes under being directed through by an officer ???

Only if they get out and do it properly, on foot.

[SnailTrail]

I have been in a somewhat similar situation before, although the ambulance driver appeared to have a bit more foresight in my case...

I was on a relatively wide single carriageway B-road, however at the point where the ambulance approached there are a series of twists in the road and the visibility around them is poor. I knew the road, and I knew that in a mile or so there was a mile-long straight stretch which is perfect for overtaking. Instead of stopping and/or slowing down which would have forced the ambulance into a dangerous position in passing me, I instead continued onwards at as fast as it was safe and legal to do so.

I can only assume the driver must have known the road and knew my intentions, as he switched off the siren and backed off somewhat. Then, coming around the corner onto the straight, I indicated left, backed off the accelerator and moved over towards the kerb. On came the sirens again, a safe overtake was completed and the ambulance went on its way.

[Centurion07]

NinjaPower said:

I was hoping some of the blue light drivers on here could offer an opinion on what is helpful and what isn't.

You don't need an actual "blue light driver" to tell you what you already know; if you're not physically slowing him down, especially if there's a +100m gap back to him, then there's no problem and your particular guy was just an ahole.

Since we're adding anecdotes too...

I was following a car along a straight bit of urban 30 limit with nothing in front of them. An ambulance appears in the distance coming towards us with the lights and siren going with no other traffic in front of him. As the ambulance gets closer, the mong in front of me stops as if somehow he would have slowed the ambulance down. Utter cretin.

Edited by Centurion07 on Saturday 1st October 13:16

[Bigends]

mph999 said:

madala said:

I have mostly found ambulance drivers to be a bunch of moronic c88ts ....... but hey-ho .....

Opposite for me, certainly around Newbury they will turn off the blues at lights if they can't through, I've seen fire engines do the same.
The Police on the other hand seem to bully people through the reds, which I thought they weren't meant to do, though perhaps this comes under being directed through by an officer ???

Nope - you should assist them through whilst not committing any offences yourself. If you go through a Red to let them through - you will get a ticket if theres a camera on the lights. Same with bus lanes - you move into one to let emergency services through - you'll get done as well

[4rephill]

RogueTrooper said:

NinjaPower said:

There are no lay-bys on this road, and the junctions are just small country land road ends.

If you can safely indicate and turn into one of those, why not? You'd certainly get a mental thumbs up from me.

+1 That's exactly what I would have done where possible.

I suspect there's an ambulance driver who's been complaining to his work colleagues how they had this guy in a car ahead of him on a narrow twisty road who, rather than simply slow down and pull over to let them get past and get to the emergency they'd been assigned to, decided to speed up and try and out run the ambulance instead.


NinjaPower: You know what the Law expects you to do when approached from behind by an emergency vehicle with it's blue lights flashing and sirens sounding, and you know what the ambulance driver expects you to do - And it's not: Speed up and attempt to outrun the emergency vehicle!

Based on your description of events and the distance to the ambulance behind you, you had plenty of time to spot a safe place to slow down, pull in, and let the ambulance get to the emergency that it was heading for.

By driving ahead of the ambulance in the manner you did, on a road that you yourself describe as being narrow and twisty, you greatly increased the risk of an accident happening that could have prevented the ambulance getting to its assigned emergency - Not clever!

The fact is, you made a poor choice in trying to outrun the ambulance.

[CoolHands]

Power trip.

[silverfoxcc]

Bigends said:

mph999 said:

madala said:

I have mostly found ambulance drivers to be a bunch of moronic c88ts ....... but hey-ho .....

Opposite for me, certainly around Newbury they will turn off the blues at lights if they can't through, I've seen fire engines do the same.
The Police on the other hand seem to bully people through the reds, which I thought they weren't meant to do, though perhaps this comes under being directed through by an officer ???

Nope - you should assist them through whilst not committing any offences yourself. If you go through a Red to let them through - you will get a ticket if theres a camera on the lights. Same with bus lanes - you move into one to let emergency services through - you'll get done as well

Bike lanes also come into that category, as one plod who gave me the beans the other day for not going into one obviously didnt know.

[Centurion07]

4rephill said:

I suspect there's an ambulance driver who's been complaining to his work colleagues how they had this guy in a car ahead of him on a narrow twisty road who, rather than simply slow down and pull over to let them get past and get to the emergency they'd been assigned to, decided to speed up and try and out run the ambulance instead.


NinjaPower: You know what the Law expects you to do when approached from behind by an emergency vehicle with it's blue lights flashing and sirens sounding, and you know what the ambulance driver expects you to do - And it's not: Speed up and attempt to outrun the emergency vehicle!

Based on your description of events and the distance to the ambulance behind you, you had plenty of time to spot a safe place to slow down, pull in, and let the ambulance get to the emergency that it was heading for.

By driving ahead of the ambulance in the manner you did, on a road that you yourself describe as being narrow and twisty, you greatly increased the risk of an accident happening that could have prevented the ambulance getting to its assigned emergency - Not clever!

The fact is, you made a poor choice in trying to outrun the ambulance.

You might want to read the OP again.

He said it was narrow for an A-road and SO twisty it's possible to "easily sit at 60-80 just shaving off a bit of speed for the tighter bends". Add to that the fact that the ambulance wasn't held up then the only poor choice made was by a so-called professional ambulance driver giving the beans to a member of the public.

[JM]

Centurion07 said:

You might want to read the OP again.

He said it was narrow for an A-road and SO twisty it's possible to "easily sit at 60-80 just shaving off a bit of speed for the tighter bends". Add to that the fact that the ambulance wasn't held up then the only poor choice made was by a so-called professional ambulance driver giving the beans to a member of the public.

The poor choice was made by the OP, who had plenty of space and time to allow the ambulance to pass him at the beginning of his story, but chose not to and continued for several miles at 'high' speed. For all he knew (or cared) heading directly into a collision on the road ahead of him.

[Centurion07]

He said there was enough oncoming traffic to make passing stationary cars difficult but that aside, it's ok for the ambulance driver to call him a wker?

[JM]

Centurion07 said:

He said there was enough oncoming traffic to make passing stationary cars difficult but that aside, it's ok for the ambulance driver to call him a wker?

No he didn't, but that aside, if you act like a wker expect to be called a wker.